Previously on Clearview Simply Said

Catch up and read the first two episodes:

• New Series – Poets of the Fall, Clearview Simply said – 1st episode
• New Series – Poets of the Fall, Clearview Simply said – 2nd episode

“If you know you don’t know something, how do you get a clear view? It’s by asking.” – Marko Saaresto

In a pre-formatted world,[…] the challenge of getting to truly know yourself could be pretty daunting. […] Embracing the madness within would be like:

Perfect, near fatal headlong dive
A blueprint for life, blueprint your life

Take away the madness within and you set yourself up to experience a lifetime of drama […]  we can safely assume that Drama for Life is also about asking yourself… […] nothing is all black or all white…The Game is what happens if we do set ourselves up for Drama for Life […] the direct consequence of the “easy way” […]  the cult of personality and the collective consciousness are what blur our clear view of anything really…

“Who are you? […] and who decides on who you’re gonna be?“

and now the next episode… ?

Episode 3 – The Child in Me

The Child in Me first notes put a smile on my face… how many times have I said that about Poets of the Fall‘s songs? The thing is that the reason why I smile is always different from one song to the other, but while that is undeniably true, it’d be a lie to say that there are no similarities to the reasons bringing such a smile to my face. Anyway, I love the atmosphere and feelings brought forth in that song, but the chorus is about as brilliant as the artistry behind it… and that is saying a lot. TIPS: this post is slightly shorter than the two first episodes, but please, don’t read and walk! ?

The Child in Me to the Clearview theme

The Game concluded that through all the manipulation, bad endings and falsehood about who we are, we tend to forget the essential:

When love, love could be our crown
– The Game, Clearview – 2016

It stands, therefore, to reason that this needed some elaboration and The Child in Me does just that. I mean, seriously, how can we forget about Love? What did we lose along the way that pushed us to such an extreme? As I said in the second episode of the Series, we show off to be noticed, to be loved. We are genetically programmed to do so, just like the Japanese puffer fish. Sir David Attenborough describes such a display as an act to find love. But in truth, the Japanese puffer fish does that to find a mate. We are all looking for a mate and we use the power of seduction to do that… but in the end, humans are looking for something more – even if we don’t always want to admit it: Love. One of our biggest problems is commitment… we get confused because we want to fit in first and that beats everything else, even love. We do not know how to define ourselves anymore, for society (the puppet master) sends mixed messages and sets impossible goals. The essentials are redefined through stories and images that are not our own. We play the game of seduction just for the sake of it… and we forget Love.

Some people never settle for the one
One love forever searching for the sun

Why is Love so important? How do we, as individuals, find our way back to Love?

Have you noticed how simple things seem to be for children? They understand faster than we think; when they are small, they learn quickly and have an extensive imagination. They love unconditionally and without any hidden agenda. They see the world with curious eyes and are carefree. As we grow up, though, all this disappears for the sake of the game… we are forced to play. Does this mean that in order to play, and win, we have to suppress or kill the inner-child? Because we do want to win… whether we need it or not is not relevant anymore. WE WANT… that is all that counts.

So, Marko asks another question in The Child in Me:

How can I save the child in me

This makes all the sense in the world in the continuity of Clearview‘s storytelling. I would push the thought even further by wondering if the child in us could be saved by embracing the madness within. Ultimately, can we say that it is true madness? Would that be enough to save ourselves from a life devoid of love? This is all very well, but where do I get these ideas from? I have rearranged the chorus in a more linear way to show my train of thought – I hope Marko won’t mind. ? Anyway, he is asking (i.e. Clearview’s theme), that much is obvious, but to whom? He could be asking a child (imaginary or not)… like, “Hey buddy! How do you do that and how can I be like you?“, or something in that vein.

How do you live so gracefully
How can I save the child in me
How do you fall so gracefully
In a shattered world

To that same child, he tells how he would like to feel. Serene! I don’t think he is asking/talking to his inner-child how to save himself from the chaos of the world… but that’s just me.

Would you show me
A world a child would see
Serenity
The child in me

A clear view on what…

“If you know you don’t know something, how do you get a clear view? It’s by asking.” – Marko Saaresto

In order to know who we are, we should embrace the madness within. This way, we might be able to ask ourselves the right questions. If we don’t, it is easy to get a preview of what we might become, as individuals: puppets. As such, we lose access to Love. We may avoid such a catastrophe, most likely by remaining a child at heart. What do you think? Does it make sense to you?

Next episode: How do we outgrow our inner-child and what does define a win? 

Thanks for reading,
Until next time! ?

About the series

The interview below – which you should absolutely watch because it is really interesting – Marko Saaresto gives us his personal feelings on Clearview, therefore ending the interview with a cliffhanger. Just saying! Yours Truly has made a transcript in her notebook and here is an excerpt of it:

“Clearview is a clear view on things that you are unclear about basically, because […] it’s really, simply said it’s about asking. If you think you know something, that’s fine, but if you know you don’t know something, how do you get a clear view? It’s by asking. So, that’s basically what it’s about. But that’s a, I think also, a very big topic that we could really talk, like, a lot.”  – Marko Saaresto, August 2017 (transcript by Yours Truly)

The idea behind the series comes of course from Marko. Since I am a spur of the moment kinda gal, at least when it comes to my creativity, I had not planned how often I should write the episodes when I started this self-imposed challenge. In any case, this series is about uncovering what I call a mystery… the magic behind Poets of the Fall‘s creation. Who am I kidding? I might, nonetheless, discover a pattern. ? Consequently, I am wondering about this: How do you go from the question/answer – “how do you get a clear view? It’s by asking.” – to writing the songs as we know them today. Hope you’ll enjoy the reading and don’t forget to rate this article with the little hearts at the top of the post! I’ll sure appreciate it ?

Source video: Dukascopy TV - Switzerland - Marko Saaresto, Poets of the Fall video interview, posted on Facebook on 15/08/2017