Thursday, December 25, 2008

Quiet!! Can You Hear The Angels?



It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth good will to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.


One of the first Christmas hymns written by an American writer and published in the Christian Register in 1849, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" emphasizes the social implications of the angels' message: achieving peace and good will toward our fellowmen in the midst of social difficulty. The writing of this text occurred at a time in American history when there was much unrest, including the foreboding of the tensions between the North and Southern States, social upheaval due to industrial revolution, and the time of the "Forty-Niner" gold rush.

The hymn text was considered to have addressed these difficulties, urging folks to listen once again to the angels singing. The final stanza is a verse of hopeful optimism: "When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling, and the whole world gives back the song, which now the angels sing."

Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears was born on April 6, 1810, in Sandisfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard Divinity School and spent life pasturing small Unitarian Churches in Massachusetts. Many were surprised that Edmund Sears, a Unitarian (believer in religious tolerance and support of liberty of conscience), could write such a fine text surrounding Christ's nativity. He was viewed to be more a Unitarian in name than by conviction, for he believed and preached the deity of Christ from his pulpit.

Sears was a quiet man who shunned the public. He preferred to live in small towns with small congregations where he could devote most of his time to studying, thinking, and writing. When he was 24, Sears wrote a carol titled Calm on the Listening Ear, which was inspired by the text of Luke 2:13-14 “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Fifteen years later the United States was on the cusp of the Civil War. Sears once again returned to his theme of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” His second attempt at the song proved to be more popular than his first. However, today’s singers do not grasp the depth of his emotion at that point in history since the stanza that contextualizes it is usually omitted.


Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world hath suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!




Dresden

For info on another of my favorite carols, click here.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Eleven -- The Year of Change



...For although in a certain sense and for light-minded persons non-existent things can be more easily and irresponsibly represented in words than existing things, for the serious historian it is just the reverse. Nothing is harder, yet nothing is more necessary, than to speak of certain things whose existence is neither demonstrable nor probable. The very fact that there are serious and conscientious who treat such as existing things brings them a step closer to existence and to the possibility of being born.

Albertus Secundus
tract. de cristall. spirit.
ed. Clangor et Collof. lib. I, cap. 28.

(Holograph translation by Joseph Knecht)




Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive...then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Howard Thurman




I remember, therefore I was.

Me

Friday, December 19, 2008

The End of the River

Here are some photos of my travels to New Orleans.....

The Prayer


The Granter of Lost Wishes


The Call of the Soul


The Communion of Opposites


The Shelter from the Storm


The Mysteress of Shadow


The Heart of Darkness

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Dance Of The Turtle Doves




Beat, drum, rhythm.
Communion before platonic form.
Twists, flanks, ruffles.
Drummed up storm.
Echoing and amplifying.
All that went before.

In Xanadu’s palace,
A floating nest is built.
Alpha is brought to Omega
On that run to a sunless sea.

A mutating blast
Forever changing the world.
Butterflies flap wings.
Existence proven.
I remember.
Therefore I am.



Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Cannibal Stuffed Animals

I would like to introduce you to Mr. Kittens and Kate. Two travelling minstrels going from hear to their, on a great big clipper ship. He is (or his parents are) from Houston, she is from somewhere in the deep six south. They play for free living life about as raw as a stuffed kitten cannibal could. I wish them luck with thier Rainbow.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Can You See Me?




Let me introduce the adoring hordes to TJ and Brad of Tribal Butterfly. I think she said they got engaged about three hours after meeting each other. This is how things happen at the root chakra of amerikkka.

I am in new orleans. two blocks from the continent's lower digestive tract. and it is disintegrating before our very eyes. some call it evolution. some call it progress. some call it hell. some don't call at all.

