Creative Project - Terror and Awe

Here is my creative project - Terror and Awe.

My Road to Awe-some Terror

My road to the happy place where terror and awe meet began when I read Edmund Burke's argument about the sublime and terror. When he said that terror instigated the sublime, I questioned his idea. And then after lots of thought, I realized that the idea was attractive. Appealing. Beautiful. And it sucked me in like a whirlpool.

And to be honest, it still hasn't let me go.

I committed to the topic of terror and awe when I wrote the blog post, titled The Aw(e)-ful, and then began researching the ideas behind the relationship between awe and terror. To help with that, I explored society's fear of technology in my blog post, The Technological Terror. This helped me to narrow down what aspect of terror I wished to explore in my project.

When I talked with my friend at work about what literature has inspired awe for her, she raved about Cormac McCarthy's book The Road. And when she commented that the ending of the book left her hanging and wanting more, leaving her so awed that she just sat there, I decided to read it to see if I felt the same. The idea for my paper began as I read that book, as I traveled the road with the Man and the Boy. Looking at post-apocalyptic literature within the context of terror and awe gives the explanation for its popularity, and I chose to match Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon with The Road as a contrast. I began researching the ideas of terror, awe, and post-apocalyptic literature, which led me to further ideas and gave me the ability to start narrowing down my actual topic.

After creating my outline, I continued to change my thesis as I analyzed post-apocalyptic literature. Continuing to research my ideas along the way, I posted my annotated bibliography with a current thesis. After narrowing down my thesis, I posted my first rough draft of my paper, which lacked still my research and proof of my argument. Among my research I learned of Harvard professor, Sue Schopf, who I emailed in order to get social proof for my paper topic. Another 10 page draft of my paper prepared me to narrow down my argument, my thesis undergoing revision once more. Then, last week I posted my final draft. Within the week between my last draft and the final result of my paper, I decided to exclude Alas, Babylon from my paper and focus only on The Road.

I loved writing my paper. Here's my story of personal connection - Personal Connection to Terror. This idea of terror and awe still appeals to me - not only in literature but on all levels, as I hope that I can show through my creative project which will be finding a final revision soon this week.

Here's my final paper:

The Road to Awe Through Terror

Thanks, English 495 Paper for letting me explore my dark side and get comfortable with the attractive side of terror.

Erin's Rough Draft as of 4/7/14

Here's my rough draft. It's kind of like a compilation of everything that I want to say. And this week will be a great week full of editing. But I finally have everything in there I think, even though it might not make any sense.

Erin's Personal Connection to Terror

Maybe it's because my life was almost perfect. White house with black shutters. Green lawn. Friendly neighborhood. My parents took me to school everyday. Made my lunch. The cute little note from my mom in my lunch box.

But there was something missing. Real feeling. Real struggle and triumph. Emotion deep and honest and brutal.

And then began the search for the terror in my life. Music. Movies. Books. Art. Theater. The dark side of life.

While I was playing Bach and Mozart, I kept thinking in Bartok, Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Kabalevsky.

Really experiencing life. See the beauty in the struggle and the complete exploration of human emotions.

Awe.



The post-apocalyptic literature? What if there were an end to the world? What would survive? Everything would be stripped and broken down to its basic parts.

I read post-apocalyptic literature because it dramatizes the worst part of everything.



Update on my creative project: I'm narrowing down the images. I'm still trying to decide if I should choose images based on my paper or something completely different. Ideas?

Erin's Really Rough Draft 1

Here is my working rough draft... Note that it's super rough. No outside sources yet or citations but I was just working through my ideas.

Erin's Annotated Bibliography

Working Thesis: 

According to Edmund Burke, the idea of sublime or awe is strictly related to the sense of terror and can be seen in all types of art, and especially in literature. Throughout post-apocalyptic literature, this sense of terror is largely seen and certain elements that create this terror also inspire the sense of awe within the texts. Looking at Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, these elements are contrasted and bring about ultimately the sublime that is seen in the two books. These elements include the contrast between the confusion of antagonist and protagonist, the progress of characterization seen throughout the book, the characterization of the place, and the social commentary that reveals the largely seen anxiety of nuclear attacks and of a nuclear apocalypse. 

