"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.” – Émile Zola
It has been a while since I have written a new post, and I reckoned it was time to do so. With the world in virtual upheaval, inspiration is hard to come by without sounding depressed, angry, disillusioned, and disappointed. This has somehow stifled me and kept my words at bay. The importance of recognizing things for what they are has disappeared for many; a snake is a snake, for it will never be an elephant.
Life is like insanity, making us do things repeatedly while expecting different results [Narcotics Anonymous]. In the end, life is what you make of it. There will be times of greatness and times when you will be messing. That is a universal truth. Art, too, is such a thing. A writer writes because he wants to touch the world with their words. A singer sings the notes hoping to fill your heart and soul with beauty, passion, and despair. A painter paints, wishing that paintings translate the beauty of the worlds known and unknown. It may well be that it is precisely this insanity that fuels dreams and realities; its expectations and subsequent results and outcomes that are the vibrancy of life.
In “Life is a Dream” Calderon de la Barca focuses on the moral implications of revenge and the restoration of honor through the narration of a beautiful and haunting tale of love, betrayal, knowledge, and power. Throughout the poem, Calderon de La Barca uses vibrant scenery to contrast antagonistic ideas and brilliantly intertwines illusion vs. reality, free will vs. predestination, governance vs. governing, knowledge vs. superstition (does QAnon ring a bell here??), love vs. vengeance, honor/ and dishonor, loyalty vs. rebellion, justice vs. revenge, leading us to understand the importance of progress vs. retrogression and ignorance.
As life today is getting harder and harder to understand and live for many, the main ideas brought up centuries ago seem to be driven home. Here's a tiny part of one of my favorite poems of all time (it really is). I can but hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
“Life is a Dream”
:::
:::
:::
It is true: so let us repress
this fierce condition,
this fury, this ambition,
In case we ever dream:
and we will do, for we are
In such a unique world,
that to live is only to dream;
and experience teaches me
that man dreams the life that is his,
until his living is done.
The king dreams he is king, and he lives
in the deceit of a king,
Disposing and governing;
And all the praise he receives
is written in the wind and leaves
a little dust on the way
when death ends, all with a breath.
:::
:::
:::
I, too, dream and behold,
I dream that I am bound with chains,
And I dreamed these present pains
Were fortunate ways of old.
What is life? a tale that is told;
What is life? an extreme frenzy,
A shadow of things that seem;
And the greatest good is but small,
when all life is a dream to all,
and the dreams themselves are but a dream.
--[Pedro Calderon de la Barca]--
Poem: Life Is A Dream by Pedro Calderon de la Barca - PoetryNook.Com.
https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/life-dream
https://lyricstranslate.com [adjusted by noelle L Lew]
Keep in mind that, at present, much can be lost. It has often been foreshadowed that “malicious forces” would try to take over all the “good acquired over the years.” Those forces are trying very hard to do just that. The old adage still stands; United we stand. And united, we are strong. We cannot let democracy be eradicated by a bunch of insecure, angry, power-hungry men and women. Actions have consequences. Our actions have consequences. Just as our voice counts. Your voice counts. VOTE.
Until next time peoples of the page. Be kind. Be safe. Be healthy. Namaste.
