The Durable Will– GC Myers
It is the glory and good of Art
That Art remains the one way possible
Of speaking truth,—to mouths like mine, at least.
–Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book (1868-69)
The events of recent times, here and abroad, have me questioning the meaning and value of truth. It seems like we have entered an era in which every word and action is dissected, parsed, decontextualized, twisted in all directions, and ran through a gauntlet of algorithms that leave one wondering if any truth can endure and overcome such strain.
Are there still universal truths and, if so, will we be able to continue to recognize these truths going forward?
That’s a big question with most likely no concrete answers and probably an unfair question to ask in this early Monday morning.
Unfortunately, it’s the kind of question that sometimes wakes me up at 4:30 AM, making my mind immediately begin racing.
I have spent the last 25 or so years trying to make some sort of sense of this world through my work, to reveal even the smallest bit of truth that speaks to a universal audience. These questions about what truth now means make me wonder whether the truths that I have known are still real, are still durable enough to persist.
One may never know. I guess the best we can do is to keep speaking the truth as we know it and hope that its reality will allow it to survive the tests it will surely face.
Man, this week feels like a bear already and it’s not even 7 AM!
Let’s listen to the great and underappreciated jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby with a tune that lines up with today’s thoughts. It’s called Truth Spoken Here from her 1969 album, Dorothy’s Harp.
It’s good stuff and that’s the truth…
Redtree Times 