Photo credit: caustic lunar
Lhasa de Sela’s song “Soon This Space Will be too Small” is beautifully haunting. The first day I heard it, I played it over and over. I wanted to know the story behind this song. As soon as I found it, I no longer wondered what it was about this song that made me love it so. Here’s Lhasa’s story* behind the song. *As told in a CBC interview, transcribed by me. When we are conceived, we appear in our mother’s womb like a little tiny light, suspended in the immense space. And there is no sound – it’s completely dark and time doesn’t seem to exist. It’s like an ocean of darkness.
Then, we grow. And we keep growing and growing and as we grow, slowly we begin to feel things, touch things. We touch the walls of our world that we’re living in. Then we begin to hear sounds and feel shocks that come to us from outside.
As we get bigger & bigger, the distance between ourselves and that outside world becomes smaller and smaller. And…this world that we are inside which seems so huge in the beginning and so infinitely welcoming has becoming very uncomfortable. We are obliged to be born.
Birth is so chaotic and violent that at the moment of our births, we’re all thinking, “This is it – this is death. This is the end of my life.” Then we’re born and it’s a huge surprise because it’s just the beginning. In the beginning we’re very small – the world seems infinitely big. Time seems infinitely long. And we keep on growing, learning how to use our senses, how to touch the contours of the world that we’re in.
Sometimes, mixed in with the sounds and sensations of this world we live in, we hear sounds and feel shocks that come from yet another world. And that other world follows us our whole lives long. As if – something is happening, just on the other side of a very, very thin wall separating us from that other world, much like the womb. But we can forget about it for a long time – sometimes our whole lives – until all of a sudden it comes again.
At the end of our lives, we’re obliged to die. At that point, then, we think we’re really smart. And we think, “This time. I know for sure that this is death. That this is the end. Everybody knows that.” That’s not the end, though…it’s just…the beginning of something else.
You can listen to Lhasa tell the story here: Soon This Place Will be too Small
What do you think of Lhasa’s analogy? Do you think there is life after “death”?
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Welcome! My name's Lindsay. I'm a spiritual intuitive, empath and Reiki practitioner. Armed with intuition and a desire to help others grow, I write the articles on The Daily Awe to do just that. 
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Wonderful! Seems so true to me, too. Glad I “woke up” – makes death kind of irrelevant, doesn’t it? Imagine a world where everyone knew that. Seems like so many of us spend so much of our life fearing death that we kind of miss the show, you know?
It does make death kind of irrelevant – I\’m not scared of it because I know it\’s not the end. It\’s nice to imagine a world where everyone knows that. There\’s nothing to be afraid of it…most of the time I think it sounds \’better\’ over there (that\’s not a suicidal-type thought…I think you know what I mean).
I know exactly what you mean!
I like to think I have some things left to do over here and will have a longish life…but when the time comes, I am looking forward to what happens next.
Same here, Julie. Something tells me I’ll be here for quite a while longer. And I’m okay & happy with that! Just looking forward to the next adventure, too.
Nicely done.
I for one am more than ready for the next situation – I think I’ve blown my load in this one.
I think we all feel that way from time to time. Some of us just take it into our own hands…I still say you’re here b/c on a soul level, you want to be.
You’d be surprised, I think. Karma incurred here has to be balanced here. Like, sometimes you need to clean out the outhouse, but that doesn’t men you’re going to like it. More than a few souls wonder wtf they’re doing here.
So karma we incur in this lifetime has to be balanced out in this lifetime? Or can we balance it out in others? I’m curious as to what your thoughts are on that!
Very deep, Lindsay! What a great representation of birth!
Thanks, Teri! It gives you pause to think about what life must be like for your little one in your womb, eh?
Oh! Another thing in common. Lhasa is one of my very favorite artists; her album La Llarona is one of my all-time favorites and every time a friend hears it they want it too. It’s beautiful.
As to this other song of hers, I also have the albut ITS on. I’ll listen to it later today or over the weekend with new ears.
Thanks for bringing my attention!
Oh my goodness you love Lhasa too?! We are so similar.
I don’t have La Llarona – I’ll have to buy or download it.
OK, now I’ve watched the video and listened to the song; both very touching. I don’t really have many comments about death tho. I love being here too much, and can’t honestly say I truly know what happens after.
I have to ask, did you write this post now because you knew about this (from Wikipedia): A memorial concert honoring the life of Lhasa was announced for January 6, 2012 …
Or are you just really in tune?
Oh my god…I had NO IDEA! Wow…I guess I’m just really in tune. Thanks for telling me.
Oops, it’s La Llorona — I misspelled it. It means crying woman.