The Work

Up early and typing to maintain the discipline of practice

I do not edit myself. I do the work; showing up. If you read these words, you are a part of it too. If you respond to them, I have achieved my goal of sparking action at distance. Yesterday, I wrote:

As often happens, one thing has led to another and I’m now listening to:

I’m remembering a performance by Philip Glass that I attended here in Washington, DC followed by a panel discussion in which he related how, early in his career, he drove a cab and a passenger noticed his name and said “Do you know you have the same name as a very important composer?” I believe he didn’t find it necessary to tell the individual that he was the composer, but simply allowed that information to pass.

As the title of this essay suggests, I am…thinking about what the work is. I do it. I am a servant of the muse within me who drives me forward. I don’t know much myself about why and what it’s for, but that is to be revealed in time - or perhaps never. It simply is.

During my conversation with Sue Cawthorne yesterday, I was interested to hear that she found herself writing instructions of a sort from Meher Baba and has had close contact with a range of individuals who are peripheral to his circle. I too have had such contact beginning in 1983. The work began there and its taken me on a rambunctious ride through life. I was twenty. It was forty-three years ago. Out of it, I’ve come to understand that my work is in recording my impressions as I move from dawn to dusk and back again….and from cradle to grave. The grave will leave plenty of time for silence, so I do the work out loud here. Now I feel it is appropriate to cite the one who voiced that sentiment:

Christopher was silenced by death in 2011, but lived not far from where I sit now. I’m grateful for the close brushes we had during my time in Pittsburgh, PA. I was in the audience when he interviewed Salman Rushdie in the spring of 1997 on the day Allen Ginsberg died; voices, my friends, that must be heard still.

My work has a lot to do with keeping the dead alive and I have written about that extensively:

While that one may still be behind the pay wall, I have just removed that barrier from this one:

The print shown here was made about the time of my late father’s departure from Colonial Williamsburg for the Georgia Historical Society. He’d be back a few months later thanks to the actions of Earl Lumpkin Soles, Jr., the long-time Director of the Historic Trades department as this largest program of historic trades preservation in the world required rigorous scholarship.

When Earl Soles passed away, I decided that it would be good to establish something of a monument in his memory so made the Historic Trades Preservation Special Interest Group. It now boasts 2178 members around the world. I’m grateful for that.

Gratitude

If there is a point to writing about “The Work” it is that I need to remind mySelf what it’s about and who it is serving. It serves that Self which resides within each of us. It is the One, I would say. You are also an iteration of this pattern. I recognize you. I seek to be recognized as another iteration of You, also. There are many ways of expressing this but I find one of the better ones to be “Bargain” which describes the journey to this awareness:

I’d work all my life and I will
To win you
I’d stand naked stoned and stabbed

I call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had

I’d gladly lose me to find you
Gladly give up all I got
To catch you
I’m gonna run and never stop

I’ll pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you
I’m gonna drown an unsung man

I call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had

I sit lookin’ round
I look at my face in the mirror
I know I’m worth nothing
Without you
In Life, one and one don’t make two
One and one make one
And I’m lookin’ for
That free ride to me
I’m lookin’ for you

I’d gladly lose me to find you
Gladly give up all I got
To catch you
I’m gonna run and never stop

I’ll pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you
I’m gonna drown an unsung man

I call that a bargain
The best I ever had

The best I ever had

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Peter Dennis Blandfor Townshend

Bargain lyrics © Spirit Catalog Holdings, S.a.r.l., Fabulous Music Ltd

It seems to me that this is enough for one day although it still seems insufficient. I’m called to service and I’ll keep doing that until I can think of something else to do. The main service is sharing my perspective with all of you and soliciting your perspective. I’m grateful for the opportunity to do so and sincerely hope that I’ll be getting more than just a few likes on this effort. I want to have a conversation with you. I want to learn from your perspectives on the work that we are doing here together.

As I often say, if not now, when? If not us, who?

Let’s be good ancestors. Let’s be about the business of:

Onward!

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