Punch a Higher Floor

Yesterday we had a soccer tournament in a town about 30 miles away. As we hopped into the car to begin our journey, Ajay and a teammate played happily in the back seat.

As we started our drive my hubby slid a CD into the player while announcing that we were going to play some tribute music. A few seconds later the voice of Prince started wafting through the car….

Dearly Beloved

We are Gathered here today

To get through this thing called life….

 As we listened to the music, we drove on in silence- both lost in our own thoughts about this musical genius who had just left the earth plane a few days ago. And then, a subset of the lyrics caught Brian’s attention-

‘Did you  hear that??’ he asked

‘Hear what?’ I countered.

He hit the back button on the CD and let the lyrics speak for themselves

‘And if the elevator tries to bring you down — 

Go Crazy, Punch a Higher Floor’

We were both really taken aback by the lyrics- given the news that Prince was found in an elevator.

Well, I have been researching phenomenon around death and dying for enough years now, that I fully accept that life has a strange way of foreshadowing death. The eerie way these lyrics foretold Prince’s fate is just the sort of ‘synchronicity’ that has so often intrigued me when studying the interplay of life and death. When I dug a little deeper into the meaning of the song’s lyrics (which are indisputably about life, death, and the afterlife) it appears that Prince was using the metaphor of an elevator to urge people to overcome their lower selves and to ‘punch a higher floor’ to seek their spiritual liberation.

I am sad that the world has been robbed of Prince’s musical genius, but when I look at what I know of his life- and what I know of his death- he seems to have really nailed both of them. He may have left too soon, but just days before his ascent he was on the stage doing what he knew he came here to do. Regardless of timing, that is a hand well played.

So next time I hear the news reports referencing how Prince was found, I will no longer entertain images of his collapsed form caught in an elevator- I will instead envision him meeting whatever challenge life was giving him in that moment- and simply choosing… to punch a higher floor.