Easter

It wasn’t by design, at least not on my part, but I really like the way it turned out.

Yesterday, I was driving my truck to take a house-warming gift to Cory and Tera. My truck has a cassette player, but I had never used it, and Skyler thought that I should, so he and his family gave me some tapes for Christmas. They chose to give me six Yes albums (excellent choice!). So while driving I was listening to Yesshows, a small collection of live concert recordings; and one of the tapes that I had not, as yet, listened to. The songs, Ritual (part 1) and then Ritual (part 2) played. I immediately recognized the music, but I at first didn’t recall what the songs were called. And since it was being played on a cassette deck, there wasn’t a screen that showed the name of the tracks. After a few minutes, I remembered: “Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)” from the Album “Tales From Topographic Oceans”.

When “Tales From Topographic Oceans” came out, Yes was accused of trying to put the Bible to music; although the initial inspiration for the album appears to have been Hinduism. Regardless, the lyrics of the songs have a spiritual quality. And as a side-note, it is the first studio album that Alan White played on.

And now on to this morning’s portion of the story.

Two of my favorite Yes albums are “Keys To Ascension” and “Keys To Ascension 2”. “Keys To Ascension” has both studio and live recordings. One of the live recordings is “The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)”, which yesterday’s listening of “Ritual” reminded me of. “The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)” is the first track on “Tales From Topographic Oceans”, and my favorite version of that song is the live version from “Keys To Ascension”. So this morning I put on some headphones to listen to it. After listening to that song, I also listened to the live version of the song, “Awaken”.

“Awaken” was one of the songs on the Yes studio album, “Going For The One”. According to a Wikipedia article about that album, the main source of inspiration for the song “Awaken” was the book “The Singer: A Classic Retelling of Cosmic Conflict (1975)” by Calvin Miller, which Jon Anderson had read. The book retells the story of Jesus in the form of an allegorical poem about a singer whose song could not be silenced.

The reason I’m telling this little story about listening to Yes while driving to and from Cory and Tera’s house is that the music I happened to be listening to was very uplifting to me and it brought a smile to my face. The undercurrent of that smile was a deep sense of gratitude to all of the people in this world who are a part of my life; starting with my family and friends. That feeling of gratitude extends to include people who have created art or who have taken actions that inspires, uplifts and encourages, and it also includes people who have done some not-so-nice things in this world, because their actions provide the contrast needed to see the good.

Another cool thing about this morning is that I had delayed my usual morning walk by about an hour, which gave me the opportunity to take some pictures of some trees and a flag with the early colors of the sky and sunrise.

To further this story, I received an email this morning from The Daily Stoic, which fits the theme of today and which I will include here. If you don’t subscribe to “The Daily Stoic”, I highly recommend it.

In the year 33, a philosopher was executed by the Roman authorities. This was not an uncommon thing back then.
Cicero had his head, hands and tongue put up in the Forum by Marc Antony. The Stoic Gaius Rubellius Plautus had his head cut off and then held up and mocked by Nero. Seneca was poisoned, had his wrists slit and smothered at the orders of the man he had tutored into adulthood. Paul of Tarsus, who studied Stoicism, was also beheaded. Justin Martyr, who also studied Stoicism during Marcus Aurelius’ time, was beaten, whipped until the skin was torn from his body, and then beheaded.
But this man, referred to as Christus in Tacitus’ writing, was first beaten and then after being forced to carry the weight of the tools of his annihilation to the site of his ultimate demise, was brutally crucified on full display. But then, after he was entombed–and this is where his story is said to diverge from the Stoics we mentioned above–three days later, Christus, supposedly rose again.
Now, whether or not you consider the events of Jesus’s death to be holy or not, totally true or not, there is nevertheless a powerful lesson in them. A man went bravely to his death. A man with his last words said, “Forgive them father, for they know not what they do.” A man died willingly, believing he would absolve mankind for its sins. And then, from this loss, he and mankind were given a clean slate.
We should take this day, Easter Sunday, as a moment to reflect on the beauty of rebirth and redemption. Especially this Easter, as we emerge from the long dark tunnel that has been our collective journey through the COVID-19 pandemic. No matter what has happened, no matter what we’ve done—none of us are beyond redemption. Even in the brutality of Jesus’ execution there is evidence of this.
Well known is the story of the Roman soldier, Stephaton, who as Jesus was writhing on the cross, offered him a sponge soaked in vinegar. This has long been taken as an example of extreme cruelty—in fact, it is the opposite. The Roman legions drank vinegar wine to reduce their thirst. This was an act of mercy, quite possibly at great risk to the soldier.
There is good in all of us, even those of us who have done bad things. There is hope for all of us. The future can be brighter, as dark as the last few years have been. Let today, regardless of your beliefs, mark a moment of rebirth. Of rejuvenation. Of reemergence.
Whatever our faith, we always have the ability to be reborn. Every day that we awake, we can choose a new life, a new way, to rededicate ourselves to our philosophy. Tell yourself, as Epictetus said, that you’re not going to wait any longer to demand the best of yourself. Don’t, as Marcus Aurelius reminded himself, choose to be good tomorrow. Choose to be good today. For it is a new day, and it can also be the beginning of a new you, too.
Happy Easter.
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The act of daily rededication to your philosophy is the core idea behind The Daily Dad: 366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids, which is available for preorder.
The power of The Daily Dad resides in your picking it up daily, and consistently engaging with the material–because even though the pages stay the same, your kids will change, the world will change, and you too will change.
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