They were beyond the present, outside time, with no memories and no future. There was nothing but obliterating sensation, thrilling and swelling, and the sound of fabric on fabric and skin on fabric as their limbs slid across each other in this restless, sensuous wrestling.. They moved closer, deeper and then, for seconds on end, everything stopped. Instead of an ecstatic frenzy, there was stillness. They were stilled not by the astonishing fact of arrival, but by an awed sense of return - they were face to face in the gloom, staring into what little they could see of each other's eyes, and now it was the impersonal that dropped away. Ian Mcewan
About This Quote

The act of making love is often thought of in terms of sexual intercourse. For some, the act of making love is merely a physical act of copulation with no real meaning or significance. However, for others, it is so much more than that. The act of making love can be an extension of one's self.

It can be a way to express oneself in the world through another person. It can also be an expression of the desire to nurture that person in order to make them stronger and more confident. It can be an act of commitment and devotion to another individual, one who is close enough to the self that there is no distance between them.

It is not surprising that in this quote, it is no longer an "act" but an "experience." This suggests that when they make love, the lovers are not in control but rather in relationship with each other. They are in relationship because they do not know where they are going; they are in relationship because they cannot predict what might happen next; and they are in relationship because they do not know what will happen after that now.

Source: Atonement

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