Water water everywhere, but what?

I've listened to this song so many times, but today I finally heard it...

Island, Mainstay



In an old apartment waiting for the walls to move

Praying that someone, hoping that no one intrudes

Living like an actor, feeling like a poet bruised

But no man is an island

Lay down your robe, leper or rogue, keep yourself open here

Don’t let the cold close to your soul, lonely tonight

Passing like a shadow never letting anyone see
Maybe I’m biased but I don’t think you know the first thing about me
Lay down your robe, leper or rogue, keep yourself open here
Don’t let the cold close to your soul, no one is free come light
Heavier stones think themselves, that they’re alone here
But everyone grieves and everyone feels lonely tonight
Don’t tell me you know, when I know you don’t

Behind the Song:
"During the fall of 2006 while we were writing this record, I read a book that I will never forget - Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” This book (inspired partially by one of John Donne’s poems) shows the depth of human connectivity amongst people who consider themselves loners, outsiders, and detached from the world around them. Being one of those people that often feels so misunderstood, depressed, and internalized, it had a profound effect on me, teaching me to turn to others around me and open up; to drink deeply from human experience, but not isolate myself from those around me. This song is a call to all those who feel lonely and alone in the world, to turn to others and realize that so many people feel like them in their most private moments. It is a call to self-dubbed “lepers” and “rogues” to open up from their reclusion and feel lonely - together. Naturally, like so many of my lyrics, this song is aimed at myself." - Justin Anderson
(from JesusFreakHideout.com)

No man is an island?

Hmm...

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee…

-John Donne

Eh? I don't know that I agree. These lines from the movie About a Boy make more sense to me.

In my opinion, all men are islands. And what's more, now's the time to be one. This is an island age.

Every man is an island. I stand by that. But clearly some men are island CHAINS. Underneath, they are connected...

-Will

We are connected, but we choose to be islands. Our own pride divides us, like water separates one island from another. We ignore the underlying connections until they're buried so deep that they seem to disappear.

We're connected...so why is there still so much junk? Hate, shame, hurt, fear...





je ne sais pas






(My favorite island, Sumatra)