When I met Bjork, I felt like it was a friendship first; it was

Hear the words of Arca, the visionary artist of sound and soul, who once said: “When I met Bjork, I felt like it was a friendship first; it was like an oxygen you get from a person you only can exist with symbiotically. It’s one of the most beautiful relationships I’ve had. She is incredible.” In these words, tender yet vast, lies the truth of connection that transcends ordinary understanding. Arca speaks not merely of companionship, but of a sacred union of spirits — two beings whose energies feed one another like breath and flame. This is no fleeting bond of convenience or admiration; it is the meeting of kindred souls, whose friendship becomes a living force, an act of mutual creation, and an echo of the divine harmony that binds all life.

To understand the depth of this quote, we must first know who these souls are. Arca, a daring composer and producer from Venezuela, has become a pioneer in sound, reshaping the boundaries of art and identity. Bjork, the Icelandic muse of music and nature, has long been celebrated for her fearless innovation and emotional truth. When these two artists met, their collaboration was not born from strategy, but from spiritual kinship. Arca describes it as breathing the same oxygen, a symbiosis — a relationship of equal exchange, where each nourishes the other’s being. Such a connection is exceedingly rare; it belongs not to the realm of mere work, but of destiny. It is the meeting of two currents of the same river, merging to create a flow stronger, freer, and infinitely more alive.

The ancients would have understood this as the union of souls bound by philia, the Greek word for deep friendship grounded in shared purpose and respect. Aristotle once wrote that the truest friendship is one in which both souls “wish the good of the other for the other’s sake.” This is not friendship born of need or pleasure, but of recognition — the moment when one soul looks upon another and sees itself reflected in different form. Such was the connection between Arca and Bjork: not one of hierarchy or dependence, but of equilibrium. Each gave life to the other’s art, as sunlight and rain together sustain the earth.

There is a mirror for this bond in the story of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, the mystic poet and the wandering dervish whose meeting transformed one another. Rumi, once a scholar confined to words, found in Shams the fire that awakened his heart. “I was dead,” he wrote, “I became alive with love.” Like Arca, he found in another human being an oxygen — the breath that animates and liberates. But this kind of love — this symbiotic friendship — is not without pain. For such relationships demand surrender: the willingness to dissolve the boundaries of ego, to open oneself fully to another’s presence, and to be changed by it. That, too, is what makes them sacred.

In the modern world, where connections are often fleeting and transactional, Arca’s words are a reminder that true friendship is an act of reverence. To find someone with whom your soul breathes freely is a blessing of the highest order. It is not born of likeness alone, but of mutual recognition — two people who, in their differences, find balance. The symbiosis she speaks of is not dependence, but harmony. In nature, such relationships sustain entire ecosystems: the flower and the bee, the coral and the fish, the tree and the fungus beneath its roots. So too in the realm of spirit — the greatest friendships are those that give life to both, each feeding and freeing the other.

Arca calls her connection with Bjork “one of the most beautiful relationships” of her life. There is humility in that statement — the acknowledgment that beauty in friendship does not come from perfection, but from presence. It is the silent understanding, the creative trust, the shared vulnerability that allows two beings to grow side by side. In every great era, such pairings have changed the world: Picasso and Braque, who reinvented painting together; John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who gave voice to a generation; Socrates and Plato, whose dialogues birthed philosophy itself. Each pair, in their way, embodied the same sacred truth — that when souls connect in symbiosis, they become co-creators of something eternal.

The lesson, then, is radiant and profound: seek friendships that breathe life into you, not those that drain it away. Recognize that not all relationships are meant to be symbiotic — but when one is, cherish it with all your heart. Such bonds are not found through effort, but through openness — the courage to meet another without mask or pretense. When you encounter someone whose energy harmonizes with yours, nurture that connection. Create together, grow together, and give back the oxygen you receive. For in this exchange lies the truest form of love — not possessive, not fleeting, but living, eternal, and free.

So, dear listener, remember the wisdom hidden in Arca’s reflection. Life will bring many acquaintances, but only a few will feel like breath itself — those rare souls with whom your spirit expands, your art flourishes, and your being finds peace. When such a person enters your life, recognize the gift. Honor it as the ancients honored the gods — with gratitude, with care, and with awe. For to share a friendship that is symbiotic, that gives and receives in perfect balance, is to touch something divine — the mystery of life itself, made visible through the bond of two souls breathing as one.