Monday, January 30, 2023 - What is Love?

I’m going to do two weeks of theme shows about love to anticipate Valentine’s Day. The first week will be general love songs, and the second will be romantic love songs. So I think that raises the question of what is love in general. We hear about love from the time we first learn to walk and talk. We never really know if it is a feeling or a duty or something that drives us to action. If we go to church at a young age we hear that God is love. As we progress through childhood into adulthood we learn about love from our interactions with friends and family. So where do we get a sense of what love truly is? For me I have always thought of love as a force of some sort. If God is love, then maybe love is also God. Last year I learned a song by Peter Mayer called “What If Love” that went along these lines. What if love is THE force that permeates and holds the universe together. I know it seems a little woo-woo, but science doesn’t have concrete theories about why the universe has the design or laws it has, and it has trouble looking beyond the Big Bang or explaining consciousness. Conversely, religion doesn’t like science for it’s lack of inclusion of the forces and organization that seem to indicate that there is a God at the core. I think it’s more complex than either has an explanation for. What if love truly is an organizing and communicative physical force that we haven’t discovered how to detect. I think there is a reason that love lies at the heart of most religions, and I think we intuitively know that it’s more important than just a concept. This may not be something we ever figure out in this life, but I’m ready to accept that love is a physical force that can be studied and can show the inner-workings of all we see and experience. So the love that I feel for my dog Beau or my family or my community or the world and all its peoples is part of a web of forces that we just can’t understand yet. To me that is what general love is, and it’s different from the attraction and devotion that is romantic love although it’s definitely related. This week I’ll do songs for my Wednesday show that feature this love for others and family and even our pets. I think it’s a great exploration and something to be cherished! 

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What have I been up to? 

I had 11 senior facilities last week, and they were all a blast! I wish you all could participate in these sometimes. The interaction with people who have so much wisdom, experience and humor is priceless. 

My Wednesday online show was the music of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and it was a fun one with guitars in different tunings and lots of memories and good songwriting. Everyone enjoyed it. 

My Sunday online show was favorites and requests as always, and I had just come back from three days in the mountains burning slash piles for fire prevention at our family cabins in New Mexico. I didn’t have time to prepare much for the show, and I still had the smell of diesel and burning pine in my head, so the show was very spontaneous and sometimes on the edge. It was fun! 

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What am I up to this week? 

I have just 6 senior facilities this week since it’s the end of the month into a new month when I usually have less repeat monthly bookings, and I’m looking forward to all of them as well as some free time to catch up on some projects and upkeep. It’s so cold outside that the inside work is good to do. 

My Wednesday online show 7-8:45 mountain time is the general love songs I mentioned above. This is a fun show to put together with some great songs, and I know it will be worthwhile to see. Come on out! 

My Sunday online show 7-8:45 mountain time will be favorites and requests as always, and I’ll spend some time picking up some requests that I’m learning for folks. You just can’t believe how many gems of songs have been requested for these shows. I hope you’ll join in. 

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That’s it for this week. I hope you’re getting through the winter well so far. I’m about to start the annual taxes slog, but there are lots of things to do this winter that are uplifting and worthwhile. 

Best always, 

Tom 

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Details this week: 

Who:  Tom Munch  
What:  playing and singing an online concert of general love songs 
Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts   
When:  Wednesday, February 1, 7-8:45 pm mountain time 

Who:  Tom Munch  
What:  playing and singing an online concert of favorites and requests  
Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts   
When:  Sunday, February 5, 7-8:45 pm mountain time 

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