Well, I had a *brilliant* idea for a first post, but after going through all the tedious necessities that one must go through to set up a blog, I have forgotten it. It was probably something nice and philosophical explaining the title of the blog and how life is an adventure, et cetera, et cetera. Instead I suppose I could explain the point of this blog, since all things should really have a point, and this one, in fact, does.
"What is the point?" you might ask. "Why am I here reading these random thoughts when I could be doing ______, ______ or ______ (insert activities you normally avoid by browsing around the internet here)?" Well really I'm just writing here because I miss writing, I want to keep up writing, and I keep being inspired to write (unfortunately for you, I tend to forget these inspirations well before pen and paper or a computer become available to me). I believe that every written thing should be intended for an audience (there are those who claim some things should be written just for the sake of being written, but they are probably the authors of the lamest of 'artsy' works). Things can be written for certain types of people, for specific acquaintances or friends, or even for oneself. I like to write letters to God. But this here is for you. All you lovely people (assuming you exist) who just might take a liking to something I might think up. And whether you like it or not, please feel free to comment so that I don't feel like I'm just writing to myself publicly. Because that is weird. Almost as weird as talking to yourself, or your computer, or phone, or car, or book, or any other uncooperative inanimate object at hand.
ANYWAY, I sincerely hope that inspiration returns to me in time for the next post, because otherwise I fear that you all will be very bored, and possibly confused. I would like to warn you in advance (if you haven't already noticed) that I am probably overfond (all right, let's admit it-- addicted to) of parentheses and ellipses (those three little dots in a row, supposed to mark a place where material has been left out, but commonly used to denote a long pause. A period could be used instead, but it just feels too staccato sometimes). I apologize.
Here is a little excerpt from the song that inspired the title of this blog (sorry, I switch gears completely and without warning quite frequently. I hope you don't get motion sickness):
"It's far beyond the stars
it's near beyond the moon
I know beyond a doubt
my heart will lead me there too"
What is far beyond the stars and near beyond the moon to which my heart, like Bobby Darin's, will lead me? Well in the original song it's his lady-love, but to me it's joy and beauty and truth and love and just all those things that make up Life.
Oftentimes people will say that life is an adventure. I firmly believe this, and that it is our responsibility to remember this and treat it as such. However, many people seem to think that living life as an adventure means always seizing the moment and doing epic things. Sometimes life can be kind of boring or tedious, or just full of waiting. But if life gets that way, NEVER FEAR! Adventures are full of those kinds of moments! Those are the moments that lead up to the exciting bits, the ones that actually make the exciting bits exciting! If everything was always epic, epic would be normal. And then epic would be boring.
So how do you treat life like the adventure that it is and also reconcile yourself to the less interesting parts of your adventure? Don't spend your life skipping from one high moment to the next. Embrace the journey. Own it. Every last little bit: the exciting parts, the boring parts, the fun parts, the sad parts, even the parts you forget. And mostly, just live. Be. Be ALIVE! As G.K. Chesterton (one of my all-time favorite authors) said, "The glory of God is man fully alive." Don't be a dead fish waiting for life's adventure to happen to you! Be marvelously and gloriously alive, and then you will see the wonder in every single breath.
Adventure is out there! Caw caw, rawr!
(if you don't recognize that, watch Up!)
I believe that not all writing needs an audience, at least not in the traditional sense. God can be your audience, a future version of yourself can be your audience, or even an imaginary friend. I've read beautiful journals by authors who never intended for them to be published. Anne Frank is a well known example, but Virginia Wolf is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI would say that God, your future self, and even an imaginary friend would still count as an audience. I even think that this 'need for an audience' is self-evident in the natural instinct most people possess to address journal or diary entries with "Dear Diary". Some things are definitely written without the intention of ever being shown to anyone, but in that case I believe that they are generally written for the author's own perusal. Perhaps a more accurate statement on my part would have been that I believe writing should have a point, and that writing for a specific audience often helps one to keep on track with that point. I don't like it when people just write random nonsensical things for the sole purpose of writing... it's like "art for art's sake", a concept which I loathe.
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