I keep referring to this silly, (and maybe a little trite), phrase like I’m out to coin a term or something. I’m not. I just don’t know what else to call it without writing out, “the place consciousness lives” each time. I heard this phrase recently said by, wait for it……..wait for it…… OPRAH (imagine that). Before I heard Oprah say it, it was the title to one of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs. Dave, a poet if there ever was one , sings:
The space between the tears we cry as the laughter keeps us coming back for more. The space between the wicked lies we tell and hope to keep safe from the pain.
The space between where you’re smiling high is where you’ll find me if I get to go. The space between the bullets and the fire fight is where I’ll be hiding waiting for you.
The space between what’s wrong and right is where you’ll find me hiding, waiting for you. The space between your heart and mine is a space we’ll fill with time.
The song itself is about the a relationship that has become tumultuous and damaged. They have started to play games with each other and fight like the wild-eyed beast you be. They even, go off like a devil in a church in the middle of the a crowded room. Dave sings about trying to find the place where the love still lives between them. The space between where they’re smiling high and the laughter keeps us coming back for more. Poor Dave just wants to live there… and so do I.
There are so many things in this world that are competing for our attention. I’m competing for your attention right now. Information abounds at our fingertips and it’s hard to know where to spend our time and energies and increasingly harder to know what’s real or not, more importantly, (as Dave sings), what’s wrong and right. These are, indeed, important questions to ask oneself.
Over the past year I have become convinced that the answers to most questions, at least my questions, lies in the silent space between all these things. The knowing part of ourselves that does not, and cannot speak in words but speaks none-the-less. Some people call this intuition, others call it consciousness. Whatever you call it, it’s the part of you that not only speaks, but hears and sees the world not with your ears or eyes, but with your heart and soul. It’s not always obvious or pleasant and it’s the wicked lies we tell about ourselves (our ego) that prevents us from hearing it because we hope to keep safe from pain.
The things I love to both read about, and write about, are the things that make us human. The things we all have in common because I believe we are all more alike than we are different. Over time, and through writing, I’m learning to hear those things more clearly by listening to the space between, or my heart, to use another metaphor. Because I believe that, The space between your heart and mine is a space that we’ll fill with time.
