River of Dreams

Moonset 2
Originally uploaded by Seeking Tao.

This is something of a total non sequitur, but I keep coming back to it, probably because I am up walking around just about every night in the middle of the night. And too, I discovered that a recent pre-dawn photo of the moon from my bathroom seems to be the perfect illustration.

So the story goes like this:
A few weeks ago, I was driving to work when this old Billy Joel song came on the radio. “River of Dreams” is a boppy little tune and so I was bopping along, singing happily. I hadn’t heard the tune in a long time and I don’t think I’d ever really noticed the words. Well, now I heard them and they hit home.

Later I googled the lyrics. And here, I have them edited for you, just to share and make my point.

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep.
I must be looking for something
Something sacred I lost…

I’m a searcher for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I’d never lose
Something somebody stole.
But the river is wide
And it’s too hard to cross…

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep.
Through the jungle of doubt
To the river so deep.
I know I am searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind
In the middle of the night…

We all end in the ocean.
We all start in the streams.
We’re all carried along
By the river of dreams
In the middle of the night.

What’s he doing?
If you can, read these words without the tune.
These are not words to which I’d ordinarily happily bop along.

These are words to which I would most likely dramatically and tragically slowly progress, insisting to my self that surely someone will eventually notice and offer sympathy if not salvation.

But, you know, obviously, you don’t have to play it that way.
He doesn’t. They don’t.

(Here’s how Billy Joel does it on YouTube.)

And if you don’t have to, why do you?
Isn’t happy boppy better than slowly tragic and dramatic? (Feel free to cast your ballots)
And yes, This is a lesson regarding consciousness.

Yeah, That’s It.
And I think my moon through the magnolia is the perfect image- not too tragic… it’s the view from the toilet for god’s sake. And it’s not at all bad!

So enjoy.