Michael Jackson not only was a singer, dancer, composer, and actor: the King of Pop‘s intellectual legacy has received little to no attention.
In his poetry collection Dancing The Dream, Michael states his worldview.

Find the child inside you

The musician processes his own experiences in the two-part poem Magical Child: It is about a child who was born into freedom. Soon, however, other people entered the scene and saw the child’s mysterious charisma, which they could not handle, as a danger. They wanted to rob the child of his courage, feed his fear, and destroy his miracle through intrigue. But in the second part of the poem it becomes evident: those people were not successful. The attacks from outside made the Magical Child more brave and courageous than ever before.
In the light of Michael Jackson’s biography, which was marked by creation-inhibiting intrigues in many phases of his life, the poem’s punch line shines.

Elephants teach humanity a lesson

MJ also addresses what humans can learn from elephants: Once an elephant falls down, it can usually never get up again because of its weight. That’s why an elephant stands its whole life, even while sleeping.
Michael does not see it as purely natural that this is the case: In his view, elephants decided eons ago never to fall down and thus to be an example to humans.
When elephants observed the anger and fear of the first humans, they were horrified, but already knew that the human race would inherit the planet. By being constantly in motion, elephants show humans what life means.
In Michael’s eyes, there is a message in every tread of the mighty elephants.

Michael’s profound thoughts don’t spare love: Michael speaks of love as the energy that defines him and his art. 

The Berlin Wall

At the same time, the King of Pop talks about the goal of his work: he wants people – young and old alike – to find the child who is hiding inside them. Michael sees the fact that many adults never had a childhood as the cause of human alienation taking hold all over the world.

The exceptional artist does not miss the opportunity to write about historical events: The Berlin Wall taught people a lesson, he writes.
But then people reconsidered: after all, on the other side were grandparents, siblings and spouses.

Michael’s works in his book Dancing The Dream are adorned by various photos: sometimes they are professionally taken portraits, sometimes they are snapshots. One sees the King of Pop dancing, reflecting, singing and together with children, with whom he had a special relationship throughout his life: Michael dedicated his work, his music and his success to those generations who in the future will decide what will become of the world. The numerous photos and paintings that show him in the presence of children bear witness to this.

Simon von Ludwig | More on Michael Jackson


The source of the article is Michael’s book “Dancing The Dream”.

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