Monday Feb. 25th

I just keep working along and making more headway as each day passes. I have taken to listening to all of my favorite operas as I work. My collection of classical music will be the next selection to come out of its mothball stasis.

There is much to uncover and many truths to realize as we pass through each lifetime. As we open our hearts and minds to experience love, passion, loyalty, hate, betrayal, cruelty, desperation, fear, selfishness, cowardice and everything else in between we become aware of the smallness. I can walk in canyons and look up at the mountains. I can stand beside the river and watch the water of the mountain streams rush by and see my footprints in the sands along the riverbanks. I can watch the earth block out the moon from my front yard and as I do everyone of these things I am struck by how small everything seems to become. Is this why things become so important and so intense? Is it a response to this smallness that drives us make sure that these experiences maintain importance?

I think that this is one of the reasons that I love the opera so desperately. In one big beautiful bouquet, it gives us everything. The smallest gesture that may be missed by the eyes can be understood and acknowledged within the music. In the music we are granted access to the most private and primal depths for each moment. All we have to do is listen.

Here is that great quote from the movie Pretty Woman; "People's reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic. They either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul."