TOPIC: A Song That Invites You to See Life All Around You, Anew
What Would Happen if You Dared to Rise?
I once heard a woman speak, and what she had to say was so powerful that it it instantaneously and dramatically changed almost everything about the way I eat, that very day. And I have deeply, meaningfully stayed with this shift, two full years later.
Not long after that, I was asked by this same woman to partner with her to create a song that honors the Unitarian Universalist principal, "Honor All Beings." It took longer for me to write this song than any song I have ever written in my life - months and months and months.
But from the moment it was finally created, this song started spreading to new places. It made its way all the
Not long after that, I was asked by this same woman to partner with her to create a song that honors the Unitarian Universalist principal, "Honor All Beings." It took longer for me to write this song than any song I have ever written in my life - months and months and months.
But from the moment it was finally created, this song started spreading to new places. It made its way all the
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way down to Florida, where a UU Animal Rights Minister created an original video for it that allowed it to fly even farther, all across the US and beyond.
And today, it has made it to you, where it seeks to connect with you in that most tender spot within yourself: the place within you that whispers to you to dare. To rise up in awareness as you are able. To Dare to Rise.
The woman in this story is Kathryn Shane. The song is "Dare to Rise." The video was created by Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner. And this invitation is to YOU. To see if perhaps this song, and its video, moves you to seeing the life all around you in a new way. Maybe a way that leaves you feeling stronger and more hopeful.
This song is a question.
And the question, to me, sounds something like this:
What might happen in my life, if I decided to consciously rise up one more level? To "rise up"--whatever that might mean--to a more heightened sense of who and what is vibrant and alive all around me? What might happen if I dared to stop, and to look, not through the eyes of defeat, or blame, or avoidance, but of really SEEING the wonder of this world we have all been gifted with. What might happen if I started making choices, from moment to moment, that are more in alignment with honoring the wonder that is all around me?
Two years ago, I wandered into a room where Kathryn Shane was speaking, listened to what she was saying, pondered it, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere--CLICK--something snapped into place within me in a way it never had before. On that very day, in that very chair, I became someone who stopped eating meat. But much more to the point, I started sensing life around me in a different way.
Kathryn ended up helping me cement this new awareness because she just happened, a few months later, to commission me to create a song about some of the values she holds. She and I talked at length, and we each ended up deciding, in our own way, to pour our resources into the creation of this song, and to make a gift of it, to the UU church to which we both belong, and, specifically, to the Reverence for Life program within it. I performed it live one Sunday with several good friends who are part of the chorus at First Parish in Concord--an old New England church where my hero Ralph Waldo Emerson himself used to speak and teach. We decided to record it, complete with choral support, in the recording studio, and at about that same time LoraKim Joyner, a visiting speaker and a Multispecies Minister for the UU Reverence for Life Program (Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministry) decided to create an original "music video" to help give this song some wings.
And today, it has made it to you, where it seeks to connect with you in that most tender spot within yourself: the place within you that whispers to you to dare. To rise up in awareness as you are able. To Dare to Rise.
The woman in this story is Kathryn Shane. The song is "Dare to Rise." The video was created by Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner. And this invitation is to YOU. To see if perhaps this song, and its video, moves you to seeing the life all around you in a new way. Maybe a way that leaves you feeling stronger and more hopeful.
This song is a question.
And the question, to me, sounds something like this:
What might happen in my life, if I decided to consciously rise up one more level? To "rise up"--whatever that might mean--to a more heightened sense of who and what is vibrant and alive all around me? What might happen if I dared to stop, and to look, not through the eyes of defeat, or blame, or avoidance, but of really SEEING the wonder of this world we have all been gifted with. What might happen if I started making choices, from moment to moment, that are more in alignment with honoring the wonder that is all around me?
Two years ago, I wandered into a room where Kathryn Shane was speaking, listened to what she was saying, pondered it, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere--CLICK--something snapped into place within me in a way it never had before. On that very day, in that very chair, I became someone who stopped eating meat. But much more to the point, I started sensing life around me in a different way.
