There was some break down in the way my postings were being registered since October 2003 so have started afresh. I have pasted everything before this time below this point.
Monday, October 20, 2003
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
posted by Stephen 6:01 PM
"In the 60s and 70s there were no music genres but the fundamental ones such as Jazz, Rock, Classical and Easy listening. Each band or artist was a different thing. Then there were those who imitated them. Today if you imitate an artist you're not considered an imitator but someone who belongs to that music genre. This "collectivisation" of artistic expressions kills individual ingeniousness and depresses the quality level. Now there are thousands of artists who all sound alike and can only be distinguished by the music genre they make. The audience is confused and no longer interested in artists and ends up relying on DJs who therefore become the real bosses of the music system."
Alexander Robotnick
posted by Stephen 3:26 PM
Friday, October 03, 2003
Luck is Luck and Pushing that Luck
Say you get a flat wheel on your car and are delayed by half an hour fixing it. You still eventually get to where you going and lets say that nothing more goes wrong for the rest of that day, then what was the puncture all about? Nothing would be the first answer; it was just unfortunate, an accident, bad luck. What if you were meant to be delayed to avoid getting into an accident? Or if later in the day you ran into an old friend you hadn’t seen in years, which you would have missed if you had been on time. The latter is at least arguable, but the former is where the problems start with this idea.
What we're talking about here is luck. You know unquestionably when you experience good luck, you also feel you know when you experience bad luck. Lets first be clear what bad luck is not, lets say if you shop lift and get caught or break the lights and get caught its not bad luck, its simply your fault, but on the other hand, luck has something to do with when you were getting away with it. This is called pushing your luck, as luck only goes so far. This is crucial for we all push our luck, both kinds. When you get a call on your mobile and slow your stride just as you were about to cross the road and walk into an on coming car or when your broke and that mistake in change you received that ends up making the balance of your rent, these are instances of good luck but also of pushing it. Why were you paying so little attention beside a busy road and why did you allow yourself to get that broke in the first place.
There is no such thing as bad luck, take it as a warning or a protective hand from a danger you will never know. Accept what fortune throws your way, both good and bad, everything does have a reason. Just try not to push it because luck is just a helping hand on a random journey of life or your one destiny.
Stephen Rennicks
posted by Stephen 3:44 PM
Be Grateful for every good thing that happens in your life,
the big things yes, but especially the small,
But you must also learn to be grateful for every bad thing as well,
In time you will understand how,
You don't have to thank anyone in particular,
Just know that its not all down to you,
You only have to feel it, there’s no need to tell any other,
Simply live in this eternal silent gratitude and life will be good.
Stephen Rennicks
posted by Stephen 3:44 PM
Stephen Rennicks
posted by Stephen 3:44 PM
"The best thing I can say has nothing to do with music. It’s about walking on the bridge in Geneva, smelling the wind, look around, flags floating, and to say to yourself, I'm happy to be here."
Miss Kittin
posted by Stephen 3:44 PM
Monday, September 29, 2003
"To know fully one field or one lane is a lifetimes experience. In the world of the poetic experience it is depth that counts, not width. A gap in the hedge...the stream at the junction of four fields - these are as much as a man can fully experience."
Patrick Kavanagh
posted by Stephen 6:12 PM
IMMORTALITY
Age cannot reach me where the veils of God
Have shut me in,
For me the myriad births of stars and suns
Do but begin,
And here how fragrantly their blows to me
The holy breath,
Sweet from the flowers and stars and hearts of
men,
From life and death.
We are not old, O heart, we are not old,
The breath that blows,
The soul aflame is still a wandering wind
That comes and goes;
And the stirred heart with sudden raptured life
A moment glows.
A moment here - a bulrush's brown head
In the gray rain,
A moment there - a child drowned and a
heart
Quickened with pain;
The name of Death, the blue deep heaven,
the scent
Of the salt sea,
The spicy grass, the honey robbed
From the wild bee.
Awhile we walk the world on its wide roads
And narrow ways,
And they pass by, the countless shadowy
groups
Of nights and days;
We know them not, O happy heart,
For you and I
Watch where within a slow dawn lightens up
Another sky.
Susan L. Mitchell.
Dublin 1908
posted by Stephen 1:09 AM
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
"The great gifts are not got by analysis. Everything good is on the highway. The middle region of our being is the temperate zone. We may climb into the thin and cold realm of pure geometry and lifeless science, or sink into that of sensation. Between these extremes is the equator of life, of thought, of spirit, of poetry, - a narrow belt."
"To fill the hour, - that is happiness; to fill the hour, and leave no crevice for a repentance or an approval. We live lives amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them."
