"My eye trouble was the initial inspiration for the song's lyrics. But as I wrote them, the eye issue became a metaphor for lost innocence and for having seen too much: “Doctor, my eyes have seen the years / And the slow parade of fears without crying / Now I want to understand.”" Jackson Browne.
The plain song...
"Be curious, not judgmental."
Walt Whitman.
Eye see you
The Singer (for Kathleen) ...
"You can cage the Singer, but not the Song."
Harry Belafonte.
“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Children sometimes ask interesting questions. And we are well advised not to dismiss them as childish. Because deep in our heart there is still this child we once were - with questions we later considered clarified - or no longer dared to ask. For certain reasons.
So dare to ask.
Quaerere aude.
Lets take a look on what’s out there. The unknown. Look at it trough the eyes of a child. Let’s try.
Yes.
An example? When I look at the sky tonight on this special evening of the first sunday in advent, an old question comes into my mind: How far can we see? How far is the last star we can see with the naked, unaided eye? Well, this distant star is - Chi Aurigae. It is over 2000 light-years away. Which means - we see this star in a light, that was emitted 2000 years ago. And if there are residents in its system, they see our earth just as it was 2000 years ago.
We are sometimes scared about the vastness of space. Aren’t we? And - aren’t we scared, too, about the darkness in our world - and in the hearts of so many of our contemporaries? But there’s this special light. A light that began to shine 2000 years ago. A light - never extinguished. That will never happen. The light of Bethlehem - it still shines.
Thanks to Frank Hofmann
The Visionary (for Barbara)...
