[...] HT to Bryon and Serotonin Rain. [...]
me
I was talking to this guy once, he was the type who distrusted everything. He was a trumpet player too, and a pretty good one. Anyway, he started riffing about how we can’t really know anything for sure. Specifically, he was speaking of the lack of certainty about transcendant meaning and the existence of an Eternal Other. Since we were speaking in my office, which happened to be in a Christian church at the time, we were referring to this other as God.
I think I may have quoted some scripture at him as a way of quickly fixing his problem, I tended to do that at the time. He said, “Those are just words.” And I replied, “But words are vehicles that convey meanings,” or maybe that’s just what I wish I said.
He responded, “That’s what everybody tells me. I talked to the pastor about it too, and he said ‘But words are all we got!’ “
I have wondered at this conversation many times since. I don’t think my trumpeter had any idea how deep a pool of thought he was plunging me into. And he was right too, I think there is a common self-perpetuating illusion of certainty about lots and lots of things. Uncertainty however, is not bad in and of itself. And uncertain is not a bad way to be.
Years later, I’m in a parking lot talking to my friend Joel. We’re in the western suburbs of Cleveland, so it is raining, hard. Joel and I are talking about being depressed, which we both are at the time though he knows it and I don’t, and he says, “If only I could get my serotonin levels back up to where they once were,” or something like that. And I say, “Just pretend this rain is serotonin.” I’ve thought serotonin rain would be a great name for a band ever since, but until you or I form that band, this blog will have to do.
If you’ve found your browser pointed at this page for whatever reason, welcome. I’ll try to keep the rain of words about words coming on a regular basis, and maybe you’ll share some of yours. Even if you are not feeling depressed, clinically or otherwise, or it’s not raining on you at the moment, maybe we’ll help each other.
“I believe that words are strong, that they can overwhelm what we fear when fear seems more awful than life is good.” (Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon. 2001 Scribner, New York. p. 30).
Responses
By: Stuck in Irak at Another Storm on November 1, 2006
at 8:20 pm
I love the image of serotonin rain. Especially useful in the fall when sunshine is low and rain is frequent.
Thanks for a great image.
By: Sharala on November 19, 2006
at 11:01 am
–Random–
That doesn’t happen to be the Waffle House in Lancaster, is it?
By: Marissa Miller on May 14, 2008
at 11:36 pm
No, it happened in Cleveland and I didn’t know there was a waffle house in Lancaster. I’ll have to go there! I’m a waffle house fan.
By: Jim on May 14, 2008
at 11:38 pm
Oops, I thought you were talking about the story above. Silly me! The banner picture was taken in Oklahoma City during one of my road trips. And I still want to go the waffle house in Lancaster.
By: Jim on May 14, 2008
at 11:44 pm
lol. My husband and I might make a trip out there solely for that. One of the few things I miss about Kentucky is Waffle House.
By: Marissa Miller on May 15, 2008
at 8:18 pm
I hope you really did LOL Marissa. And it is an honor that I was able to bring a bit of laughter back into your home (or wherever you are) even if it was because I was a dufus.
By: Jim on May 15, 2008
at 8:38 pm
i LOVE the title.
By: maharet on June 18, 2008
at 9:59 am
I LOVE the idea of serotonin rain! Perhaps we are all happier than we realize because we get stuck in the tiniest details of life? What is real happiness? I rode my bike to work today, just the act of taking a different route to work made the day brighter. Cheers!
By: AEKA on July 2, 2008
at 12:45 pm
Jim,
A new addition to West Texas’ blogroll comes from Todd Wyrick (another WordPress guy, like you), Minister of Youth at First Presbyterian Church of Midland. “Postcards from the Edge” will provide an online journal of FPC’s 2008 summer program, especially journeys by our youth as they travel Texas and the United States in service and ministry, in fellowship and fun.
Won’t you please consider adding Postcards to your blogroll? And won’t you please add a visit to Postcards to your daily (sorta-daily, weekly, whatever) blog routine to keep up-to-date on Todd and the kids, and post comments?
Jeff
By: Jeff on July 8, 2008
at 6:48 am
