The Purpose Of Our Being (In Our Space part 1)

[Christopher Stewart]

("Tibetan Sand Mandala" by Mary Mueller)

The central theme of « In Our Space » is the idea of building, of perhaps finding or reaching, a space where one is free to simply be themselves and do as they feel they should.

At the personal level, this corresponds to finding true purpose and staying in alignment with it, remaining centered at all times in that ideal sacred space, or pure land.

Originally, the scope was limited to that level only, and the word space was referring to an individual’s mind space, as reflected by the working title « Innerspace. »

While working on the composition in early December 2008, an electoral campaign was coming to a close here in the province of Québec. Whenever we go through one of those, the unavoidable question of independence from the rest of Canada is raised, and discussions abound as to whether it is the best way forward for our nation. That process had its influence on my reflections while I was working on the lyrics at the time, and since then I am pondering the relevancy of widening the scope to include the societal perspective. Perhaps that same principle which applies to persons also applies to nations, and in order to thrive, they have to first find, or perhaps define, their own space.

The piece comprises two sections, « The Purpose Of Our Being, » and « A Space Where We Can Be. » The former, which is the object of the present post, employs a fairly standard song form and shows influences of a song on Shadow Gallery's « Carved in Stone » album (« Don’t Ever Cry Just Remember » if my memory serves me right).

The lyrics are currently at the « still-messy-and-not-quite-clear-actually » stage, so I’ll just post the last verse, which shouldn’t change much :

Imagining a world
Where people don’t have chains
Where minds are sound and love unbound
And matter isn’t king

And you and I are free
To reach what we will see
To be the only thing we need
A space where we can be