I am certainly the last to know about trending music, but I have been noting the rise of  rapper REN with his new CD released in 2023.

One video that is especially worthy is his, “HI REN”, a wide open song that is aching with personal truth.  Here is the vid, but I have also noted the reaction video to this particular song by the Charismatic Voice, Elizabeth Zharoff. Her’s is a heartfelt echo of my own feelings.

The original

The Charismatic Voice’s reaction:

 

I am drawn by some of the larger truths in this anthem to transformation especially the idea of creative process and identity. There’s a powerful rip tide in my life concerning my “voice” and whether it is of value to others.  It is also about whether the practice of writing is worth it now that I am retired.  I was deeply involved in helping writers write for 25 years, but the resistance to the practice was always there.  Is still there.

In the Western mystical tradition, the really old ones, there were often two voices both necessary, much like in REN’s song: the Via Positive and the Via Negativa.  The former is a cosmic view into the glories of the breadth of all life while the latter is about its cosmic depth.  You need both to have grace in the world.  Another way of thinking about this writing practice is to say that the Grand Canyon has nothing on any of us in depth or breadth.

I really love both of these videos.  I might have used them in my comp classes were I still teaching.  Now I use them in my own writing practices.  I have rituals where I call upon folks like REN and Elizabeth Zharoff to lift me up when the winter drags me down.

I am reminded of a Thomas Merton quote: