Here and Now...What's Happening?

[WhiteFeather]

"Who do you trust..when everyones a crook" Revolution Calling - Queensryche

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CNdOsL4Xe7Q

[RunningDeer]

For those new to the Village, this is the video:

“How to let people know you love them, Zoot Zoot!,” by Amanda Gore (10 minutes)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=vQFl4a0xiBE

This is the book that Amanda Gore referenced: “Molecules Of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine,” by Candace B. Pert. Reviews @ Amazon there's also hard copy and kindle edition & for iPad users there are book and audio editions and a free sample copy and audio.

Zoot, Zoot,
Paula

[Calz]

Posted by WhiteFeather (here)
"Who do you trust..when everyones a crook" Revolution Calling - Queensryche

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CNdOsL4Xe7Q

... don't get me started ... I *love* Queensryche!!!

[Calz]

Posted by ulli (here)


So you mean we were there, lurking side by side, and never met???

Well I signed up for the email dump ... never participated in a forum as such.

I may have read some of your posts (if you went beyond lurking).

Aside from a couple emails to Boylan (one of which asking for his permission to post something here on Avalon from him) I did nothing else.


***adding***

If it weren't for Boylan's inspiration, I might never have started this thread.

[1inMany]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=U6tV11acSRk

[1inMany]

Okay. I'm done. I have to get my sh!t together.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Wrs5DjHNUOE

Too Late.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=cgPqmRNjoTE

Get the padded room ready, ya think?

[donk]

Here's what i thought was cutting edge music (about half a decade ago ), someone who as she said "got good at feeling bad...", instead of just angsty whining, channeled her pain into something that helped her (the end of that quote is "...and that's why I'm still here").

Her talent was discovered and popularity exploded when her music was featured in the movie Juno (good flick, revived Jason Bateman's career too, I think). This song is one of my favorites, a good example of going beyond the angst while bringing awareness of a REAL tragedy (she goes: "please give me a break from all your complaining about who was mean to you and how your stepdad is a pain, I care I swear, but I just can't take it, not today, all I can think about is tsunamis and earthquakes"):

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Uq5KBjn2Gys

[PurpleLama]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-N3BjVMWziE

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tx9Ro0V5ydg

[donk]

On the "cutting edge of angst" tip, this seems to have gotten lost in "that thread". I used it as an example of how important delivery is.

Punk has some of the most intelligent messages ever. Unfortunately, the passionate anger that comes with most of it doesn't translate into "approachable music", to me, anyway. This guy discovered Crass, whoever is responsible for the "lyrics" (I have a real hard time associating punk with "music", so I think of it more as poetry)...anyway Crass created some of the best transmissions of some of the most important messages in an incredible way....completely lost to anyone except those that could stomach the discordant "music" it was shouted over top of.

Jeffrey Lewis not only discovered it, he reinvented it into something beautiful, one of the most important albums to me, called 12 Crass Songs, this is one of the more interesting (I think they are all fantastic, especially "End Result"):

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=0iXEKktKTqM

[PurpleLama]

"without forty ounces of social skills
I'm just an ass
in the crack of humanity
I'm just a huge manatee"

[donk]

I love Adam Green (and Moldy Peaches too), but Kimya on her own, in "Remember That I Love You" and "Hidden Vagenda" (and all her albums, but those are my two favorites), were mind blowing to me...maybe double standard cuz she's a woman--but hey, whattya gonna do?

[PurpleLama]

There were a coupla Moldy Peaches albums floating around my group of friends about ten or so years back, I'm not so familiar with her stuff, but I like the ones I've heard. I didn't know her name, to realize that's who you're so crazy about. I don't watch many of the vids that get posted, living in no reception land.

[donk]

And for my final entry of cutting edge (circa 2005 ), I have to get out of the angst, I would post the title track from the album "Awake is the New Sleep", but I already have, at least once, so we'll go with this one....Ben Lee's (shout to you Aussies out there!) entire album brings a smile to my face and makes me upbeat every time here it:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zC3D4WUMrvM

[eaglespirit]

Yep...it's a 'moldy peaches' day, thank you : )

[Richie Montgomery]

Yesterday I was asked this question in an email someone sent me, I answered as best as I could. I am no expert on this subject but this is how it unfolded for me, I hope this
can help others also that is why I am posting it here also.

