The Journey

It seems that this song is the story of a person who discovers an ancient artifact. One with wires that makes a beautiful sound.

He presents it to the leaders, who he believes will experience the same joy he did, but they don’t. In fact, the priest destroys it saying there is no need for ancient artifacts because every aspect of their lives is taken care of.

While there are parallels between this and our current time, there are parallels with the time it was written and even throughout history. Man’s struggle with authority is a never ending struggle, the details change, the players come and go, but the theme remains the same. This is a classic hero’s journey set in a futuristic society that has banned music, and other forms of pleasure.

It is no different than explicit lyric warnings, R and X ratings on movies. Go back in the history of our country and we see that movement for certain people was controlled by the authorities. This also is no different.

Is it a warning? You can take it as a warning, but you can draw parallels throughout human history and learn from them also. We are often warned and as a species refuse to learn from history, which is why stories like this can be told and we believe that are prophetic, because we are making the same mistakes over and over again.

I’ve been in this trade for thirty years. I remember when I was an apprentice, there was an older journeyman, he was the same age that I am now and he always had something to say. He was a little cranky and didn’t care who knew it.

Once, as a holiday drew near, we were sitting at lunch talking amongst ourselves about it. One guy said he would be going out of town, another said he would be catching up on work around the house. I was young and hungry, with a wife and three young kids at home. Apprentice pay wasn’t much to survive on and I never missed work voluntarily.

I commented that I didn’t want to miss work because of the money and the old man responded thusly, “ I’ve missed work before, I’m going to miss work again, what’s one more time?” The statement made sense to me for some reason and I didn’t think any more of it. The holiday came and went and I’m sure we struggled with the short check (honestly, I don’t remember).

Through the nineties we were flush with work and I pretty much worked as much as I wanted to. Then in 2001, the bottom fell out. I found myself out of work for several months before I found work on the road. We survived.

I worked pretty steady until 2010,Then I lost my job and didn’t go back to work for seven months, and when I did, I had to go halfway across the country. I relied on the help of another journeyman because we had lost everything, house, vehicles. Everything. We’re not the only ones who have gone through it.

We were blessed with good fortune and with the hard lessons, we made different decisions and grew stronger because of it. Not to say that we enjoyed the lessons, or that we recognized them as such at the time. The point is, we survived.

So the answer is; yes, you will survive. It will not be easy, or enjoyable, but try and use the opportunity to take care of yourself and do things for yourself. The best thing you can do for yourself is remember that you will miss work again.

A couple days ago a social media giant, or SMG, went dark for several hours. Who knows why, but the conspiracy theorists were out in droves speculating on upcoming legal proceedings among other things.

We don’t know, maybe we never will, what happened and like any good, dramatic conspiracy theory it will be kept alive by those who believe that some elite cabal with nefarious intentions took over. With global communication and a worldwide reach for every opinion, we can jump into any story, no matter how far fetched and build an entire belief system around it. This is not to say that there is not some truth to even the most outlandish ideas.

Truth is what we make it and it seems dangerous to base one’s beliefs on a meme posted on social media. Most of them tug at emotional triggers with their words and the pictures cause feelings to well up inside. It’s ironic how each belief structure accuses the other of being brainwashed when, in fact, all sides are brainwashed and don’t realize it. I wonder if most people realize that algorithms choose what each user sees in order to garner the most interaction?

Back to the worldwide blackout. As addicted as the world is to electronic communication I wonder if there were any withdrawal symptoms. One can say I didn’t notice that’s a bunch of garbage and hate speech, then go back to watching their funny videos. “Maybe someone says “You’re always scrolling through that phone,” then turns on the television to catch up on the latest streaming platform in order to binge watch its new series.

I’m not immune from this myself. My phone gives me a report each week on how much screen time has been used on my device and, even though I use my phone for writing and related research, the social media usage tends to be quite high. I’m working on that. Reaching for the device to check and see if anyone has read or commented on my blog is almost subconscious and once inside it’s all too easy to become totally immersed.

Maybe this blackout has been a good thing. It’s caused me to reevaluate. It’s caused me to step back and focus on the here and now. That’s really all I’ve got anyway. So what if I don’t see the interactions with the blog right away? The results will be there still if I set aside a designated time to look. I still use the platform in my publishing business but that doesn’t mean that I need to be connected at all times.

I woke up this morning and this question popped into my mind. Before coffee. Before reading. Before writing. This is an important question and maybe I should spend a little time answering it, or at least thinking about it.

Why should I even have a “worthy endeavor” and want constitutes one? My answer to either of those two questions is; I don’t know. Moreover, why should I even have a worthy endeavor?

We all have something that we pursue. It may be money, status or other material comfort. Maybe it’s helping others or volunteering time. Who knows? Everyone has a different idea of what a worthy endeavor is, but is it important to know what it is? Maybe not, so why did this question come to mind?

We go through life from one scene in our own movie to the next. We are the star and the hero of our own story and maybe we don’t know what the hero’s motivation is. If you watch any movie, the hero pursues some ideal, whether it’s overcoming a weakness or learning to find his or her strengths. We recognize this as the hero’s journey.

We are all on a journey. The path is different for everyone though we are headed to the same destination. It’s only through discernment that we come to realize that we are on this path to enlightenment. You can interpret that word however you want, but the point is we are all moving toward something, whether we recognize or accept it, or not.

Surely, there are those who spend a lifetime not asking this simple question. It takes a bit of reflection and contemplation to realize what we are searching for. You could say that we are all searching for the same thing, but who am I to say what someone else wants? That would be pretty arrogant of me to suppose that I know what someone else should pursue. Sounds a little like religion, doesn’t it? More like people who wish to force their own worldview on the world.

What then, is my worthy endeavor? I’m always in pursuit of knowing and loving myself. I want to strengthen my weaknesses and embrace who I am. It doesn’t matter if others like, or accept me. It’s up to me to like and accept myself. That, to me, should be job one; to work on my inner life.

Others may have different ideas and don’t necessarily believe that constant inner work is important. That’s good for them. It’s not for me to judge what they think is important. They will find their way and I will find mine. The best way I can be anything for anyone is to be true to myself.

Today is Thursday. Today is my Friday. There have been only a handful of times in my career that I’ve worked 40 hours a week. I recently left a job that I worked 55 days straight twelve hours a day, so forty hours now is a blessing.

I had about a month off voluntarily and that was a blessing. It was the longest I have voluntarily had off in my career. It causes me to evaluate my work ethic. I have been working since I took that paper route at eleven years old and I’ve been working to get ahead ever since. I’m still not ahead, by the way. The hamster wheel continues to turn.

The early mornings spent in reading, contemplation or writing are good for me. This, also, is a blessing. The next three days I will wake a little later, but my morning routine will be the same. It keeps me focused on what matters and what matters is my own inner peace. I can’t be anything for anyone else until I can be me for myself and this ritual helps keep me centered.

Work and career is a thing I do to provide the lifestyle my family deserves. It’s easy to lose sight of my passion, which is creativity. Whether it is writing, music, drawing, contemplating, or any other creative pursuit. It’s what I want to do all the time.

I do have to work for the income but I am blessed to be able to work in a trade that allows me to create. It also allows me to be my authentic self. So until my passion is able to provide, I will get busy working.