Duende, or "the Devil made me do it."

This week in my Poetry class we talked about duende, that devilish energy that can enliven dance, music, performance, and, if you're lucky, writing. A piece has duende when you throw caution to the wind, cut the restraints you put on yourself and let the devil in you emerge. 
I'm afraid I've done just that in my electronic publishing project. I got it into my head to do this experiment using electronic media to create a communal work of writing and let anyone who desires to add to the text. So far, the resulting story is Amazing. It's the lack of control that is hard to deal with. But, that's the point of the experiment. I don't control the story line; the contributors do. I promote it on Twitter (@catemaire), on this blog, and now on my webpage, but I surrender myself to the communal voice. 
Surely it was duende that made me do it. 
I failed to realize how much we control (or think we control) our own narratives, whether it's our life (education, career, relationships) or a piece of writing. Losing control is acutely uncomfortable, but really, just how much control do we have over our lives?
I look at the news, (a volcano erupting, a hurricane hitting a ravaged island, climate change, cancer research) and I realize that we have very little control over the big picture. It's humbling. And a little scary. But then my duende rises and I say "What the hell ..." and get on with my life. We all do, it's just a little daunting to acknowledge it. Maybe if we acknowledged this truth a bit more often, we would become more carefree and learn to live in the moment, whatever that moment may be.