 Annotated Bibliography:

“After the End: A Look at Post-Apocalyptic Books and Films.” Extension Blog. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

In this blog from Harvard University, Sue Schopf talks about her class that she taught about post-apocalyptic literature, not only an interview but a short video in which she talks briefly about her class. She makes several great points not only about post-apocalyptic literature in general but also about why it is so relevant today.

Beckley, Bill, ed. Sticky Sublime. Canada: Allworth Press, 2001. Print.

In this book, the idea of sublime is explored and how that relates to the Gothic. This will work into the argument for Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley and how they prepare the way for the post-apocalyptic book relating to Burke’s argument.

Broderick, Mick. “Surviving Armageddon: Beyond the Imagination of Disaster.” Science Fiction Studies 20.3 (1993): 362-382. JSTOR. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.  

Broderick argues that the idea of Armageddon is not new and how that is a social ideal through which would bring about a new sort of Eden after the current world is destroyed. This relates to my ideas about the end of the world portrayed in post-apocalyptic literature.

Burke, Edmund. A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas. United States of America: Start Publishing LLC, 2012. Kindle file.

Using this theoretical text to look at the ideas of sublime/awe and terror. It is Edmund Burke that presents this idea, which started my thought process of how awe and terror could be related. I will use this as a background to my argument and paper and give it strength and context.

Cordle, Daniel. “Cultures of Terror: Nuclear Criticism During and Since the Cold War.” Literature Compass 3.6 (2006): 1186-1199. Wiley Online Library. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.

This article discusses the threat of a nuclear apocalypse that has been seen in society prevalently ever since the Cold War and which appears in both of the two books that I will examine.

Cowley, Christopher. Ashes to Ashes: Trauma, History, and the Ethics of Allegorical Memory in Post 9/11 Literature. MA Thesis. University of Florida, 2008. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

Cowley writes about how the event of 9/11 has influenced culture today, specifically in The Road. I plan on using events such as World War II and 9/11 to look at how it has influenced post-apocalyptic literature today and how that genre reflects society’s anxieties because of those events. 

Des Pres, Terrence. “Terror and the Sublime.” Human Rights Quarterly 5.2 (1983): 135-146. JSTOR. Web. 9, Mar. 2014.

In this article, the relation between terror and the sublime are explored according to Burke’s treatise. This relates specifically to my argument about the two being connected and how they can be explored within a specific genre.

Edwards, Tim. “The End of the Road: Pastoralism and the Post-Apocalyptic Waste Land of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. The Cormac McCarthy Journal. 6 (2008): 55-63. Literature Online. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

This article discusses the idea of landscape in The Road, which relates to my argument about the landscape or place becoming significant in the genre of post-apocalyptic literature.

Frank, Pat. Alas, Babylon. Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1959. Print.

This book is one of the two primary texts that will be used to explore post-apocalyptic literature and how it may explore the themes of awe and terror. I will use this text to contrast with The Road and how the two of them may or may not portray the chosen elements of post-apocalyptic literature.

Gyngell, Adam. “Writing the Unthinkable: Narrative, the Bomb and Nuclear Holocaust.” Opticon 1826 6 (2009): 1-11. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

This article discusses the idea of writing about nuclear bombing and the idea of apocalypse that can follow. I will use this to further my argument about how two authors do specifically that.

Kunsa, Ashley. “’Maps of the World in Its Becoming’: Post-Apocalyptic Naming in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.” Journal of Modern Literature 33.1 (2009): 57-74. Project Muse. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

Kunsa talks about The Road specifically and also talks about the characters and their growth throughout the novel, including the difficulty in identifying good and evil in the text. This relates specifically to my identification and discussion of certain elements in post-apocalyptic literature.

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Random House, 2006. Print.

Besides Alas, Babylon I will use this text as one of my primary texts exploring post-apocalyptic literature and how it explores awe and terror within the context of the genre. This text is different from other post-apocalyptic literature and it generates terror and awe in a different way, which will help contrast with Alas, Babylon.

Mishra, Vijay. The Gothic Sublime. Albany: University of New York Press, 1994. Print.  

Mishra discusses Burke’s argument about terror and sublime in this book and how that argument can work in literature. I plan on using it as a background text to work through Burke’s argument that will set up my argument about post-apocalyptic literature.

Ray, Gene. Terror and the Sublime in Art and Critical Theory. New York: Gene Ray, 2005. Print.

