being
… on… getting old DOESN’T suck….
Mortal. It’s what we are. Even our super heroes with their super powers are mortal. All things get old and die. But we have somehow deluded ourselves into denying our mortality by thinking if we make the right plans, if we eat right and exercise our mortality will not be of an issue. But we are lying to ourselves.
Infants are unaware of their mortality.
The young ignore it.
Adults deny it.
Mature adults fight it.
Seniors can’t escape it.
In fact all our marketing and advertisements seem to promote products that help us deny, fight or escape our mortality by finding ways of promoting youth and not growing old. But these are lies.
Getting old doesn’t suck.
I use those words specifically because I hear a different version of them ALL the time. I’m really tired of hearing “Getting old sucks” from people complaining about their ailments or expressed as a sort of sympathy for my when I talk about my ailments. For example, I have arthritis which has caused complications with bursitis and also sciatica and I also have atrial fibrillation. These conditions come and go by degrees. And while I have these pains that have caused me to resort to using a cane to help get around and have limited my mobility I do not complain. I’m just happy to be alive. Pain reminds me of my mortality and the older I get the more aware I am of the end that is destined to come – an end that I will welcome but will not rush toward.
It seems at times that we have finally become such a youth-based culture that aging and all it’s related issues have become completely intolerable as if mortality was something to be cured of, or fixed. And medical science and technology have done nothing to diminish that idea. Yet for every disease that is cured a new one is discovered. It is inevitable and will continue to be so because we are mortal and there is NO CURE for mortality.
I once wrote the following 2 ideas (in previous blog posts):
1. We begin to die the moment we are born.
2. We spend our whole lives learning how to die.
We must come to terms with our mortality in loving acceptance. Failure to do so will only result in the unnecessary illness of self-delusion.
At times it seems that we are just one step away from the Euthanasia portrayed in the science-fiction film – LOGAN’S RUN (1976) where life must end at the age of 30. And maybe that is the only solution to our mortality. Blind delusion that leads us to an end that is sooner than what was destined.
Sure, I’m getting old and I am accruing illnesses that accompany my status and state of being. I can’t change it. I can’t turn back the clock. I accept that I have changed. In fact at times I look back to when I was in my 20’s and think, “who was that person?” and ruminate that I’m not sure I would like to meet that person if I bumped into them today. My values have changed. Getting old doesn’t suck – it’s just different. I can still experience good things – even if it means just sitting by my window enjoying a quiet moment watching the sun rise. I can still contribute to the world around me (whether others pay attention or not). Life is beauty and pain. We cannot escape pain and mortality. We should welcome it regardless of what may come – at any age.
… on… unmatched [pt 2]
For the second review in this (hopefully) ongoing series. I’d like to draw your attention to a relatively new recording by Icelandic composer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, titled Orphée. Jóhannsson has composed for numerous films including the recent ARRIVAL and upcoming BLADE RUNNER 2024 as well as many solo studio recordings….. But of all his work so far the one that really stands out as a pinnacle in his oeuvre is this “solo” recording exploring the myth of Orphée/Orpheus.
The second track on the album:
This recording for Deutsche Grammophon records can, at first listen, be compared to Samuel Barber’s ADAGIO – but that is only in mood and temperament. When listening to this masterwork by Jóhannsson I find so many rich and wonderful feelings and ideas. I can feel like I’m wandering through a darkened hallway, arms outstretched, moving slow and gently feeling my way around the space. With continued listening I also feel a sense of gravity a tension that a very large bird may feel as it starts out in flight and slowly lifts itself from the earth. And in its flight feels the constant pull of the earth again even in it’s supposed freedom of soaring on the winds. Maybe it’s the speed at which the musical themes evolve throughout this 47 minute composition.
When thinking about this music, and the ideas, of Orpheus in the underworld wanting to bring back his love. I also begin to muse on the “warning” he is given to not look back and trust that his love Eurydice is behind him. And when he does look back – she is lost to him forever. This notion of not looking back is also found in the Bible story (Genesis 19) of Lot and his family as they flee Sodom and Gomorrah who were also warned to not look back. When Lot’s wife looks back she is turned into a pillar of salt. I further begin to wonder, what is this problem with looking back? It seems to be something we as humans do all the time. It is the cornerstone of memory. We don’t have memories of the future, do we? Or maybe we just haven’t learned to access those future memories. And looking back isn’t really all that bad. In the case of Orpheus the underworld can be compared to underground that where things are rooted – for plants literally. Underground is the foundation upon which we build our buildings and other man-made structures. It is not only a place for the dead. It seems that one could make the argument that Orpheus was looking back to his roots and very foundation for his wife – the gods had tricked him. In the case of lot with his wife turning to a pillar of salt. Salt is beneficial and necessary in all our diets it is also a preservative. So maybe her looking back actually made it possible for the rest of her family to be saved/preserved. These two examples may relate to the sense of gravity that I hear and feel in this music under the earth there is no escape from gravity and a pillar of rock/salt is so completely connected to the rest of the rock it cannot escape.