"To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom."
all Ralph Waldo Emerson
Philosophy Of The World
Oh, the rich people want what the poor people's got
And the poor people want what the rich people's got
And the skinny people want what the fat people's got
And the fat people want what the skinny people's got
You can never please anybody in this world
The short people want what the tall people's got
And the tall people want what the short people's got
The little kids want what the big kid's got
And the big kids want what the little kid's got
You can never please anybody in this world
Oh, the girls with short hair want long hair
And the girls with long hair want short hair
Oh, the boys with cars want motorcycles
And the boys with motorcycles want cars
You can never please anybody in this world
It doesn't matter what you do
It doesn't matter what you say
There will always be
One who wants things the opposite way
It doesn't matter where you go
It doesn't matter who you see
There will always be
Someone who disagrees
We do our best
We try to please
But we're like the rest
Whenever at ease
Oh, the rich people want what the poor people's got
And the poor people want what the rich people's got
And the skinny people want what the fat people's got
And the fat people want what the skinny people's got
You can never please anybody in this world
Lyrics by Dot Wiggin(The Shaggs)
posted by Stephen 3:34 AM
"That's what always struck me as most puzzling. How can you be happy and not know you're happy? And then you suddenly realise, we do that most of the time. We're always looking back on some past time and saying 'that was a happy time' but you didn't realise it at the time it was happening!"
Colin Wilson
posted by Stephen 3:23 AM
Thursday, August 07, 2003
SECRET SOCIETY
Secret Society incorporates art, writing and music. One discipline has been feeding the other, each leaving its mark on the resultant works. At this time all three sides of Secret Society are now publicly active. Be aware that a more covert side of Secret Society has also been in operation for some time.
Writing
Since October 2002 a blog site has been in regular operation at http://www.truthandinfinity.blogspot.com
Art
The first publicly shown work, 'Who Are You?', was included in the 'Tripswitch' space at Guinness Storehouse, Dublin in June 2003. Currently there are four more works on view and available for purchase at Blackfort Organic Gallery, Temple Bar, Dublin. New work will be added to this gallery on an ongoing basis. Two physical remix's will be included in the upcoming 'Herv Physical Remix' project.
Commissioned work undertaken.
Music
An album of electronic music is finished and ready to be sent to interested parties. The track 'Stowaway' is to be included on the upcoming Daniel Figgis remix compilation, 'When Its Ajar', on Spitroast Records.
Open to requests for live performance and DJ sets.
Contact: Stephen Rennicks
secretsocietyinfo@eircom.net
http://www.groov.ie/memorycells/secretsociety
posted by Stephen 10:17 PM
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
posted by Stephen 11:40 PM
Friday, July 18, 2003
(Young boy loses faith in father)
"The real, inner line of our fate consists of these experiences which are hidden from other people. A gash or wound of this kind grows together again; it is healed and forgotten, but in the inner recesses of our minds it lives on and bleeds."
"Nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to follow the path that leads to himself."
"Man is only afraid when he is not attuned to himself. They are afraid because they have never made themselves known to themselves. They are a community composed entirely of men who are afraid of the unknown element within themselves! They are all conscious of the fact that the laws of life they have inherited are no longer valid, that they are living according to archaic tablets of the law that neither their religion nor customs are adapted to our present day needs."
all from 'Demian', Hermann Hesse
posted by Stephen 1:44 PM
Saturday, July 12, 2003
I do not want to forget this moment, which lingers still, the spell yet to be broken. A ten minute walk in the sunshine to buy some cough sweets can reveal everything if you allow it. Everyone I pass looks happy to be out. There is a tranquil quietness even as the odd car glides past. I gleam from a comment I make on the day that the shopkeeper wished that she was out there too.
I confide that I too will have to be in work soon. As I near my door a huge airliner passes above my head, low and far from the normal flight path. I look up at it till it crosses the sun.
Everything is here and will be again whenever we look for it.
posted by Stephen 4:48 PM
Monday, July 07, 2003
"The inclusion, development, propagation, existence, replication, acknowledgement, rights, patterns and beauty of what are commonly known as accidents, is encouraged. Furthermore, they have equal rights within the
composition as deliberate, conscious, or premeditated compositional actions or decisions."
Matthew Herbert
"There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness."
Carl Jung
posted by Stephen 6:15 PM
Sunday, June 29, 2003
"If a man could make the right choices, then he could significantly alter the course of the possible future. No man, then, should feel insignificant, for it only takes one man to alter the consciousness of mankind through the Spirit-that-moves-in-all-things. In essence, one thought influences another, then another, until the thought is made manifest throughout all of Creation. It is the same thought, the same force, that causes an entire flock of birds to change course, as the flock then has one mind."
Apache wise man
posted by Stephen 12:46 AM
posted by Stephen 1:17 PM
Monday, June 23, 2003
Alot of the Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes I've used refer to his belief in the universal mind, the idea that an individual having an original thought makes it more likely that other people will afterward have the same thought. That’s my interpretation anyway.
In this knowledge there is no futility in our positive actions. You or I may come to a realisation that might gain common acceptance in years to come; we at least make it happen faster or at all. Although we ourselves are just a link in the chain of this idea depending on who we have read or which unknown thinkers may have made it possible for us to get to this point in our thought or action.
We can also take solace in the fact that the mass mind is fickle and highly suggestive. One groundless tabloid story or accusation will change the mass mind. Now this is ordinarily a bad thing but it is the way it is. In this way surely an idea or concept if presented in the correct way can gain acceptance by the mass mind very quickly. If it is powerful enough to take root it will be difficult to remove even from the most fickle of minds, but that danger will remain.
It will always be the minority that lead change. Stagnation and regression comes only from the mass if left to its own devices. The effect of the minority can be passive or active but they do have an effect in degrees.
posted by Stephen 11:27 PM
Monday, June 09, 2003
"They accuse the divine Providence of a certain parsimony. It has shown the heaven and the earth to every child, and filled him with a desire for the whole; a desire raging infinite, a hunger as of space to be filled with planets; a cry of famine as of devils and souls. Then for the satisfaction; - to each man is administered a single drop, a bead of dew of vital power, per day, - a cup as large as space, and one drop of the water of life in it. Each man woke in the morning with an appetite that could eat the solar system like a cake; a spirit for action and passion without bounds; he could lay his hand on the morning star; he could try conclusions with gravitation or chemistry; but on the first motion to prove his strength, hands, feet, senses, gave way and would not serve him. He was an emperor deserted by his states, and left to whistle by himself or thrust into a mob of emperors all whistling. In every house, in the heart of each maiden and of each boy, in the soul of the soaring saint, this chasm is found, - between the largest promise of ideal power, and the shabby experience."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
posted by Stephen 2:57 PM
"A new quality of mind travels by night and by day in concentric circles from its origin, and publishes itself by unknown methods; the union of all minds appears intimate; what gets admission to one, cannot be kept out of any other: the smallest acquisition of truth or of energy, in any quarter, is so much good to the commonwealth of souls."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
posted by Stephen 2:57 PM
"Let a man learn to look for the permanent in the mutable and fleeting; let him learn to bear the disappearance of things he was wont to reverence without losing his reverence; let him learn that he is here, not to work, but to be worked upon; and that, though abyss open under abyss, and opinion displace opinion, all are at last contained in the Eternal Cause: - If my bark sink, 'tis to another sea."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
posted by Stephen 2:57 PM
"Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. Their cousins can tell you nothing about them. They lived in their writings, and so their house and street life was trivial and commonplace."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
posted by Stephen 2:56 PM
"It costs a beautiful person no exertion to paint her image on our eyes: Yet how splendid is that benefit! It costs no more for a wise soul to convey his quality to other men. And every one can do his best thing easiest. He is great who is what he is from nature, and who never reminds us of others."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The above quote might fly in the face of the commonly held belief that no satisfaction could come from doing whatever comes easy. The distinction comes from the uniqueness of what it is you are good at. Find that thing and pursue it.
posted by Stephen 2:56 PM
"Sounds can transport you through time and space, it is almost as if senses and moods are impressed on the patterns of notes."
Sarah Pachonick
posted by Stephen 4:26 PM
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
To wander but always to be ready to take on whatever challenge presents itself. Whether it is stumbled upon or desired to pursue it. To not shrink from it or abandon and give up without doing what can be done, our best. To return and attempt anew or by another angle when we do not succeed. What we learn about ourselves in these successes, attempts and failures is when we find out who we really are. They who dare are those who search for that better part of themselves.
posted by Stephen 10:29 PM
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
I saw an innocent looking kid eating a bag of hot chips on his way home from school today. He was totally consumed with walking and eating his chips. They would burn his mouth as he put them in but he would just grimace and swallow. His eyes only looked forward, his gaze far ahead towards his goal. I knew that he would continue walking and popping hot chips till he either got home or ran out. And always looking towards his destination. Just a moment that touched me and welled up my faith in people a little more.
posted by Stephen 9:23 PM
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
posted by Stephen 9:42 PM
Those fleeting moments when we feel alive and filled with the wonder of that sudden knowledge are the times we must crave. For these people mundane life will always be happily accepted in the understanding of the relief those highs of insight bring. Even with this knowledge all we can hope for are glimpses. To truly understand this concept and its benefits is to be happy with ordinary life. This is the real break-through.
posted by Stephen 9:42 PM
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
"In the half-light the physical tricks used by art to make things seem real disappear completely. If one is looking at a picture, the people represented seem both to speak and to walk; the shadow becomes real shadow, the daylight is real daylight, the flesh is alive, the eyes move, blood flows in the veins and fabrics glisten. The imagination helps every detail to appear natural and sees only the beauties of the work. At that hour illusion reigns supreme; perhaps it comes with night."
Balzac
posted by Stephen 11:40 PM
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Friday, April 11, 2003
When things go wrong.
When something negative occurs to you, a burglary, phone stolen, we might ask why us? Don't we follow our subconscious will and rarely, if ever, do things go badly wrong. Yes, but when they do we should view it like stepping off the right path without knowing why, these things just happen, but maybe you did have a feeling you shouldn’t have gone out that night or whatever. Its often hard to know what our gut is telling us, maybe we've made plans and feel obliged to do something we don't feel like when it comes to it. Just to be extra cautious is all we can do if we decide to do it anyway. These impulses can be too vague compared to what our subconscious tells us regarding big decisions concerning our job or personal relations, but if we can get to a point where we can just as easily interpretate them into our everyday we will be forever on the right path.
