On What We Are

Watering my bonsai tree this afternoon, I remembered something that Dave Matthews said in his acceptance speech at Haverford, a Quaker university, the religion he was raised in, although he considers himself agnostic/atheist. I thought it was very beautiful and insightful, so I thought I might share it:

I do find myself praying a lot, and I don’t know what I pray to, but it seems like I pray to the undamaged things, to the natural things, to breasts before enhancement, to the way that a child runs across the lawn, to trees or to a forest. I pray to those things; to the mountain. That’s where I think God might be at least: the mountain next to Mt. Rushmore. Although Mt. Rushmore is impressive, it’s not as impressive as it was prior to the damage done to it. So, what is our obligation to this God I don’t really believe in? ...
God made you what you are, so why would he want you to be something other than you are? Why would he want you to pretend you are something you are not, because your heart is what God made it. And so, our responsibility to God, however difficult it is, is to be what we are. To be present, not to put up a façade that makes us feel safer. It’s not always easy. I’m faking it a lot of times. I wish I could fake it a little better right now. Although in a way you are more vulnerable and vile things happen to you when you experience joy, you get a mouthful of it, you know when you experience goods things. Because it comes right to you, you’re right there, because you’re not busy trying to make sure no one notices that behind that perfect, or average, or fitting-in façade is really what God made you. So be yourselves I guess is what I wanted to say. Be present. I have a little poem that I was going to read because I think that this guy was much more able to say what I said in the last five minutes—or ten if it feels like that—in just a couple of lines. I went to Australia and I found this poet that I don’t think has landed on these shores, and I thought he was kind of magical. And it’s May, and this is called, “A Prayer in May.” And it says, it starts,
“God relieve the dark unease.
God of valves untie my throat,
and God let sink the weight of mind to the belly of heart’s content.”
Thank you very much to everybody for having me today. So save the world now by being yourself.

(Note: Post title drawn from this song. This footage is from a Central Park concert!)