Compassion, Creativity, Buddhism, The Quest for Truth & Wisdom, Health & Wellness, Music, Films, Literature, Art, Revolution, Healing, Critical Thinking, Mental Health Advocacy, Social Justice, Resilience, Reflection, The Beauty of Melancholy, Spiritual Development, Consciousness, Memento Mori, LOVE…
Jack’s desire to create something new is the nucleus of his creative process.
He vehemently rejects the usual paradigm of the rock musician lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll {although he says it is a heavy metal way of thinking}.
Jack says, “That’s not creating. That’s not art. That’s not trying to exist in a place where you are sort of mimicking God in a way, in a small tribute to try to create something brand new that didn’t exist before and to see if it can change people’s emotions…”
I love everything Jack said but particularly the notion of musicians mimicking God with their creative tribute. We have all heard the phrase “rock god” in reference to certain rock n’ roll musicians. Jack’s version is a lot more humble and realistic. He only claims to mimic God and not actually be a god. His reasons are very pure because he only wants to create art and provide a conduit for people’s emotions. Music has the transformative and cathartic power to alter people’s emotions. Music therapy exists to help people heal.
Jack’s impetus for being a musician is derived from his creativity. He wants to share emotions and create an experience for his listeners- an emotional connection born from an artistic experience.
Jack ends the video clip with this observation,
“Partying and all those things and meeting people is kind of boring. It’s easy to do that in a bar. That’s for people who really have no idea what to do with themselves, I think. That shouldn’t be associated with art.”
It seems as though his artistic vision is quite clear and that he is a serious artist. Jack deeply loves and respects music. He has a higher vision for art; perhaps one of elevated consciousness and transcendence. Art can be so many things to different people. It can cathartic or destructive. It can be haunting or enlightening.
*I am a fan of Jack White but especially The White Stripes. When I first heard The White Stripes all those years ago, I simply fell in love with their music.
I have yet to hear his other bands The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.
He says that he always had a desire to travel and move.
In his birthplace of Ireland, Gabriel feels that he is always colliding with his past.
He feels defined by his past in Dublin.
Whereas in New York he feels that he has a clean slate- a tabula rasa where he is “free to compose his own present.”
Gabriel lived in Los Angeles for five years but he decided to leave. He feels that when you live in a place without clearly defined seasons, your sense of time becomes distorted. Time passes almost invisibly yet quickly.
*
Gabriel decided to move to New York and he lives there presently.
He compares Los Angeles to New York and he focuses on their restless nature.
“It’s a restless city…Los Angeles even more so than New York is a city where people come to…it has to exist for those people who can’t exist in places outside of it.
It exists for people who become in a way…who outgrow or out-dream or out-fantasize their own places
For Gabriel, Los Angeles is a land of paradox.
It offers new beginnings and freedom yet an ambiance of melancholy haunts it.
He notes, “The sense of freedom and light and being able to re-invent oneself is very strong there…but there’s also a sense of melancholy that pervades the place.”
I found the following observation to be the most intriguing.
“It is a place where people think that if they get successful enough, they are not going to die.”
In essence, Gabriel is using memento mori to analyze people’s avoidance of death. It is almost as if success was used as a passport out of death.
This incisive observation is very Buddhist as Buddha believe in impermanence {i.e. everything dies}.
*
One doesn’t need to have a gypsy soul to want to move or travel.
We’ve all dreamed of moving our proverbial roots to far away magical lands.
I know I have…
I believe the term is called wanderlust.
*
Ireland is definitely one of the countries that I long to visit.
Majestic Ireland…
It is the birth place of two of my favourite actors Jonathan Rhys Meyers and of course Gabriel Byrne. They often speak about Ireland’s sublime beauty.
Ireland’s Majestic Northern Lights…
To be honest there are so many places I would love to visit.
Since I was a child I fell in love with Egyptian history and mythology.
Ancient Egypt has fascinated me and still fascinates me to this day.
Egypt is one place I would love to visit.
Egypt: A Land of Alchemical Beauty
Iceland also seems like a mystical land full of haunting beauty.
The Magical Northern Lights in Iceland…
I would love to experience the northern lights- aurora borealis.
I would love to experience the beauty of Iceland that resonates in the music of Björk and Sigur Rós.