It’s also worth considering that perhaps what did happen, as bad and as unlucky as it may seem, was only to protect us from walking into much worst trouble ahead. We'll never know, but don't be so quick to think your subconscious has let you down. Look for the positive; a lesson learnt, could have been much worse etc.
How we react in these moments of crisis is when trusting to our subconscious matters the most. It’s easy to follow our subconscious will when everything’s going well. If we lose faith in our will from one bad experience we are open to spiral into negativity. You see this all the time in others; someone gets their car clamped and loses temper with clampers and perhaps even gets physical and is soon looking at a civil action.
A bad experience, even if you’re not to blame, can breed more of the same depending on how you react to it. To become a victim would be the worse outcome, to become like so many, the type of person who expects things to go wrong and says things like, "I'm so unlucky." It’s too easy to give in to the bad things and become that person but more rewarding to stay positive in the face of adversity.
Look for the positive in everything and when things go wrong, don't allow the negatives to spiral.
posted by Stephen 2:32 PM
Monday, March 31, 2003
"My conviction that there is no such thing as dead art comes from my profound belief – not an abstract belief, but, at the same time not entirely concrete, rather an almost physiological belief – that everything that is original and that is really “from the author” within the walls of a museum, and in this case within the walls of the Hermitage, is alive. A canvas that Rembrandt has touched, or El Greco, or Van Eycke, carries the paint that these great people have put on in layers and they all preserve the energy of the author and everything that is extraordinary about the essence of these people. If you are a sensitive person going to see an original painting by a great painter, you get a very definite sense that it’s a living thing, because that energy is preserved eternally, or as long as that canvas materially exists. Without a doubt, our relations to painting and to original sculptures are the same as our relations to living beings. That doesn’t derive from any pagan or primitive beginnings and there’s no pagan element to it. It’s simply an organic belief in the fact that fundamental high art is live energy that has been preserved down to our days."
Alexander Sokurov
posted by Stephen 1:05 AM
Friday, March 28, 2003
Text from a physical remix of the Herv 7" single 'Warmduscher'. To be included in a group show at Project, Dublin, Ireland due to be held in June 2003.
By a random one-off fault in manufacture, this record, when played, was found to inspire in the listener, a state of beginners luck (Side A) and a direct bridge to the unconscious mind (Side B). While such short cuts no doubt exist they are dangerous and no substitute for the natural development of these abilities. For fear of the consequences of the offending disc being played public ally the decision was taken to sand down its very grooves. To compensate, an outline towards naturally developing these attributes was written to accompany this physical remix. Please take a copy of the text with you.
To understand 'Beginners Luck' is perhaps the key to unlocking human potential. When we don't know the risks involved or the correct way to do something we often get good results. We all know that a child without a sense of fear can accomplice far easily and quickly certain things an adult might struggle with. Our growing knowledge (loss of innocence) and the way our mind is conditioned to work in our culture is what stops this flow of positive results. We must find ways to prolong this state of being. But this state only comes from inside and from throwing ourselves into activities we have an interest or passion for but which we do not fully understand.
Music acts as a bridge to our subconscious as surely as a physical bridge connects a path across an abyss. All you need to know is how to walk in one case and how to listen in the other. Again it must come from the inside.
To combine these two concepts is nothingness than a magical act. To approach making music with a basic knowledge of the instrument/equipment is the first step. Composing the piece using pure instinct/subconscious impulses the next. Learning to discern which are the good pieces comes next, step carefully! Playing the recorded results comes last but is the crucial moment. On hearing, the listener to the subconscious of the composer and therefore the subconciousness of the world at large. What the listener is inspired to do from this point carries the chain on towards infinity.
As above, so below.
Stephen Rennicks/Secret Society
www.truthandinfinity.blogspot.com
posted by Stephen 6:54 PM
Friday, March 21, 2003
I want to explore the belief that we make our own luck. While I believe this to be the case I will admit its most obvious flaw head on. People die in freak accidents everyday. Yes, we take risks everyday by crossing a street, but if good luck exists then so does bad. Who attracts which, or do we not attract one without the other. I'm not about to answer that question but I am going to explain how a positive attitude, open to possibilities, will generate good luck or fortunate occurances. Just keep in mind that life has surprises.
To explain good luck we must also examine bad. Everyone wakes up and sees the world differently. We see the interior of a room and make assumptions and jump to conclusions that may or may not be correct. If there’s been a string of overcast days we might presume that today will also be overcast. We may not even bother opening our curtains to see. Maybe we're right, but what if we were wrong. It might be a glorious summer morning or the start of a nuclear winter. So for a period you lie there with the wrong impression of the conditions outside and in time you will note your mistake but throughout the rest of your waking day you will make assumptions, which may not be as easy to reassess.
The assumptions you make about other people you encounter in your everyday also dictate how you will feel about that day. What if you feel paranoid and see imagined slights against you everywhere. This is a major problem and whatever issue or chip on your shoulder that’s causing it has to be dealt with. Until then you will continue to put yourself through unnecessary distress, which produces in you bad feelings, and actions, which are very real and will affect those innocent others you so misunderstand. A vicious cycle will ensue, but if it arose from you, through understanding you can end it. You may have been the victim of other people’s misunderstandings, so just remember it cuts both ways.
