The Incessant Muses

The Sacred Grove, Beloved of the Arts and the Muses, 1884–89
Pierre Cécile Puvis de Chavannes French, 1824-1898

This painting, The Sacred Grove, resides in the Chicago Museum of Art.  I saw it there last year, and spent some time trying to identify the nine Muses.  I didn't have enough information at the time, but here they are before us:

Calliope was the muse of epic poetry.
Clio was the muse of history.
Erato was the muse of love poetry.
Euterpe was the muse of music.
Melpomene was the muse of tragedy.
Polyhymnia was the muse of sacred poetry.
Terpsichore was the muse of dance.
Thalia was the muse of comedy.
Urania was the muse of astronomy.

According to The Free Dictionary, a Muse is "a guiding spirit" or "a source of inspiration". Poets from Shakespeare to Milton have called upon their Muses to inspire them to lofty and meaningful creative action.  The Muses were the personification of knowledge and the arts.

Who would dare to be guided and inspired by the Muses?  Of course, they are not real, these Greek spirits with their white robes and detached and aloof ways. They could not hover about us while we think, or write, or draw, or contemplate, or dance, or hope, or love.  For they do not exist, not in reality, not in this physical world, not in any measurable way.

But the Muses were never said to be physical beings anyway.  If anyone might secretly believe them to exist in his mind, to move and influence him, to inflame his being and excite his passions, what proof could be offered to convince him otherwise?  The collective thoughts and feelings of generations past reside hidden in his mental processes, and if he believes that among them the Muses dance and sing and play -- well, perhaps he should not share this with anyone.

The theory of the Muses does not mesh with the world of cars and cash and widescreen television sets that everyone knows exists in unavoidable reality.  The Muses could never compete or adequately compensate -- even if they did exist. How could poetry or music or dance enrich conversations filled with sardonic humor, or dreams already replete with avarice, or the soul that "knows no release from little things".  Such knowledge and art are too much for daily living.  Who among us could hear this incessant drone of the calling Muses when the real world has us in its hold?

A Father’s Steadfast Love

A father tells his children what they need to know rather than what they want to hear.  
A father is strong for the whole family amid the dangers that encompass them. 
A father provides for his children when they cannot fend for themselves.
A father maintains his bearing and puts on an air of invulnerability to instill confidence.
A father nurses private pains rather than sharing his burdens with his family.
A father gets up early and goes to bed late and doesn’t complain.
A father seeks diversions from his daily work to maintain his sanity.
A father loses his temper when confronted with foolish behavior that will do his family harm.
A father is misunderstood despite his best intentions for his family.
A father does not give up when life gets difficult.
A father favors tough love over vain sentimentality.
A father fears for his family’s safety and always deliberates on how he can protect them.
A father keeps his head high and allows nothing to besmirch his honor.
A father has put away the excesses of his youth to concentrate his energies on those he loves.
A father builds a strong foundation for his children but is not appreciated in his time.
A father provides an example of character and fortitude for his children.
A father acts in God’s stead in leading his children to sublime thoughts and actions.
A father’s steadfast love echoes down the generations long after he is gone:

                A love that supports

                A love that inspires

                A love that overcomes

                A love that endures

                A love that survives the vagaries of time

A father’s steadfast love is ours forevermore.

The Soul's Dominion

I was just surfing the web and ran across the Wikipedia post for Victor Frankl's book The Search for Meaning.  Frankl endured the hardships of the concentration camps, and went on to outline the psychotherapeutic method he called logotherapy.  I have both read the book and visited one of the camps he endured.  In the book Frankl said:
  
“Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

Dachau Concentration Camp

He was not the first or last to voice this philosophy.  The Stoics wrote that in the face of difficulty we are responsible for our own response to circumstances, rather than the circumstances themselves.  I'm also reminded of the Serenity Prayer and the desire “to accept the things I cannot change”.  The attitude of the soul is the critical thing here.  Amelia Earhart wrote: 

Courage

Courage is the price that
Life exacts for granting peace.
The soul that knows it not knows no release
From little things:
Knows not the livid loneliness of fear,
Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear
The sound of wings.

Nor can life grant us boon of living, compensate
For dull gray ugliness and pregnant hate
Unless we dare
The soul's dominion. Each time we make a choice, we pay
With courage to behold resistless day,
And count it fair.