New Orleans is where to good come to get dirty. they take lent seriously here and get ready as one would for a long walk in the desert. as much as you can. ask an israeli fighter pilot how to prepare for tomorrow

today may be a good day,
tomorrow might be an eternity


tj told me that her brother committed suicide when he was 18. she wrote a song about finding him (see title)

They say what happens in vegas stays in vegas. This town is not vegas. vegas is silicate sand at high temperatures. nola is mud and slime. vegas records everything. nola preserves everything. there is no telling what happens in this town. not that they can't, its just that it doesnt matter. tom and jim's raft is still out there, even post katrina. the river still brings the outcasts and the castoffs. but they are not the interesting ones tonight. i am watching the competent souls that need freedom from the angels for just one night. to fly that free, they shape shift in the one place god promised not to look. they pretend to be french and become stars in their own neon dreams. and you take the devil's sacrament of maize and coca, and star in your own bourbon street of dreams

rouler les credits

Lassez Le Bon Temps Rouler!!!




In my humble opinion, most people want to touch the real through a medium. Last night, I was talking to the bathroom attendant at a Bourbon Street bar. (I was watching this spot on band called Tribal Butterfly). Anyway, this distinguish 54 year old man who earns his living handing out paper towels, cologne, chewing gum, and cigarettes in the men's room. Very intimate. He has two kids, both grown up. I asked him what was the one most important thing he has learned in life thus far. Without a missing a beat he said you can't see the face of god and live.

I was reading MarcLord's ramble on mormonism in a portion of a comment at Adored by Hordes (linked here) MarCo sez:

In the research, I studied every interaction of the best BS artist yet born on the American continent, Joseph Smith, founder of the LDS Church. His powers and wit were such he sometimes converted sane, prosperous, strong-minded men to his cult literally within seconds of chance first meetings.

Here's the thing: the biggest reason he was successful was he believed his own bullshit. Yes there's power in the dark side, in dissimulation, in fakery, in exaggeration, but it's the core belief that provides the greater power, not the cynical misuse of it. Smith was also guilty of that, and it's what got him killed.

Oh, the merged trajectories of desire and belief. After securing the financial support of enough followers, Joseph Smith had to deal with his expansive libido. So god revealed to him the eternal doctrine of polygamy, which is: more women, being inherently more righteous than men, progress to the highest plane of heaven, which is godhood, and each god creates a universe with spirit children and worlds. Therefore, in practising polygamy, we emulate the gods, the ancients in the Bible, and 70% of the earth's population to this day. Smith had a gift for tidy doctrine, yet I have no doubt he deeply believed polygamy as coming not from himself, but divine revelation.

Ole Joe Smith was a prophet (with a capital A), and he was real. I think he was really fucking cool. He did just what Jesus, John the Baptist, Sitting Bull, Job, Rilke, Moshe and others have done: They went out into nature and saw god. How cool is that? (even if it was just a finger)

Yeah, maybe it wasn't your god. Maybe you aren't willing to let that god near your root chakra, and maybe Smith started using his "I get it" for social engineering purposes, and he crashed and burned in a Butch Cassidy ending "Hyrum, how many do you think are out there? 10? 15?"

But I do think that if you keep going bank to the same spot in nature for four years (and you know he was back there everyday, I mean if you see god somewhere you don't wait 365 days to go back). Well, if you spend that much time in nature, you are soon going to see the truth about the garden of eden, and from there on out it is all downhill.

i.am.



Saturday, December 13, 2008

Common Ground - the 4 to 7 Commandments





The 10 (or so) Commandments

1. You shall have no other gods before me
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. You shall not kill
7. You shall not commit adultery
9. You shall not steal
10. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
11. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor



I heard that there are a bunch of people who want to put the 10 commandments in court rooms. And there is another group of folks who think doing so would violate the Constitution’s separation of church and state. Well, call me a secular theocrat, but some of these things don’t have a damn to do with religion. Take “you shall not steal” -- well not take directly cuz that would be stealing and you would have to go to hell. But I think we all agree that stealing is wrong – so lets put it up. Got nothing to do with Jesus, Mohammad, Lao Tzu, Buddha or Santa Claus. It passes the test.

So of the others, the ones about coveting, and bearing false witness are actually written into our secular laws. So put ‘em up. Now some clearly have to do with G*d. These are 1, 3, and 4. Government can’t punish someone for hitting themselves on the thumb with a hammer, so we can’t outlaw any associated reactions. Plus, the government does a real bad job regulating concepts. Look what happened to the likes of war on inflation, and war on terror, and war on Christmas. So those 4 are out.

Then there is a grey area with the others: Graven images? Honoring parents? Adultery? All are close to the religious line, but they don’t cross it. So they could go up. But then again, a lot of people get riled when the government starts talking regulation around social issues. So this is a toss up. What if we put them up with asterisks that indicated there shall be no attempt for the government to enforce such laws? Then what the hell – put ‘em up if makes people happy.

This is an important area of common ground. Religious people would be glad to get 4 to 7 of their big concepts past the censors, and the liberal George W. Bush distrusters can remind Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and Alberto Gonzales that they are not supposed to lie and the judges are reminded daily to keep their eyes and ears alert for crimes and misdemeanours.

So if there is common ground on this, maybe we can all honestly work toward reducing the number of unwanted babies and pregnancies, slowing the killing in the middle east, and healing God’s project called planet earth. Because if there is an omnipotent God and he told us to be stewards of our brothers AND all creation…well I think he will be kind of p.o.ed. No wonder some people want the rapture – “oops, I’m outta here!”

Does your common ground include me or is it just sound.

-- Lou Reed

Treasures of Truth #1



The only way anyone has ever changed the world is by example.



.

Examples of Social Experiments without PhDs



One Dollar Diet Project

The American Folk Movement is alive and well. These two yahoo high school teachers went out and answered a question that could become very important for themselves. And they were nice enough to share this experiment with the world so we know how it works. Where was UCLA, Princeton, Southern Methodist, Miami, Alaska Fairbanks or my alma maters? I doubt even the University of New Delhi was going to explore America for this answer because it is not an interesting question to them. The truth about life will only come from the streets. By what you do at home in your own quiet desperation. What experiment have you quietly undertaken? What experiments do you think you should be undertaking right now? Please share. Charles Bukowski did.

The Great Negro Spiritual



Before anyone calls the police to report my racial mixing of sacred religious icons, I want to praise the quest for salvation from birth through pupation of life. Lou Reed sings about the crucifixion and salvation of his cross in this song. About the desire for freedom from the pain of existence. The same pain of existence that the reenact each week in churches everywhere. Free me from the pain of existence. Take me home to the bosom of mother. Suckle me. Keep me safe oh lord. Please take my pain. I am all alone. Even with everyone crowding up next to me, almost touching me. Just keep me from being afraid because I don't know what is going on. I feel positive about the whole thing, the future, flying blind, but I don't know if I can do it. Give me strength. I feel just like Jesus' son...

It is all the same story. The great negro spirituals about freedom. Take me home mama. Can you see Paul Robeson singing Heroin? Well, maybe Buckwheat Zydeco or Ziggy Marley. But can you imagine being backed up by Max Roach on drums, George Clinton on base, Cecil Taylor on chaos, and de la soul for harmony. And Michael Faranti on integrity. Sweet Honey and the Rock as backup? Let freedom ring.

Imagine them performing this song as a spiritual. It would be first and foremost, a beautiful event to have those guys performing together. But it could also open a tiny connection between cultures at the side.


Here is a cubist view of the song...






Friday, December 12, 2008

Mutate on Your Own



How can I know once I forget everything?

This is, after all, the truth: to have the capacity of meeting everything anew, from moment to moment, without the conditioning reaction of the past, so that there is not a cumulative effect which acts as a barrier between oneself and that which is.

-- J. Krishnamurti

Friday, December 05, 2008

Warm Fuzzy Greetings for the Dark Time of Year





Or the original version:

Thursday, December 04, 2008

On Walden Pond




My desperation is becoming less and less quiet!!





Sculptor is the young Isamu Noguchi. This sculpture will be on display until Feb 19, 2009.

Managed Schizophrenia - Scare Yourself






















"You scared yourself with music,
I scared myself with paint"


-- Lou Reed "quoting" Andy Warhol

Open House
Songs for Drella




Terrence McKenna was perusing the Tollman Psyche Library at UC Berkeley when he pulled a book off the shelf about schizophrenia. He recounted that the book said "these people live in a world of their own twilight imagining..." His response was -- "This is IT!, This is IT!!!"

Schizophrenia is coming face to face with the four winds, the seven chakras, the ten personalities, the twelve tribes, the multidimensionality of alien space. So how does one manage in this evolutionary process?

Cubism is greater than the third power. It is an eyeful. Braque and Picasso were more than friends. Picasso said Braque was his best wife. They presented two dimensional representations of multidimensional six senses (if you count thinking) around a fixed identifiable object. Oil-based crystal balls. The past, the future, a series of interweaving three dimensions based on smell, sound, sight, touch, taste, and symbols.

So how do you manage reality? How do you acknowledge reality? Most of the time, I can barely juggle five levels of reality at once -- height, width, depth, time, and thought. Generally I process those by sight and hearing. I rarely use smell and taste, only a few times a day. And I hurry through, keep it safe. Touch is constant but mostly relegated to the background shadows of the unexplored world.

Picasso and Braque, god rest their souls, managed their multidimensional friendship. Jazz. They should be examples to us all.




Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Funniest Joke Ever!!!!




I just got this joke from my buddy Riccardo the agnostic Samaritan.

ABSOLUTELY - The Funniest Joke Ever ! . . . ON US
Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter Administration?

Anybody?

Anything?

No? Didn't think so.

Bottom line: we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember.

Ready? It was very simple, and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8-04-1977 -- TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

HEY, PRETTY EFFICIENT, HUH? AND NOW IT'S 2008 -- 31 YEARS LATER AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS NECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. THEY HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES AND LOOK AT THE JOB THEY HAVE DONE!

THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY 'WHAT WAS I THINKING?' Ah yes, good ole Bureaucracy. And now we are turning the Banking system over to them? God Help us.


But I am sure you remember this:

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

On Slaying Dragons




Storyteller's Creed

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge.
That myth is more potent than history.
That dreams are more powerful than facts.
That hope always triumphs over experience.
That laughter is the only cure for grief.
And I believe that love is stronger than death.


In other words, there is still hope for a future.

Armegorgy



Here is the story that is true of all Armageddons from the beginning. The Jewish Armageddons, the Christian Armageddon, the Maoist Armageddon, the Environmental Armageddon, the Education Armageddon, and the New American Armageddon. We are surrounded.


In a building of gold, with riches untold,
lived the families on which the country was founded.
And the merchants of style, with their red velvet smiles,
were there, for they also were hounded.
And the soft middle class crowded in to the last,
for the building was fully surrounded.
And the noise outside was the ringing of revolution.

Sadly they stared and sank in their chairs
and searched for a comforting notion.
And the rich silver walls looked ready to fall
As they shook in doubtful devotion.
The ice cubes would clink as they freshened their drinks,
wet their minds in bitter emotion.
And they talked about the ringing of revolution.

We were hardly aware of the hardships they beared,
for our time was taken with treasure.
Oh, life was a game, and work was a shame,
And pain was prevented by pleasure.
The world, cold and grey, was so far away
In the distance only money could measure.
But their thoughts were broken by the ringing of revolution.

The clouds filled the room in darkening doom
as the crooked smoke rings were rising.
How long will it take, how can we escape
Someone asks, but no one's advising.
And the quivering floor responds to the roar,
In a shake no longer surprising.
As closer and closer comes the ringing of revolution.

Softly they moan, please leave us alone
As back and forth they are pacing.
And they cover their ears and try not to hear
WIth pillows of silk they're embracing.
And the crackling crowd is laughing out loud,
peeking in at the target they're chasing.
Now trembling inside the ringing of revolution.

With compromise sway we give in half way
When we saw that rebellion was growing.
Now everything's lost as they kneel by the cross
Where the blood of christ is still flowing.
To late for their sorrow they've reached their tomorrow
and reaped the seed they were sowing.
Now harvested by the ringing of revolution.

In tattered tuxedos they faced the new heroes
and crawled about in confusion.
And they sheepishly grinned for their memories were dim
of the decades of dark execution.
Hollow hands were raised; they stood there amazed
in the shattering of their illusions.
As the windows were smashed by the ringing of revolution.

Down on our knees we're begging you please,
We're sorry for the way you were driven.
There's no need to taunt just take what you want,
and we'll make amends, if we're living.
But away from the grounds the flames told the town
that only the dead are forgiven.
As they crumbled inside the ringing of revolution.