I heard this lyric in a Derek Trucks Band song this morning and it resonated with me. Things that are beautiful are often crazy.
Consider the following list of people who all either are known for creating beauty or are indeed beautiful themselves and on one level or another are what some would call "crazy":
Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Leo Tolstoy, John Keats, Sylvia Plath, and Tennessee Williams, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wilkie Collins, Edgar Allan Poe, Francis Ford Coppola, Patty Duke, Marilyn Monroe, Mozart, Schubert, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, James Taylor, Kurt Cobain and on and on and on I could go.
(I'll toss Tyra Banks in here....she's got to be completely crazy!)
Is it possible that in a society and culture that craves and seeks to produce safe, secure, mundane "individuals" that we've lost so much of what it takes to be interesting and beautiful?
We don't even have to talk about people who are clinically defined as mentally imbalanced to see a certain crazy quality about the people credited with do the most beautiful things.
Was Gandhi somewhat crazy to leave India in a revolt through peace, allowing thousands to be abused in the process and urging them never to fight back through physical violence?
I've heard people say many times that Jesus must be the Son of God or be stark raving mad. There's no middle ground with this beauty creator.
How about Mother Theresa? Do sane people give up their whole lives to live amongst the poorest of the poor or must one be just a bit crazy to produce this level of beauty?
What about the guy from the Tiananmen square? You know, the one on this video:
Am I suggesting that we should all hope that we can get a mental disease so that beauty can flourish? No. What I've been wondering for sometime though is whether or not balance and safety are over-rated. Is that really the kind of life that makes a difference or is that a life that we've been made to believe is best?
If being a bit out of balance, even crazy, allows me the create even a fraction of the beauty that many of these people have gifted the world with, count me in. I'm willing to lose my security and balance, even my life, to find a life more beautiful and capable or creating beauty.
I haven’t had much motivation to write since early February. Since Izaak came and went. I don’t really know why…I just know that I haven’t.
I’ve thought about writing a fair amount though. Why should I write? What do I want to write about? Does my writing add anything of value to the world or does it just make me feel better and like someone is listening to me?
Honestly I think that sometimes my writing is mostly for that last reason.
Confession: I can be a narcissist.
I think I’m ready to get over myself – at least in part.
This blog is going to take on a new face and a new purpose. Maybe it’s just going to get around to what it should have always been about – love.
Jesus of Nazareth said that “Greater Love has no one than this, that they lay down their life…”. Maybe in modern terms we would say that we should lay down our blog. That’s what I’m feeling anyhow.
I don’t want to spend so much time promoting myself. I want to promote others. I want to promote the best of Toronto. I want to promote ideas that would help you become all that your unlimited potential offers you.
So from now I hope you’ll find less of me and more of others. Come on by to see what some incredible people are doing, how the world is being changed for the better and maybe pick up an idea or two that you could benefit from.
What My Son is Teaching Me - part 3. The Final Chapter.
April 2, 2010
I've had this post on my mind and heart for a long time. I really hope it comes out the right way. I've been putting it off out of fear but today of all days seems to be the right day to say it.
It's Good Friday - the day that people who believe the Jesus was the Son of God remember and celebrate (yes, celebrate) His death. For those people his death means life. Jesus did not only promise life after death but said that he came to give us life to the full - here and now.
The narrative told to us in the Bible says that Jesus was God's son. So God was Jesus' Father. The message is clear - God's love for humanity was so selfless and so overwhelming that he chose to freely send and give his Son to die for the salvation and hope of everyone who lived, was ever alive and would ever be alive after that time.
Here's the thing: I wouldn't have done it for you. I don't love you enough. If I could have choosen to give you hope or keep my son I think I would have kept my son. I love Izaak more than I love you. I'm not big enough, strong enough, compassionate enough, selfless enough, or loving enough to give my son for you.
That's why it had to be God. His love is bigger, stronger, more compassionate, and more selfless than the entirety of human history could ever be or show.
What is your concept of who God is? What is the preeminent picture you have in your mind about Him? Think about it. The next time the concept of a higher power crosses your mind I'd encourage you, stop and personalize Him for a moment. Get human about the whole thing. The relationship God had with Jesus is at least the same as you have with your kids, your niece's and nephews, or those adorable kids your friends and neighbours let you get your weekly cute kid fix with. If God was someone that you knew, someone with kids, and he somehow expressed his love for you through them, how much more would that endear you to him? How much more then could the concept that he gave his son for the betterment of humanity endear you to God? Can you let that resonate in and with your soul for a minute? I think it's meant to.
Maybe this just seems crazy to you. Maybe not. I hope that this is helpful on your spiritual journey, wherever it is. I know that my son has taught me so much on my own journey and I'm pretty sure that he's able to help you on yours if you'll let his short life speak words that I believe God gave him to speak.