The Question:

I am intrested in knowing how the universe talks to you. I have been on my own path and have recently identified the things it provides. I would like to learn to read the signs
around me and recognize when it talks. Thanks for your input. Peace to you friend.

My reply:

Ok first off thank you for the reply and to answer you I have to say that the answers the universe provide may be different for everyone because we all see things in this
world differently. For me it is paying attention to everything that happens directly to me not to other people and those things could have a relation to other people but the
sign was meant for me. Like one day I was walking down the road and randomly thinking about leaving the city where I live and as soon as that thought left my mind
I turned and saw a car with a flat tire and thought that's odd but then I turned around to continue walking and there was a man pressure washing the sidewalk and had
a huge cloud of mist right in my path and he just grinned at me and stopped so I could pass. That is when it suddenly occurred to me that my way out of the city would
be prevented, in fact it hit me like a ton of bricks. All the little things in life that we see all the time and never pay attention to really do have a meaning to us if we open
our eyes and ears to actually see what it may hold. A sudden random thought, a strange sight on the road, an odd cloud in the sky, something where it should not be.
All of these (I think) hold a direct meaning to us so we can relate to them in the future. I have many that I cannot figure out, I am not all knowing by any means.
But over the course of many consecutive little events in my life I have come to the conclusion that these things really do lead me in the direction the universe wants me to go.
So now I have a completely different view on what I think, what I see, and what I hear. Every movie I watch I study, no matter what the movie is about.
Every random conversation with a stranger I have, every conversation I hear from people walking down the street. It is all relevant to me either for that moment or a future moment.
I watch, I listen, I remember. I really try to listen to my heart and that is not as successful as I would always like but I can tell if I have done something wrong quickly because
I will dwell on that wrong choice for a long time. When I make the right choice it feels like a huge burden has been lifted. Like I was walking down the road and saw what I thought
was a homeless man begging for money and I just walked on by him because I had no paper cash on me and then it gnawed at my brain HARD and got worse the further
I walked that I should give him what I had in my pocket, well as it was, I turned around and walked the entire block back and talked to him. It turns out he was just an old man who need
a quarter to catch the bus, he wasn't homeless at all, and when I finally did what the universe wanted me to do in the first thought that I didn't listen to, it felt like I could almost fly!
To me this is how the universe communicates with me, and like I said it may be different for everyone. I say follow your very first thought on things as they occur and slowly things
might make more sense. I hope I have been able to help you a little in your cosmic journey and given you a bit of insight. If I can answer any more questions please feel free to ask.

--Richie Montgomery

[ulli]

Posted by Richie Montgomery (here)
Yesterday I was asked this question in an email someone sent me, I answered as best as I could. I am no expert on this subject but this is how it unfolded for me, I hope this
can help others also that is why I am posting it here also.

The Question:

I am intrested in knowing how the universe talks to you. I have been on my own path and have recently identified the things it provides. I would like to learn to read the signs
around me and recognize when it talks. Thanks for your input. Peace to you friend.

My reply:

Ok first off thank you for the reply and to answer you I have to say that the answers the universe provide may be different for everyone because we all see things in this
world differently. For me it is paying attention to everything that happens directly to me not to other people and those things could have a relation to other people but the
sign was meant for me. Like one day I was walking down the road and randomly thinking about leaving the city where I live and as soon as that thought left my mind
I turned and saw a car with a flat tire and thought that's odd but then I turned around to continue walking and there was a man pressure washing the sidewalk and had
a huge cloud of mist right in my path and he just grinned at me and stopped so I could pass. That is when it suddenly occurred to me that my way out of the city would
be prevented, in fact it hit me like a ton of bricks. All the little things in life that we see all the time and never pay attention to really do have a meaning to us if we open
our eyes and ears to actually see what it may hold. A sudden random thought, a strange sight on the road, an odd cloud in the sky, something where it should not be.
All of these (I think) hold a direct meaning to us so we can relate to them in the future. I have many that I cannot figure out, I am not all knowing by any means.
But over the course of many consecutive little events in my life I have come to the conclusion that these things really do lead me in the direction the universe wants me to go.
So now I have a completely different view on what I think, what I see, and what I hear. Every movie I watch I study, no matter what the movie is about.
....snip ....
--Richie Montgomery

Thank you so much, Richie. This is exactly what I believe-
how it all is, and always was, and always will be.
I don't always remember it, but try to. It helps to be surrounded by others who believe this too.
It's how many of the indigenous people of the world operate.
This teaching can also be found in mysticism, and Gnostic teachings.
I even discovered it in many psychological disciplines, too, such as Jung's work, or Gestalt therapy.
Also the path of the Nagual, and the work of the Fourth Way of Gurdjieff.

