Patience, Empathy, Balance, Grace
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend”
I think of life in waves of energy. Countless electrons colliding into each other, creating chain reactions that ripple (or rush) into every form of matter - sound, light, liquid, solid, gas, and plasma. I feel I spent the first 25 years of my life experimenting with the perfect mix of them all according to where I was in my personal development, and I can explain why. My music has always been my sonic attempt of keeping records on the discovery of me, and the visual art forms that I’ve delved into - graphic design, photography. videography - are attempts to communicate my ascension through light.
Being liquid, namely water as Bruce Lee spoke to, has always been a core competency for me, as I was an empath before I’d ever heard the word. In attempts to defend myself from the harsh environments of the South Side of Chicago, you have to know how to move, and never get caught lacking or off your square. It’s about using the enemy’s power against them, it’s about wading as much as you splash, as long as you never sink. All that muscle memory you gain only makes you stronger in calmer waters, and suddenly the gas can enter the equation, i.e., the love from your friends, family, peers, etc. We all just want to be heard and to feel like our lives are worth something, so when this level is reached, you start thinking about how you can expand your reach. Eventually, that gas gets so hot that it starts converting to plasma, forming foundations for new planetary beings to join your orbit.
The completion of this journey should be our goal, now and forever more, but at times I question if we all understand the need to wade in that water when we’re liquid. Those muscles can’t be BBL’d into existence; you’ll really need them one day for more than cosmetic flare. Within that stage of development, and within the capabilities of liquid lies the ability to conduct energy - whether positive or negative - splitting hydrogen and oxygen molecules into two separate gasses if fully pure. In my estimation, the process seems to suggest that shocks (i.e. traumas) to a system that’s still building it’s natural protection from the harshness of its environment is now thrust into a plasma space, completely skipping the solid and gas components. Think of the young rap stars you know and love, rich and accessible, fresh wounds recently scarred over, plasma level in capacity, lacking the foundation (solidity) and mastery of the gas (fame and fortune) that’s bestowed to them. Success can land you in the same rooms, but sustained success took a much different route to get there.
I think about this concept and many like it ad nauseam, and it all comes back to my perpetual pursuit of my four personal pillars - patience, empathy, balance and grace - and how people can access them earlier and with reduced harm. Some of those same young rappers who reach fame under the same conditions of trauma are able to weather the storm through finding mentorship or having a strong base of support. Pop Smoke and XXXtentacion aren’t so different from Tyler, The Creator and Childish Gambino, but their ability to thrive post-shock, to never be bound by the state of matter in which they’re found, is what we must continue to define, protect, and project into the world. If we’re gonna crash out, let’s crash out like water.