What does this have to do with luck, everything, because good luck springs from a positive attitude and bad luck from a negative one. We can all pick the wrong time to wait for a delayed bus, but a more positive person will shrug that off and it may be the only thing that went wrong in the day. Its all down to our attitude, what difference does it really make in the great scheme of things anyway and didn’t you have time to yourself? Even if 10 things went wrong, surely far more went right, isn't this luck or good fortune. So by turning what might be perceived as an unfortunate situation into a positive one negates even that one slip into bad luck.
Do we simply ignore bad luck altogether, well we can't ignore the fact we are broken down on the hard shoulder miles from help but we can be grateful it didn’t happen in the fast lane and without too much effort see that things could be worse and that we must accept some measure of misfortune. I think it’s at moments like these we would do well to appreciate how often we aren’t stopped in our tracks by bad luck. These realisations have to warrant an ultimately positive result from a bad experience.
Moving on to good luck it must be clear by now that when things are going well, are in good health with no imminent seemingly insurmountable problems we are lucky. If you look for lucky events in your day-to-day life you will see them in very normal everyday occurrences. In time you will make positive or optimistic assumptions about things and if you’re wrong it won't matter. Being wrong or experiencing bad luck won't affect you beyond the actual event. (You will stop making things worse.)
It’s amazing what can happen if we approach life with this positive attitude. But we must be pro-active. You still have to do your best but it will be your positive attitude that will often carry the day. (If you’re not in you can't win.) Although the luckiest events often are the most random which happen without any effort or asking on your part. Again, life is full of surprises.
posted by Stephen 8:20 PM
Sunday, March 09, 2003
“When one’s body revolts against work, fatigue soon sets in; then one must not rest for it would be a victory for the body. When the body desires to rest, don’t; when the mind knows it ought to rest, do so, but one must know and distinguish language of body and mind, and be honest.”
G. I. Gurdjieff
posted by Stephen 3:41 AM
Monday, March 03, 2003
The Slowest Flash
In moments of stress, relief and even in mundane everyday life we are all susceptible to that flash of illumination. It may give us the insight of what it is to be truly alive, the potential we have to interact with our surroundings or that we are at our surroundings mercy. It is always a positive experience, even if at certain times the insight is depressing, the knowledge can be used to our benefit later. Only the man about to face a firing squad or on his deathbed will have no use for it, but at least they felt alive at the end.
The philosopher George Gurdjieff(d. 1950) believed that people are really asleep and taught his followers, among other things, the technique of self-remembering. This technique was basically studying an object and with concentration becoming aware of observing yourself observing the object. Seeing yourself living and breathing in the world. In my own words it would be seeing how another person sees you, a sort of mind mirror, although you might wonder at this point why an actual mirror would not suffice. The feelings and sensations of awareness this moment brought on was documented by one of his pupils, Peter Ouspensky. He wrote in his journal after reaching a state of higher consciousness, "One could go mad from one ashtray." He had been looking at this ashtray and become aware of 'a whirlpool of thoughts and images', that of tobacco, copper, mining and smelting, their histories and very concepts. Similarly while walking at night in St. Petersburg he suddenly became aware of the differences of the buildings down to the very bricks. Again he could feel the sense of history in these buildings, he was suddenly plunged into an awareness that these buildings, 'They were living beings, full of thoughts, feelings, moods and memories.' To see yourself living and breathing in the company of ashtrays and buildings that have whole histories of humanity wrapped up in them is to go beyond the actual mirror image, the sensations and insights will only come from really seeing yourself there amongst it all with your own history and intricacies on self display. I want to point out that the two cited examples may not have been true examples of self-remembering as Ouspensky was experimenting with nitrous oxide or possibly ether to reach a higher consciousness, but without them he would have only gained a flash of this experience. This combination of concentration and an artificial stimulus only prolonged the experience and produced what could best be described as a slow flash.
That must have been a pretty powerful moment, that slow flash of insight. Can we stay in that state of permanent wonder and grace? If we could you could kiss goodbye to mundane everyday life. I wonder however how practical this constant state would be. To others we would appear akin to someone being really stoned, getting caught up in every thing that came to our attention. Wouldn’t that be quite tiresome for others and a handicap to ourselves in this face paced world. Not being able to walk pass an ashtray without getting lost in thoughts about the history of tobacco etc would not be of much use to our everyday life. Was there ever a time when we would have behaved like this? I'd say we still do behave like this when we discover something new that interests or excites us. I know I can get really into a new book, record, idea or whatever and sure if I'd never seen an ashtray before I might study that quite deeply too. Until I understood it and it became something I took for granted. This concept is the key, the taking of something for granted. Whatever new music, idea, person etc we come across it will sooner or later lose its charm over us as we believe we know everything there is to know about it or them and they will always be there. Ouspensky really just saw that ashtray and those buildings afresh, like he was surprised to see them and really started to think about them, their history, the very concept of their existence. From what I know of Gurdjieff I have the greatest respect for him but I think what self-remembering boils down to is not to take things for granted. I don't know if he really thought we could one day achieve that constant state of wonder and grace and live practical lives. I have already stated why I don't believe that would work but if he did mean what I am saying then he just never stated it in such simplistic terms. Taking things for granted is precisely why we become jaded and start to sleep walk through life until something comes along and wakes us up momentarily before we go back to sleep.