The eye of the beholder is what needs sharpening, constantly
In every atom there is a sign of the continuing presence of God, and life has meaning,
if only one can perceive.
When I forget it, something from my unresolved self has created a veil.

By bringing the enemy close to home, as close as the self, (instead of blaming others)
there is a far greater chance to transmute that confusion and get back to clarity.

Creating wellness, beauty, happiness, laughter outside of ourselves
increases it's presence and makes a better world.
And as soon as a job is done, and beauty and perfection and justice
have been established out there, one can have another picnic in heaven with one's friends.
Until the next dust storm. Etc, etc.

[Calz]

Posted by WhiteFeather (here)
"Who do you trust..when everyones a crook" Revolution Calling - Queensryche

There ... ya done it now ... ya got me started.

Not my fault ... not my responsibility (unless you really really like it then of course I take full credit).

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8CZGion20E4

[ulli]

Well, I listened to bits of all the videos on this page. The was a time in my life when I could deeply relate to this music,
All of it. Now I'm too old. Or rather, I have moved past the emotional states that music like this gave me relief and healing for. Temporary healing. Call it 'angst', which, by the way, is the German word for fear.

Anyway, not trying to criticize at all, here. except I wasnt agreeing with the little cigarette lighting part in one of the videos; I would have thought that such glamorizing of an unnecessary habit is a bit passé in the 21st century.
All of life's epochs have their own special neediness and remedies.
But growth means change, and I want to find music that is lasting and has an effect on spirit, yet is not particularly tied to any culture, nor religion, nor tradition.

[ulli]

Ok, so Im posting a bit much today, but can't think of anything better to do.

I was looking for the famous quote from Gurdjieff, where he talks about objective art.
Googled 'objective art' and came across this rather long interpretation from Osho, who was a follower of Gurdjieff's.
Anyway, he quoted him a lot.
So here is his way of talking about objective art, and I thought it was rather good.
Skip it, if it's too long a read. But it deserves a page here at Avalon, especially in the raising of consciousness section, which after all, this Village is about, AFIC.




What is objective art?
Is creativity somehow related with meditation?

Osho:
Art can be divided into two parts. Ninety-nine percent of art is subjective art. Only one percent is objective art. The ninety-nine percent subjective art has no relationship with meditation. Only one percent objective art is based on meditation.

The subjective art means you are pouring your subjectivity onto the canvas, your dreams, your imaginations, your fantasies. It is a projection of your psychology. The same happens in poetry, in music, in all dimensions of creativity - you are not concerned with the person who is going to see your painting, not concerned what will happen to him when he looks at it; that is not your concern at all. Your art is simply a kind of vomiting. It will help you, just the way vomiting helps. It takes the nausea away, it makes you cleaner, makes you feel healthier. But you have not considered what is going to happen to the person who is going to see your vomit. He will become nauseous. He may start feeling sick.

Look at the paintings of Picasso. He is a great painter, but just a subjective artist. Looking at his paintings, you will start feeling sick, dizzy, something going berserk in your mind. You cannot go on looking at Picasso's painting for long. You would like to get away, because the painting has not come from a silent being. It has come from a chaos. It is a byproduct of a nightmare. But ninety-nine percent of art belongs to that category.

Objective art is just the opposite. The man has nothing to throw out, he is utterly empty, absolutely clean. Out of this silence, out of this emptiness arises love, compassion. And out of this silence arises a possibility for creativity. This silence, this love, this compassion - these are the qualities of meditation.

Meditation brings you to your very center. And your center is not only your center, it is the center of the whole existence. Only on the periphery we are different. As we start moving toward the center, we are one. We are part of eternity, a tremendously luminous experience of ecstasy that is beyond words. Something that you can be... but very difficult to express it. But a great desire arises in you to share it, because all other people around you are groping for exactly such experiences. And you have it, you know the path.

And these people are searching everywhere except within themselves - where it is! You would like to shout in their ears. You would like to shake them and tell them, "Open your eyes! Where are you going? Wherever you go, you go away from yourself. Come back home, and come as deep into yourself as possible."

