I am single minded
Among my scattered books
And laser focused
Behind my fractured looks
I am neatly ordered
Beneath my messy papers
And purpose driven
Throughout my winding capers
I am quietly musing
Amidst the idle chatter
And always searching
For the words that matter
So judge not substance
By the mask of reason
Nor gauge true progress
By the whim of season
Creative Commons 2007
On Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHPWE3xRRCI
Think of one of your favourite songs or pieces of music.
What is it about that track or tune that makes it so special?
No doubt it moves you, but why?
Think about the first time you heard it.
Was it a particularly memorable time, or place?
Were you with someone special?
Music gets some of its power from association.
It evokes emotions, which in turn embed the memory of whatever was happening at the time.
Songs become like flags on our personal trail, markers of high points, low points and other significant landmarks in between.
They are an index to our past, bookmarks of places we revisit in our minds, triggers of holographic images on the horizon when we look back.
But association is only part of music’s power.
What of the music itself?
Music acts like a tuning fork, setting off a chain of sympathetic vibrations.
In other words music speaks in the language of moods.
Either it echoes our existing moods, our inner state, or it is a catalyst for changing our moods.
And when the music matches our mood, we experience a profound sense of resonance, of being in tune with an ethereal power.
The reinforcement of our emotions has an amplification effect.
We feel more deeply, reflect more clearly.
To lose ourselves in a piece of music simply means that we are in complete harmony with it.
At times like these, music is the audible outer manifestation of our inaudible inner voice.
So in reality, we find ourselves in the music.
It only feels like oblivion sometimes because you and the music are one, flowing in the same direction at the same speed with the same destination – the beat of the rain becomes the river, the sway of the river becomes the sea.
Like the river, music not only flows but tells the story of its passage.
We relate to songs because they whisper the stories of our lives.
They speak of love’s yearning when our hearts are longing, they trumpet victory when we are triumphant, they sing the blues when we are sorrowful, they agitate for change when our blood is surging with revolution.
Sometimes the story of a piece of music is transparently clear.
More often than not, however, the real story has to be read between the lines. Songs are opaque narratives of a great unfolding mystery.
Each word, each turn of phrase, each tonal inflection, is a clue, one piece of the puzzle, a shape in the jigsaw of meaning.
What sentiment was the composer trying to convey?
What treasure did the lyricist hide behind the words?
What does the singer’s interpretation say about their own secrets?
The real enigma of music is what it tells us about ourselves.
Does a particular tune bring you to tears?
What does that say about you?
Is there a song that lifts your spirits?
Why?
What music do your family and friends like?
These are not questions to be rationalized, but musings to be lingered over.
This is not an intellectual exercise, but an intuitive workout, a soul stretching.
Music is the key to our souls.
Therefore, your choice of music, or someone else’s, is a peek through the keyhole into the most precious of inner chambers.
This ability of music to unlock the barricaded door to our hearts, to access the holy-of-holies of our souls, is at once euphorically liberating and unnervingly frightening.
It means that giving ourselves over to the art of the Muse – letting the music play us – is a risk, for we don’t know what we will discover about ourselves.
But the rewards are profound – insight, inspiration and meaning.
Will you take the risk today?
Creative Commons 2005
Spinning tops and turning wheels
Twirling dance and rhythmic reels
Churning waves and moon-spun tides
Whirling pools and dizzy rides
Rotor blades and tumble planes
Tempest moods and hurricanes
Magnet fields and milkshakes whirred
Spiral worlds and coffee stirred
Twisting rope and sunken wells
Cycle lives and woven spells
Swirling clouds and circle flight
Vortex love and spirits light
Creative Commons 2005
Youtube (Instrumental): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjjIdaYSqao
Is ageing a blessing or a curse?
Do you rejoice or bemoan your age?
Do you look forward to getting older or fear the prospect?
We all have to make that journey through time, from starting point to destination, from birth to death.
And yet our travel experiences are all unique.
Most of us will pass through the same landscapes – of infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and maturity.
And yet how we each view the scenery will be different.
Each stage en-route has its own virtues and vices – the innocence and dependence of infancy, the curiosity and tantrums of childhood, the passion and rebellion of adolescence, the productivity and routines of adulthood, and the wisdom and aches of maturity.
And yet these traits refuse to be neatly confined to our age-boxes: there is as much wisdom in youth as there is rebellion in old age; adults are no strangers to tantrums and children are productive in their own ways.
We have mythologized the life cycle, drawing on timeless archetypal images to bring meaning to the process of ageing.
At any one time, we represent the child, the warrior, the mother, the king, the old crone or the wise man.
We do not have to be defined by these symbols, but we can tap into their power any time we choose.
Which mantle are you wearing right now, irrespective of your age or socially defined role?
We tend to be conditioned about what is expected of us at any given age.
We are told to grow up or to act our age.
When we are young we covet maturity and when we are older we reminisce about youth.
It’s almost as if there is an unwritten law – thou shalt at all times be dissatisfied with thine age.
Why do we buy into this rhetoric?
Ageing is not only natural and unavoidable, it is also wonderful and beautifying.
Each passing year is an accumulated treasure of experiences.
Each new year brings fresh opportunities to learn from.
Of course every age has its restrictions and downsides, but these only overshadow the freedoms and upsides if we allow them to.
Ageing is as much a mental game as a physical one.
“How old are you?” is not nearly as revealing and important as “How old do you feel?”
You may no longer have the effervescent energy of a child, but what is stopping you from looking at the world with the awe of constant discovery?
You may not have the bottled insecurity of a teenager, but you are never too old to fall head-over-heels in love.
You may don all the trappings of a responsible adult, but you don’t have to lose the passion of your mercurial dreaming.
You may make the perfect picture of a doting grandparent, yet still be growing rapidly in mental and spiritual terms.
For as much as age is a wrinkling of the skin and a greying of the hair, it is a stretching of the mind and a colouring of soul.
Ageing is to be joyfully embraced, despite what the commercials try to brainwash us into believing.
Your age tells the story of who you are, what you’ve done, where you’ve been.
It is a fascinating story, compelling in its details, every twist in the tale worthwhile.
You need to be proud of your age, even while you refuse to let it define who you are.
For age is never static, never predictable.
Age is the flow of time.
And the only age that is real is the present.
Your true age is now.
Why not celebrate it?
Now.
When the sun set on my blazing love
And my sky was awash with blood
You were the first star on the horizon
You were the sliver moon of dim hope
When the dark snuffed out my tiny flame
And my world was plunged into black
You were the faint glow of the Milky Way
You were the luminescent moon of waxing faith
And when the night ends as it surely must
And my life is reborn to the day
You will be the warm rays of the new dawn
You will be the bright light of love’s zenith
Creative Commons License 2005
Youtube (Reading): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfIJZGItmc0
Youtube (Instrumental): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmLAItytyjI
