"THERAPY"
Some artists are happy people who write depressing or angry songs -- they write as a form of therapy, to release emotions they're going through. I suppose my therapy, when I'm feeling some real emotional upset, is to write something inspirational and uplifting. I want to make the choice to get in touch with that state of bliss that brings me healing -- something that helps me transmute my emotions quickly. I write these songs as a reminder to myself, to help open my heart when it shuts down, to keep that bright vision in front of me, to feel the love when I've been out of the flow... And that's the Parallel Universe to me -- there's the darkness you see around you and there's the light that's always behind it, within your grasp. You find the light by going through the darkness. Joni Mitchell put it really well in her song Down To You: "You're a brute, you're an angel -- You can crawl but you can fly too -- It all comes down to you". I suppose each of us is always trying to reconcile our animal nature, that keeps us focused on survival insecurity, with the spirit that drives us towards endless growth and expansion, pushing us past our physical limitations.


PARALLEL UNIVERSES
There is another meaning to Parallel Universe for me -- I grew up in the USA, born and raised in Chicago, but I was raised in a very tight-knit Lithuanian community where there were Lithuanian hospitals, schools, supermarkets, bars, radio and television stations, newspapers -- you didn't have to speak a word of English to get by. So I was participating in these very traditional rituals like folk dancing and singing, and remnants of pagan practices that were folded into Christian holidays. And then there was this whole modern world out there that I connected with through TV and music -- American pop culture. It was kind of strange walking the line between one of the oldest cultures on earth and the youngest culture -- and I still don't feel that I completely belong in either one. So I definitely grew up in parallel universes.


A PARALLEL FUTURE
And then there is another meaning of Parallel Universe, which I suppose is the more conventional definition. When I focus on our very complex modern-day 21st Century world, and contemplate all the problems we're going to have to solve in order for humanity to survive this next century -- well, actually, probably even just this next decade! (Peak Oil, the water crisis, our unsustainable economy, over-population...) -- that's when I wish I could just tune in to a Parallel Universe where all the solutions have been found already. Kind of like switch the channel with the remote. If it's true that our thoughts are measurable in units of energy, as quantum physics has shown, and if everyone on earth could conceive of all the solutions we need to create sustainable and therefore more joyful life on this planet, then maybe we can create this parallel universe. Sooner rather than later. And I hope to inspire all of us to do so.

All content © 2005 Nijole Sparkis.
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