Gene Ray writes about the connection between terror and the sublime, specifically referring to war and nuclear bombing. I will relate this to the text primary texts I will examine and how they portray this terror and awe.

Schopf, Sue. “The Post-Apocalyptic Novel and Film, Lecture 1.” Harvard Course – Engl E-214/W. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2013-2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

Sue Schopf is a professor at Harvard University and gave a class titled “The Post-Apocalyptic Novel and Film.” The first lecture she gave was recorded and placed online in which she gives a brief history and context for the post-apocalyptic novel and an exploration into the popular craze about the same genre in literature and film. She explores several aspects that give me further ideas for ways that I could strengthen my argument and add history and proof.

Sterrenburg, Lee. “The Last Man: Anatomy of Failed Revolutions.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction 33.3 (1978): 324-347. JSTOR. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.  

Sterrenburg in this article explores Mary Shelley’s post-apocalyptic novel The Last Man and gives it a brief history and description, specifically how it relates to revolutions. This article gives a brief history of a historical post-apocalyptic novel, allowing me to cover the history of post-apocalyptic literature and how that influences the terror and awe in which we see in The Road and Alas, Babylon.

Walliss, John, and James Aston. “Doomsday America: The Pessimistic Turn of Post-9/11 Apocalyptic Cinema.” The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 23.1 (2011): 53-64. EBSCOhost Humanities Source. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

This article explores how the event of 9/11 influenced and currently influences apocalyptic cinema which relates to post-apocalyptic literature in the sense that it explores the same kinds of ideas and has a lot of the same elements. It also explores the psychological aspect of the American culture and how that influences the ideas of the end of the world and what will happen afterwards.

Wolf-Meyer, Matthew. “Apocalypse, Ideology, America: Science Fiction and the Myth of the Post-Apocalyptic Everyday.” Rhizomes 8 (2004): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

Wolf-Meyer writes about why society is interested (or obsessed) in post-apocalyptic literature and how that affects the literature. I plan on using this when I write about the social and moral commentary that we can see in post-apocalyptic literature.

Wilczynski, Marek. The Phantom and the Abyss: The Gothic Fiction in America and Aesthetics of the Sublime 1798-1856. “The Phantom and the Abyss.” Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1999. Print.

Wilczynski in this book applies the idea of sublime specifically to the literature of Edgar Allan Poe. Therefore this book explores how Gothic literature can portray the sublime (or awe) or may not. I will apply this to my argument that includes Poe’s literature and also how to tell if the text portrays awe or not in terms of sublime.

What's Next: 

I plan on continuing my research, including an interview with Harvard professor Sue Schopf (hopefully). As I continue my research and the writing of my paper, I hope to narrow down my thesis and strengthen it considerably. 

Post-apocalyptic Literature Prototype 1

My first idea for my creative project. Ideas? 

I do think that it is not that effective in communicating my ideas, but maybe I'm going more for the effect? 

Terror and Awe in Post-Apocalyptic Literature - Treatment

Terror and Awe in Post-Apocalyptic Literature: The Road and Alas, Babylon

Outline: 

1. Introduction

    - Thesis - The elements in The Road and Alas, Babylon create a sense of terror and awe which explains the success that post-apocalyptic literature has had in recent years. 

2. Definition of awe 

3. Terror and awe 

    a. Edmund Burke argument about terror and awe

    b. Other supporting claims

4. Tradition of terror and awe in literature

    a. Bible - Book of Revelation

    b. Greek tragedy - Oedipus Rex 

    c. Shakespeare and tragedy - Hamlet 

    d. Gothic literature - Edgar Allan Poe

5.  Post-apocalyptic literature

    a. Definition and description

    b. Brief history - Epic of Gilgamesh, Bible, Mary Shelley - The Last Man

6. Elements in post-apocalyptic literature that generates awe and terror

    a. Binary of mass destruction v. survival

    b. Focus on character and emotional development

    c. Place/setting becomes the antagonist

    d. Moral / social statement 

        - Influence of atomic bombing of WWII and 9/11

7. Alas, Babylon

8. The Road

9. Comparison of the two texts and the post-apocalyptic elements

    - How those elements use terror and awe

10. Conclusion 

    - How terror/awe creates success of post-apocalyptic literature

Possible Venues 

There are a couple general journals that I can submit my paper to, such as the Popular Culture Association, Streamlines, and MLA Call for Papers. I can also identify journals that focus on Gothic literature, such as Gothic and Uncanny Explorations. Also, I have yet to find any post-apocalyptic focused journals but I think that would be a great venue or a journal that is specifically focusing on that for this year. 