We all look back at some point in our lives. It is not a weakness. It is only human nature and inevitable. Orpheus, like Lot’s wife HAD to look back. And that may be the tension I hear and feel in the music – the desire to only look forward while feeling the pull to look back that is ultimately irresistible. So maybe the problem isn’t the looking back; as the warnings imply (and many bible scholars will try to teach), maybe these myths simply teach us of the cost. There is a cost and consequence to everything. It’s not a matter of good or bad but simply an understanding of exchange. And that thought is freeing and non-condemning like a bird in flight.
The final and only genuinely vocal track on the album:
These are the many things that drifted through my listening of this excellent album. All that being said, this music simply stops me in my tracks and forces me to listen, think, dream. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
TRACK LIST
1. Flight From The City
2. A Song For Europa
3. The Drowned World
4. A Deal With Chaos
5. A Pile Of Dust
6. A Sparrow Alighted Upon Our Shoulder
7. Fragment I
8. By The Roes, And By The Hinds Of The Field
9. The Radiant City
10. Fragment II
11. The Burning Mountain
12. De Luce Et Umbra
13. Good Morning, Midnight
14. Good Night, Day
15. Orphic Hymn
Follow the link for more info:
… on… the wasteland….
“What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”
~ T.S. Eliot
WASTELAND #1
… on… you are irrelevant….
In the age of ubiquitous and addictive click-bait. Technopoly rules. Online, you are a drop of water in a sea of alternatives. You are invisible.
“Technopoly eliminates alternatives to itself
in precisely the way Aldous Huxley
outlined in BRAVE NEW WORLD,
he argued in his 1993 book on the topic.
‘It does not make them illegal.
It does not make them immoral.
It does not even make them unpopular.
It makes them invisible and therefore irrelevant.’ “
– Neil Postman
Like A Drop In The Ocean
… on… the information ocean….
… on… isness….
I just came across a note I had written to myself that read “Stop taking what you call “life” so seriously!!!” I find that I need these reminders to bring me back to what’s real.
The bottom is a place where we can start to separate reality, from our man-made dramas that only exist in our head. When we start to see clearly, we begin to laugh instead of lament. We can enjoy this short journey of life, instead of asking “Why?” or” What do I do now?” or “Is there even a point?” The questions fade, as we no longer need answers because we are only engaged in what “is”.
~ Matt Pryor
Again, natural light. I like the suitcase on the bench. after the aquarium closed this place was used for a time by the Cleveland police department to train police dogs. No doubt sniffing out cocaine hidden in suitcases was on the training agenda. The file cabinets on the left were filled with police files.
…on… capitalism….
“Capitalism has defeated communism.
It is now well on its way to defeating democracy.”
~ David Korten
… on… truth/facts….
“The truth is more important than the facts.”
~ Frank Lloyd Wright
… on… news trumped….
To Donald T-rump: Here’s a news flash, 90% of everything that comes out of your mouth is lies, falsifications and therefore FAKE NEWS – who are you to deny and ban select media outlets from press functions just because you don’t like what they have to say and therefore claim they are purveyors of “fake news”? It’s a sad case of the “pot calling the kettle black”(as we say here in Ohio).
Sure I ain’t no big fan of the news media but that doesn’t mean their reporting is fake. Fake is different from bias. But apparently a world leader like President of a country isn’t required to have the intelligence to know the difference.
You want “fake news”? See video below for a song the Donald T-rump wrote the lyrics for.
Okay now that IS fake news (with all due respect to Henry Rollins) But it does feel that it is culturally relevant to our “President” T-rump.
… on… wisdom….
“We may ask, ‘What is wisdom?’ It is our life itself.
We not only have that wisdom, we are constantly using it.
When we are cold, we put on more clothing.
When hungry, we eat. When sad, we cry.
Being happy, we laugh. That’s wisdom.
The seasons change, the stars shine in the sky, it’s all wisdom.
Regardless of whether we realize it or not,
we are always in the middle of the Way.
We are nothing but the Way itself.”~ Taizan Maezumi
… on… crazy dancer….
“And those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music.”
