when a thing is more than the thing
Personally: a thing is, for me, nearly always more than the thing.
(First, though, the why for my (unplanned, undesired) summer silence –
I had a relapse of Long Covid symptoms, which is common for long-haulers. It's not contracting the virus again, but rather a surge of symptoms. Some people describe it as a crash. It's super intense and debilitating.
If you want to know more about these things, or things like the fact that many doctors, researchers, and patients advocate for seeing the virus as more similar to HIV, Still Moving is not the thing for that.)
But as for a thing being more than the thing, I'll use sync. fire. As the official description explains, it's an album about fireflies, summer nights, and synesthesia.
All that is true.
But if you read the full album notes, you know that this thing about fireflies, summer nights, and synesthesia is about many other things. Things like nostalgia for childhood and awe at nature. Equally, things like grief for the destruction of ecosystems and disgust at gentrification.
And other things. More than anything, though, a reverence for the interconnectedness of all existence.
Then, of course, are the things I can't know: the things unique to the listener. The things I surely imagine from time to time, but other things I can't know.
For me, this practice of reflecting on all the things, gives life depth, nuance, perspective. Meaning.
It's one of the reasons I love tarot and oracle practice—because readings are always an opportunity to consider all the things.
A recent reading, from the Circle of Doors Tarot:
Cards from top left:
Illumination, Moon, Universe, Matriarch, Witch, Star.
One thing is the meanings/interpretations of these cards.
Another is the set of them together.
Still another is what they meant to me in the moment I pulled them, which is much more than the individual parts, or even the whole being more than the sum of the parts.
Personally, I love all these things. Shade, nuance, perspective. It's how I find meaning and purpose and connection.
How about you?
Warmth,
S.
--
she / they
PS – While Still Moving is not the thing to teach you about research about Long Covid, it's still a thing that's more than the thing. A memoir about LC, but for me, actually many other things that are more important.
If you've read it, you know. And, I imagine, have your own things that it's about.
PPS –Last thing, I promise –
If you recall, the love note in May mentioned a unique retreat opportunity, in June, a few hours north of Atlanta. If you're wondering whether that was a trip to see the synchronous fireflies in person, the answer is YES. And while the attendees won't be posting photos on social media, they agreed that the album captures some of the experience.
photo by Radim Schreiber, from his book Firefly Experience