Soul and Stone

Warning! This song contains spoilers for "The Emperor's Soul" by Brandon Sanderson. (It's pretty short... go read it first then come back and listen)

Would you believe me if I told you this is my favorite Brandon Sanderson work? In my opinion, it takes all of the things Brandon does best and showcases them in a mere 176 pages.

I'm not the first to talk about this and I know I won't be the last: this book delves into the complexity of the human soul; it reflects the time, effort and energy it takes to truly know someone. To appreciate the intricacies of a person. To understand the mind and heart of another.

More backstory that I know you've all been craving:

To be brutally honest with you (and as ironic as it may seem), I grew up in a very religious family and church context, but did not learn to appreciate the value of myself and others until much later in life.

Let me explain.

My wife and I deconstructed our evangelical Christian faith a couple of years ago and discovered Jesus buried at the center of a whole lot of nonessentials, none of which are vital to knowing, following, or being like Him.

It was a really scary process. Those of you who have gone through this or something similar understand the fear and sweat-inducing anxiety of even considering walking away from tightly-held beliefs, knowing all the while that you can no longer ignore the cognitive dissonance frying your heart, mind, body and soul. What caused this dissonance?

I already mentioned the word: fear. What Sharon and I discovered was that so very much of our lives had been built around fear as a motivation to believe. Fear as a motivation to keep "the world" at arm's length. Fear as a motivation to obey. Fear as a motivation to love. And my friends, it is a very powerful motivator.

But hear me: I REFUSE to believe that fear was the motivation for ANYTHING Jesus said or did. And He did not use fear as a weapon to build his following or movement. He did not use fear to motivate his followers to listen to Him or obey His commands.

So where in the world am I going with this and how does it connect AT ALL with a fantasy book?

Friends, strangers who tripped over YouTube's algorithm and found yourself here (welcome!): to me, the striking beauty of "The Emperor's Soul" is the invitation given to the reader to ponder that most basic human need to be seen, to be understood. To be loved. To be valued.

No matter who you are or what you've done.

Sharon and I began writing this song in the summer of 2023. We decided to focus on Shai's growing curiosity and need to understand the Emperor, not just for survival, but because the more she dove into learning who he was, who he wanted to be, she saw HOPE. She saw the potential, if he could only be given another chance. In the end, it was a self-sacrificial act of kindness on the Emperor's behalf that drove Shai to stay and finish what had been demanded of her, very nearly ending in her own death.

Her desire to understand Ashravan led her to truly see and value him, leading her to act selflessly when it would have been much easier to run.

So let me bring the threads together: The Emperor's Soul took on a whole new depth of meaning for us after we looked very critically at our faith, specifically at how it caused us to see God Himself, ourselves, and other image-bearers like us. The hard truth is that, from a young age, I learned to fear the "other(s)", not see, understand and love them as infinitely valuable and beautifully complex creatures.

In writing this song and sharing it with you, I am declaring that I am learning to listen and see and hear and understand those who are unseen, those who are voiceless, those I do not know or understand or even agree with. I will do better this time, for I have been given another chance, here at mid-life, to become someone who reflects the Work and Person that I have committed to love, follow, know and emulate.

Here's to rising from the ash, living again, doing better this time.

Thanks for reading and for listening.

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Artwork by:

Johanna Rupprecht - lyraina.artstation.com
Botanica - botanicaxu.tumblr.com

Link to mp3 and wav download:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folder...