Where does this leave us them, because doesn’t it seem normal to make a new discovery and then take it for granted, go back to being asleep. Well, I don't think its right that we should take things for granted or live our lives like we're asleep. But how do we stop this happening. If you've been reading the posts on this site about following your subconscious desires and actively seeking knowledge and an understanding of your fellow man then you should know. Just keep on that track but don't take things for granted. Don't let that thought, that things come to an end, spoil your relationship with your parents or some club you like going to but maybe behave a little more like its the last time your going to see them or go there. Just a little mind, I believe it will make a big difference.
There are things that will continually keep our attention. The best example would be having a child, watching them grow and the parental bond would mean that relationship would never get boring, you would hope. There are subjects and interests that can consume your entire life, science for example, but everyone is different in this regard. The fact that we take something for granted does not necessarily mean we understand it. There are so many things we see and use in our everyday that have a world of science and industry behind them. It may take a minute to read the ingredients of your chocolate bar or maybe five to think about the advantages of optic cable but these are but two truly vast avenues of enquiry from an almost endless source. Of course, to simultaneously pursue as many interests as you feel inclined is the best recipe. Knowing when its time to stop and to seek anew, when you have exhausted that interest or when something or someone loses its appeal and Gurdjieff's sleep is beckoning is just as important as finding something to wake you up.
At base the one thing we take for granted is our own life, seeing no wonder in switching on a light is just symptomatic. There are practical things we can do to jog us into realising how incredible being alive is. If you get to study the internal workings of the human body the thought will certainly occur that you are so delicate, constantly at the mercy of just an air bubble in your blood stream. The body is truly an intricate mechanism and by its very nature close to death. Talk to someone that has lost a loved one in an accident because it’s not just your own body that will fail you, we live in a dangerous world. Insights like this will help you to realise that every healthy day we get really is a miracle. (I'm well aware my examples tend to be morbid but I believe that living life without really appreciating life is serious enough to warrant such examples and if you can't see that but still agree with my sentiments I would question whether you really understand it at all.)
So sure, look at your surroundings and the people you know with a new sense of wonder and appreciation but more importantly, live your life in the knowledge that that metaphorical firing squad is one day coming for you and your loved ones and every inanimate object you today hold so dear.
posted by Stephen 10:06 PM
Sunday, February 23, 2003
I'd been thinking of writing a piece for some time now, about a band that meant alot to me once, a group called Rocket from the Crypt. I still have alot of time for them and will go to their shows when their in town and get the latest records etc. I just lack the same passion for them I once had, but their passion for what they do has never seemed to ebb, in fact I believe it burns stronger now than ever before. They formed about 1990 but the members had all been involved in music way before that. Part of liking a band that’s on the way up is the chance that they might make it, you want it to happen for them and believe in them. A band like that can become a big part of your life. This band has totally come to symbolise for me that devotion of people to pursue their passions and natural talents for the pure love and experience of it. They will always have my respect and a place in my heart no matter what they achieve. The following piece was written by their saxophone player, Apollo 9. I could never have summed up as well as he has what his band means and inspires in others and the obvious commitment they have and continue to feel about what they do. It may not seem to fit in with the usual piece's I post but I feel there is just as much honesty and insight here than any long dead philosopher or thinker I know of.
"No matter how hard you try, you cannot fit a square peg into a round hole. So what, then, becomes of the peg? It is usually discarded for being something it is not. Sometimes it is loved simply for what it is."
"Rocket From the Crypt has never enjoyed a lot of airplay on the radio. We have been treated like something just short of lepers by MTV. Even the support of the various labels that have put out our records could be considered suspect. And despite what some might think, or maybe what we may have projected at some point in our lives, none of us lead an extravagant lifestyle."
"We could end the story here and cry into our beers, blubber on about how the greatest rock n roll band in the world is going to be the greatest forgotten rock n roll band in the world, blah, blah, blah. But the story doesn't end here."
"Yesterday afternoon RFTC made it's network television debut on the Craig Kilborn Show. Not a big deal. One song, about 2 and a half minutes long. The big deal was the support the band felt by those who attended. You folks who were there made each one of us very proud. We, as a band, have rarely felt so loved and lucky. No, we don't have any hit records, or "Cribs" style houses. Not one of us even owns a bitchen' car. What we do have is the best fans in the world. The kind of people who drive hours out of their way to see us. The kind of people who order tickets in advance and take the day off work or school to hear a song that you probably already have on both CD and vinyl. The kind of people who graciously sit through Sabrina the Teenage Bitch and Paul Rodriguez Pt. 2. (I smell cancellation) just so they can applaud louder the next time "Craiggers" mentions the words, "Rocket From the Crypt." The kind of people who won't let the history books forget that the best rock n roll band is alive and kicking in San Diego. You may not be large in numbers, but you are huge in heart."
