Nothing Lasts

There have been moments. Those fleeting, quasar-like flashes of insight. When time seems to slow down specifically to properly illuminate the importance of whatever sampling of eternity has snared us. These are not so much learning moments as they are teaching ones. The cosmic potential masters are letting you in on a little secret and if you are found worthy, you will be shown the light. If not - and if you’re lucky - you will get another chance. Generally speaking, my experiences with these magic moments fall into a few broad categories, the same categories we normally associate with popular culture (unfortunately). 

Sports.

Music.

Film.

Literature.

Love. 

Loss.

Awareness. 

I can vividly recall, down to the smallest detail, many moments from the history of my participation in sports. ‘Seeing the seams’ on a belt-high fastball an instant before reversing its trajectory with the unmistakable, delightful and appropriately named crack of the bat. Lightning crackles in the same powerful way. Jerry Garcia once described one of the many ethereal moments from a deep Dead exploration of tonal space as the music ‘crackling with energy’, an allegory that stayed with me for years as I listened intently on determining exactly what combinations created that special sublime condition. It wasn’t simply volume, backbeat, key or tone, it was them all. All at once. And with the support of five teammates all searching for the same magic at the same time. Crackling is good but falls way short of the true meaning of this musical search for nirvana. But those solos, the way the band rushed at full speed to the edge of the cliff and then stopped on a dime, was more of a spiritual awakening than just another three-chord progression with amps at 11. 

Same with film. Envision your favorite scene from your favorite movie and see what the review does to your current situation. Deliver a ‘You can’t handle the truth’, cry ‘Freedom’ or plead for Mr Frodo to make it one more step up the mountainside, to see what that does to the hair on the back of your neck. Absolutely Oscar worthy. 

I could go on and condense first (or last) kisses, the tragedy of losing a loved one, the moment of enlightenment as additional examples, but you get the idea. There are magic moments and there are the mundane. 

Begging the question, can we transform the mundane to the magical? 

With the simple (dynamic) and complex response suggesting that sometimes we can and sometimes we should. 

I am going to state on the record today that there are also times when we need the mundane, or even the sub-mundane in order to learn or appreciate their many lessons. We need to feel sadness in order to better appreciate joy in the same way that we need to fail as a prerequisite for eventual success. I can guarantee that should you nail a three-two slider for a walk-off two-run dinger that your three prior Ks will be quickly forgiven and forgotten. 

Taking musical risks is the natural progression from hours of scale practice. In order to ride your bike fast first you must ride your bike. We would be a doomed society if no-one ever returned to try to love again after initial rejection. How many times did Henry’s Ford stall out and need a jump? How many times has your focus dissolved into the obscurity of distraction? 

In closing today, I will state the glaringly obvious and once again offer, as any honest consultant might, your options. One is you can strive for perfection (where you are doomed by our very nature to fail) and two, dedicate your fine self to the continual improvement strategy of perfect effort. 

Perfect your effort, practice with presence and passion, and appreciate the trajectory of your growth. Every day and every way. Remember the Nothing Lasts (except here.) 

Thick slabs of chaos wrapped around fleeting moments of lucid free-range clarity, is often the blue-plate special of the day. 

Bon appétit!