I believe
that in each and every one of our lives, there is a pivotal moment that changes
our psyche forever. The way we think is shaped into something entirely
different from what it once was; we are enlightened. A few summers after my
experience with Cameron, I indulged in a physical and mental examination and
incredible introspective analysis- I became a hippie. It sounds ridiculous, but
in my journey, which was not, by any means, one that was overdone, abused, or
taken for granted, I became more in touch with myself and every other person
than ever before. The negativity in my soul seemed to evaporate. I found myself
without the desire to criticize, without the physical ability to roll my eyes,
or become anything more relaxed, in sobriety or not. I couldn’t describe
anything abnormal or unfortunate with anything more pessimistic than the word
“weird.”
I was sculpted, for the better, forever. My body had become
a dish, receiving the signals from the satellites that embody life, love and
the human being. No sun had set, but a dawning had occurred. Ironically,
Incubus’ “Aqueous Transmission” was there with me every night that summer. It
drifted me to sleep when the sky would grow dark and crickets grew restless.
The song illustrates a being that is taken back at life while on a journey. He
“felt his heart overflow,” he drifted down a river of emotion while contemplating
his state of being. He is discovering a new life form; he is being enlightened-
just as I was that summer a few years ago.
Life is
confusing. Its corners create an inevitable maze or perplexity. It never gets
easier, and it never ends until death. Life is filled with joys and exuberant
moments but succeeding is the cliff-dangling lows and irreconcilable
devastations. Amidst the omnipotent tyrant that is today’s society we can
become entangled, and get lost inside a collective conscience that isn’t our
own. After my enlightenment, I was overwhelmed by this very being over time.
Perhaps it was the loss of my homeland, something I’d taken for granted in the
past. In the United States,
I figured once I returned home to Canada, I’d lost my own
perspective, and I’d become entranced by the way things were ‘supposed’ to be
done. Things were different and I’d had a hard time coping once I moved, so I
conformed. Whilst returning to my home for the summer, I was overtaken by
myself. My self conscience was restored through an insurmountable wave created
by the reinstatement of my mind’s dexterity. The self inflicted complexities of
life had disappeared and been replaced by the simplicities of freedom of
thought. Boundaries were repressed and the teeming weight of superficial
limitations was uplifted off my back. Emotions were so vivid- it seemed like
ages since I’d last felt them without repression. Stabilo Boss, the composers
and performers of the piece “Everybody” use remarkable, ingenious ease in both
their lyrics and musical prose to confront those who have become tools of their
own self infliction of restriction. Perhaps this revelation happens all too
often in people’s lives. So much so that the importance of the message is lost
a little more each time until it’s completely ignored and dubbed insignificant.
Maybe that’s why its’ first occurrence in my remains the most pivotal; the most
memorable.
Love
embodies the human spirit in its’ rarest, purest form. In its’ subtle
sensuality, it overrides all other emotions, and replaces them with a warm
glow. The touch of a close one carries with it much more than the arousal of a
sense; along its’ back rides enough life to fill an infinite chasm. No one
person can be truly complete without a significant other. Love is an amplifier;
it bolds our thoughts, which shadow our doubts. It accentuates our senses; they
grow agape, accepting the surrounding nonexistent, and seemingly impossible. It
enables the long-dead conscience to imagine again. It brings hope to a desolate
no-man’s land. Love is that intangible fairy on our shoulder, its' the solid
ground we can depend on being there when we’re too dizzy to know which way the
precipice lies. There’s just something about it that makes is superhuman; an
emotion so powerful it can annihilate despicability; it can bring opposites to
attract- and remain. It is a common language; it shatters any barriers built
between races, religion and sex. It is peace.
They say you never know what you
have until it’s gone; when it’s too late to get it back; when it matters most.
Nothing is a truer statement when it comes to love. Once lost, the invisible
existent can leave craters larger than any meteor or atom bomb. The soul is
more easily damaged when the attack originates within the borders a great wall
of defense is meant to protect. And with the loss: a fire; so intense it can
burn maps meant to guide, memories meant for eternity, and words that aren’t
even written yet. Post to irreparable damage, comes the loss of one’s self in
the untimely expanse of former thoughts, now blackened ashes. The toll is so
vast, as is the time required for recovery. Desired by all, but regretted by
many, love is a precious commodity. It can shine brighter than any star on the
darkest of nights. Its’ fire can burn so hot it turns out water. For such an
immense force, it’s ironic that its’ infinite meaning be embodied in a four
letter word.
Just as my first love entailed all
the above, The Perisher’s “Sway” encompasses the stretch of sensation
experienced after it lost me.
Contact me if you'd like the songs.