#2 Find Your Howl

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/51.01.YourHowl


Within his article, Flaum describes a story of a tiger attempting to hatch and escape plan to get out of his cage at the zoo.  In this story, the tiger leaped out of the top of his cage, only to wake up and find that he had landed in a new cage in a new zoo.  The story continues in an identical fashion, with the tiger continually waking up in a new cage in a new zoo.  The situation seems impossible to escape, but what the tiger does not realize is that he is bringing the cage with him, as they have become a part of him. 
For the tiger to escape, he would have to dig down under, and uproot those fears and feelings of the cage that have formed over such a long time of being trapped. The cage lies within him, not around him, and for him to escape he must confront those internal fears and dispatch them.
 

Bibio- Lovers’ Carvings

Lovers' names, carved in walls
Overlap, start to merge
Some of them underneath
Maybe they appear
In graveyards
Maybe they fade away
Weathered and overgrown
Time has told
Meaningful hidden words
Suddenly appear, from the murk
Maybe they're telling us
That the end
Never was
Never will
The words have gone
But the meaning will never disappear
From the wall

            With only seventeen lines total, and most of them consisting of four or less words, this song is extremely minimalist in what it is verbally saying. Because the lyrics are so sparse, it really helps to give the few that are there emphasis and importance. “The words have gone, But the meaning will never disappear, From the wall,” this line really helps to define the spirit of the song.  It agrees with the cowbell, upbeat clapping, and synthesizer by reinforcing the idea that life is impermanent, but the meaning of that life can be lived on.  A link can also be drawn to a pertinent, meaningful howl.  If you truly struggle with your howl, and find it through intense efforts, it will help you to create something deep and powerful that will connect with a huge amount of people.  That your howl and message will live on.  “Maybe they're telling us, That the end, Never was, Never will,” I am not sure if I will ever understand this lyric, and that is one of the reasons that I keep coming back to this song.  As this refers to the lovers’, I have trouble determining what exactly “the end” is referring to.  It seems that they are either referring to the end of a relationship, or some greater end; while the melodramatic in me would love for this to be a grandiose statement about the end of humanity, it is a beautiful line to think of it in reference to “true love.”  Or rather it could be looked at in reference to the end of an existential existence, in reference to finding one’s howl.  As an individual struggles with himself in attempt to find his true self, pushing his perception and idea of self to the limits, I may suggest that it is not an ending of one existence and the ending of another.  Rather, it is likely a rebirth of the current self into a more aware, enriched version of the previous self.  “Meaningful hidden words, Suddenly appear from the murk,” This line plays with the idea of creative expression quite interestingly.  Many people attribute, or attempt to, creativity to some higher being; to a muse or divine inspiration.  This may be somehow true when applied to great creative minds.  The idea that we may not be wholly responsible for our creations has helped many creative people flourish in their creative aspirations.  This also plays with the fact that we may not be finding some of the most beautiful parts of our lives within the murky, disgusting features of our lives.  Although it may seem like murk from an onlooker’s perspective, it has the ability to contain gems that we may treasure for the rest of our lives.  Pushing ourselves to examine the undesirable, “gross” aspects of ourselves and the world around us will help us to overcome those and apply it as motivation and inspiration.