Prescribing Life Lessons: The Stepping Stones of My Past
Written on June 2nd, 2015 by Zachary Franck
Inspiration always hits during those hours. Not every time.. but most. In the midst of the darkest depths of night, the bold feeling of passion and truth sprint through your thought process. Constellations draw maps for lost souls and charmed dreamers alike. There's a mystic silence that brings certain reform and reflection. Even in the city that never sleeps, a calm almost comforting breeze drifts off the East River with a delicate touch that lets us know we're alive. The dimly lit streetlights of Brooklyn are no match for the distant lights of Manhattan. I follow the twisting turns of the magnificent Hudson River, and go north to Rockland County. I stop in Nyack, a subtle town that sits on the banks of the Hudson. Then I hop on the Thruway and the town I went to high school in, Warwick. A subtle country town in Orange County, nestled between the mountains. Sixty miles north-west of New York City. Although I was born in lower Manhattan, I grew up outside of the city. To be honest, i'm grateful that I got to experience both worlds. It will be a continuous contrast for the rest of my career, for the rest of my life. An ideal balance of all New York has to offer. I watch the scenery pass by through the window of the train car, and I think.
I think back to those nights spent in the deepest realms of my mind and soul. Nights that were fueled by MDMA and LSD, but most of all MUSIC - the greatest drug known to mankind. Music is the universal language, one that can not only be heard and seen, but felt. A substance of the highest purity, especially when it's in front of your face and you're surrounded by friends you consider family; the energy that's created is beyond intellectual understanding. Not in a confusing type of way though, no, not at all, It's the type of magical energy that glistens in the receptive spirits of the creative and innovative. It's not something that can be taught or bought, sold or learned. You must have this state of mind, this natural yearning for more ; it's buried within the fabric of your soul. Over time, your perception will begin to grow. The universe will test you, and sometimes you'll fail. Over time, your ambition will also begin to grow, as it steadily coincides with your blossoming perception. This certainly doesn't hold true for everyone, many cannot even begin to comprehend the conviction of chasing dreams. The most challenging career task there is, and ever will be. It's not for the weak-minded or softhearted. Failure is evident. Failure is guaranteed. If it makes you quit, you don't deserve to live the life that you've always imagined.
This may sound like a fairy tale but it's not, this is real life. It's my life and it's your life, it's his life and it's her life. My struggles and your desires. There's a reason that we're kept up at night by some unknown force of nature. God. The universe. Higher power. Whatever it may be, we feel encompassed by everlasting imagination. As children become teenagers and teenagers become adults, people lose their imagination, but we don't. We thrive on it as if it's essential to our very existence. Because it is. It is the key to our creativity which is what keeps us sane. To commit to anything else would be spiritual suicide. I'll fight the good fight until i'm reduced to ashes of the earth. A commitment and promise to the ones who have come before me and the ones who'll come after me.
More importantly than that, a commitment and promise to myself - to my elemental madness that provokes me to dance along the edge of sanity and success. A divided symmetry that will weigh the pros and cons of my foreign and domestic fantasies. Simplicity remains the cornerstone of confidence. Keep it simple. From the sandy shores of southern California to the steel beams of New York City, I navigate through the transformational obstacles of my life. I've had so many realizations in the past year yet I have so much more to learn.
Nobody can take the knowledge of your passion away from you. Your character can slightly shine through physical expression, but it really shines through spiritual communication. Emotion provides a platform for existential honesty. My realization of my flaws became the flashlight that I use to examine myself freely, without outside judgment. The pain of my past remains in the stepping stones to my future, I must get over them to reach my intended destination, but they'll help me along the way. Every passing moment is a memory lost, true dreams can only be discovered by subletting the fading memories. Visualize the future by staring at the garden on the other side of the river, look past the slippery stones and watch the water flow by. Use the past and present to truly understand your alternate reality. We are capable of synchronicity and unified creation. We are meant to coexist.