"So it seems that hard work, discipline, talent and good looks does pay off in the long run for RFTC. Our thanks go out to you for loving the square peg."
Give it up for the Fans.
On Behalf of Rocket From the Crypt,
Very Sincerely,
Apollo 9
posted by Stephen 3:10 AM
Friday, February 21, 2003
"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."
"I do not mean that people should be intentionally eccentric, which is just as uninteresting as being conventional. I mean only that people should be natural, and should follow their spontaneous tastes in so far as these are not definitely anti-social."
Bertrand Russell
posted by Stephen 8:03 PM
Sunday, February 16, 2003
"There's a limit to all things and everything that passes its limit destroys itself."
Arabic expression.
posted by Stephen 9:10 PM
Saturday, February 15, 2003
'Beginner's Luck and Music as Bridge to the Subconscious'
A Physical Remix Project by Secret Society, to be public ally exhibited in Dublin, Ireland, during 2003.
Text element of piece to be published on this site soon.
posted by Stephen 7:17 AM
Sunday, February 09, 2003
"If Aphrodite were a myth and Love only a concept, then would that negates the crimes and kindnesses and songs done in Love's name? If Christ were only ever fiction, a divine Idea, would this invalidate the social change inspired by that idea, make holy wars less terrible, or human betterment less real, less sacred? The world of ideas is in certain senses deeper, truer than reality; this solid television less significant than the Idea of television. Ideas, unlike solid structures, do not perish. They remain immortal, immaterial and everywhere, like all Divine things. Ideas are a golden, savage landscape that we wander unaware, without a map."
Alan Moore
posted by Stephen 4:33 AM
Friday, February 07, 2003
"...Within man is the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related...And this deep power in which we exist, and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, is one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some hopeful words from the distant past.
"And they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. No nation will lift its sword against any other, nor will they learn warfare anymore."
Prophet Isaiah
"The Gods were bored, so they created man. Adam was bored because he was alone, so Eve was created...then Adam and Eve were bored together; then Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel were bored enfamille, then the population of the world increased, and the people were bored en masse. To divert themselves, they conceived of the idea of constructing a tower high enough to reach the heavens. This idea itself is as boring as the tower was high, and constitutes a terrible proof of how boredom had gained the upper hand."
Kierkegaard
posted by Stephen 7:33 PM
Thursday, January 16, 2003
I am here listing 14 of the 38 aphorisms of G.I. Gurdjieff. I believe these are the most relevant and clearly written. They were originally inscribed above the walls of the Study House at Prieure, his institute of learning, founded in 1923.
The highest that a man can attain is to be able to do.
Remember yourself always and everywhere. (Refers to technique of 'Self-remembering')
The chief means of happiness in this life is the ability to consider externally always, internally never.
Only help him who is not an idler.
Respect every religion.
Consider what people think of you - not what they say.
Take the understanding of the East and the knowledge of the West - and then seek.
By teaching others you will learn yourself.
Only he can be just who is able to put himself in the position of others.
He who has freed himself of the disease of "tomorrow" has a chance to attain what he came for.
The energy spent on active inner work is then and there transformed into a fresh supply, but that spent on passive work is lost forever.
One of the best means for arousing the wish to work on yourself is to realise that you may die at any moment. But first you must learn how to keep this in mind.
Conscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness.
Hope, when bold, is strength. Hope, with doubt, is cowardice. Hope, with fear, is weakness.
posted by Stephen 8:41 PM
Friday, January 03, 2003
"Looking backwards, we only remember the difficult periods of our lives, never the peaceful times; the latter are sleep, the former are struggle and therefore life."
G.I. Gurdjieff
posted by Stephen 3:19 PM
Thursday, January 02, 2003
"If you help others, you will be helped, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in 100 years, but you will be helped. Nature must pay off the debt...It is a mathematical law and all life is mathematics."
G.I. Gurdjieff
posted by Stephen 4:07 PM
Wednesday, January 01, 2003
Question: To be a happy fool or an unhappy philosopher?
The fool may be happy but he remains a fool. The philosopher may be unhappy but his journey towards understanding has not ended. When he reaches that point he will have happiness, relatively speaking. The fool remains static, the philosopher is evolving. Our purpose is to grow towards knowledge and understanding.
posted by Stephen 2:26 PM
Friday, December 20, 2002
"Men object not so much to being deceived as to being harmed by deception...Their desire for truth is similarly limited: their desire is for the pleasant consequences of truth which are conducive to survival, but they are indifferent to the perception of truth for its own sake, and hostile to truths that might be dangerous or damaging...So what is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, anthropomorphisms - in short an aggregate of human relationships which, poetically and rhetorically heightened, become transposed and elaborated, and which, after popular usage, pose as fixed canonical, obligatory. Truths are illusions whose illusoriness is overlooked."
