Ha! It’s cool to watch you mightily try to stay human in all this. You describe overwhelm well. You don’t look 66. Something you said reminds me of George Harrison saying “it’s all too much.” But it’s really rich what you’re doing. You seem to let yourself bear witness to pain and love and then carry it like a mighty camel carries thru a desert provisions for an entire town. I usually rankle at self blame. (I’m a Spinozaic Jew, I don’t do blame.) But seeing you take your “full share” sets an example of humility. It’s not vanity in your case. You know that we’ll all have to do that a little if this is going to work out in the end. The love gushes forth in copious amounts and some of it is collected into a song that is itself a bit like manna. And the overflow collects into a blog post, a video, a painting, a…
I was born on October 7, 1966. So October 7 has taken on much larger meaning now. Epic meaning. This world often makes me tremble with fear. But it also makes me tremble at all the beauty. Thank you, Peter, for creating beauty in this fearsome world.
This especially: "For the moment the boundary between me and the world, between memory and imagination, between my past and the possible futures before me, had dissolved. Music is like that."
I cannot even count the many, many times that I have been at concerts and had this exact experience. It's nirvana. Feeling the Oneness of it all without any boundaries, in total ecstatic freedom (no drugs involved).
I am continually amazed at how similar our esthetic responses and our empathetic responses to things are. I literally feel the songs get into me and occupy my entire consciousness. My body sways to the rhythm. And the words go straight into my heart.
Speaking of which, those lyrics you wrote were beautiful.
And you are so empathic. Always reaching out to people. That is a blessing (and sometimes a curse).
I found the roles of the male and female you described absolutely perfect. It's how it is in my marriage. I never knew that was a Jewish thing. That's something powerful in my DNA.
You continue to amaze me with your beautiful and profound writing. I don't know how you can articulate your feelings the way you do. I don't really know how to access my feelings, let alone articulate them. Thank you for doing it for me!
I struggle with the horror stories, too. Even in my happiest moments- the sorrow is there that people somewhere, especially children, are suffering. I know that God is with every person to some degree - “In Him we live and move and have our being”, and I marvel that He can bear it all. Love hurts in a fallen world and He is Love.
Regarding the comment of how our bodies return to air- consider oak trees. I have handled oak logs and they are extremely heavy! Where do they get their mass? From the air! From carbon dioxide. Scientists grew oak seedlings and weighed the soil and none of the soil weight was reduced. We are also carbon-based life forms, which is why I think this whole carbon reduction lie is from the devil. It is anti-life. Surely we need oxygen as well as carbon dioxide, but CO2 is essential!
But scriptures do say that he formed us from the dust and to the dust we return. Dust in the wind!
Thank you for this. So thoroughly have I been obsessed with the Bibas boys' fate that I have urged as part of the (kosher) redevelopment of the proper province of Israel - Gaza - the Corniche is renamed after them as a perpetual reminder of the unfathomable evil of the demons we face who not only strangled two little boys to death, but then pelted their little corpses with stones to claim to the world that the IAF "really" killed them during a bombing raid, then paraded their little coffins in front of paid-for-by-Qatari-money banners with the help of the Red Cross and the United Jew Hating Nations.
For every Purim until my death, I will dress as Batman.
Ha! It’s cool to watch you mightily try to stay human in all this. You describe overwhelm well. You don’t look 66. Something you said reminds me of George Harrison saying “it’s all too much.” But it’s really rich what you’re doing. You seem to let yourself bear witness to pain and love and then carry it like a mighty camel carries thru a desert provisions for an entire town. I usually rankle at self blame. (I’m a Spinozaic Jew, I don’t do blame.) But seeing you take your “full share” sets an example of humility. It’s not vanity in your case. You know that we’ll all have to do that a little if this is going to work out in the end. The love gushes forth in copious amounts and some of it is collected into a song that is itself a bit like manna. And the overflow collects into a blog post, a video, a painting, a…
Shabbat shalom Mr. P.
I like that word “astound”
I was born on October 7, 1966. So October 7 has taken on much larger meaning now. Epic meaning. This world often makes me tremble with fear. But it also makes me tremble at all the beauty. Thank you, Peter, for creating beauty in this fearsome world.
You were moved to tears and are now moving the rest of us to tears too. Shabbat Shalom.
Thank you Peter, for allowing us all to taste the Bread of Angels with you...thank you for all the love you bring to so many.
OMG, this just walloped me.
This especially: "For the moment the boundary between me and the world, between memory and imagination, between my past and the possible futures before me, had dissolved. Music is like that."
I cannot even count the many, many times that I have been at concerts and had this exact experience. It's nirvana. Feeling the Oneness of it all without any boundaries, in total ecstatic freedom (no drugs involved).
I am continually amazed at how similar our esthetic responses and our empathetic responses to things are. I literally feel the songs get into me and occupy my entire consciousness. My body sways to the rhythm. And the words go straight into my heart.
Speaking of which, those lyrics you wrote were beautiful.
And you are so empathic. Always reaching out to people. That is a blessing (and sometimes a curse).
I found the roles of the male and female you described absolutely perfect. It's how it is in my marriage. I never knew that was a Jewish thing. That's something powerful in my DNA.
Thank you for sharing. This was beautiful.
Wonderfully written, wonderfully expressed.
Shabbat Shalom
You continue to amaze me with your beautiful and profound writing. I don't know how you can articulate your feelings the way you do. I don't really know how to access my feelings, let alone articulate them. Thank you for doing it for me!
Amen, Kein Yehi Ratzon.... May this be the Will of HaShem. Please.
I struggle with the horror stories, too. Even in my happiest moments- the sorrow is there that people somewhere, especially children, are suffering. I know that God is with every person to some degree - “In Him we live and move and have our being”, and I marvel that He can bear it all. Love hurts in a fallen world and He is Love.
Regarding the comment of how our bodies return to air- consider oak trees. I have handled oak logs and they are extremely heavy! Where do they get their mass? From the air! From carbon dioxide. Scientists grew oak seedlings and weighed the soil and none of the soil weight was reduced. We are also carbon-based life forms, which is why I think this whole carbon reduction lie is from the devil. It is anti-life. Surely we need oxygen as well as carbon dioxide, but CO2 is essential!
But scriptures do say that he formed us from the dust and to the dust we return. Dust in the wind!
I have an old friend, who is lost to me in these times. Her name is Hope. When I think of her and our loss, I think I am hopeless.
But then I read your posts and a tiny bit trickles back in.
thank you.
Thank you for this. So thoroughly have I been obsessed with the Bibas boys' fate that I have urged as part of the (kosher) redevelopment of the proper province of Israel - Gaza - the Corniche is renamed after them as a perpetual reminder of the unfathomable evil of the demons we face who not only strangled two little boys to death, but then pelted their little corpses with stones to claim to the world that the IAF "really" killed them during a bombing raid, then paraded their little coffins in front of paid-for-by-Qatari-money banners with the help of the Red Cross and the United Jew Hating Nations.
For every Purim until my death, I will dress as Batman.