The Cart or the Horse?

Meanwhile, back in our book . . .

Illustration created by DALLE-3 

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As we announced in a brief note at the end of last week’s post, starting now we’ll be doing fewer posts per month, maybe only one, so that we can finish our manuscript. We’ve felt tantalizingly close to the end for way too long—so long that the end seems to get further and further away. A few weeks ago we said to each other, “Hey, we’re spending nearly all our writing energy on our Substack posts.” We have to ask the proverbial question: are we putting the cart before the horse?

We still think Austin Kleon’s maxim “show your work” is a good idea for writers and artists of all sorts, at least in theory. Ironically, this post may be as close as we’ve ever been to that ideal.

Although the challenge of finding enough time to write is very real for both of us, there are other challenges that call for us to shift gears. One is the realization that it is more difficult to speak of contemporary events and issues with any kind of perspective than it is to talk about something that happened 20, 40, 60 years ago. We can claim credit for putting in untold hours of research, interviews, writing drafts, and editing this biography, but most of those tasks have been guided and framed by the chronology of Noel’s life and work. It was easier to view that content from afar than up close. And therein has been the challenge of completing the book.

However, the times in which we live seem to be suggesting a way to finalize that has resonance. Suddenly everything that we've covered in the book from the political to the profound has led us to the edge of a contemporary challenge both to the  perceived faith called Christianity and the real essence of Christianity—love of neighbor and even of enemy—which dwells in the heart rather than on the platform.

Somehow we can't avoid dealing with the fact that the election is going to be in November and the manuscript of our book could be just about finished that same month. Our summation will doubtless include the fact that we don't know what's going to happen, but that we have ultimate faith in the capacity of the human heart to discern the real from the weird.

Do we dwell in the nostalgia of Jimmy Carter and some of the other candidates whom the trio supported, but who never made it to a congressional or presidential office? Do we speak about the noble intentions of the failed campaigns, like that of Al Gore, who did his best to raise awareness of human causes of climate change, or like that of George McGovern or Gene McCarthy. We can introduce what they were reaching for, and to the extent that it parallels what we feel the human heart is reaching for in this decade, it has a place in our concluding chapters.

The problems of our times are complex and interconnected: climate change, economic inequality, racial injustice, unfettered greed, religious fundamentalism, threats to democracy—the list goes on. We make no claim that our book can begin to address them, but we are certain that attempting to deal with the huge problems of our time requires the leadership of people of compassion, wisdom, imagination, character, and courage in every level of our society. We also believe that this kind of leadership needs the support of those of us who value those virtues. All of us have a part to play in what our Jewish friends call tikkun olam, the mending, the healing, of the world. We hope that the main intersecting themes of our book—music, justice, and faith beyond labels—will encourage our readers to use their energy and gifts for the healing of the world.  

As we begin this season of reduced frequency of posts on Strings and increased work on our book, we offer our deep appreciation to you, our community of readers, for your support during the first year of Strings. We look forward to year two of this adventure with you, and we thank you in advance for allowing us time to make sure we’re keeping “the horse before the cart” as we look at the bigger picture of our project. 

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Connections

For you Sesame Street fans, indulge the child within and enjoy Super Grover 2.0: “Cart Before the Horse.”

Vibrations

Hear Noel’s rendering of the Zane Williams song “The Big Picture”.

Resonance

As readers of our first year of posts, what topics have you found most intriguing or helpful?  What topics would you like to see us address in the coming year?  What suggestions do you have for us as we look at the “bigger picture” of the conclusion of our book?