I have watched Saul Williams's spoken word performance, "Coded Language," many times. And many times I have been left wondering, "what does he want from his audience?" It is an astounding, passionate piece of work; however, it is also a statement that challenges winds and bends and, at times, stubbornly defies easy understanding.
Here is what I think I understand: Williams demands that we wake up and embrace our lives. He wants "Every person as beings of sound to acknowledge their responsibility to uplift the consciousness of the entire fucking world." It is past time for people to dedicate themselves to living meaningful lives. Like Henry David Thoreau, he instructs us to "awake" and not "go to our graves with our song still inside" (Walden). Like Whitman, whom he mentions in his list of names, he admonishes us to "contribute our verse" to the"play" taking place all around us. Here is what I also think I understand: Williams riffs like a jazz musician. There are moments when his use of language becomes more of a rhythmic instrument to be heard instead of words to be decoded: "Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face Of the unchanging the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth Equate rhyme with reason, sun with season." In other words, I understand that I will not comprehend everything he says. Is this by design? I think so. Does it make me less accepting of the piece? Not at all.
The following are five ideas that stand out from this week. In one way or another, they all deal with the idea of what we find worthwhile in our lives. 1. The next morning, I found that I had wrote the word, 'passion,' in my notebook. That's when I realized what we, as a whole, lack. Passion. (Lauren Deal, CIO #4: More Than What You Have) 2. In an age that fosters individuality, creativity, and thereby passion, we are given an opportunity to become more experienced, knowledgeable, and self-fulfilled beings. An opportunity of which we should all take advantage. (Sophia Marchionne, CIO #4: Passion) 3.I think that reflection is the one thing that helps us to better ourselves as humans and without it, we can't make changes in our lives. (Anonymous Survey Response) 4.We often lead such complicated lives filled with so many possessions or the desire for possessions that it carries our hearts away from the essential values in life. (Matthew Dowd, "Lessons From Thoreau) 5. Does our culture teach us to see people as disposable? (Question from discussion) The first four really target the importance of finding one's passion. A critical step in this search is having the time and inclination to reflect on one's life. While the question raised by #5 doesn't seem to fit with this, I find the tension between it and the other 4 interesting. After all, seeing people in any way as "disposable" undermines my ability to see others as I see myself: a person striving to fulfill my potential and lead a meaningful life.
