Michael Jackson's desire to be ordinary says keep the faith

Ordinary Life © 2009 by JRobin Whitley

Michael Jackson is known for many things, but no one usually associates him with faith or belief. One of the most moving articles in the flurry of media attention on the loss of the star is written by Deepak Chopra, "A Tribute to My Friend, Michael Jackson". Chopra's life work has been on emotional healing and meditation and his article on Michael Jackson shows a side of the star that was often concealed or hidden. Chopra shows a wounded man seeking friendship, someone to trust and the challenges of living in the spotlight for a child made a star.

Stan Sinberg in his article "How Bela Lugosi Saved Thriller" gives us another view of Michael Jackson and his desire for faith when he became willing to trash a million dollar project all because the Jehovah's Witness group he belonged to accused him of promoting demonology. The fact that Michael was willing to destroy the video at the time showed his willingness to be more than a pop star. At the time Jackson, could not have known that "Thriller" would be a major contribution to the music industry not just for its dance and music innovations, but with "Thriller" Jackson broke the racial barrier on MTV becoming one of the first blacks on the music station. Jackson's concern at the time was conflicted because he wanted to make a cutting edge video which he did, but then when he was criticized by his congregation of faith, by the Jehovah's Witnesses, he was willing to destroy his artwork. The media attention in those days focused on the cutting edge of his creativity not on his faith.  For someone like Jackson, faith doesn't sell videos, records and probably would have at the time been considered a serious misstep in his career.

In the year 2000, Michael Jackson wrote a column for Beliefnet titled, "My Childhood, My Sabbath, My Freedom: What I wanted more than anything was to be ordinary. The Sabbath was when I could be." The article was not written as some kind of promotional propaganda, but was written at the behest of his friend, Rabbi Shmuley. The article was a series written for Beliefnet on the importance of Sabbath from the viewpoint of artists, writers and thinkers. Jackson's article shows us again, a side of the child star that we often didn't hear about and as many stood in awe, sometimes confusion at the star's choices of dress and lifestyle, the thing most often forgotten was his humanity. In Jackson's article the most moving theme that comes across is not that he had faith, but that his greatest desire was to be "ordinary." In his own words, Michael Jackson writes why the Sabbath was important to him:

"There was one day a week, however, that I was able to escape the stages of Hollywood and the crowds of the concert hall. That day was the Sabbath. In all religions, the Sabbath is a day that allows and requires the faithful to step away from the everyday and focus on the exceptional. I learned something about the Jewish Sabbath in particular early on from Rose, and my friend Shmuley further clarified for me how, on the Jewish Sabbath, the everyday life tasks of cooking dinner, grocery shopping, and mowing the lawn are forbidden so that humanity may make the ordinary extraordinary and the natural miraculous. Even things like shopping or turning on lights are forbidden. On this day, the Sabbath, everyone in the world gets to stop being ordinary.

But what I wanted more than anything was to be ordinary. So, in my world, the Sabbath was the day I was able to step away from my unique life and glimpse the everyday....When circumstances made it increasingly complex for me to attend, I was comforted by the belief that God exists in my heart, and in music and in beauty, not only in a building. But I still miss the sense of community that I felt there--I miss the friends and the people who treated me like I was simply one of them. Simply human. Sharing a day with God."

Jackson shows us in his article a glimpse of a truth often forgotten and that is that somehow, the ordinary is sacred. The ordinary life so often taken for granted (especially in the lives of privileged Americans), is one full of blessing and miracle. Even the large part of worship in liturgical churches is called "The Ordinary" (Ordo Missae) and is seen as a celebration of life and a confirmation of Spirit and God in what is often regarded the "hum drum." So many people dream of fame, not understanding the toll it takes on a human being. Rarely do you hear a person dream of being "ordinary" and yet, in his article Jackson shows us a glimpse of what he sees as beautiful and that beauty is neither fame or glitter, but the ordinary.

