1989 Synergy - Understanding, Cooperation and Love - Windstar Note

The I Ching says when two elements approach each other in such a way that the scope of what they can achieve together far surpasses the total of what they could achieve separately, they are acting with synergy. Synergy, in this case, takes the effectiveness of cooperation beyond normal expectations.

A synergistic approach to the solving of any problem - or to the accomplishment of any goal - brings all the elements together, with all the particulars involved. We participate to discuss, imagine, create, and move forward in a way that is an expression of truly giving ourselves freely and completely, acting with purpose, and with a commitment to a desired result.

• What I like about the I Ching definition of synergy is that any two or more elements can approach each other in such a way that miracles can happen. Any two elements can be you and me, you and your family, you and your job. These elements can also be within you - between you and your sense of purpose in the world, or you and your commitment to a better life for all people and all living things.

What comes to mind in thinking about synergy has to do with some experiences that I have had many times over the years through my music. There are nights when I feel like it is magic - like every nuance, every subtlety of music and lyric and heart and spirit is felt by everyone in the coliseum. Whether that is true or not, who knows? It is just the way that I have felt.

On the other hand, there have been nights - and this is more to my point - when I really didn’t feel like I did a very good job. I wasn’t singing well, or maybe my mind was somewhere else, and it just didn’t seem like I was there. I used to beat myself up pretty bad about that. Quite often, however, I have heard from people who said that on that particular night their lives were changed. Something happened that was magic for them - and it didn’t matter how I felt.

• I remember one particular evening. I had given a concert in the southeastern United States. It was a tough night for me. Tough though it was for me, my perspective changed when I learned what the concert meant to some people who had come to hear me sing. One family’s story moved me to tears. They had gone through separating, divorce, and several difficult years. The family had been big fans of mine, the children were raised on my music, and - after all of these difficult times that they had faced in their lives, they had gathered together for the first time in years at my concert. They had to deal with a lot of hassles even to make it to the concert, but - by being there together - they felt like a family again for the first time in years.
• Another time I heard from a man in the mid-western United States. His wife had had a nervous breakdown. She had been in the hospital for about ten months in a very depressed condition when her doctors felt it would be safe for her to go home to be with her family on weekends. A big part of her problem was that she was not able to face whatever was at the source of this depression. It was locked up inside. On one of these weekends, some friends invited the family over for dinner. During the course of the evening, they played one of my albums. As they sat listening to the album, sudden the woman began crying. In that evening and shortly thereafter, she was somehow able to release all of the fear, frustration, and depression that had been locked inside her. Her husband considered this an absolute miracle, and felt that my music was a catalyst for this release.

The point of these two stories is that when I first started singing and writing songs, I realized then that I wanted to do more than just entertain people. I wanted to somehow touch them, to be a reflection of their lives. My commitment to this shows whether I think I am doing the job or not - as long as I go about my business with as much integrity and heart and spirit as possible. Because of my synergistic relationship with my own vision, something from deep down inside me comes through and works.

I know that each of us wants to make a positive difference in the world. We would like to leave the planet a little better place than we found it. All of us are looking for ways to make that difference - not only within the physical environment, but among the people with whom we interact, those whom we love the most, our family, our friends, and beyond that, to as wide as circle as possible. There is great value in knowing you have made a difference, and a tremendous sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that comes out of living up to yourself. That opportunity and that return is there for everyone.

Now is a time when the complexity of the problems that we face is so enormous that it can become overwhelming, and we often don’t know where to begin. People ask me, “what can I do?” I have hesitated with my response to that question because there is so much that needs to be done and so many ways to do it. I can’t and shouldn’t be the one to tell you what you should do. I want you to find for yourself what you want to do that lends itself to your life and to who you are, and do that. I really want you to do that. Your unique , individual expression will make a difference, whether you are able to see it or articulate it or know it, as long as you are acting out of a sense of your own purpose and commitment. Acknowledge to yourself that you have taken a stand and that you have made a commitment in your life to a better world.

One very specific way, however, in which you can begin making a real difference in the world is a simple thing that I do and you can do every day. I am really bothered by litter, and I am constantly working on it. I was on tour last fall.

John ready for a run.

I went out for a run in the northeastern United States - in a beautiful college town with one of the prettiest campuses I have ever seen. It was the height of the New England fall colors on a crisp, glorious Sunday morning. As I ran, though, I came upon more trash and litter than I had ever experienced any place in the United States. It was so depressing that it literally took the wind out of me and I couldn’t run anymore. I asked some townspeople passing by why there was so much trash everywhere. They stuttered, stammered, and were a little embarrassed, for which I don’t blame them. Finally, someone said, “Well, Van Halen did a concert here last night.” I don’t know what Van Halen does with their music, or what it brings out in people, but I know absolutely that Van Halen was not responsible for the mess that I saw.

I would like to ask each of you to find a piece of litter every day - be it a beer can, a cigarette package, a Styrofoam coffee cup, or a food wrapper - and put it in the trash. Do that for yourself as one expression of your commitment to make a difference in this world. If you look every day for that piece of trash that you can pick up, you will discover new ways to manifest your commitment. People may give you a strange look if you happen to stop your car in the middle of the road to pick up a beer can, or if you pick up clutter around the office. You can say that you have taken a stand for a better world, and this is one of the ways that you are making that happen.

