Musical Philosophy: "Start a Fire" by Stephen ft. IN-Q
There's a song that I've been obsessed with for years called "Start a Fire" by Stephen and IN-Q. In the song, IN-Q, who is a poet, songwriter, and public speaker, performs an amazing spoken poetry intro that I want to share with you.
The lyrics of this song are stuck in my head, they live rent-free in my mind. In this post, I want to analyze these amazing lyrics and the valuable life lessons in it.
I highly recommend listening to at least the beginning of the song before we begin.
Here are the lyrics:
“You're not going through it
It's going through you
And once it's all gone
You become the new you
With a different perspective
From the same point of view
Fully unaffected by the old truth you once knew
Connected at the roots, to the trunk, to the branches
To the leaves and the way they fly away
When wind dances
A frantic see saw free fall in mid air
That represents the floating folly of us being here
We're complicated creatures, huh”
Let’s break it down:
Opportunities in Life
“You're not going through it
It's going through you”
It’s all about turning disadvantages into opportunities. We're not just going through life, life's going through us.
We are given choices, which we can to take, or ignore. We are not just passing through life aimlessly. We are given the chance to do our best with the opportunities we are given. We can take what's given to us and make something great out of it.
Perspective Shift
“And once it's all gone
You become the new you
With a different perspective
From the same point of view
Fully unaffected by the old truth you once knew”
So, I really like IN-Q's play on words here. We can have a different perspective from the same point of view. Even though we cannot escape our past and who we are, we can still choose to change our perspective at any time by shifting our mindset over time.
At any time, we can choose to shift our perspective.
We can look at life in a different way. We can become a new version of ourselves. Our old selves can become almost unrecognizable.
Connected to Nature
“Connected at the roots, to the trunk, to the branches”
I like to consider our connection with nature not just about trees and fresh air, but also about human nature.
It's about the nature of how life works, the way things are. This connection to nature means being connected to our true selves, taking ownership of what is within our control within our human limitations.
Life's Temporary Problems
“Connected… to the leaves and the way they fly away
When wind dances”
We need to think about how our human problems are like leaves on a tree. The stress and anxiety of day-to-day life will fly away. They will soon be forgotten, just like old leaves are forgotten.
Recognizing Short-Term Stress
Soon enough, today's stresses will be a distant memory.
Whatever you're going through right now, ask yourself: Is this a long-term, impactful problem? Or is this something that will fly away soon?
We Are Complicated Creatures
“A frantic see saw free fall in mid air
That represents the floating folly of us being here
We're complicated creatures, huh”
We need to adapt to this frantic nature of adversity in order for us to grow.
Life is like a frantic see saw. It can be uncontrollable at times, with low points that seem to unjustly appear in our lives. However, out of nowhere, something really good can happen as well. It's this constant up-and-down that we have to deal with.
A Different Story
There's one final line in the studio version of this song that goes:
Why is this happening to me?
Why is this happening for me?
Only one word changes, but it's a completely different story.
When bad things happen to us, we often think of how unfair some situations are and how we don't deserve the misfortune that comes our way. But we can flip it and ask the following questions:
- What’s the lesson that life is sending my way?
- What good can come out of this?
- Are there hidden benefits in this situation?
Sometimes we just need a small change in our language to turn misfortune into a valuable lesson that can improve our lives.
Fun fact: As I started writing this, I realized that I made a podcast episode about this 5 years ago.This post is an improved version of that episode. In that podcast episode I related this song to Stoic philosophy. Here it is in case you are curious.