The Liquid Kosmos

The Aura

Today I've chosen self love as my topic. Who impacts how we feel about ourselves? Can outside factors truly make a difference or does it come from a spiritual center that is balanced and grounded in a place that insulates us from destruction and blooms with purity that spreads into those around us?

Yes, it is a hidden desire of mine to be a psychologist. For a brief stint I even declared it my major in college, but quickly changed my tune after peering at rats in a cage for a week. I didn't want the science, I wanted the couch sessions. The all-out spill your guts discussion that dove into places we are afraid to go. I guess I liked everything about the "exchange" but didn't necessarily like the idea of telling someone else how to live their lives.

Last night I stood like cattle in a crowd of rabid Springsteen fans and looked on as he seduced me for three hours. He is a poet...a performer... a rock-n-roll icon. I have always acknowledged these facts, but I had never embraced them.

For me it was spiritual. It was the little things... Returning a smile to the eye of a stranger while he sang along at the top of his lungs. The look on the face of the young girl in a cowboy hat while Bruce held her close and sang her a song. It was the older woman who lived a lifelong dream as she danced face to face with the Boss to Clarence's sax solo. It was the genuine look of "love for the music" in Max Weinberg's 57-year-old eyes as he locked down the aggressive back beat for three grueling hours. It was Bruce Springsteen, head to toe in his standard black, trudging about the stage like an awkward teen, while somehow projecting the aura of Barishnikov.

Yes, the aura. The magic. The ability to captivate by mere presence. The last time I felt this way was at a U2 concert. I realize it's trite and potentially obvious, but Bono is simply the most magnetic performer I have ever seen. When I watch a band, I am traditionally glued on the drummer, but for U2 I couldn't peel my eyes from Bono.

I really believe that certain people project from a place that unleashes my true self. The purest, most genuine place that leaves me frozen in that moment, oblivious to what doesn't matter and completely aware of what does.

The question is, can we get there alone or do others help us get there? Springsteen surely didn't hurt and it made me wonder whether he was hitting me in a place that needed development or a spot that reminded me we are all connected as one.

Which leads me to my favorite lyric:

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame
You say...

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's...

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One...life

One

- U2

posted by The Oscillator @ 1:19 PM