What's Next

From here, I need to further my research according to my outline and start identifying the specific passages in the two texts that I will use for the paper. Also, I will compile my research and identify any gaps in my argument, asking several people to give feedback on my paper to help me focus and strengthen my argument. 

Power of the Language

Structuralism argues that all texts stand within a system. Saussure wrote a lot about how language is a system where the actual referent of the word or language is not necessarily part of the interpretation of the text. There is a difference between the signified and the signifier. The signifier being the word itself and the signified being the meaning of the word itself. This theory calls attention to the manner of the words and not necessarily the meaning or references made by the words.

Within this argument, the language becomes the system within which the text must be interpreted. The text itself is the effect and not actually the content of the text. Sanford Scribner Ames writes about this effect of language.

One system that is commonly addressed is that of language. All English speakers with completely different backgrounds and life styles and cultures can understand the same language. The influences of a set of language, or a system, are the same independent of the person. This is a system. But also the theory argues that the system  be understood collectively in order for the text to be understood and interpreted. The language must be a system. Sanford Scribner Ames writes about the effect of language in the structuralist theory:

Help to Cara about Memoirs

​As I read your post I thought of The Diary of Anne Frank. Why is that a diary and not a memoir? Does the reflection of the author add more awe? And why do memoirs instill more awe than diaries? Or do they? On this rather cheesy website that I found (http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/activity/68plan/Diaries2.htm) I learned that Virginia Woolf has an unfinished memoir - A Sketch of the Past. Apparently it's not only a memoir but she writes about the genre of memoirs as well. That'd be super cool to look into! 

Also I thought about how memoirs have become popular. What determines if a memoir will be published or become popular? Is that the awe factor? I just read Mindy Kaling's memoir Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And I feel that her popularity guaranteed success of the book, even if the book is trash. (I'm not saying that. Just don't know if it's brilliance.) And these days there are blogs that tell people how to write a memoir and what is good or not good. Or simply write a memoir on your blog. Like this blog -http://yourmemoir.wordpress.com. Or on Oprah Winfrey's website there is a how-to on writing memoirs. http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/How-to-Write-Your-Memoir-by-Abigail-Thomas/1. Does this add to or take away from the awe of memoirs? That it has become common place and has joined the blogging world? Can you simplify a memoir into a 10 step instruction manual? And do these how-to instructions help you to identify the elements of awe? 

Just some ideas for you. Love the idea of the topic. And I have a good feeling about Virginia Woolf and her memoir (if you haven't already looked into that).

The Technological Terror

Technology obviously can instill awe in us. It can show us how incredible someone's imagination is (and their intellect too). And also how the technology can help us in so many ways.

But how many times does technology prevent us from exploring the true experience? Or make the experience better? 

Photography captures the moment. It shows us a different way of thinking about life. And technology combined with photography can enhance that experience or detract from it. 

Here are some examples of how photography has developed with technology. 

1. Google Glasses 

http://reviews.cnet.com/google-glass/

These are so cool. They pretty much project the screen in front of your eyes. Literally another lens in front of your eyes, changing your world. Like all those movies where they have the computer in front of their eyes and it's so techy and futuristic? Yeah.

Do we need a digital overlay on our life? And what would that do to our emotions? To our sense of awe? Would it diminish the experience? Or would it enhance it? And would it ever get too far? Would we all use these and never take them off because our normal living existence would become cheap?

2. UBI Camera

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/28/ubi-camera-frames-photos-with-fingers-fails-to-call-you-fabulou/

This camera lets you use your fingers as the view frame. I love this revolution of using your body to take photography, getting away from the digital world and reverting back to the tedious way of taking pictures. Once again, does technology inhibit or enhance the experience? Would this technology help us to get away from technology? And can that even exist? Does this create a new perspective on life, seeing everything through a physical view finder? Does it limit the ability to see and appreciate everything?

3. Touchy Human Camera

http://ffffound.com/image/40feda09218abf8feeb991099702f2003c316e6f?c=9579049

Okay this looks dorky. I know. But I love the idea of using technology to emphasize the importance of human interaction. When you use this camera, everything is dark to you, as if you were blind. But when you touch another human, you can take a picture with the goggles. Using technology to step away from technology. This was invented to overcome the problems with virtual living. For those that only live in front of a computer, with no physical or real contact, this forces them to see it in a different way. The experience comes because of technology. I think that this shows us - when will technology prevent us from ever doing anything real? 