Kathryn ended up helping me cement this new awareness because she just happened, a few months later, to commission me to create a song about some of the values she holds. She and I talked at length, and we each ended up deciding, in our own way, to pour our resources into the creation of this song, and to make a gift of it, to the UU church to which we both belong, and, specifically, to the Reverence for Life program within it. I performed it live one Sunday with several good friends who are part of the chorus at First Parish in Concord--an old New England church where my hero Ralph Waldo Emerson himself used to speak and teach. We decided to record it, complete with choral support, in the recording studio, and at about that same time LoraKim Joyner, a visiting speaker and a Multispecies Minister for the UU Reverence for Life Program (Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministry) decided to create an original "music video" to help give this song some wings.
DARE TO RISE
Anna Huckabee Tull
Commissioned by Kathryn Shane
A Joint Gift to the UU Reverence for Life Program
The sun she rises over all creation
Large and small, each and all, each day
And when she rises over all creation
Large and small, each and all, we hear her say
That we are called to rise and feel
The stirrings of all life, right here
In this world we call home
Sacred life all around
What is our place here, among all creation
Where we all are gifted with this place
What do we say here among all creation
With our deeds, and with our ways
Do we dare to rise; do we dare to see
The widening ring
Of everything
The widening ring
Of everything we claim
Pushing the small lives away
Of everything it takes
For us to live this way
Of the lives our hunger claims
For us to live this way
Do we dare to rise?
And feel all life
Do we dare to rise
And see all life
Do we dare to rise…?
Do we dare to truly feel
Do we dare to see
See the way
Dare to change
See the way
See the way that…
The sun she rises over all creation
Large and small, each and all, each day
The sun she rises over all creation
Large and small
Each and all
© 2012 Anna Huckabee Tull, CustomCraftedSongs.com
ABOUT THE ARTIST(S)
Anna Huckabee Tull is the winner of 14 different Singer-Songwriter/Composer/Recording awards, and an accomplished Psychologist, who enjoys what has to be one of the world's most fascinating, unique and uplifting professions. People from all over the planet commission Anna to create original, one-of-a-kind songs of love, growth, loss, birth, and celebration, to honor some of life's most meaningful passages.
The Artistic Conceiver of the song "Dare to Rise" was Kathryn Shane. Without her inspiring courage to change, herself; without her forethought, to conceive of a song like this, and without her generosity and enthusiasm, this song would not exist. Providing accompaniment with their own vocal gifts on this song are fellow UU-ers Jane Barnes, Lauren Evans, Rick Moore, Matteo Paris, Jim Reynolds, and Tim Jacoby. This song was recorded at Wellspring Sound in Acton Mass, with UU Eric Kilburn on acoustic guitar--his own generous donation to the project. Larry Luddecke at Straight Up Music brought it all up yet one more notch with his piano contributions. The video was created by Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner, UU Multispecies Minister, Veterinarian, and animal rights activist extraordinaire. Thank you for listening.
Anna Huckabee Tull is the winner of 14 different Singer-Songwriter/Composer/Recording awards, and an accomplished Psychologist, who enjoys what has to be one of the world's most fascinating, unique and uplifting professions. People from all over the planet commission Anna to create original, one-of-a-kind songs of love, growth, loss, birth, and celebration, to honor some of life's most meaningful passages.
The Artistic Conceiver of the song "Dare to Rise" was Kathryn Shane. Without her inspiring courage to change, herself; without her forethought, to conceive of a song like this, and without her generosity and enthusiasm, this song would not exist. Providing accompaniment with their own vocal gifts on this song are fellow UU-ers Jane Barnes, Lauren Evans, Rick Moore, Matteo Paris, Jim Reynolds, and Tim Jacoby. This song was recorded at Wellspring Sound in Acton Mass, with UU Eric Kilburn on acoustic guitar--his own generous donation to the project. Larry Luddecke at Straight Up Music brought it all up yet one more notch with his piano contributions. The video was created by Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner, UU Multispecies Minister, Veterinarian, and animal rights activist extraordinaire. Thank you for listening.
 Lauren |  Jim |  Matteo |
 Tim |  Rick |  Jane |
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