Dancing barefoot on the Green. That is what the Irish do at the drop of a hat. That is what they have always done. Ireland of old is no stranger to sorrow but these ancient Celtic spirits came up with an antidote. Music and movement (and great literature).They figured something out. Even in sorrow and difficulty, we have choices. We are alive, after all, and humans are potently creative so why not do things to lift our spirits and buy us time while we create a way through some mess we find ourselves in.
Yes, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Covering one set of feelings with another set of feelings is basically procrastinating feeling the full range, which is what is required in order to get to the next rung of possibility. A danger in refusing to feel the full range is that after a while, simulated joy does not work. You have heard of mirthless laughter, or smiling with sad eyes. But here's the thing. Many of the Irish if not most have a wonderful sense of play and humor and when we shift into those modes, miracles happen. We are given balance, and perspective, and a remembrance of why it is good to be alive.
As I write this, I am thinking of the 20,000 people who had to evacuate their flooded homes in Hoboken, New Jersey. I am remembering a scene in Dr. Zhivago in which people in dire straits were in a boxcar train, cold, hungry, scared with their senses being assaulted, and somehow, out of all that, they started singing lively Russian songs and dancing. For the moment, it was salvaging. I am hoping that for the ones reeling from the recent events up North, somehow, and very spontaneously they find, while they are in each others company, this kind of Irish and Russian respite. One last example is Africa. Always, Africans have used song and dance and drumming to infuse their sometimes unthinkable situations with the never ceasing vein of golden joy that insists its way into us if we so allow. A responsive human spirit has to be one of the most remarkable things ever.
Yes, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Covering one set of feelings with another set of feelings is basically procrastinating feeling the full range, which is what is required in order to get to the next rung of possibility. A danger in refusing to feel the full range is that after a while, simulated joy does not work. You have heard of mirthless laughter, or smiling with sad eyes. But here's the thing. Many of the Irish if not most have a wonderful sense of play and humor and when we shift into those modes, miracles happen. We are given balance, and perspective, and a remembrance of why it is good to be alive.
As I write this, I am thinking of the 20,000 people who had to evacuate their flooded homes in Hoboken, New Jersey. I am remembering a scene in Dr. Zhivago in which people in dire straits were in a boxcar train, cold, hungry, scared with their senses being assaulted, and somehow, out of all that, they started singing lively Russian songs and dancing. For the moment, it was salvaging. I am hoping that for the ones reeling from the recent events up North, somehow, and very spontaneously they find, while they are in each others company, this kind of Irish and Russian respite. One last example is Africa. Always, Africans have used song and dance and drumming to infuse their sometimes unthinkable situations with the never ceasing vein of golden joy that insists its way into us if we so allow. A responsive human spirit has to be one of the most remarkable things ever.
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