Monday, January 22, 2018

SOULFUL

                             Price Lake, Blue Ridge Parkway, NC

Thomas Moore in his book Care of the Soul, takes care to distinguish the religious belief of an immortal soul and “the quality or dimension of experiencing life and ourselves…When we say that someone or something has soul, we know what we mean, but it is difficult to specify exactly what that meaning is…It has to do with depth, value, relatedness, heart, and personal substance…Just as the mind digests ideas and produces intelligence, the soul feeds on life and digests it, creating wisdom and character out of the fodder of experience.”  And I like to think of our soul as comparable to our developed character and the person we become when we’re alone, stripped of all pretenses and personalities exhibited to the outer world.  The human job description is to develop our character.  Moore writes “The soul is partly in time and partly in eternity.  We might remember the part that resides in eternity when we feel despair over the part that is in life.”  I like to think of the spiritual soul residing within our body like God resides in the universe.  

Just what is it when we find ourselves saying that an individual has soul?  Perhaps its that elusive something also called charisma, meaning divine favor and gift.  We really can’t say what has caught our imagination, but it’s there nonetheless.  President John F. Kennedy comes to mind as charismatic and Billie Holiday was one of the most soulful singers that ever performed.  And life partners that have developed a special connection are seen as soulmates.

Withdrawal or retreat from the world and the merry-go-round of hectic everyday life can be a soulful exercise.  I’ve happened upon a number of locations around the world that presented themselves to me as soulful.  Interestingly, many of them have a common denominator of calm, still waters and morning light.  Three that readily come to mind are summer hiking back into Maroon Bells National Park outside Aspen, Colorado, standing at the autumn shore of Price Lake off the North Carolina Blue Ridge Parkway and drifting on the mirrored waters of the Sea of Galilee in Israel.  These experiences were outside the limits of ordinary life.

Many of the hiking trails in the mountains involved beautiful vistas and others were more treacherous paths along a rocky ledge.  Moore writes that “This is the goal of the soul path—to feel existence; not to overcome life’s struggles and anxieties, but to know life first hand, to exist fully in context.  Spiritual practice is sometimes described as walking in the footsteps of another: Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.”

We observe things of this world that seem to “speak to our soul.”  I’ve had this feeling on many occasions looking through the lens of a camera.  I’ve especially been touched by the sight of weathered old barns and wooden windmills standing steadfast against a storm on the central plains.  Renaissance paintings by long deceased artists still speak to me such as Van Gogh’s paintings of a vibrant olive orchard and black crows hovering over a waving wheat field.  His tortured mental state cries out through the canvas.  And songs from the musical Les Misérables like Empty Chairs at Empty Tables pierce the soul of those touched by the images of the young patriots that sacrificed their life for a just cause.

Thomas Moore observes that “The Renaissance magus understood that our soul, the mystery we glimpse when we look deeply into ourselves, is part of a larger soul, the soul of the world, anima mundi.  There is certainly a sense that this existence is part of one greater spiritual consciousness.   

Sunday, January 14, 2018

SOMETHING TO LOVE

Winner’s Check, Blue Hills CC, MO
Trevino, Watson, Couples, Azinger & Davis

I’m lovin’ the lyrics from the songbook of Jason Isbell’s album The Nashville Sound.  Some of the words from the track Something to Love include:

“I hope you find something to love,
Something to do when you feel like giving up.
A song to sing or tale to tell,
Something to love,
it’ll serve you well.
Just find what makes you happy,
And do it till you’re gone.”

I learned this lesson many years ago and it has served me well through those ensuing years.  Its nice to find a job you love so you never have to work another day the rest of your life, but that may simply not be available or not pay enough to support your family.  That’s where it’s important to find something off the clock that doesn’t have to pay anything.  In fact, it will probably cost some bucks which can be funded by your regular job.  And if that activity gives you pleasure and frequently takes your mind off the issues of your primary job for a short time, that’s an investment worth every cent.  As my wife used to say, “that’s much cheaper than therapy”!

The game of golf has provided that diversion for most of my adult life.  It gives me the opportunity to get out into nature and enjoy the company of people that I can be around five hours or so on a regular basis, provided the temperature is above fifty degrees.  Playing the game has opened endless opportunities to expand my personal and business social network way beyond anything I could have imagined.  I enjoy researching and trying all the changes to golf improvement equipment which has kept me in the game all this time.  And trying to keep in the game by staying fit gives me the incentive to join a gym and actually attend it! 

This blog has provided a lot of enjoyment and the release of creative juices that would probably have never been realized without this avenue.  It has provided an outlet combining two interests of both writing and photography.  It inspires me to read more current news articles and human-interest stories, including new releases of non-fiction books.  If I’m going to exchange my limited life hours for the pleasure of reading a book, I not only want to be entertained, but I want to learn something in the process too!  Photography and Creative writing also keep me alert to the world around me for inspiration, including traveling, volunteer work, teaching classes and listening to music. 

And once I discover something to love, you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll serve me well till I’m gone!

Friday, January 12, 2018

FORTY YEARS TOGETHER

Larry and Karen Wedding, 1968, Olathe, KS

APRIL 20, 1968-APRIL 20, 2008

My wife Karen and I celebrated our forty-year anniversary three months before breast cancer took her life as I held her hand.  So, it was no small coincidence that when I casually heard the lyrics to a new release of a Jason Isbell track on my Google home device that my head snapped around and it had my full attention.  The title of the song is If We Were Vampires which on first blush makes no sense whatsoever.  But I downloaded the track from The Nashville Sound and began to understand the lyrics.  The songwriter has known life, and the common destiny we all share, and this song needs to be shared by every couple on the planet.  Once I comprehended the lyrics, I understood the title:

"If we were vampires and death was a joke,
I wouldn’t feel the need to hold your hand…
Maybe time running out is a gift.
I'll give every second I can find."

I’ve had previous conversations with friends and couples about the elephant in the room when they come to realize later in life that barring a tragic accident, one of the two of them will some day be left to carry on without the other.  That realization can take the sting out of any petty offense or argument that is presently irritating them.  Neither should ever go to bed angry.  Of course, we’ve been given life to live to the fullest and we should do just that.  And if the time comes when one is left to spend some time alone, we should honor that bond and carry on, knowing that this life is only a finite segment of our existence and death is simply a transition from time to eternity.  And that spiritual existence is one spent in the presence of our creator with our loved ones in that beautiful forever.  Our time apart is relatively short in that context.  Ironically, the refrain of the song says it all:

"It's knowing that this can't go on forever.
Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone.
Maybe we'll get 40 years together.
One day I'll be gone,
One day you'll be gone."