A return home after days of absence is a special feeling.  The conviction arises, “this is where I belong.”  Is that familiar touch of place and of presence in time, — what is meant by “the hand of fate?”  All of my experiences, the places, faces, and events have brought me to this place.  This is the place and this is the time and I will try with all of my might to make this story line come true.

I know that’s rather abstract.  Location, situated in time, coordinates in a place, are the raw materials of making history, of real – izing one’s purpose, the reason for which you are here.

Is there any reason at all, any purpose for which one is here?

I cannot say and I do not know.  If I knew I would have to be outside of this “world” of space and time, separated, with the vantage point of a god…  You and I are not gods.  Perhaps it is a convenient, a necessary fiction to believe in fate, in purpose for each individual life, all of it, human and non human…  Belief is the frame, or the foundation if you will, from which one’s desire finds focus, for the striving with all of one’s might to make a story line come true.  Whether the source of our unique purpose, destiny etc. be one of the gods, or the universe itself, matters not at all.

The time has come at last, and there’s no holding back…

This tune by Survivor makes the point infinitely better.

I Can’t Hold Back

By Survivor

There’s a story in my eyes
Turn the pages of desire
Now it’s time to trade those dreams
For the rush of passion’s fire

I can feel you tremble when we touch
And I feel the hand of fate
Reaching out to both of us

I’ve been holding back the night
I’ve been searching for a clue from you
I’m gonna try with all my might
To make this story line come true

Can you feel me tremble when we touch
Can you feel the hand of fate
Reaching out to both of us
This love affair can’t wait

I can’t hold back
I’m on the edge
I can’t hold back
Your voice explodes
Inside my head

I can’t hold back
I won’t back down
Girl, it’s too late
To turn back now

Another shooting star goes by
And in the night the silence
Speaks to you and I

And now the time has come at last
Don’t let the moment run too fast

I can feel you tremble when we touch
And I feel the hand of fate
Reaching out to both of us

There’s a story in my eyes
Turn the pages of desire
Now it’s time to trade those dreams
For the rush of passion’s fire

I can’t hold back
I’m on the edge
I can’t hold back
Your voice explodes
Inside my head

I can’t hold back
I won’t back down
Girl, it’s too late
To turn back now

I can see you tremble when we touch
Ooh, and I feel the hand of fate
Reaching out to both of us
This love affair can’t wait

I can’t hold back
I can’t hold back
I can’t hold back

Lyrics by Frank Sullivan, James Peterik

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How do you compose a song, or tell a story?  Here is how it’s done.  First comes the flash of inspiration, and then one waits as long as necessary for a collaborator, someone who comes alongside to offer the finishing elements…

Peterik had the title in mind for two years before they were able to craft it into a song. After Sullivan came up with a riff, Peterik sang the first line, “There’s a story in my eyes.” Sullivan then chimed in with the next line, “Turn the pages of desire.” From there, they put together this song about a guy whose heart is filled with desire. Jim Peterik says the pre-chorus on this song is what gives it a killer hook: “I can feel you tremble when we touch…”