With the coming of spring, we, at least those of us who are familiar with some of the nuances of classical music, also remember the birthday of the great German musician Johannes Sebastian Bach.  Have you heard of Bach?  For many centuries (Bach died in 1750), Bach's melodies have reverberated all over the world, stirring the hearts of millions, perhaps billions of people, many of whom probably have not been aware that it was Bach's music they were hearing.  As long as humanity moves upon the earth, it's unlikely that Bach's melodies will be forgotten.
     In this, we can rejoice.  We humans are remarkable creatures, really, beings who can create, beings who can reason, beings who can change the world.  In Bach's many glorious melodies, we see, in magnificent musical form, a bit of our seemingly unlimited potential to take what is within and before us and transform it into something that, to a music lover, is a thing beyond ready imagination.  After all, in the end, we are creatures of story and imagination.  We live with stories, we die with stories.  We tell ourselves stories, as Joan Didion put it, in order to live.  We create narratives of our lives.
     Regardless of how one sees the universe's origins (though the frequent reader no doubt knows my loyalties in this regard), we can all, I think, put ourselves into the cosmos that we see as actors in a tale of incredible marvel and wonder, birthed and gifted to explore and understand and transform the worlds that lay before us, thespians who are acting out a drama whose full results we will never see in this existence but at which we can, if we stop to think, be ever amazed.
    We can thank Bach today for what he has shown us about our capacities.  We can also thank Bach for giving to us a glimpse of the unfolding mystery of who we are in this vast, vast--and loved--universe.
     As I'll be traveling for a bit the next week, I will not be posting any entries for a few days.  Meanwhile, thanks for thinking, and thanks for reading!