Reminiscence

What experiences take you somewhere else, away from the press of your current world and its expectations?

A sound? A sight? A smell?

The end of a term is an invitation to step away from the dominance of the clock, of bells, of lessons, of deadlines, and of expectations, so what is it that invites you into another world where, perhaps, for a brief time, the rhythm of daily life recedes and space to recharge emerges?

Scouring recently through Spotify surfaced a 45-year-old album (a sound) that drew attention away from the ongoing demands of the day, of the week, of the month, and brought some perspective on some larger questions. Earbuds pumped out Jeff Wayne’s concept album of “The War of the Worlds” as the week drew to its close. So many memories…

“No-one would have believed…” Richard Burton’s opening monologue sets a sombre tone for the incredulous story to follow, and, despite the 2023 pressures of teaching, marking, conferences, 2024 preparation, and myriad other obligations of life, his disquieting assertion was compelling. And not just because of its sonorous attraction.

The worries of the day receded as the album’s sonic journey took Wells’ narrator from curiosity to confrontation, to challenge, to courage, and finally, to a broken and battered victory. That which was unknown, powerful, and feared is finally vanquished.

The album offers 90 minutes which traverse the universe, and all our history. What do we most fear? Who are we in the face of the unknown? How would (do?) we react if under threat?

Wait? What? This is not what I expected! It was just an opportunity to enjoy, in 2023, an album from my youth that I took (na?vely, at the time) as a complex and multilayered conceptual approach to music making favoured by Bowie, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and countless others (we are, after all, beholden to the times in which we live). Nonetheless, the questions panned through my head in sync with the Martians’ disconcerting cry…“Ulla”.

What music speaks to you at the moment? What music have you put on, or streamed, that soothes, cajoles, or challenges you? Why does it do this? And what does it ask of you?

What about a sight? This week’s image is the interplay between the natural and the manufactured, captured on a trip through the gardens of Brisbane's South Bank. A public, and harshly metallic, sculpture is enveloped by the beauty of nature in the form of a soft vine, almost in a wrestle that remains unresolved. And yet, the tension between the natural and created asks why each cannot co-exist. Does one need to dominate? And if one did, what would be lost, and what would be gained? Does the natural world supersede, or complement, the constructed world?

Or what about a smell? How many times have we been transported to other worlds at the pique of olfactory senses? Perhaps you recall a special place whose image and remembrance bursts forth not from a recording or a photo, but from an aroma that opens memories which gladden, or sadden, the heart. Jasmine, murrayas, roses, gardenias, lavender…with the onset of spring, what blossoms burst into your garden, or your school grounds, that fill your soul with joy? Or remembrance of life that is strained, or lost?

Life is fleeting, tenuous, fragile, and precious. As you start, or continue, or end, a period of rest, tune in to those senses that are both so hard to explain, but that can bring human reward and satisfaction.

And here’s one that captures all three…a new life.

Our family was graced this week with a new life in Margot, the daughter of our son. To see her face, to hear her breath, to smell a newborn…this is living…and this is beyond rational description and philosophical musing. It is the history of humanity for aeons. It is the future well beyond the limits of our own life. It is a privilege to be cherished, not gifted to all, and so not easily assumed.

As you rest, where do you find restoration, refreshment, new life, hope, satisfaction, joy?

Time for school will return, but this is not that time…yet. Unwind. Unpack. Undo. Be…

And so, in similar spirit, #the40project takes its own term break. See you in a couple of weeks, refreshed, renewed, and reinvigorated for the run home to the end of this extraordinary journey throughout 2023.

Mmmm...what does 2024 hold?