Into the Mystic

In my early years of bachelorhood I found myself working the evening shift. There weren’t many benefits to working 3-11pm every day (I called it the anti-social shift). But one of the things I really enjoyed was relaxing, by myself, late on the weeknights after work. Whether I was still living at home with my parents, or after I moved into a townhouse with a couple friends, everyone else was already asleep by the time I got home.

Once home from work, I would usually throw a pizza in the oven, crack open a beer and hit the couch to catch up on the latest movies showing on cable TV. In our townhouse we had a special cable box that, most of the time, provided us with access to some of the premium movie channels. This was a big deal for me. If nothing else, it spared me from having to suffer through those annoying late night commercials.

My late night discovery

I recall one specific occasion, in April 1990, with perfect clarity. I tuned in to a somewhat recent film called Dream a Little Dream.  It had a pretty good cast – veteran actors Jason Robards and Piper Laurie, along with the young “Two Coreys” (Corey Feldman and Corey Haim), who at that time were everywhere. As quirky as the movie was, I really enjoyed it. But the only reason I still remember the occasion today is because of a song included on the soundtrack.

Hard to believe now that I’d never heard it before, but when Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic came on during a pivotal scene in the movie, I was floored. There have been very few songs – if any – that moved me so strongly the first time I heard them. This one touched something deep inside me. I felt like I already knew the song, or maybe it knew me. It was a strange experience. I went out and bought Van’s Moondance CD the next day, just so I could hear it again.

Looking back, I think the song touched an untapped spiritual understanding within me. It would be years before I would truly appreciate and fully understand its meaning. At the time, I just knew that the song strongly called to me, for whatever reason. I loved the music and found the lyrics moving.

On the surface, the song appears to be some ancient tale of a sailor and his love. But there’s more to it than that – the words also carry a deeper message. This is what I didn’t understand, yet, at the age of 23.

“We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun”

I get that, now. We’re all eternal beings, temporarily existing in physical form. Many of us have traveled here together, as we have with past adventures.

At the time, I had no idea that in the near future I would fall in love and discover what it meant to have a soulmate; to find myself in a deep relationship with someone I felt like I had already known forever.

“And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float
Into the mystic”

That’s pretty cool, Van. And I can totally relate. This describes what it was like for me to find my perfect match, in Michelle, and discover that we wanted to spend every minute of every day together, for the rest of our lives.

“When that fog horn blows
You know I will be coming home
And when that fog horn whistle blows
I gotta hear it
I don’t have to fear it”

I don’t focus much on my mortality, or wonder when my time here will end. But I do know in my heart that what Van says here is true. When my whistle does finally blow, I know I will be “coming home”. It’s unavoidable. And there’s absolutely nothing at all to fear. Home is a beautiful place.

A spiritual sunrise

In late April 2013, my sister Ann had reached the end of her journey with cancer. Michelle and I, along with my entire family, spent the night at her hospice home. We all expected her to pass sometime during the night. She was really sick, and she was ready to go.

But as morning approached, she hadn’t yet shown the signs normally seen at the very end. So after spending almost 24 hours at her bedside, Michelle and I decided to risk it, and go home for some sleep. We stepped outside the hospice around 5 am, to a beautiful clear sky, filled with bright stars. We got in the car and headed home, in complete silence and exhaustion.

As we traveled down the vacant highway, the sky to the east was just beginning to brighten. The changing colors were spectacular. It was obviously going to be a beautiful spring day. With the heaviness of past 24 hours upon us, the sunrise was a much-needed spiritual lift. One life was ending, but the birth of another day reminded us that life goes on, as it always does. It was the perfect message.

The silence was appreciated, but I also had to get us home safely while in such a state of fatigue. I figured listening to the radio would help provide a boost for the 40-minute drive home. I slowly turned up the volume on the stereo and, as if by magic, the first few notes of Into the Mystic began to play. We looked at each other and almost lost it.

The words. The music. The sunrise. Our state of mind. All combined, it made for an amazing and surreal moment.

A moment shared with the infinite.

We got home that morning and collapsed, probably falling asleep before our heads even hit the pillow. But the phone rang only two hours later. It was my mom, summoning us back to the hospice. We quickly showered and made our way back.

Amazingly, Ann was still hanging on when we arrived. It was a heavy situation, but the two of us felt so much lighter after a little nap, a refreshing shower and change of clothes.

A couple hours after we arrived, Ann finally passed away, peacefully. Her husband Randy was holding one hand, and her oldest son Blair was holding her other. My mom and the rest of the family were all at her bedside. She took her final ragged breath with the song Amazing Grace playing in the background. Her favorite.

 
Into the Mystic

This experience with Ann added yet another dimension to one of my favorite songs. While it can be interpreted many different ways, up to that point in my life I had primarily thought of it as a song about soulmates. But now another side of the song had been revealed to me, as my sister sailed off…into the mystic.

I see now why I was so blown away the first time I heard that song back in 1990. The infinite part of me had recognized, and was celebrating, the beauty and timelessness of this song. It just took a few years and a couple more life experiences for me to catch on.

Nice work, Van.