4. Panoramic Camera Ball 

http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2011/10/new-gear-throwable-panoramic-ball-camera

You can throw this camera and it takes a panoramic photo. Combine motion with photography. And without the technology to do this, we wouldn't have this awesome experience. This give us another way of of seeing the world, of seeing it completely. Nature and the sublime experienced completely.

5. Speed of Light Camera

http://www.latestdigitals.com/2011/12/ultra-fast-camera-capture-speed-light/

This camera takes pictures as fast as the speed of light. Enough said. Slowing down nature with technology so that we can experience the awe even more. 

6. Liquid Lens

http://www.latestdigitals.com/2011/12/ultra-fast-camera-capture-speed-light/

I don't really understand how this works. But I guess they put water inside and it allows for endless variations of focus. Again, using nature and what God has given us to find more ways to capture the beautiful moments of life.

7. Collaborative Editing with Picasa

You can use the minds of several people to edit photos - using ideas from everyone. Using technology to have a cross-experience, having the experience with other people. 

8. Ski-Camera Goggles

http://blogs.twincities.com/yourtechweblog/2012/08/19/your-tech-today-i-try-ski-googles-with-built-in-camera/

In those sublime moments where you're going down the slope and you want to take a picture. going along with the theme of combining photography and nature, this solves the problem of having to take pictures while skiing. But I have to wonder if, when we take pictures of that moment, we detract from that experience?

9. Photoshop Power

In this video, it shows how Photoshop can change the complete appearance of someone. The video shows how it changes the appearance of an old woman to look like a young woman. Technology creating illusions. So is this a real experience? Does technology take away from this real experience? Or even photography? Does it detract from the experience? 

10. Photoshop Power in Modeling/Advertising

Nothing is real anymore. Photoshop is used for everything. When is technology an advantage and when is it not? What is real and what is an illusion? What can technology do for us and when does it detract from our personal experience with awe?

What is reality? And how can technology help or destroy our real experience? Can technology help us get closer to nature? To awe? Or does it detract from that experience?

I think that this creates part of the terror in technological awe. How far can it get? What is the limit? And can we ever find a balance between technological advanced photography helping to enhance our life and detract from it? 

The Aw(e)-ful

I want to write my research paper about awe and terror. After I read Burke and his argument that only terror causes awe, I began to think about that a lot. Why am I awed? What brings awe to me? And what is appealling about that?

Everything that has been awing to me, I have felt a little uncomfortable about. Uncomfortable that makes me squirm in my seat. Rachmaninov, Poe, O'Connor, Picoult, surrealism. The dark side. It's raw and personal. It transcends bounds and makes me rethink everything. But why do the normal things not bring that awe to me? Why does the nice, neat, tied-up-in-a-bow art not inspire that feeling inside of me? 

Bridging the Gap

There's a gap between childhood and adulthood. It's called adolescence. Neither child nor adult. When I was a teenager, I felt that the gap was a huge abyss and that I had one foot on the child side and the other foot on the adult side. And I was trying to get to the adult side.

One day, I leaped to that side.

The town library had two floors. Children's section, young adult fiction, movies (the easy stuff) on the first floor. The second floor? Adult fiction. And nonfiction. And everything else that was a huge secret. Separating the two floors was a huge staircase. No, the elevators were not used. Because this library was old. And creaky. Every time I placed a foot on two or three stairs leading up to the adult level, it creaked so loud that I felt like everyone in the entire library heard me, me with a big sign saying "child." The built in security measure - the creaky steps - would never let a child up. Anyone not adult would be caught by the old ladies who sat close by.

But I was a teenager. And neither child nor adult. After reading almost everything in the young adult section (and just finding the same titles again and again) I decided it was time to adventure to the adult section. Because I was half adult. And who would stop me, right?


Somewhere I had seen the name Corrie Ten Boom and decided that her book would be the first. I went to the computer, looked up the title t-h-e h-i-d-i-n-g p-l-a-c-e. Yes, the forbidden second floor held it hidden away. With paper in hand, almost as a permission slip, I made my way to the stairs.