~ Nietzsche
“How many people
have forgotten how to dance
on
the
long
march
to
WAR?“
~ mobius faith
… on… darkness/light….
“In order for light to shine so brightly,
darkness must be present.”~ Francis Bacon
… on… film analysis….
I’m a real fan of film analysis. Films are more than just escapist entertainment and in many ways are the modern mythologies of our time. So analyzing these films seems a necessary informative way to gain new understanding of our own cultural mythology.
This video is probably one of the best analysis I have ever seen. If you haven’t seen the film yet that’s okay – this will be a good primer that will enhance your viewing experience.
Enjoy this video criticism for the film CHILDREN OF MEN [2006] – Dir. Alfonso Cuaron.
and here’s the trailer
… on end of day/week….
Work is done, days end
Fluffy
Lavender and gilded tangerine
Clouds
My Winters evening skies
….on….universal witness…
“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself.
Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies.
We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes
conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”― Alan W. Watts
….on…. take me to church….
It’s been a long time since I listened to Sinead O’Connor. I loved every track on her very first album. But everything after that was sort of hit-n-miss and I eventually lost touch with her career.
I recently came across this wonderful song from 2014 album I’M NOT BOSSY, I’M THE BOSS. It seems to have the same kind of edgy energy that I liked in her first album. The Chorus hits home for me and highlights the need for pure love and how the institutions of today fail to provide it – which is highlighted in the lyrically sharp chorus,
“Oh take me to church
I’ve done so many bad things it hurts
Yeah take me to church
But not the ones that hurt
‘Cause that aint the truth
And that’s not what it’s for”
…on ….nonaction….
I would say that not doing too much is the important thing. We tend to try to overdo everything. Such conceptual actions just create more karma. Consider nondoing, nonaction, for a while, and leaving things as they are.
—His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, “Awareness Itself”
….on….darkness within…
“KNOWING YOUR OWN DARKNESS IS THE BEST METHOD FOR DEALING WITH THE DARKNESSES OF OTHER PEOPLE.”
~ C.G. JUNG
… on… my town…
Some new images of my town…. to start the year…
…on…good people we lost in 2016…
From legendary pop artists America’s Prince and Great Britain’s David Bowie to Italian writer/philosopher Umberto Eco and American astronaut John Glenn, here are some of the good people we lost in 2016.
January
– 5: PIERRE BOULEZ, 90, French conductor-composer.
– 7: ANDRE COURREGES, 92 French fashion designer known for his 1960s futuristic styles.
– 10: DAVID BOWIE, 69, legendary British singer and musician who died of cancer two days after his 25th album was released.
– 14: ALAN RICKMAN, 69, British actor who often played villains, such as professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series.
– 19: ETTORE SCOLA, 84, Italian director who made “A Special Day” and “We All Loved Each Other So Much”
– 31: ABE VIGODA, 94, Beloved American character actor famous for his roles in Godfather, Barney Miller (TV), Fish (TV) and had a career running joke about whether he was dead. Even a website was launched to keep track.
February
– 16: BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI, 93, Egyptian diplomat and UN secretary-general from 1992 to 1996.
– 17: ANDRZEJ ZULAWSKI, 75, Polish filmmaker who directed “The Third Part of the Night” and “The Devil”.
– 19: HARPER LEE, 89, US author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
– 19: UMBERTO ECO, 84, Italian writer and philosopher who wrote “The Name of the Rose”.
March
– 6: NANCY REAGAN, 94, US first lady from 1981 to 1989 and a strong influence on president Ronald Reagan.
– 8: GEORGE MARTIN, 90, British music producer nicknamed “The fifth Beatle”.
– 22: MALIK IZAAK TAYLOR, 45, a.k.a. PHIFE DOG, was founder of rap/hip-hop group A TRIBE CALLED QUEST which was one of the most influential hip-hop groups when that genre was in its genesis.
– 24: JOHAN CRUYFF, 68, Dutch football star who led the powerful Ajax Amsterdam team in the 1970s.
– 26: JIM HARRISON, 78, US writer of novels and poems who explored the natural world in such works as “Legends of the Fall”.
– 31: IMRE KERTESZ, 86, Hungarian author and 2002 Nobel laureate, who wrote “Fatelessness”.
– 31: ZAHA HADID, 65, British architect of Iraqi origin who won the 2004 Pritzker prize.
April
– 21: PRINCE, 57, Groundbreaking US musician whose many hits include “Purple Rain”, “Girls & Boys” and “Kiss”.
– 24: PAPA WEMBA, 66, Singer and king of Congolese rumba.
June
– 3: MUHAMMAD ALI, 74, US boxing legend, triple world heavyweight champion.
