Monday, January 11, 2016

David Bowie Has Died


It's difficult to understand how one fits into a pop-culture ritual of mourning, but one thing is for sure, the important thing is that one reflects upon the loss and places it into a context that makes sense to the soul you call home.
God, but sometimes my openers are setups for failure at communication! Eah- I have no idea how to contextualize the feelings I am going though, mostly because of the lack of personability of our society and the isolation I feel most any day, and more especially on a day I lose someone from whom I have drawn inspiration from and have admired deeply since I was a pre-teen. David Bowie was one of those people I care for deeply despite never having met or communicated with him. Why would I have ever tried to meet or communicate with him? In our society, where we are introduced to people and their imaginations on a faux-intimate level on a minute-by-minute basis, it's hard to sift through emotions and personal relationships and understand what is real and what is marketed. Really hard.
So I feel this loss now. A deep loss connected with other losses, deaths of dear friends with whom I shared admiration for Mr. Bowie and his work and ideas, loss of friends who don't have time for me and my far-off life in rural Utah with whom I shared this admiration, and still others who no longer care for me who I miss deeply, whose connection with the culture of David Bowie, though sometimes less strong, still makes his loss even more difficult to bear all alone.
There are many in my situation right now, some older, some younger, others living amongst many and connected with other humans coping with loss, and still others even more in need of connection and compassion while dealing with more poignant loss and grief than this cultural loss I speak of.
One way or another- I think our western meta-culture needs to more reflectively process this loss of icons in such a way to better understand interconnectivity across the greater culture and therethrough, we can be more deeply connected. Ultimately, we can learn to more fully reflect on and connect with those who matter most to us- our family and immediate friends in primary relationships. Trust can better flourish and communication grow through these experiences, whether in grief or in joy.
Ultimately, we might become more localized versions of what Mr. Bowie stood for- authenticity, individuality, perseverance, creativity and sheer, maverick beauty. The last few years of his life were even more telling, though. All these aforementioned attributes shone through, of course- but more importantly, he relished his privacy, his family, friends, and his freedom to create without overly intrusive expectations from his public. I reckon that this is a sort of metaphor for conditions that rule our lives as humans, even us commoners apart from the 'stars'. Live your life as you know you can- in joy as complete as you can, as each day teaches more. That's how to show forth as a Blackstar before the end comes.

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