Song Reflections: Vertical Horizon “Everything You Want”

This seems like a poppy, romantic song on surface, but underneath, it’s about something more sinister.  A desire to manipulate the world, to have it give you something exactly the way you want.  And while we all have such desire from time to time, there is tension and stress involved in being attached to particulars about your desire.

The thing is, even if it were to really materialize — you get exactly what you asked for — there still is no guarantee that its results work for you.  And the let down you would feel, after all the efforts to realize your precise requirements — it can be intense and profound.

There are two factors are play here.  The results you want, and reality that may produce them.  You push all the buttons and make all the right moves to make that reality, but does it really produce the results?  How do you know?  How can anyone?

I know I get attached to fantasies like that.  It’s a form of arrogance, to think that I know exactly what I want and what will give me that.  I need to realize that it’s a folly, a desperation, even, to develop and get attached to certain details and specifics.  A far better, if more vulnerable, approach is to keep my eyes on the results, but be open to what may give me those results, and have an honest look at my reality with flexibility and trust.

So this is a song that helps me realize that.  It’s not exactly a happy song, but it makes me feel melancholic and bittersweet.  It reminds me of what I need to let go.