– 16: JO COX, 41, British Labour Party MP, killed in the street a week before Britons voted in a referendum to leave the European Union.
– 24: BERNIE WORRELL, 72, US composer/keyboardist, was the founding member of PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC and also known for is work with THE TALKING HEADS.
– 28: PAT SUMMITT, 64, US, considered one of the toughest and most inspirational coaches in women’s college basketball she accrued 1098 career wins – the most in NCAA basketball history (mens or women’s). She also coached the women’s Olympic basketball team winning gold medal in 1984.
July
– 2: ELIE WIESEL, 87, US writer, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor.
– 2: MICHAEL CIMINO, 77, US director who made the 1978 film “The Deer Hunter” based on the Vietnam War.
– 4: ABBAS KIAROSTAMI, 76, Iranian film director who won the 1997 Palme d’Or in Cannes for “Taste of Cherry”.
September
– 2: ISLAM KARIMOV, 78, president of Uzbekistan from independence in 1991.
– 28: SHIMON PERES, 93, A founding father of Israel and a former president who won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize after signing the Oslo Accords with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.
October
– 9: ANDRZEJ WAJDA, 90, Polish film director who won the 1981 Palme d’Or in Cannes for “Man of Iron”.
– 13: BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ, 88, king of Thailand and until his death the world’s longest reigning monarch.
– 13: DARIO FO, 90, Italian writer and actor who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1997.
November
– 7: LEONARD COHEN, 82, Canadian poet and musician who became an icon of the 1960s counterculture generation with songs like “Suzanne” and “Hallelujah.”
– 25: FIDEL CASTRO, 90, the popular Cuban leader who survived multiple assassination attempts and survived the administrations of 11 US presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to Barack Obama.
December
– 8: JOHN GLENN, 95, the first US astronaut to orbit the earth and later United States Senator.
– 24: RICHARD ADAMS, 96, British author of the tear-jerker novel “Watership Down” a story about a community of rabbits.
– 24: RICK PARFITT, 68, Guitarist and songwriter of rock group Status Quo with over 60 chart hits including “Rockin’ All Over The World”.
– 25: GEORGICS KYRIACOS PANAYIOTOUG, known professionally as GEORGE MICHAEL, 53, co-founder of pop phenomena Wham! with the song “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” found later solo success with hits like “Careless Whisper” and “Freedom ’90”.
– 27: CARRIE FISHER, 60, perhaps best known and loved for her performance as Princess Leia Organa, later known as General Leia Organa, in the Star Wars film franchise.
– 28: DEBBIE REYNOLDS,84, film legend in the international film hit musical “Singing In The Rain” and mother of film star Carrie Fisher.
– 28: PIERRE BAROUH, 82, singer and songwriter of the international hit song “A Man And A Woman”
– 30: TYRUS WONG, 106, Chinese born American cartoon artist. Before moving to Warner Bros. Studios, he worked for Walt Disney Studios and was the lead artist on the animated feature, “Bambi”.
– 30: HUSTON SMITH, 97, United States respected religious studies scholar and author most known for his popular book, “The Worlds Religions” which remains a standard introduction to comparative religions.
…on… new works!
These new works* were created while listening to one of my favorite
ambient/electronic/glitchy bands named LOSCIL**. It’s hard to say how the music impacted the artworks because I was not trying to duplicate or create/represent anything specifically heard in the music or its structures. It was all subconscious.
As an after-thought; layers of sound = layers in the image.
*In addition to the slides you can click on the individual images below to view larger.
**I’ve included a video below and a link to their website.
….on….why interstellar flight?
“Earth is the cradle of humanity,
but it is impossible to live forever in the cradle”
~ Tsiolkovski
“A journey of a hundred light-years
begins with a single step.”
~ Confucius (extended 12 orders of magnitude)
Cooper: Mankind was born on Earth.
It was never meant to die here.
~ from the film INTERSTELLAR
….on …. post election….
Probably the best take on the Presidential election out there…. Enjoy…. 🙂 There’s some funny stuff here from the LATE SHOW w/Stephen Colbert.
….on….leonard cohen
This is yet another talent whose voice will be sadly missed.
Rest in peace Leonard Cohen 21 September 1934 – 10 November 2016
….on….. fear…..
Highlining 2800m in winter.’Hayley’- 90 seconds about fear. (Dir. Stian Smestad Music by Nils Frahm) from Stian Smestad on Vimeo.
Before walking a 52 meter highline at 2800 altitude in midst winter, I asked Hayley about fear. She replied with her favorite quote from Frank Herbert’s “Dune”. A short film about Hayley Ashburn, filmed in the Torri del Vajolet, set to the hypnotizing soundtrack Tristana by Nils Frahm.
