What moves your soul?

I realize it's pretty late at night to be so philosophical, but I was just typing on another thread to DemoTex about classical music. He was talking about listening to Rachmaninoff, and I have to ask.

What moves your soul? What makes you take a deep breath and be truly thankful to be alive?

I have loved music all my life. There is nothing more soothing to me, though, than classical music. Listening to a composer or piece of music I love moves me in ways nothing else does. I will be grateful to my friend Jeff for the rest of my life for exposing me to it in high school. It is the greatest gift I can imagine.

Julie

:P

Seriously, Beethoven's 9th symphony.

What moves my soul?

Well.....lots of things.........

I'm with you on classical music....I'm streaming some right now, in fact...

But that's not the only thing.......

Making love also will move my soul, and I mean this not in a dirty way....

Seeing beautiful vistas, as I did today, also do it for me.......

Reading, or writing, some poetry can move my soul too........

Lots of things!

:bounce: :bounce:

eom

I know, it's a shock:)

Some close friends and I used to throw around the "If you had to lose your sight or your hearing, which one would it be?" question alot, and I always chose my sight. I don't think I could handle not being about to listen to music I love, it's so much a part of my life and helps keep me alive..

and they will be popping out everwhere and I cannot wait!

Poetry by the masters: e.e. cummings, Plath, Gwendolyn Brooks, Walt Whitman, Chrystos, Joy Harjo...probably a few I'm forgetting. Certain poems that I read no matter how many times will always do it: Dulce et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen; The Lovesong of J. Aflred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot; Psalm 23, some poetry by Edgar Allen Poe but not all of it, A Julia de Burgos, by Julia de Burgos; Note from a Chicana Coed, by Bernice Zamora...the short story "Turtle Gal" by Beth Brant, and about a million other ones probably that I can't think of right now. :)

They make me want to go awwwwwwwwwww 24/7. Seeing such small furballs playing/getting into mischief by lack of common sense. My favorite part is when they purr; since they are so little you can feel the purring all over their body!

I only like to have 1 cat at a time. My first cat lived for 14 years, and my current cat is now 17 years old. Her health is slowly going, and I want the final stretch of her life to be as comfortable as possible.

I hope not to come across as cruel, but I'm looking forward to getting another kitten after she passes away/grieving process. The sorrow of a lost pet stays with you, but the boundless energy and love of a kitten helps to smooth things over a lot.

Is anyone up for a kitten pic thread? Please?

One of my cats died on Valentine's Day. I'm still mourning him but this morning I was putting food out for a stray and I started thinking "That cat really needs a home"...

Perhaps that stray found you! :applause:

We've got a houseful, and they never fail to bring me joy. I'm always amazed by how freshly adorable they are to me. Each day I wake up and, even though I've seen my kitties every day for years, I never fail to think: "Oh my GAWD they're SO cute and I LOVE them SO much."

I think I need therapy ... ;)

Maybe we can get some other DUers together and get a group rate!

all of it, for all the reasons y'all said^^

And my cat Tonka's love :D

Particularly post-modernism, absurdism, semiotics, and non-traditional narrative mechanisms. I guess Donald Barthelme and Roland Barthes move my soul. I have an natural love for words really.

Going into a museum is like a shot of divine inspiration to me. I look at the paintings and examine the brush strokes and methods the artist used. I imagine how carefully the artist applied the paint, and what genius inspired him or her. The artist actually touched that canvas or paper... to me, that is amazing. And here we are, so many years later, still awe-struck by the mastery and execution of the materials and subject matter.

In reality, all that we know of history comes from the arts. I try to explain that to my students. We wouldn't know about the Egytians without their paintings and architecture. The cavemen even left us images that tell us about their lives. That they left a permanent legacy to us is a reason to be so grateful and appreciative.

Thanks for the wonderful topic, Julie!

Music--I love classic rock, but that doesn't move my soul so much as affirm it. I probably shoulda belonged to the previous generation. What moves my soul is jazz, specifically "combo" jazz (Bill Evans, Miles, 'Trane, etc.), though swing and big band are awesome as well. And I love Steely Dan, though that doesn't move me as much as illuminate things, kinda like a musical high or orgasm.

The writen word--A well-written book is orgasmic. I read the same books again and again, just for the joy of picking through certain clear-cut phrases that make me feel sharp and alive down through to my toes. I never get "bored" with seeing the same story again and again. In fact, I relish it.

The Maine experience--I love this place. I really, really do. It feels real, solid to me in a way that even the most beautiful "southern" or "tropical" places cannot. I love to go and swim in the water in the Caribbean, as I have several times, but after a while I yearn for the bite of Maine water, the soothing gray and green tones to the water, the frothy whitecaps. I yearn for the smell of salt, which you never get with warmer water, and the sight of the lobster boats coming and going, and the lighthouses, and the sight of lobsters that actually have claws. I love the squirrels and chickadees that scamper around the backyard, the cold gray of branches against a pearly white winter sky, the crisp in the air and the "icy" "smell" that comes just before it snows. And in summer I love the smell of mowed lawn, and the feel of cold glasses beneath my fingers when it's 90 degrees, and the promise of the ocean, and being on vacation, and the knowledge that no matter how hot it gets, in six months it will be freezing cold again, and there will be four distinct seasons, always.

:)

Psychokinesis (Greek ψυχή + κίνησις, literally spirit-movement")<1><2> or PK, also known as telekinesis<3> (Greek τῆλε + κίνησις, literally "distant-movement")



Belief in telekinesis

In September 2006, a survey conducted by phone and mail-in questionnaire polled Americans on their belief in telekinesis. Of these participants 28 percent of male participants selected "agree" or "strongly agree" with the statement It is possible to influence the world through the mind alone, as did 31 percent of female participants. There were 1,721 participants, and the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.<79>



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis

I was listening to Rachmaninoff play a Beethoven piece last night before I went to sleep. It was transcendent.

It's great to read about all the things others here treasure, the things that give each of our lives meaning.

Julie

Even the rain...- well, sometimes at least :) The colors, the smells, the winds, the everchanging light, the stones, the plants and most of all the animals. We are so very rich!

That, and music, and friendship.


----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

now if you want to know what pleasurably alters my brain chemistry . . .


music, the pleasant company of friends, good food and drink, doing something to improve someone else's life

that there are only a handful of the 100,000+ registered for DU that experience anything that moves them.

I'm hoping we'll hear from some more if I move the thread up a bit...

Julie

Now that all the serious replies have had a chance to filter in.

Every time I touch the ocean, it's an epiphany on a very personal level. Hard to explain without getting poetic and vague.

Enya's music also quite often moves me, as do many folk songs

Reading the Bible quite often also has that effect on me -especially the New Testament

Seeing Nelson Mandela released from prison and seeing him sworn in as President of South Africa profoundly moved my soul

Listening to great speeches such as Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King's speech or almost any speech from President Clinton has a profound impact on me

When we were in Arkansas last year, I looked out over this bluff and saw all these beautiful trees, and I sighed. I was really happy to be alive for the first time in a really long time. Then as I looked up on the bank of this river a few hours later, I was truly at peace. I think it's the beauty of the earth. It makes me feel small, it makes me feel....a small part of something bigger.
Also, when my husband smiles and kisses me softly, it moves my soul every day that someone could love me, really love ME. It's amazing.

Especially from maybe the finest voice in the 1960's (and still going strong)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdpmcRK-b20