Flashback

 

It’s 1977. I walk into a music store and pickup ELP’s Works Vol. 1. I remember the cute chick with the blues eyes at the counter: “classy album”. She was right.

Talking Heads

The clerks, the kings, the thinkers; they talked and with their talking ran the world. The truck drivers, the pyramid builders, the straight duty men; the ones who could not talk; they built the world out of their very tongueless-so the talkers could talk about how to run it and the ones that built it. And when they had destroyed it with their talking, the truckdrivers and the straight duty men would build it up again; simply because they were hunting for some way to speak.

-James Jones

From Here to Eternity

Posted via email from Pier 51

Tyranny

The effects of tyranny, my dearest one, are to be seen not so much in executions, privations, surveillances, matricide and fratricide, ruined reputations, unjust trials, exile, and murder, shocking events of the capital; no, tyranny has finally achieved its foul purpose when among the many, scattered at large, there are acquiescence, apathy, complacency, bland acceptance of outrage, pride in vulgar triumphs, blurring of the meaning of words, confusion in moral standards-in short, a blight of the communal character. It is when people who are thought of as good solid citizens, those who make up the backbone of the populace, become touched by this blight and do not realize it, become not only the infected but the infectors-this is when tyranny has won the day.

-John Hersey

The Conspiracy

Posted via email from Pier 51

You Are A Lover of Words

People turn to you because you give voice to dreams, notice little things, and make otherwise impossible things appear real. You are a rare bird who thinks the world is beautiful enough to try to figure it out, who has the courage to dive into your wild mind and swim there. You are someone who still believes in cloud watching, people watching, daydreaming, tomorrow, favorite colors, silver clouds, dandelions, and sorrow. Be sacred. Be cool. Be wild. Go far. Words do more than plant miracle seeds. With you writing them, they can change the world.

-Ashley Rice

Posted via email from Pier 51

Look At Me

And I did not write for many evenings that followed. In my new security I began to see it all in a different light. I began to hate that inner chemical excitement that made me run the words through my head while getting ready to set them down on the page; I felt a revulsion against the long isolation that writing imposes, that claustration, the sense of exclusion; I experienced a thrill of distaste for the alternative life that writing is supposed to represent. It was then that I saw the business of writing for what it truly was and is to me. It is you penance for not being lucky. It is an attempt to reach others and to make them love  you. It is your instinctive protest, when you find you have no voice at the world’s tribunals, and that no one will speak for you. I would give my entire output of words, past, present, and to come, in exchange for easier access to the world, for permission to state “Look at me”. And I do not go back on this. For once a thing is known it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten. And writing is the enemy of forgetfulness, of thoughtlessness. For the writer there is no oblivion. Only endless memory.

-Anita Brookner

Look At me

Posted via email from Pier 51

Some Native American Wisdom

When the wind blows and spreads its might through the trees and howls through the caverns of the mountains, do we understand its purpose? No, but we take comfort in the fact the wind is wind and has its own mission, its own destiny, and we have ours. Do not be burdened by what you do not understand but focus on what is in your power to do and seek and learn. Wisdom is your truest friend. and each must find that within your own heart, and that wisdom requires that you travel a path that is uniquely yours and not made for others.

Do not be afraid, but trust that you will grow and become better warriors when you meet with obstacles. It is by conquering these battles that we learn how to live greater grace and stronger beauty.  Therefore these obstacles are gifts upon your soul and you will surely flourish like the stunning flowers in the meadow if you allow yourself.

Fear is the greatest obstacle everyone must overcome, for fear is what holds many back–fear of what is not known, fear of what is known, fear of change and the fear of remaining the same, fear of dark and fear of light, fear of many people, fear of being alone, fear of life and fear of death. If you can learn to handle your fears with confidence, then you will face the world with a strong and determined face and your power will soar like the eagles. If fears control your very essence, then you are doomed to travel the snake upon its belly, forever lying lowest to the earth and not feeling the heights of God above us.

We all need teachers and guides and spiritual influences to show us what they learned and how they have traveled the world. It is good and not bad to have such help, but remember with caution that they cannot be your source of inner light; you must create that for yourself.

- Wind Dancer