“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was…”

Many of you will recognize that as the first words of John 1:1 in the Christian New Testament Bible. There’s also a cross-reference to the very first words of the that Bible (Old Testament in this case), “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And this is about words and about beginnings.

Others might recognize it as a conflation of the lead-in to a Moody Blues tune, OM, from In Search of the Lost Chord, and the title of a song from another album (yes “album”; I’m old), In the Beginning, from On the Threshold of a Dream.

In the former album, the spoken lead-in to OM is a 49-second track, The Word, has Graeme Edge explaining about the Lost Chord. He ends with the words, “To reach the chord is our life’s hope, and to name the chord is important to some, so they give it a word, and the word is OM.” That segues into OM, which is the final track on that album.

Understand that those spoken bits were–at least for me–one of the highlights of the Moody Blues. They were unique and deep and interesting. That bit about the Lost Chord is one of my favorites. Very mystical, and mystical fascinates me.

In the latter album, the first track, In the Beginning, contains the spoken bit I like most. For one thing, it’s the only one they did that involved more than one band member.  It has Edge (the nasty computer) plus Justin Hayward (the guy) and Mike Pinder (the guru). So it’s unique bit in a unique group of bits.

But what really catches me is the content.

It starts with Hayward’s line, “I think, I think I am, therefore I am, I think.” Which I think is a wonderful word play on the so very important statement by René Descartes, “Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am). That phrase is fundamental to much that I am, and it will be the topic of many a blog post down stream. In any event, the turnaround in the Moody Blues tune tickles me enormously: “Therefore I am, I think.”

Or as I sometimes put it, “I am, therefore I think.”

Which is why I’m here (I have no idea why you’re here; what did you hear?).  I am.  I think. At least, I think I think. Which, according to Descartes, means I am. (According to another philosopher, “I yam what I yam,” but I don’t think it applies in my case, since I don’t care for yams.)

But I digress.  But get used to it; I digress a lot.  That’s another reason for this blog: so I can digress wantonly at will.

To return to the beginning and the word, this is the beginning of my blog of words. Why is it called Logos con carne?  Good question, thanks for asking.  You’ll find the answer on the About page.  So go read that; I’ll wait.

…

So now that you know we can begin. With words, words, words.

Actually, we’ve about come to the end of the words for now.  I mostly just wanted to say, “Hello! Welcome! Drop by any time; our doors are always open.”

I will close with this: today would have been my 13th wedding anniversary. It isn’t, because the whole marriage thing turned out to be a disaster (and, yes, I am bitter; very, very bitter), but it seemed an appropriate date to begin this blog. There’s also that whole “American Independence Day” thing. Fireworks, Founding Fathers, Freedom, etc. Plus I know some people who were born this day, and there’s a relative who died.  Big day, the Fourth of July. Big enough to demand a Fifth. Of Tequila.

It’s also one month after I entered the blogosphere and started my Minnesota Twins baseball blog.  But the more I baseball blogged, the more I wanted to blog about, well, lots of stuff other than baseball.  I’m pretty certain I have more than enough words for two blogs.

So it begins.

Here I am.  I think.