The Free Radical

(Nobody’s Hero by Rush from their 1993 album Counterparts)

“Let us continue with the distraction of hero-worship.”

Before we return to the River’s discourse, I thought I might provide a bit of context… for Beauty cannot be dissected… or rationalized.

As the River piles up ice and then proceeds to flow overtop, the emerald saturation of glacial silt makes it glow like an artist’s dipped brush, ready to cut new strokes in Creation’s pristine landscape…

Sometimes the water looks more like sky than icy pools…

“The hero stands outside, never believing that the inward direction could possibly be a real thing. The hero doesn’t know his true Source, so he imagines himself coming from worship and need.

“He claims to cut through the conflict, proclaiming the way forward to be narrow and perilous. He demands single-file followers; no one stands with him shoulder-to-shoulder; nothing is equal in a hero’s estimation. Everything is exceptional– an impossibility.

“But every hero’s quest is a channel cut from the collective dream, where no one is left to dream alone…

“And though the hero may speak to a strength in numbers, he understands virtually nothing of unity rooted in diversity– the true state of the unseen world. He stands alone in the barren landscape of frozen belief, mustering strength against the very thaw that might yet save him…

“The way is open… to those who walk hand-in-hand, hearts entwined… No heroes required.”

Aw… and I so wanted to be somebody’s hero!