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Tag Archives: love
Piano Update — “Get Together”
I made it over to the Baldwin Grand yesterday and played a version of the song “Get Together” by Dino Valenti. You may know it. It’s a 60’s tune popularized by the Youngbloods. It has lyrics such as these:
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love on another
Right now!
Certainly a fitting theme for the present day. To look at social media posts, one would think we’re all intent on doing the exact opposite — and hating one another.
I myself found myself in a PTSD flashback for the first time in several months yesterday. As the details were amplified, I found myself hating an entire social group, to which many of my friends belong. This amounts to nothing more than stigma and prejudice, which I decry. So while it hurts my heart to have found myself entertaining stigmatic perceptions that I abhor, it does evidence the fact that we are all human. We are all — as the song goes — “but a moment’s sunlight fading in the grass.”
Interesting that in this account of the song’s history, those lyrics are referenced as “Zen-like.” Perhaps so, but it’s sad that these are direct allusions to Christian views of the human condition that were widespread back in those days, and associated with what used to be known as “Christian Love.”
As we all know, Christianity these days is less associated in the common populace with love, and more associated with judgment. Maybe the tides need to turn, yet again.
Anyway I have to take care of some personal needs and I’ll have the song uploaded later on this afternoon. Thanks for listening.
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The Fiercest Blaze of All
Set me as a seal over your heart,
as a seal upon your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol.
Its sparks are fiery flames,
the fiercest blaze of all.
Mighty waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,
his offer would be utterly scorned.
— Song of Solomon 8:6-7
New Faith and Values Column
Sooner than I’d thought, my sequel to “The Context Trap,” (first introduced on this blog two days ago), was just published on Spokane Faith and Values. Many thanks to EIC Tracy Simmons.
Knowledge Puffs Up, Love Builds Up
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Overcome Evil with Good
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Never flag* in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.
Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
— Romans 12:9-21 RSV
* The word “flag” has a meaning equivalent to the modern term “slack.” The Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV) was produced in 1952.
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On My Own (Take Two)
Take One is on my YouTube channel, and Take Two is the result of a hunch I could do this lovely song a bit more justice. But the visuals turned up flawed. So I uploaded it to mp3 and posted it on my SoundCloud. This is a song from the musical Les Miserables, with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, and English lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. I adjusted the lyrics to suit my orientation, (as is common practice), then commenced to daydream thoughout the latter portion of the song. Whoever feels like jotting down the exact minute/second spot where the daydream begins, be my guest.
On my own
Pretending she’s beside me
All alone
I walk with her till morning
Without her
I feel her arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And she has found me
In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers
I love her
But every day I’m learning
All my life
I’ve only been pretending
Without me
Her world will go on turning
A world that’s full of happiness
That I have never known
I love her
I love her
I love her
But only on my own
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Tuesday Tuneup 42
Q. Where would you like to be?
A. In a more loving place.
Q. Why did I not expect you to say that?
A. Because I don’t usually say things like that.
Q. Why did you say that this morning?
A. Because it strikes me that I have been hateful.
Q. Hateful toward whom?
A. Isn’t it obvious? Read my blog.
Q. What makes you think I know how to read?
A. Never mind.
Q. Are you hateful toward an ex-lover?
A. No.
Q. Are you hateful toward a family member?
A. No.
Q. Are you hateful toward an authority figure? A pastor? A counselor? A police officer?
A. No.
Q. Who then? Who?
A. When it comes down to it, to be honest with you, I’m hateful toward people who do the very same things that I do myself, that I happen to hate, when I do them.
Q. Are you suggesting that you hate yourself?
A. Apparently so. At times, anyway, this appears to be the case — if you say so. ;)
Q. Then how can you come to love yourself?
A. That depends on the answer to a certain question. I would like to ask this question of you, and of all my readers. Please feel free to answer, as best you can.
Q. What is the question?
The Questioner is silent.
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Published!
To those of you who might be more accustomed to getting more substantial pieces of prose or poetry published in more prestigious periodicals, my excitement about having been published yesterday may appear to be entirely unwarranted. Therefore, I will try to subdue it.
As I mentioned earlier, I submitted three short pieces of prose to a San Francisco Bay Area newspaper called Street Spirit. The pieces I submitted were Homeless Tinge, I Told Them I was Homeless, and A New Pair of Glasses. Yesterday, I was informed that “A New Pair of Glasses” had been published – although the publisher change the title to A New Way of Seeing. I didn’t mind the change, however, in light of its having been published. I also find the layout to be very professional, and the illustrations to be marvelous. Both are duplicated here below, with a link to the story itself sandwiched between them.
A New Way of Seeing
The publisher Terry Messman offered to send some hard copies of the newspaper to my home address here in Moscow. If anybody wants one, please leave a message on my Contact Page, and we’ll take it from there.
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Anything Helps – God Bless!
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