Saturday, December 24, 2016

In the Service of Beer and Vitamins

In the beginning, they say, was the capital W Word. And the Word was made flesh. It went from sound to action, from idea to life out here in the actual dog-shit world. On this, the eve of Christmas, I wonder what the hell this might mean in terms of how and why we use language. One way to look it is 1), that talk is cheap, and 2.), words matter. Both of these are true. The difference lies in how language is used. Is it being used to confuse, distract, fill empty spaces with babble, or to pave the way onto one's story? For day-to-day business or spiritual direction? Not that one is bad or good, but that they are different. The point is not to confuse the two. And to live the two. Fun and frivolity (beer) plus direction and significance (psycho-spiritual vitamins). When one is short supply, the other can suffer. Nihilism grows out too much empty blather; not everything that happens in life is "significant." An overdose of meaning can strand one in a dreamland of disconnected purpose, of seeing symbolism in Big Gulp cups blowing along the highway. (Now, one might say that there is no inherent meaning in anything in this crazy world. Got that, but it's another conversation.) So, time to drink in the spirits with the vitamins, is all I'm saying. In the service of what remains the question.

No comments:

Post a Comment