I remember reading some Buddhist teachings many moons ago that spoke about the ocean of consciousness.
It spoke about each of us being a wave in the ocean.
We think that we are completely independent; that we are a single wave because of the illusion of our ego.
Our ego clouds and distorts our perception creating a false sense of self.
It is complicated as in Western society there is so much focus on the self: self-improvement, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-doubt, etc.
The truth is that while it may seem that we are individual waves,
we are actually part of the ocean; the ocean of humanity.
*
I really cannot understand how some people can have no compassion for each other.
At the root of this poverty of the spirit is a lack of compassion for the self, selfishness and an overindulgence of the ego.
{One cannot offer compassion if you have no compassion for yourself}.
As I said to my friend, if we don’t help each other then we will all sink.
I know that we all have our individual problems but if we just focus on them, then we cannot get out of our heads and the prison of selfishness.
There is a delicate balance between having compassion and helping others with helping yourself and protecting yourself from harm. Boundaries are necessary.
I always struggle with how to have compassion while not losing myself.
The sad truth is that many people mistake kindness for weakness.
The truth is that it takes great strength to be compassionate in this world.
It takes great spiritual strength to open your heart and mind to offer your compassion.
*
When the triple disasters were taking place in Japan in 2011, I was horrified. I was watching the news on the internet. I constantly watched BBC, CBC and Al Jazeera with tears in my eyes.
I could not help crying as I watched the news.
It hurt my heart and soul to witness such suffering.
I could not believe that on top of the tsunami and the earthquake there was a nuclear situation as well. As I thought of Fukushima, I was reminded of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. I was very concerned and afraid for Japan. I still am.
While I had no family, friends or loved ones in Japan, I felt deep compassion for the Japanese.
It didn’t matter in the least if I didn’t know a single soul in Japan.
We are all interconnected and if Japan was suffering and grieving then we all were.
I still think of Japan and how the triple disasters affected and affect people today- especially the effects of nuclear contamination/radiation.
The reason that I share this is because I had an epiphany then.
My good friend and I were having coffee one day {during the disasters in 2011}.
I was telling him about what was happening in Japan.
He stopped me in the middle of my sentence and said very coldly, “you know what…I just don’t care.”
That is when I realized that something inside of him died.
To be honest, I was very disturbed by his comment and his attitude.
Upon deep reflection, I felt sadness and compassion for him.
He had just gone through a very painful and dark time with the illness of his mother. I know that this experience had a very damaging effect on him.
I think he was most likely spiritually disconnected and emotionally numb at that point.
He probably had nothing left to give as he was in desperate need of healing.
*
Compassion is the greatest gift you can offer someone.
Compassion is what makes us truly human.
Our humanity is rooted in compassion.
*Remember that we are all in this life together.
We all depend on each other.
We are all interdependent as waves in the ocean of humanity.
*
Please enjoy Ocean by Azam Ali and Loga Ramin Torkian as I felt it complimented this post.
It is from Azam Ali’s album: “Lamentation of Swans: A Journey Towards Silence.”
“Niyaz, which means ‘yearning’ in Persian and Urdu, was formed in 2005 by Azam Ali, multi-instrumentalist Loga Ramin Torkian and two-time Grammy nominated producer and electronic musician Carmen Rizzo.
The band borrows from an historic lineage of Middle Eastern poets setting verse to music, perhaps most famously known today through the work of the 13th century Persian poet Rumi and the endless barrage of quotes attributed to him on Twitter and Facebook.
While the immediate goal of Niyaz was to explore the music and identity of Iranians living in exile and struggling to maintain their cultural identity in the modern world on their first two acclaimed records, Niyaz and Nine Heavens, the band has expanded that theme with Sumud.”
*
Azam Ali is the singer with the heavenly voice in Niyaz.
Her voice is truly “otherworldly” and hauntingly beautiful.
She has also been a part of another band named VAS. Their albums include: Sunyata (1997), Offerings (1998), In the Garden of Souls (2000) and Feast of Silence (2004).
Azam has released seven albums between Niyaz and VAS.
Niyaz’s albums include: Niyaz (2005), Nine Heavens (2008) and Sumud (2012).
She has also released four solo albums: Portals of Grace (2002), Elysium for the Brave (2006), From Night to the Edge of Day (2011) and Lamentation of Swans- A Journey Towards Silence (2013).
