Being on a journey is our constant in life, even though those words seem to contradict the idea. A journey implies change while a constant implies its absence. For readers of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the answer may be 42, but the question is unknown. What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything? Honestly, we have no idea. But we do know the journey, and it brings opportunities for exploration ad infinitum. We reflect on things and then reflect them back, refracted through whatever lens we use to communicate. Writing is different from painting which is different from music and so on.

We can write about a fallen leaf, curling up from a dark forest floor, seeking to define itself in afternoon light, and discovering it is simply shapeshifting from what it had been in the morning. Or we can paint it in colour and energy, its shape entirely dependent upon the viewer. We can find the notes and harmonies that evoke the feeling of fall leaves, of cooler days. All are valid. All contain some truth.

Perhaps we cannot see the leaf at all. The leaf may be a crackling sound under our feet, perhaps a sensation of smooth coolness if our feet are bare. Maybe it is a thin, hollow scent, cutting through the crumbling cacophony of dampness and decomposition. All things are a facet of something greater and carry a degree of veracity depending on where we stand and how we perceive the world.

In the end, our constant lies with our senses. Senses are a touchstone. Without them, it would be like experiencing our entire lives in a sensory deprivation tank and none of us has a communicable reference for that experience. It is entirely possible the exploration would continue through refraction in a way that is unimaginable for us now. Perhaps such states would take us to points beyond jazz fusion, abstract art, and free verse into something we have yet to discover.

Wherever it takes us, there is more than what we see on the surface. How we explore it is purely experimental and leads to varying aesthetic results, but we shouldn’t dismiss them outright simply because they aren’t pretty.

You may be the one to find the touchstone.

Such is life. Such is art. Drink deeply and share.