It’s almost summer, and after COVID restrictions, we feel the need to shake things up! Houses are going up for sale, and interest rates are low. We are moving!
This is a physical shift, from one place to another. Stuff moves. People move. [In Britain, they would say, “move house.”] Moving companies like to play with this idea, promising you a moving experience if you use their services.
And that’s where it gets interesting. Because there are physical moves, and there are emotional moves. You can move from place to place. You can also feel a change in your emotions. Usually, this emotional change is from numbness to a sense of deep feeling. So these moving companies are promising you will feel really good if you let them move your stuff!
In the Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis, the characters are excited to hear that the lion-king Aslan is on the move. He is advancing. He’s not just thinking and planning. He’s acting. He’s doing something. The situation is developing, rather than standing still.
Being on the move can also mean changing from one place to another, like an army leaving camp to go on a mission.
Let’s move out! We’ve been given specific orders.
And, if you seem to be taking too long to decide what to do, your friends might tell you to
Move it!
This can mean “get out of the way” or it can mean to stop worrying and start acting. It’s all in the tone.
Another moving experience is purely emotional. You are awakened. Your emotions or understanding change so dramatically that it almost feels physical. In fact, at times you may be moved to tears. This meaning is so powerful that it’s rarely spoken about, because, well, we get awkward talking about deep emotions out loud. It’s a dramatic shift in how someone feels, and often thinks. You may read things like this:
The music was so moving we felt, just for a moment, that everything made sense.
The testimony of the grieving mother deeply moved the jury.
A move can also be a simple proposal to change focus or strategies, as in
The committee moved to adjourn at 1:00.
We’ve raised the funds to start the project. What’s our next move?
Or it can simply mean change, as in
The due date for the essay was moved up one week.
We moved to a new topic.
I moved to a new job.
All of these have one thing in common: change.
You could also declare you will not change your philosophical position, as in the very moving Civil Rights song,
We Shall Not Be Moved.
Opposition will not stop us. Our moral stance is firm. It will not change.
And here, I’m strangely reminded of a long-ago song where a guy is moved by someone’s appearance. He can’t think straight [he says]. He’s having trouble sleeping. He’s even feeling a little sweaty. (Attractive, right?) And then he says:
You move me.
Um, no. He is definitely signaling a change in physical state, but I think I’d just tell this guy he needs to
Move on!