Life's Muse-ings

'Our hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations': the Muse lyric that sums up my life perfectly at the moment.

Muse are a band I have enjoyed for a long while: their unique tone, the striking bass lines, the signature FXKaoss pad of Matt Bellamy and their politically challenging themes, often delving into topics of war and peace and an Orwell-esque world. Although I have never seen Muse live, their 'Drones' tour would be the one I would travel back in time to given the chance. The staging of the puppet handler in particular was an exquisite piece of production, which if you haven't seen, I would highly recommend giving a watch (https://youtu.be/RCqlITad8gk?feature=shared).

The puppet handler is a metaphor I often refer back to in life: sometimes it is about cutting the strings to truly be able to be your whole self. Only when you break free can you truly be able to live.

So you cut the strings to 'The Handler'. You find your feet, surround yourself with hopes and expectations.

But what happens when you do this, and then realise that life is full of 'black holes and revelations'? Life has a funny way of guiding us. Sometimes, you get sucked into a black hole: a path of false security, deceit and dead ends. But much like the twists and turns of Muse's tempo and key changes, revelations occur: leading you to the enlightening glimmer of 'Starlight'. But to get to this, you have to explore the black holes: learn the hard way what is a black hole, and what is, in fact, a revelation.

Because ultimately, we all have choices on how to deal with the curveballs of life: it is how we learn from the black holes that turns our revelations into starlight.