Every step creaked loudly and so I tiptoed. Finally, after the eternal two minutes going up the stairs, I made it. Found the book and got out of there.

The book was red. Without a title on the front. (Just as the one I got from the library today.) Hiding its secrets. Smelled like an old book, like mystery and foreignness and adulthood. The Hiding Place. Laying on my bed in the sunshine I read the book. I felt like I was hiding in that room, away from the judgments and the child world. I was entering in the other world, exploring life and death, kindness and brutality, suffering and joy. More than anything than my suburban middle class normal life had given me to know. Is that why Corrie did it?

          It grew harder and harder. Even within these four walls there was too much misery, too much seemingly pointless suffering. Every day something else failed to make sense, something else grew too heavy.

Corrie's tone was personal. She was honest. She invited me into the adult side of life, letting me be on the other side of the abyss for just that moment, feeling my way around and getting comfortable.

I felt her joy. I felt her pain.

          It was a carving in old yellow ivory. There was no clothing on the figure; I could see each ivory rib,

 and the outline of the teeth through the parchment cheeks.

          It took me a moment to realize it was Betsie. 

And I was awed at her courage. Her bravery. Her compassion and empathy. Her faith and beliefs. And her journey.

          Entlassen? Released? Was - was the woman free then? Was this - were we all - 

          At last "Ten Boom, Cornelia," was called. 

          Entlassen. 

 It pulled me in and didn't let me go. It wanted to change me. And I let it.

Whoah Books

Disclaimer: to the best of my recollection and not in any particular order:

1. Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli - because it's okay to be weird and that's beautiful

2. The Help, Kathryn Stockett - the different points of view and the stunning comments about the South

3. Handle with Care, Jodi Picoult (or rather anything written by her) - just because I love her as a writer. And the moral issues that she makes you front in every single book - makes you readdress what is right and wrong.

4. Atonement, Ian McEwan - what is real and what is not real? War and love and the important stuff. The ending of the book.

5. Wit, Margaret Edson - it's so personal and real. It makes you face death up close and person.

6. "The Tell Tale Heart," Edgar Allan Poe - or anything by Poe because it's so shocking and horrifying yet beautiful.

7. Corrie Ten Boom - that one book she wrote about her time in a concentration camp in the Holocaust and seeing kindness even in the middle of so much evil.

8. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte - love, darkness, and sophisticated chick flick that doesn't have a happy ending - that's rare.

9. "The Yellow Paper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman - because we're all a little crazy sometimes and it's so real.

10. "Good Country People," Flannery O'Connor - it's gothic southern literature. It's horrifying and shows the dark and weird side of the South.

Soul to Soul

I have always loved music. I have always felt a connection to music - that it expresses how I feel more than words or anything else. While I was at my friend's house one night, she told me that she had been writing new music - lyrics and guitar. She pulled out her guitar and began to open up her soul to me - the music that she had been writing to face all of the hard things in her life. Her beautiful voice matched the deep emotional lyrics and the music just enhanced everything - cradled everything in its lap. Afterwards I was thinking about how cool that was. The moment was captured by us sitting on the couch, listening to her sing and share with me her feelings and thoughts about life. And it was only afterwards talking with my roommates about the power of music and that idea of creating or writing music that shared with me that feeling of awe. Feeling small and insignificant but also amazed at the power of mankind.

Once before, there was a time without that music that my friend wrote. Once my friend created it, then it existed. Created out of nothing. My friend created it. And then it existed.

Not only awe of the existence of that music, but also I felt awe of that moment. The moment of forgetting that everything existed and that I could just enjoy the moment. It's not often that we can do that these days. We are always interrupted by the phone, the computer, the tablet, the list of long things that we need to do. How often do we take that moment to just exist? To enjoy something? To feel the awe of music and also of friendship and emotion? I liked how +Greg said that it's like his soul resonates with the music. Just how my friend opened up her soul through her music, our souls resonate with that too. Because the music crosses boundaries. Reaches soul to soul.

It becomes so awesome when we think that way. But has always been so mundane. Creating something exquisite and beautiful out of nothing that was there before, something new.

It was a moment that blew my mind.

P.S. Secretly I wonder how much I am reading too much into my life. Am I seeing the wonder where it didn't exist before? I mean writing music and sharing that with people. Is my life more enriched because I can see the wonder in that?