James Taylor/Joni Mitchell/JFK/Ernest Hemingway, and Phil

I recently watched a Facebook video clip of the Howard Stern show. On the show it had James Taylor. It was from 1997. It was a short clip of James Taylor playing his acoustic guitar and singing “Woodstock”, a song written in 1970 and originally sang by Joni Mitchell. This was the first time I actually heard the lyrics clearly. James Taylor sings very clear; I can always understand what he sings unlike other musicians. As he strummed his acoustic guitar he sang,
“We are Stardust
We are Golden
We are Million-year old Carbon
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden”
See it, here:

Wow! I heard this song so many times and never actually knew or maybe realized the power of the lyrics. To me, “We are stardust, golden, million-year old carbon”, meant that we all came from the universe. The phrases, “And we got to get ourselves back to the garden” meant to me from where we came, we were sent back.
We came from the universe and we end up, back to the garden, to the earth, to the universe.
This struck me profoundly.
It struck me hard because it is a complete, non-religious (perhaps) but spiritual way of thinking about mortality. No matter what, when it is all said and done, we go right back to where we started.
JFK mentioned it best. In a speech at the Americas Cup dinner in 1962 in Newport, RI, he said,
“It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins, the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going to back from whence we came.”
The audio of the speech is here:

He said the same thing Joni Mitchell wrote in another form. “And we got to get ourselves. Back to the Garden.” —–“We are going back to whence we came.”
This is all relevant, I believe. To me this means that we are all here for a reason, we are stardust. We need to make the most of the time we have as we will all go back to the garden, back to the sea.
I am not quite the religious man, but I am very spiritual. I appreciate religious beliefs, but I am defined personally to my spiritual ones. I think the Native American Indians were on to something. The Camino to me was a complete spiritual experience. Still is. The gift that keeps giving.
I cannot finish my little post to you all without mentioning Phil. When I think of Phil many things come to mind. Humor, humility, humbleness, steadfast, leading. I think Phil has found himself in a reluctant leadership position with us. You know what they say about all of the great leaders…..it is that they never intended to be the leader, they were chosen. I am reminded of this with Pope Francis. I believe him to be not only a religious man, but I connect with him because to me he is also very spiritual. Also, I believe him to be a reluctant leader. Those are the best ones.
Oh yes, one last plug for the most important quality of them all I perceive, courage.
JFK greatly admired Ernest Hemingway. When he wrote “Profiles in Courage”, he reached out to Ernest Hemingway to ask permission to use what he had written in a one of his books.
JFK wrote in the beginning of his, “Profiles in Courage”, “This is a book about the most admirable of virtues—COURAGE. ‘Grace under pressure,’ Ernest Hemingway defined it.”
Courage. Grace under pressure. —The calm in the center of the storm…
When I return to the garden, or to the sea, I ask myself, what will matter the most. It will not be the material things, the money, the power and prestige. It will be the memories. The memories of family, friends, my veteran brother and sisters, co-workers, and even the “enemies.” The great talks and the long walks.
The Great Talks and the Long Walks.
Back to the Garden. Back to the Sea.
Garden and Sea loves—
Ryck