Unfinished Thoughts August

August.

I looked at the calendar, my watch, checked the alignment of the evening stars, just to make sure. Thanks to the summer rains, the gardens at our house here in Rhode Island look like Springtime, not August. But, here we are, and here we are again with a monthly edition of Unfinished Thoughts for Paid Subscribers of the Notebooks Newsletter.

Age & Youth

Brandi Carlile is playing in our home these days. Her new album is filled with reflections on the human condition from loves lost to anthems of rebllion in these days of empire, along with those poetic imaginings that describe our lives as these dleigightful and messy challenges. For me her song, A War with Time, speaks to me. Not all of it, but this piece from the chorus:

I’m living in a war with time

I could still rеach out and touch you

And I wish I didn’t know the things I know

My own internal wanderings pull at the weight of time. James Hillman and others wrote about Age and Youth as the two forces of senex and puer. The wise old man and the exuberant youthful boy in tension or dialogue with the bitter, recalcitrant old man and the irresponsible, avoidant child. You can change the genders to fit your experience.