Marsha Sinetar celebrates the sacred goodness of ordinary life in her book "Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics", but her focus is how the ordinary can move us to a higher level of spirituality. That higher level is found in embracing the ordinary daily tasks of life, embracing the goodness that is doing laundry, taking out the garbage or sitting n a Lazy-Boy recliner. Jackson was a talented musician, entertainer and businessman and while his talent brought him fame and fortune it also brought him infamy and misfortune that those living ordinary lives day in and day out never have to face. Yes, there are challenges of daily life and work, paying the bills, getting the kids to school, keeping a job, but when those things come undone it becomes clearer that the ordinary is beautiful and blessed. It is not in the extraordinary events in life that we find God or Spirit, but in the ordinary. God is in the human struggle, the ordinary challenges of day to day life and when that goodness is forgotten or lost to fame and fortune, life is somehow less. Michael Jackson, in his desire to be ordinary sends the rest of us a powerful message that it is good to be us. 

Keep the Faith by Michael Jackson

Mm-hmm
If you call out loud
Will it get inside?
Through the heart of your surrender
To your alibis

And you can
Say the words
Like you understand
But the power's in believing
So give yourself a chance

Cuz you can
Climb the highest mountain
Swim the deepest sea-ee

All you need is the will to want it
And a
Little self-esteem

So keep the faith
Don't let nobody turn you round
You got to know when it's good to go
To get your dreams up off the ground

So keep the faith
Baby yeah
Because it's just a matter of time
Before your confidence will win out

Believe in yourself no matter what it's gonna take
You can be a winner but you gotta keep the faith
Gon' keep it brother
You got

And when you think of trust
Does it lead you home?
To a place that you only dream of
When you're all alone

And you can go by feel
'Stead of circumstance
But the power's in believing
So give yourself a chance

I know that you can
Sail across the water
Float across the sky-i
Any road that you take will get you there
If you only try

So keep the faith
Ow
Don't let nobody take you down brother
Just keep your eyes on the prize
Feet flat on the ground

So keep the faith
Baby yeah
Because it's just a matter of time
Before your confidence will win out

I told my brother how to do the thing right
Lift up your head and show the world you got pride
Go for what you want
Don't let them get in your way
You can be a winner but you gotta
Keep the faith
Gon' keep it brother
You got

I know that keepin the faith
Means never givin up on love
But the power that love has
Has to make it right
Makes it
Makes it right

So keep the faith
Don't let nobody turn you round brother
You got to know when it's good to go
Get your dreams up off of the ground

So keep the faith
Baby yeah
Because it's just a matter of time
Before your confidence will win out

Better stand up and act like you wanna do it right
Don't play the fool for the rest of your life
Work on it brother and you'll make it someday
Go for what you want and don't forget the faith

Look at yourself and what your doin right now
Stand back a minute just to check yourself out
Straighten up your life and how your livin each day
Get yourself together cuz you gotta keep the faith

Don't let nobody take you down brother
Just keep your eyes on the prize
Your feet flat on the ground

So keep the faith
Baby yeah
Because it's just a matter of time
Before your confidence will win out

Lift up your mind before your mind gets blown
Some things in life you're best just leave them alone
Go for what you want
Don't let it get in your way
You can make it happen but you gotta keep the faith Gon' keep it brother
You got to keep the faith
Yeah keep the faith
Gon' keep it sista
You got to keep the faith

I told my brother how to do the thing right
Lift up your head and show the world you got pride
Go for what you want
Don't let them get in your way
You can be a winner if you keep the faith

Straighten out yourself and get your mind on track
Dust off your butt and get your self-respect back
You've know me long enough to know that I don't play
Take it like you want it but you got to keep the faith
Gon'

Don't let nobody take you down
Just keep your eyes on the prize
Your feet flat on the ground

So keep the faith
Baby yeah
Because it's just a matter of time
Before your confidence will win out
But till that day
I said you gotta keep the faith