Neitzsche
posted by Stephen 8:30 PM
Anyone that expects easy answers and readymade solutions from philosophy has got a long road of self discovery to travel before philosophies easy answers are revealed to them. Only through effort does anything of worth happen.
posted by Stephen 8:29 PM
Monday, December 16, 2002
"There is one mind common to all men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought he may think; what a saint has felt he may feel; what at any time has befallen any man, he can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
posted by Stephen 4:05 PM
Friday, December 13, 2002
Monday, December 09, 2002
When I see a sun set and it touches me I will admit that someone in the long history of mankind has felt exactly the same way, probably many, but the order of those feelings and events are all mine, my life and everyone else's is totally unique. Precisely because we are alive as this exciting wonderful terrifying wave of history continues to crest towards our future.
posted by Stephen 3:56 PM
Sunday, December 08, 2002
“There do exist enquiring minds, which long for the truth of the heart, seek it, strive to solve the problems set by life, try to penetrate to the essence of things and phenomena and to penetrate into themselves. If a man reasons and thinks soundly, no matter which path he follows in solving these problems, he must inevitably arrive back at himself, and begin with the solution of the problem of what he is himself and what his place is in the world around him. For without this knowledge, he will have no focal point in his search. Socrates’ words, “Know thyself” remain for all those who seek true knowledge and being."
G. I. Gurdjieff
posted by Stephen 12:44 AM
Wednesday, December 04, 2002
Saturday, November 30, 2002
"For the Zeitgeist of every age is like a sharp east wind which blows through everything. You can find traces of it in all that is done, thought and written, in music and painting, in the flourishing of this or that art: it leaves its mark on everything and everyone."
Arthur Schopenhauer
posted by Stephen 9:54 PM
Friday, November 22, 2002
Ask yourself how your friends and family see you, what defines you, if someone asked them what you do and what your like, what would they say. We must remember that we are not who we see ourselves as; our character only exists to others and how they see us. This may be a painful realisation, you might think your deep and sensitive but if you've never expressed this side of yourself to anyone, it may as well not be true.
To paraphrase Jung, 'Our persona is what we are not, but that which we and others think we are.'
posted by Stephen at 4:54 PM
Thursday, November 14, 2002
After a near death experience people tend to start living life with a new sense of urgency or just with a new awareness of how passing life can be. Maybe they revert to their previous attitude not long after but if we're smart we can learn this lesson without having to go through sending cancer into remission or spending months in hospital after a car crash. But of course we rarely take this route because we need to experience the downside to appreciate what we have. Why don't we appreciate life as we live it? Is your life so dull and uneventful that you don't see something wonderful in it, in the simplicity or the complications? William Burroughs wrote in his first novel Junky, "Perhaps relief is the high". After years of an accelerating heroin addiction he had reached the point where taking the drug produced no high effects, just kept the agonising withdrawal symptoms at bay. He was now taking heroin just to feel at best, normal. His use of an addictive narcotic had reached the point where he came to this realisation. A hangover from alcohol might be the most common experience where we have that feeling of never again; I just wish I felt normal again. This relief truly is the high. Get high on life.
posted by Stephen at 7:59 PM
"Richness of mind consists in mental receptivity, not in the accumulation of possessions."
Carl Jung
posted by Stephen at 7:59 PM
until we can recognise what arises from our soul we will continue to be blind to its greatness. Knowledge, understanding and above all a psychic depth should be our constant aim. If we could only grasp a fraction of what it contains we would be truly great.
posted by Stephen at 7:58 PM
the demons that surround us are of our own making. Our anxieties and fears.
posted by Stephen at 7:58 PM
"Our persona is what we are not, but that which we and others think we are."
Carl Jung
posted by Stephen at 7:56 PM
Its important to gain a perspective on our life in relation to time, this knowledge/awareness will be of great value to us. What we are experiencing right at this instant is what we have total control of, our thoughts and physical actions, as you read these words this is the instant in which you live, thank you for spending them with me, now that action of reading those last words is already history, you'll never get them back, I thank you again. Whether you are lying on a bed or sitting still you are travelling through this most exciting time. Its life constantly moving on with history trailing forever in its wake. You are in the moment and it is truly fleeting. I would never expect anyone to be constantly aware of this fact and live accordingly, it would be an immense and unnecessary pressure, but when the time is right, you must remember this and act accordingly. I find that walking symbolises this constant life and death moment we all live in and I walk towards it in that knowledge.
posted by Stephen at 7:56 PM
Sunday, November 03, 2002
"He who works with his hands is a labourer. He who works with his hands, and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands, and his head, and his heart, is an artist."
St. Francis of Assisi
posted by Stephen at 9:23 PM
An idealist thinks they live in a black and white world. In fact its shades of grey.
posted by Stephen at 8:23 PM
"Go not outside, truth dwells in the inner man."
came across this un-sourced quote in Carl Jung's 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections'
posted by Stephen at 8:23 PM
Regular essays and thoughts on life and living it to its full potential.
truthandinfinity@eircom.net
posted by Stephen at 2:58 AM
posted by Stephen 7:45 PM