There is a natural tendency to shrink in the face of difficulty.  We would rather take the easy path, but in so doing it may be that we lose ourselves in the dull gray ugliness of meaninglessness.  May we look within ourselves and muster the strength to meet each day, and the courage to overcome the lesser inclinations of the soul.

My Story

When I was a child, I loved learning.  I was happy to learn new words and how to spell them. I competed in the school spelling bee.  I took pride in my school assignments, and I was always willing to please the teacher.  I loved language arts and social studies.  I showed initiative, and excelled at self-paced study.  I was at the top of my classes.

I have wanted to be a writer since I was nine years old.  I started a novel back then:  “The phone rang.”  It was going to tell the story about three buddies who went off to war and came back heroes.  The only professional experience I have had as a writer was a seven-week stint as Poet-in-Residence in the San Antonio Independent School District.  Writing poems or lyrics comes easily to me.  I’ve recently started a new novel called Resistless Day.  It’s about an expat who returns to the U.S. and undergoes major life changes and finds it difficult to face each coming day.

As a teenager I became enraptured with the Christian faith.  I read the Bible daily and believed that I was responsible for the souls of the whole world.  I was very serious and sincere. I went on to study theology at a Bible College and finished with a Biblical Studies degree at a Christian liberal arts college.  After working in a children’s ministry, I became disillusioned.  I left the ministry and never turned back.

Then I tried different things.  I did a stint in the U.S. Air Force as a personnel specialist.  I moved to Tennessee to trace my family roots and ended up working as a juvenile probation officer.  I tried making music in Florida.  I went home to help look after my father when he had heart surgery, and found my career at a standstill.  That’s when I ventured to northern Virginia and found work as a telecommunications engineer.

After a year at Global One, I transferred to the operations in Frankfurt, Germany.  I spent thirteen years based there, mostly as a freelancer, and I had rich and varied experiences during my European adventure.  I finally returned to the U.S. to avoid spending the rest of my life over there.

Now I am back in my own country.  I have worked as a hospital orderly, child evangelist, construction worker, dishwasher, strolling guitarist, singer, telecommunications engineer, juvenile probation officer, database specialist, poet, and housekeeping attendant.  I have visited more than 20 countries.  I speak four languages.  And I have had only the best of intentions.  I wanted to be a good student.  I wanted to tell stories.  I wanted to inspire and encourage people with music. I wanted to save the world.  I wanted to look after my father.  I wanted to open my heart and mind to other cultures.  I wanted to run my own business.  So what’s next?

I still would like to reach my goals.  I would like to be a professional writer.  I would like to sing regularly.  I would like to reach out to the world and inspire and encourage and help others.  I would like to continue my international adventures.  I am a man of the world.  And I have a lot to share.

Moonlight in Vermont

I'm working up a song list with Bob Spaziano on piano.  We have 100+ songs already, and we're  constantly adding more.  Here's a sample:

Thinking -- by Walter D. Wintle

Thinking
by Walter D. Wintle

If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think you dare not, you don't,
If you like to win, but you think you can't
It is almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow's will
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!

Jacques Brel-Ne me quitte pas (Eng. Subtitles)

I just find this clip incredible. First, he is so unapologetic in his presentation.  He doesn't care what anyone thinks.  He is delivering the song with reckless abandon.  Second, the text of the song he wrote is deeply meaningful, exalting the wonder of the woman he loves.  The imagery is rich and beautiful.  And third, this is pure singing, without the interruption of show-off instrumentals and intrusive band noise.

I can relate to this video in so many ways.  I see singing as storytelling, interpreting text with passion and understanding.  In a way, good singing has similarities to good acting.  The singer is playing the part, and bringing to life the words and ideas of the writer.  In this respect, singers have a quite distinct job in comparison to instrumentalists, who are left to wordless interpretations.  I really like the way Brel reaches out to the audience.

And I also find it amazing to study the personality behind this singing.  I have listened to other Brel songs and some interviews in the past few days.  Here was an outspoken and opinionated philosopher, and his beliefs were evident in his songs.  Here was an authentic man, one who lived without apology and saw things in a clearer light than the rest of the world.  And he shared his sense of meaning with his audience in a wonderful way.  There was something different about this man Brel.

Quotes on Success

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.
Booker T. Washington

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
Bill Cosby

What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.
Bob Dylan

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
Bill Cosby

I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.
George Burns

Action is the foundational key to all success.
Pablo Picasso

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
Vince Lombardi

The starting point of all achievement is desire.
Napoleon Hill