The point is that your commitment is going to have an effect. You can be in a black, cloudy mood one day - really feeling like you are not doing your job, or worrying because you just had a fight with your kids and you don’t know what to do - and you can take this action, picking up that piece of trash. Not only will it work for you as an expression of you living up to your commitment, but someone will notice it; in some way it is going to have a positive effect on our planet. Know that, live out of that commitment - and know that people who read the Windstar Journal are going to be doing the same thing, in addition to the several hundred thousand people to whom I have talked in concerts over the last year. There is synergy in that. I don’t know exactly how it will show up in the long run - except that we are certainly going to get rid of a lot of litter. So know that - and know that you make a difference.

The Hundredth Monkey by Ken Keys. Jr., which I highly recommend to you for reading, states that “When a certain critical mass achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated mind to mind.” Who knows what ramification this kind of action can have on a world in as deep trouble as ours? Further in the book Keyes quotes Albert Einstein when he warned us,

“We must never relax our efforts to arouse in the people of the world, and especially in their governments, an awareness of the unprecedented disaster which they are absolutely certain to bring on themselves unless there is a fundamental change in their attitudes toward one another as well as in their concept of the future.”

We have to clean up our lives, our society, our environment. This small thing, picking up a piece of litter every day - is a very real step toward that end, for you and everyone with whom you come in contact.

Think of picking up a piece of litter as an act of love. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin) wrote, “Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves.”

Keys writes, “Understanding, cooperation and love are at the very essence of synergy.”

Robert Muller, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Muller) former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, and now Chancellor for the University of Peace in Costa Rica, says,

“Use every letter you write, every conversation you have, every meeting you attend to express your fundamental beliefs and dreams.

Affirm to others the vision of the world you want.

You are a free, immense, powerful source of life and goodness.

Affirm it.

Spread it.

Radiate it.

Think day and night about it, and you will see a miracle happen - the greatness of your own life.”

John Denver -

Windstar Journal - Spring 1989

1992- Response Ability - from the Windstar Note

 

Words are interesting. In fact, they are incredibly important to me. Every word has value.

• ·        I like to think about the meaning of any word I choose. 
• ·        Will it convey to someone who hears me what I had in mind when I chose it?
• ·      If the word is in a song, will the listener hear my heart and feel the tender edges of the image that I have in mind to share?

It seems to me that we often take words for granted.  We become so familiar with the words we hear and see frequently that we run the risk of forgetting their essence.  We lose a sense of their purpose.  So, it occurs to me to try to listen carefully to the words I hear.  I consciously pay attention to the process so that I feel and understand the meanings as fully as possible. 

This all leads me to share with you a recent experience I had with the word responsibility.  I heard someone say it differently.  It sounded like two words: response and ability.  Say it aloud and take your time with it:  response ability.  Instantly, I found myself examining my habits of mind around the concept of responsibility.  

For some people, the word may bring to mind a burden.  Sometimes it feels like a heavy weight.  It can also feel like a privilege and it can be an opportunity.  Responsibility requires, by definition, a capacity to reason and make informed judgements prior to taking action.  To be responsible – that is response able – we must be dependable and reliable.  We must be accountable for the consequences of our actions. 

If we have response ability, it means more than simply having the capacity to respond to situations that arise.  Our capacities are more than reflexes.  They are choices.  Inherent in our response abilities are qualities that define our human character. 

·        Attributes like thought, reason, spirit, consciousness, faith, integrity, morality, humanity and conviction help to create a framework that makes the difference in determining whether or not we exercise our response ability.  

If these attributes are grounded firmly and surround us, then we find ourselves making the necessary conscious choice to act with conviction.  In fact, when we are fulfilling our response abilities, we cannot not respond.  We choose to be response able. 

I find myself questioning to the core of my soul how some of the actions taking place on this Earth today can by any measure be considered responsible.  When we look at the inhumanity of the politics that keep food from starving babies, the apparent genocide for reasons of ethnicity and religiosity in communities throughout the world, the continuing nighttime dumping of toxic chemicals- all of these are actions that avoid response ability.  Those are only some of the most obvious. 

It seems to me that any time any one does not weave together the range or scale of thought, reason, spirit, consciousness, faith, integrity, morality, humanity and conviction – he or she is falling short.  I continue to think that our current political leadership is falling short.  When we see that actions are needed, we have several choices on this path toward response ability.  As many have said – we can lead, follow, or get in the way.  Our current administration continues to get in the way.  The rest of us must define the measure of response ability.  We must require accountability beginning with ourselves. 

 

 

·        In light of the need to be a human family, in recognition of the dire circumstances we face- we must move from our inaction to a higher form of responsibility that sustains and promotes healthful environments and peace on Earth.  And we must demand as much from our leaders. 

All of this may sound simple, like an exercise in word play.  For me, it is serious.  It reminds me to awaken, to get past old habits and routines of consciousness and to look anew at what it takes to make the world work.  We must hold the vision of a healthy world and then stand up, step forward and act with response ability to create it.  And, more powerful than if we were each the only ones taking action, through shared response ability, we can make the world whole again. 

John Denver

Windstar Journal

Nov-Dec 1992