Meet Our Spiritual Interfaith Scholar — Olivia Adams
Hi! I’m Olivia, the agnostic/spiritual Interfaith Scholar. I am also a singer/songwriter, and my sense of spirituality is perpetually dancing and weaving through my music. To explain my spirituality as best I can, I would say I believe in a metaphysical/spiritual interconnectedness that calls us all to be caregivers to each other and to our natural world. In order to do this, I believe we have a responsibility to use our human gifts and tools to maintain/preserve/promote the systems of love and life that make this world so special and miraculous. I use music and art to process my reality and explore the moments I see myself and my world struggle with this challenging responsibility. This year has acted like a mirror for many of us, and for our society, exposing our general vulnerability to an array of spiritual, emotional, economic, and physical crises that we all have had to reckon with in our own ways.
While there have been impressive and beautiful moments of love and connection, I see frustration, fear, and impatience as both the most universal and most divisive experiences/emotions of this time. I certainly have felt myself overwhelmed many times throughout this past year, as frustration and fear are emotions that demand to be felt. To approach this reality with any amount of peace or spirituality, I have to channel it into my art. Thus, many of my songs speak to my own frustration connecting with my physical/emotional self and the politics/systems around me. The song I will share here is rather political, as it is my belief that many of those who hold the most power and money in this world are actively working against the spiritual and environmental imperative we have to care for each other and this world, and deserve to be held accountable.
count your bills
your debt, your dime
what’s your net, will it save you this time?
you waste away another day to
die (dye)
the sheets all red
the blood of life
period at the point of a knife
an open flow doesn’t know no strife
but
still you’re sayin dam it all
you think you can control the fall
you call yourself a god above
shouting ’n devoid of love
why do you think that it’s your right to take it all?
what is a winner?
don’t need luck when you make the rules
how do you think that you’re such a know-it-all
when really nobody has seen a bigger fool
(a fool forever)
bitter, alone, and uptight
how do you sleep at night
live to make it through the day
(I’ll live forever)
sucking the life and the light
out of this world in spite
of all that you betray
close your mouth and lose your mind
thoughts are not your fruit, they’re the rind
so peel away, at what they say is right
the story told, a puppet show
all strung up and ready to go
without a heart just play the part you know
or maybe just say damn it all
you could stand to take a fall
just take a hint from god above
only to exist as love
but no you just sit on your ass and ignore the call
eat us for dinner
don’t need love when you make the rules
you chew with your mouth open big and tall
to yell at nobody and say that we’re the fools
(while you’re forever)
bitter, alone, and uptight
how do sleep at night
live to make it through the day
(I’ll live forever)
sucking the life and the light
out of this world in spite
of all that you betray
so devout
no doubt
devil out
all in white
blind sight
dark as night
don’t see
can’t be
look at me
please
take a breath
full depth
that is death
not the end
suspend
your pretend
masquerade
afraid
of the way forward in chaos
ignoring the face off forever
bitter alone and uptight
how do sleep at night
live to make it through the day
(I’ll live forever)
sucking the life and the light
out of this world in spite
of all that you betray