Directed by Stian Smestad (www.hellostian.com)
Athlete Hayley Ashburn
Music Nils Frahm «Tristana»
….ON….ELECTION….
This would have been true regardless of who won….
…..on….campaigns
November 8 – will we drown in hatred, fear, and misery?
Trump without a “T” is just a rump.
RUMP
noun \ˈrəmp\
Definition of rump
: the back part of an animal’s body where the thighs join the hips
: a piece of meat that comes from the rump of a cow
: the part of the body you sit on
Synonym:
butt, ass
….on…. beauty of imperfection
Autumn is the season of imperfection. Yet it is also, strangely enough many people’s favorite season. I say “strangely enough” because most people are resistant to change, yet in Autumn, there are more changes crammed into a short time span than any other season. We may see summer temps, foliage color changes, rain, and even freezing snow. It is one of the most difficult times to forecast the weather because of these rapid changes. Even scents change; the autumn flowers carry a dryer less sweet scent and there is the scent of fruit and harvest. In the cooling air sounds themselves seem to have more clarity….
Perhaps it is these rapid changes that cause us to really sit up and take note of natures beauty. So maybe Autumn is truly an “awakening season” for many (even though many see Spring as a season of awakening).
If we look closer at what makes Autumn so beautiful we will see it is full of imperfections. In fact nature seems to celebrate these imperfections. A yellow leaf is never truly a solid yellow and a red leaf is never a solid shade of red. There are subtleties and flaws in all these changes that occur. Leaves are mottled or spotted and eventually fall from the trees as they lose their ability to cling to life. They clutter and clog our drains and gutters. Branches become brittle and break off from their life source. Fruit that is being harvested is rarely perfect; it is not uniformly colored and is filled with the scars or bruises caused by hard weather, insects, birds etc. The changing weather requires us to be more aware and dress accordingly. Yet this is often declared the most beautiful season of the year. Why are we more accepting of imperfections in the natural world outdoors than we are of the imperfections in each other? What would happen if we would accept the imperfections we perceive in others and accept those imperfections as part of what makes that person beautiful? Has the quest for perfection and comfort made us completely intolerant to the beauty of imperfection? Have we finally become at odds with nature and our own mortality?
The image above is titled “FALLEN ANGEL” and is simply a photograph of autumn leaves on a hiking trail. I loved how the large leaf seemed to be in the shape of an angel.
…on …laundry…
The early morning had an autumnal chill in the air and was overcast like so many clouded minds waking to the new day.
I was at the laundromat; not one of my favorite things. I go early, making every attempt to avoid the greedy rush of individuals jockeying for machines.
This morning eight other people had the same idea.
I had a book by Peter Handke that I was reading – ON A DARK NIGHT I LEFT MY SILENT HOUSE. It’s a short novel with prose that reads like poetry. It travels the razors edge of reality and dreams, so-much-so that, at times, I wasn’t sure if I was reading a really great story or if I was dreaming of reading. As I slipped farther and farther into the world of the story the sounds of the laundromat seemed more distant, muffled, even murky.
My quiet reading repose was interrupted by the RAT-A-TAT-TAT of machine gun fire – the sound of death – blasting from the mobile device of a seventy-year-old gray-haired grandmother playing an obviously violent video game and sitting near, too near me, lost in her own oblivion.
Annoyed by the cruel aural assault I just closed my eyes and let the sounds of the laundromat merge into a cacophonous free-jazz experiment; Albert King was playing on the overhead sound system swinging with updates about Hurricane Matthew, on the television, merging with the friendly chatter of others who seem to enjoy laundry – and company. Suddenly, a searing break of five washing machines whirring and buzzing, in their wild interlude, on the spin cycle in complete synchrony eventually to subside and merge with the rest of the sounds in this social sound-fest ending with the click click click click click of the same five machines stopping, signaling the cycle was over.
After drinking in all the sounds it was time to dry out, fluff and fold. The feeling of warm, fresh softness carried out to the car. Another week has ended. Now ready to start a new week, clean and clear. Ready to carry-on after this unpleasant sensorial massage. Ultimately satisfied. Paradox of mundanity.
… on … what’s on the menu?
For the main course we have Toes Brufle – simmered nicely in a sauce béarnaise and topped with fresh herbs. As an appetizer we have Cow Fingers and for desert – Mosquito Pie. The best wine for this meal is of course – “ALLIGATOR WINE” This is a dish you could die for.
... on being and becoming ... 