Can you find up? Is it somewhere we can point? Can we travel there? If you and I have a mental picture of up, is it the same?
Up has many variations. A few dictionary definitions:
- to, toward, or in a more elevated position or an upright position
- to, toward, or at a high or higher station, condition, or rank on or in
- in or into a better or more advanced state
- at an end
- in a direction regarded as being toward or near the upper end or part of
Up can be a verb, adverb, noun, preposition or adjective.
Up is somewhere other than here, whether it is an ascending physical location or or a betterment of our situation.
If you have seen the Pixar film entitled, Up, it gives you an animated experience of adventure and freedom for an elderly man and a boy. Up is a physical adventure of the balloon-flying house use to fulfill a request of his dead wife, and it is the liberation of the man from the boundaries of his grief and mundane life.
Back to my original question, where do we look for up? The various definitions tell us that up is not just somewhere on the horizon or in the sky, it is a sense of being. Whether it is a different physical location or an emotional state or a personal status, the common element is something about us is advanced in relation to a current bearing of life.
You don’t have to be different, just feel different.
I went to find up but it wasn’t there
Spinning about I looked into the air
Consulting my compass for a clue
Only north turned out to be true
Puzzled, someone asked if I was down
Why do you ask I said to the clown
I’ve seen you much happier and light
So I turned my frown around right
And tried to remember life as a pup
Suddenly, my spirit drifted up and up
Ticket 2 Ride 