Azam has also been involved in movie soundtracks (the movie 300) and video game soundtracks.
For more information, please visit her official website…
From the album: Chrysta Bell – This Train Produced by David Lynch
Lyrics
“Driving through the night flying fast to you real love real love the moon is flying with me the moon is crying with me got to get to your house call me home flying with the moon sirens driving in the valley sirens flare got to feel your love real love don’t cut me don’t you cut me don’t you cut me gotta hole in my heart I wanna feel your love I wanna feel your love the moon passed behind a cloud the stars are hiding from me I’m coming home baby I’m coming home lonely moon rush by lonely got to feel your love real love make it real make it real make it real love I wanna feel your love I wanna feel your love the wind is blowing the wind is blowing by I’m coming home baby I’m coming home coming home real love coming home for real love real love.“
credits
from Chrysta Bell -This Train Produced by David Lynch, released 29 September 2011 Vocals: Chrysta Bell Guitar: David Lynch Guitar, Bass and Synth: John Neff Drums: David Lynch and John Neff Written by David Lynch, John Neff and Chrysta Bell Engineering: John Neff Mixed by David Lynch and John Neff Published by Zibella Music (BMI)
Her collaboration with David Lynch evokes a beautiful, surreal and haunting ambiance. Chrysta and David create a haunting world that you never want to leave. Listening to their music is like entering a dream you never want to awake from.
Chrysta Bell & David Lynch Bring Surrealist Beauty To Life…
The reason that I decided to share this is because I wanted to briefly discuss break-ups.
I really respect how Erykah Badu was so honest with Common.
Although it hurt him to tell him the truth about her change of heart, in the end it was better for Common.
He grew and learned from the experience.
It was his first love and first heart-break. Now he says that he and Erykah are “cool” again.
Why couldn’t everyone be so honest in regards to break-ups?
Imagine if someone told you the truth instead of a cheap, prostituted line…
“It’s not you, it’s me.”
*Who really believes that anyway? Come on, please. Don’t even…
If people were more honest about why they really want to leave their significant other, then perhaps the other person would learn so much more and have better closure.
Perhaps this communication could break down some walls and infuse some new life in the old friendship and romance.
Who knows, perhaps this new-found honesty might create some new-found intimacy and the break-up might even be avoided.
Perhaps things fall apart to come together…
Perhaps I am dreaming of a utopian vision of reality because I know that most of the time things just fall apart.
{I know that relationships and break-ups especially are more complicated than this post describes}.
Regardless, if a couple has to part ways, it would be ideal if they each respected each other enough to really be honest with each other.
By not telling someone the truth, you are potentially taking away opportunities for growth.
You are also really damaging their self-esteem, self-worth and confidence because they are left to wonder what is wrong with them.
They can only think that something is inherently wrong with themselves..
How else can they know what they did wrong if you don’t tell them? How else can they improve, learn, grow and change?
Thankfully one can still do some self-reflection in order to find healing, growth and closure on your own.
You can learn from your mistakes.
*Of course your learning, growth and healing is not the other person’s responsibility.
{That is not at all what I am saying. Your learning, growth and healing is always your responsibility.
It would be so helpful to get that honesty, respect and communication from the person that once claimed to love and care about you}.
If both are ready and willing to battle their egos, then perhaps they can truly listen, share and learn.
At least both can learn what they did wrong from the mutual constructive criticism and feedback.
They will know why the other is jumping ship instead of just being left out in the cold {or the rain} all alone.
Leaving someone guessing is just too cruel to do to someone’s heart, mind, life and soul- especially to someone who you used to like, love or at least be attracted to. This only further hurts someone that loved and adored you.
Don’t they deserve better from you?
{Leaving crumbs of false hope is an even more heartless thing to do to someone. Giving someone false hope so selfishly makes it painful for them to move on and to heal}.
No one deserves to over-analyze and be haunted by what they possibly could have done wrong.They deserve better and if you are the dumped person, then so do you.
{Of course there always are exceptions and sadly not every break-up is amicable}.
*
P.s. I highly recommend watching the movie High Fidelity (where most of the pictures from this post are from).
It is an excellent movie and my favourite break-up movie of all time next to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind}.
{or the rain} all alone.
