Codeine and Pneumonia/ The Essence of the Universe

So I was fighting off pneumonia last night, armed only with antibiotics and codeine. Powerful weapons indeed. I woke up shocked that I had written a pretty long blog that cut to the core of living and learning. "I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray..." P

Life is growth. Stagnation is an abomination. If we fail to grow, if we fail to dream, if we lose initiative, we condemn ourselves to mere catatonic existence, slogging through the rest of our days in a non-thinking stupor. Is this extreme? Possibly, but I feel strongly that without the clarity of a rational mind, we are doomed to hold as our highest goal the philosophy that ignorance is bliss. Let me step back. I was fortunate enough to emerge from my seventeen years of schooling without my desire for learning completely squelched. What I mean is that all those facts, dates, formulas, and timelines do not provide wisdom. Only the application of knowledge can give the clarity of wisdom. I read more now, learn more now, and ask more questions because understanding and communication are extremely important to life as growth.
Let me make the following disclaimer: I am not a big fan of musicals and musical theatre. There are a handful I can get behind, but for the most part I just don..t enjoy them. I believe that every band is allowed a maximum of one person who loves musicals, and that person in ours is Rob. However, one of the few I have found extremely compelling is Rent, the rock musical by Jonathan Larson based on Puccini..s opera La Boheme. Rob was kind enough to let me borrow the soundtrack a year ago, and somehow in spite of everything, I liked it. It wasn..t until last week when I saw the dvd that I had any visuals to accompany the soundtrack. The musical stands on its own, but somehow the story of its.. creation elevates it to a level of poignancy that really tears me up. You see, Larson received a tuition paid scholarship to college for acting. After that he moved to New York City, where for the next ten years he worked in a diner, writing the whole time he wasn..t working. He wrote some plays, but it wasn..t until Rent that things started to come together for him. A few more years, finding producers, cast, and fine tuning the script, and he had it in top shape. The final dress rehearsal, friends and family were powerfully moved by the performance and story, and Larson felt the fulfillment of his creation received by the audience. The critic from the NY Times was there and spoke with Larson extensively, assuring him the power of the writing and performance would make his musical a hit. Larson went home that night and died of an aortic aneurysm. Rent went on to the success he knew it would.
All of this to say that life is short, there..s no day but today, and to forget regret, for life is yours to miss. And that we have a dream. A dream that is larger than ourselves, bigger than any of us individually. It has been with us for a long time and we invite you to join us in this dream, share our experiences, dream with us. Life is growth. Stagnation is abomination.
bsm