This desire to share becomes creativity. Somebody can dance. There have been mystics - for example, Jalaluddin Rumi - whose teaching was not in words, whose teaching was in dance. He will dance. His disciples will be sitting by his side, and he will tell them, "Anybody who feels like joining me can join. It is a question of feeling. If you don't feel like, it is up to you. You can simply sit and watch."

But when you see a man like Jalaluddin Rumi dancing, something dormant in you becomes active. In spite of yourself you find you have joined the dance. You are already dancing before you become aware that you have joined it.

Even this experience is of tremendous value, that you have been pulled like a magnetic force. It has not been your mind decision, you have not weighed for pro and for against, to join or not to join, no. Just the beauty of Rumi's dance, his spreading energy, has taken possession of you. You are being touched. This dance is objective art.

And if you can continue - and slowly you will become more and more unembarrassed, more and more capable - soon you will forget the whole world. A moment comes, the dancer disappears and only the dance remains.

There are in India statues, which you have just to sit silently and meditate upon. Just look at those statues. They have been made by meditators in such a way, in such a proportion, that just looking at the statue, the figure, the proportion, the beauty... Everything is very calculated to create a similar kind of state within you. And just sitting silently with a statue of Buddha or Mahavira, you will come across a strange feeling, which you cannot find in sitting by the side of any Western sculpture.

All Western sculpture is sexual. You see the Roman sculpture: beautiful, but something creates sexuality in you. It hits your sexual center. It does not give you an uplift. In the East the situation is totally different. Statutes are carved, but before a sculptor starts carving statues he learns meditation. Before he starts playing on the flute he learns meditation. Before he starts writing poetry he learns meditation. Meditation is absolute necessity for any art; then the art will be objective.

Then, just reading few lines of a haiku, a Japanese form of a small poem - only three lines, perhaps three words - if you silently read it, you will be surprised. It is far more explosive that any dynamite. It simply opens up doors in your being.

Basho's small haiku I have beside the pond near my house. I love it so much, I wanted it to be there. So every time, coming and going.... Basho is one of the persons I have loved. Nothing much in it: An ancient pond.... It is not an ordinary poetry. It is very pictorial. Just visualize: An ancient pond. A frog jumps in.... You almost see the ancient pond! You almost hear the frog, the sound of its jump: Plop.

And then everything is silent. The ancient pond is there, the frog has jumped in, the sound of his jumping in has created more silence than before. Just reading it is not like any other poetry that you go on reading - one poem, another poem... No, you just read it and sit silently. Visualize it. Close your eyes. See the ancient pond. See the frog. See it jumping in. See the ripples on the water. Hear the sound. And hear the silence that follows.

This is objective art.

Basho must have written it in a very meditative mood, sitting by the side of an ancient pond, watching a frog. And the frog jumps in. And suddenly Basho becomes aware of the miracle that sound is deepening the silence. The silence is more than it was before. This is objective art.

Unless you are a creator, you will never find real blissfulness. It is only by creating that you become part of the great creativity of the universe. But to be a creator, meditation is a basic necessity. Without it you can paint, but that painting has to be burned, it has not to be shown to others. It was good, it helped you unburden, but please, don't burden anybody else. Don't present it to your friends, they are not your enemies.

Objective art is meditative art, subjective art is mind art.

- from The Last Testament, Volume 3, #24
Back to Osho Art

[Calz]

Posted by ulli (here)
Well, I listened to bits of all the videos on this page. The was a time in my life when I could deeply relate to this music,
All of it. Now I'm too old. Or rather, I have moved past the emotional states that music like this gave me relief and healing for. Temporary healing. Call it 'angst', which, by the way, is the German word for fear.

Anyway, not trying to criticize at all, here. except I wasnt agreeing with the little cigarette lighting part in one of the videos; I would have thought that such glamorizing of an unnecessary habit is a bit passé in the 21st century.
All of life's epochs have their own special neediness and remedies.
But growth means change, and I want to find music that is lasting and has an effect on spirit, yet is not particularly tied to any culture, nor religion, nor tradition.

Fair enough.

Not sure which you refer to ... but to want "lasting music effecting spirit not tied to culture, religion or tradition" ... I expect narrows it down dramatically.

Mine was last ... and live ... don't remember a lighted cigarette ...

... perhaps an anchor performance ...