Salt and Sand

I was recently asked about the title of this blog. Yes, there is a reference -- although me using a random string of words (as in the case of AoNikki) wouldn't be out of character. The reference is from the song "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay:

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
On pillars of salt and pillars of sand

Next is of course the question of what this reference means to me. When I first heard this song, it rang as a strong personal metaphor for the recent years of my life. Just like everyone else, I have been constantly changing as I grew up. In the last few years, however, the changes had been drastic. Needless to say, I used to be a very different person.

To specify the type of person I used to be would be to risk sounding pompous, but this much I can say: I used to be much closer to "a king" than I am now. My "kingness" was built on my thoughts, my philosophy, and my desire to be difference in specific ways. These things are my foundations and I don't lie about them --- when it comes to them, I believe what I say, or write, as I say or write it. However, these things have been, and will be, changing drastically and often. In the context of this song's metaphor, they are salt and sand: they make my pillars, and they fall, and they are replaced.

The connection I feel with the lyrics doesn't stop there, but the rest is irrelevant in this explanation of my blog title. If you really want to know, you can start with listening to a good song and thinking more about it: