The story of the picture

I’ve been to Coruña a few times in my life, and I usually go for a walk around Tower of Hercules and get lost looking within looking to the horizontal sea. But this was the first time I could have the little walk around with a difference. It was pitch black because the sun was already set and there was no moon that night. As soon as I arrived to the bottom of the hill and saw what you can see in the picture, “Stairway to heaven” by Led Zeppelin came to my mind. Obvious. Well… it’s true that’s obvious for me, but maybe not everyone would have come out with the same song or thoughts as me.

Lighthouse at the top of the hill with its beams of light towards the endless night sky. The slope fully illuminated with equidistant lights, guiding the path. Having something else pointing out to the sky so clearly would have been impossible…. (ok, maybe a meteor lol haha but that would have made serendipity my closest friend and it’s not the case).

What I mean is that the composition has to make you think about that. Just a path to heaven, where every light you find in your way is a sign to guide you towards the end, when you yourself become a light beam and are projected out to the infinite universe.

“Stairway to heaven”. The song speaking to me.

Despite having heard the song lots of times, and by the way loving it, I’m not an English speaker so didn’t I know the lyrics by heart nor did I have any idea about what every stanza went about. I guessed out by its name, that it had to deal with Death, but that was the first time I heard it. So, this little walk was pretty intense, mentally and emotionally speaking I mean. It wasn’t long, because getting to the lighthouse can be about two minutes. Three tops, but the case is that my mind goes very fast.

For those of you who don’t know the place, this “Tower of Hercules” is set in a cape, and when you get to the top, there’s just a little land to walk by around the lighthouse and then, you have the ocean. Although it was completely dark and you couldn’t see it, you knew it was there. You could hear it roaring and also feel the salty breeze coming from it, caressing your skin and whispering to every pore of it: “Hi, here I am”. And that made the experience even deeper. I was there, in the middle of darkness. Dark sky above, dark sea below… just some lights guiding my feet in an also dark ground. This is what I started wondering about until I reach the top, and probably leaving something behind.

My wonderings

I wondered about what heaven would be really like. Under what parameters our earthly existence measures our worthiness to go to heaven. Why life on the planet is so hard … I mean emotionally. I believe hard work and physical tiredness are easier to bear than any of the psychological issues you could face in your life. Why do we have to die? What really happens when we die? Why can’t we go and come back whenever we want? I mean, many times in these two years I came to realize that I would have preferred to stop feeling what I was feeling because of being alive, and stop existing was the only way to bring me peace and calmness.

Although other times I think I wouldn’t come back if given the choice, and I also believe it’s better and more wonderful to be there than here. I’m convinced that there’s way far more peace and love and a lot more light. I can’t still see why we have to feel so much pain and sorrow here. I know it’s for our growth but why does it need to be so painful. And why are we all so different and so alike at the same time that we arrive here and we all depart likewise. What do we need to do here, while alive, to get rid of everything and become a beam of light and transcend. Is it possible in this life to all become light and leave the dark side only for the night and the other side of the moon?

This is clearly like in the movie Star Wars hahaha not joking. The eternal war within between the light and the dark side. I also thought about death and what people say you see. A long tunnel and a light in the background. And this is what I am now constantly looking for. Light. Peace. Those beacon signals to be my guide to really find the meaning of my life. My home. My Promised Land.

I still see myself now like floating in the sea, still adrift, clinging to my own remains which are still afloat. Still a child. Every day I find one more and I grab it and hold it to the ones I have, so I manage to make a stronger raft. Much more consistent. I look at the horizon every time I open my eyes every morning and I search for the lights of the lighthouse. Sometimes I find only darkness. 24 hours of night. Black as in Pearl Jam’s Black. In the raft I lack nothing. In fact, I have more and more things, as I find more and more as time goes by.

It’s a very beautiful raft, with vines, plants and birds … very lively. Getting bigger and bigger. But rafts at last, aren’t steady as they’re floating. I have to find land. I start gazing the next day. And the other. Sometimes lately, I glimpse the beams of a lighthouse. And I immediately feel the breeze in my face, the coolness of being alive speaking to my heart and showing me the way. I then grab my remnants I ask the wind to blow stronger to go faster. It sometimes doesn’t listen to me so I have to put off for that day and learn to go slowly.

Yes. Despite the long and hard journey these two years… I now honestly see the beams of a lighthouse. I don’t know where it is, or how long it will take me to get to it. But I’ll do. Sure I will. And after making landfall I will bring heaven to earth. To be able to live according to who I am and what I am like.

The song and what it says to me

The song besides being a beautiful and a great song, speaks specifically about death and the long journey that we all have ahead. But the part that I liked the most was the verse that goes: “When all are one and one is all”. And that is how I see all. We are all one. We are made of the same and this consciousness of unity is everything. I’m confident today and strongly believe that one light leads to another as in the picture. If you want to see or find “the” light, you must be it yourself firstly. Then, one by one, we’ll become the same light, the same everything. The same ONE. Because we are all the same and we’re in the same road in this journey to the afterlife.

And as the lyrics show, you can always face two different paths. You can choose being materialistic or spiritual. Letting yourself be moved by the crowds or follow the west wind when it whispers into your ear the way. But eventually, we will all encounter the same situation, only to realize that truth is that nothing matters because we are all the same. One.

It’s beautiful in the end. Both metaphorically and factually speaking. If we were explained this at school many existential problems would been maybe avoided throughout life. Perhaps this is what it is about. That everyone lives their path the best they can and learn to do. To go following the lights, the signs on this stairway to heaven which is our life. To finally come to the realization that when you leave, you again become part of the whole. And there is no difference at all between us at that moment.

Listen to “Stairway to heaven”

Here you have a video with the full lyrics and some interpretations about it. You can click play and go on reading while you listen:

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The lyrics

S͙T͙A͙I͙R͙W͙A͙Y͙ T͙O͙ H͙E͙A͙V͙E͙N͙

There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.

There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there’s a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it’s whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now,
It’s just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it won’t go, in case you don’t know,
The piper’s calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she’s buying a stairway to heaven

 

What do you think about this? What do you believe life is? And death? Why do you think we came here for? These are the kind of questions that I ask myself everyday… not jokin’. You can spread some light letting me know what you think about all this. ;D