A Tangible Friend
February 04, 2025
Good morning, that wonderful way.
O/ How are you?
Yawn, stretch, you got this.
A couple months from now the sun will be up.
Now, it's a couple hours away.
On with the show.
There's a lot to say.
Somedays that voice, the one in the wind, sings loquacious, wants a whirlwind stack of words.
I often refer to it as the rhythm of the day.
The unconscious imagination, as psychology refers to it.
Though, I think Spirit, Holy Spirit, makes more sense.
Years spent alone living in dreams to survive, to give meaning to days spent physically drained fighting illness, show the word choice is a better one.
Our dreams come from somewhere, something.
The unconscious is a tangible friend.
We don't have life without a dream of life.
We don't talk about spirit enough. Our yardsticks have no hatch marks to measure it, so we keep from talking about it, at unease we'll express it wrong.
But we do express spirit. In fact, it is all we express.
The moral shape to our stories, pop songs, films prove human interaction has its own shape.
There is a right way to live.
Our stories show us the shape and way of the spirit. We share it, we're made of it, from it, for it.
We're the hero of our own life.
We ought to consciously recognize this shared measurable fact by juxtaposing our experience with that of the heroes in our stories.
Emotional sentiments in our popular music are heroic tests of our strength, major points in our personal story arcs.
The message of the music helps us not feel alone by recognizing the shared value of the experience.
Everyone knows when the superhero wins; everyone cheers.
We have everything in common.
A universal spirit moves the world and shows us our lives have a purpose measurable through our arts.
Some songs make you want to dance, others smile, others cry.
Just like us.
How well the immediacy of the moment of the artist is conveyed speaks to the success of the piece.
What we call Great Art is instantly almost identical to the experience of the moment the artist wishes to convey.
Walk into the Sistine Chapel and it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 88, you look up at the ceiling and you say, "Oh, my God."
And Michelangelo from his grave says, "Gotcha."
We all feel driven at times, something has to be done, and it has to be done now. It's exhausting. It nags and motivates you at the same time. Your belief in the importance of it gives you the adrenaline to see it through. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony knows it, too. Every violin string sings, "Get it done."
Life is a shared experience that moves in a certain way. Art is its record.
Take care, listen to a song, read a book or poem, binge watch a TV series, watch a movie, realize you're not alone feeling the way it causes you to feel because something very real is here to experience and share, and have that better day.