I have spent most of my life (like most people) avoiding transcendence at all costs, mainly because the shit hurts. Merely defining transcendence can sometimes be painful. I once heard that “Transcendence is the act of going through something”. Ouch. I see plate glass windows and divorces. Someone else told me that it was “rising above whatever one encountered in one’s path” but at this point in my life that smacks of avoidance as well as elitism of some sort. I am compelled to look back on years of going through, above, as well as around my life looking for loopholes to redefine everything including any and all of the ideas that I have held close to my heart along the way – Art – Freedom – Justice – Revolution – Love (a big one) – Growth – Passion – Parenting (a really big one) – and I find that for me, for now, transcendence is about being still enough long enough to know when it’s time to move on. Fuck me.
Steve Earle
Chicago
January, 2000