Sunrise on Christmas Eve / Bob Dylan's hands (just because)

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Bob Dylan's hands:

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Addendum, relating to learning Bob Dylan songs and my experience in trying to learn Spanish as a second language.  Bob Dylan's voice and songs engaged me on an emotional level the first time I heard his voice at age 13.  Certain words and short phrases in Spanish are immediately memorable.  Dibujar.  ¡Por supuesto!  Claro que si.  Los impermeables.  ¿Por qué?  Mis abuelos.  Un chiste.  El bebe.  La biblioteca.  La escuela.  Los libros.  El agua.  El cielo.  El lago.  Azul.  Verde.  Amarillo.  Rojo.  El caballo.  La tormenta.  Todos los dias.  El mundo.  Escribir.  Leer.  Me gusta.  Llorar.  Las peliculas.  Vivir.  Una palabra.  Saber.  Los manos.  Los arboles.  Porque.  Quiza si, quiza no.

Where there is no emotion there is no life. If you have to learn something by heart and it is of no interest to you, there is no fire; it does not register, even if you read it fifty times. But as soon as there is emotional interest, it need only be read once and you know it. Therefore emotion is the carrier of consciousness; there is no progress in consciousness without emotion. 

~Marie Louise von Franz

(quote from Beth's Tumblr page today)

Just Because (just because) / And something more

At my waking time of 4 a.m. this morning I went out on my porch, as I always do, to breathe the night air and to see if the sky was clear.  Always hoping to see the stars.  More often than not, the sky in coastal Northwest Washington is clouded over but this morning, just as I stepped out on my porch, I was rewarded with the sight of the first shooting star I've seen in years, just as Orion was rising in the east, with the Pleiades high in the sky.  For the last hour, I have listening to the beginning of cover after cover of "Shooting Star," most of them by men, hoping to find one sung well by a woman and am grateful to have found an extraordinary version by Babi Mendez at the end of my searching.

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Then I listened to the original version, remembering the first time I heard it in 1989.

Seen a shooting star tonight And I thought of you You're tryin' to break into another world A world I never knew I always kinda wondered If you ever made it through Seen a shootin' star tonight And I thought of you Seen a shootin' star tonight And I thought of me If I was still the same If I ever became What you wanted me to be Did I miss the mark Overstep the line That only you could see Seen a shooting star tonight And I thought of me Listen for the engine Listen for the bell As the last fire-truck from hell Goes rollin' by All good people are prayin' It's the last temptation The last account Last time you might hear The sermon on the mount Last radio is playin' Seen a shooting star tonight Slip away Tomorrow will be Another day Guess it's too late to say the things to you You needed to hear me say Seen a shooting star tonight Slip away

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I've come a long way since 1949, since 1951, since 1954, since 1963, since 1966, since 1971, since 1987, since 1989, since 1994, since 2001, since 2003, since 2008, since 2020, since yesterday.

Grateful.

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And something more, with gratitude to Robin for her comment with the word beshert which led me to a short film which shed light on the mysteries of the relationship between R and I and left me weeping with joy. No wonder I continue to feel gratitude to him. R and I were born within 24 hours of each other in 1949.

Yes indeed. It was meant to be.

Just because (just because)

Just Because (just because)

Just because I love this eccentric crazy-quilt-of-a-movie.  Early this morning, something prompted me to look through my things for the only Christmas card I ever received from R.  He sent it to me from California in 1987.  It has an embossed scallop shell on the front of the card and:

"Softly...gently...joyfully...Christmas arrives in the heart."

On the same shelf, deep in my hall closet, was the DVD of "My Own Love Song." I just finished watching it again.  It speaks to me in a healing way as the first evening of Hanukkah approaches, with Bodhi Day coming up on December 8, followed by Winter Solstice on December 21, Christmas and New Year's Day.  For years, going through the days of December was like walking through a mine field.  Gradually, something has changed inside me.  Starting this blog on December 8, 2006, was the beginning of whatever it was that made it possible for me to experience December in a different way. 

R loved Bob Dylan's music.  I think he would have liked both of these videos created in connection with Bob Dylan's 2009 album titled "Christmas in the Heart," which was released a year and a half after R died.  R's spirit, like Bob Dylan's, was characterized by gravity and levity and paradox.