There are times, especially late at night — when all is silent except for the beating of my own heart — when I feel my ego become so calm that I feel neither ambition nor fear. In those moments, I know without doubt that I can become successful making the art I need to make. It’s the rest of the day — when I’m surrounded by other people’s voices — that I end up filled with hidden fears that no one will love me if I take chances, when I doubt myself enough to run from the things I feel compelled to do. Quieting the ego and tuning my spirit to something which Carl Jung might have called Collective Unconscious are my best ways to stay on the path toward making the dent in the Universe which I was put here to make. This is what I was getting at in the piece I wrote a few days ago about my need to be a star. As odd as it might sound, that’s faith talking, not ego.
Love & Hope — Episode 9:
The pointless pursuit of perfection
Have you ever found the love you thought you wanted but then lost the relationship because you picked it apart — and ultimately lost the love — because the other person wasn’t perfect? We do that because we get comfortable having something we wanted and then we start demanding more. We refuse to get clear about which things matter and which things don’t, so we give up the things that really matter because of a pointless pursuit of achieving the perfect life that our ego wants.
(The episode originally planned for this week has been moved to next week. I was too sick to record a new episode this week, so I used something for this week which I had already recorded.)
Preview of new week’s show: If love is so great, then why do some of our worst hurts come from our romantic relationships? Why is it that some people are hurt so badly by lost love — or by relationships they should leave, relationships that are supposed to bring them joy — that they harden their hearts and swear they’ll never love again?
It’s because counterfeit love feels just like the real thing — at first.
Love is the most powerful and healing force the world has ever known, but its closest counterfeit might be the most destructive force we encounter. We’re going to talk about how we keep failing into those painful and destructive patterns, next week on Love and Hope.
Hank Williams story reminds me I’ve always wanted to be a star
Hank Williams is an unlikely choice as a potential role model for me.
He was a singer and songwriter, but I’ve never had the least bit of musical talent. He was closely identified with country music, which I grew up hating. He was a hard-drinking man who was closely identified with the honky-tonks that I’ve always found distasteful.
I grew up hearing about Williams and his music, though. My father used to sing some of Williams’ old songs and I was struck by how emotional and authentic they sounded. (Williams had been popular when my father was in high school and college.) That didn’t seem like country music to me. It just seemed like the music of loneliness and heartbreak and redemption.
I haven’t given much thought to Williams and his music over the years, but I’ve been watching the Ken Burns documentary “Country Music” in the last few days. As I’ve come to understand more about this Alabama musician who’s been called the Hillbilly Shakespeare, it stirred something in my soul that I rarely allow myself to look at anymore.
And I couldn’t help admitting — quietly, where no one could hear — that I still want to be a star.

Briefly: There’s nothing racist about wanting film casting to match a character
Briefly: Elderly black neighbor: ‘I love you. You’re such a good neighbor!’
With each ‘improvement,’ we’re losing family and community
Fixing what’s broken inside often makes things worse until rebirth
What if other people see you or hear you differently than you do?
The free market: It’s not just for greedy, rich white capitalists
Being alone allows us to indulge our worst flaws and avoid change