“I’m on the hunt for who I’ve not yet become.” - Anonymous

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst

17 January

Mozart deserves his middle name, Amadeus - he is a kind of god-love. I am sitting in a Starbucks, earplugs in place, listening to his Requiem. My daughter Simone, a music major who has far more experience at this sort of thing than I do, says Mozart is so easy to sing - everything seems always to flow with such effortless mastery, every sfortzando in exactly the right place. The “Dies Irae” is trully terrifying, the “Rex Tremendae Majestatis” so full of majesty. You can't help but be swept up into the emotional state he weaves with such consummate mastery. “Confutatus Maledictus” comes rolling in on wheels of inevitability - from beginning to end you are swept along inexorably. I tell my students to spend some time every day in the presence of genius, however they understand that term. You and I, too! We each need to be led in the most profound way, for genius is the gift of the gods themselves. The reward is that that genius, the part that has your name on it, will seep into your soul, just like it should.

Mozart is always right here in my iPod, and all I need at my local Starbucks is my earphones, and profound enrichment is only a click away!

Sure, I agree life is piled high with problems – but, please, don’t miss what feeds your soul!