Arts and Sciences in Shadow

Consider the dearth of rational perspectives in contemporary expression.

It is common to see and hear works that express a kind of specious rebellion against a non-existent "oppressor", one generally conceived to represent a kind of traditional, often "religious" authority that seeks to crush some sort of vague "self-realization".  The truth is nothing so romantic.

In point of fact, the true evil is ignorance, and it is manifest as nothing more than a refusal to think, as opposed to acting without consideration for others, or for the consequences of cause and effect.

Philosophy of Composition II

Reason and honesty inform acts and expressions of permanent value.

The statement is a fundamental position, beyond technique and process.

Civilization, the Known, and the Unknown

The mere subjective moment is not enough.  In terms of elevated thought and being, it is nothing.

Aesthetic perception, the imaginative sense, reveals what ideology will not, that is to say, the ways of cultural, spiritual and intellectual vision are illuminated by art, not by temporal power.

This is the truth of the free world, and it is difficult to attain, essential to sustain, and at all times and by every means it must be defended.

Truth, Art, and Delusion

The value of art, and particularly that of the evolution of music into the art of sound, is in its power to illuminate, by logical extension, the future.

Current social conditions are always the results of causes and their effects, and to simply envision them clearly makes it possible, with courage, to avoid much that need not become problematic.

Whenever the human condition is held to be something it is not and never will be, paroxysms of hubris emboldened by ignorance follow. One cannot allow absurdity to go unchallenged without knowing what to expect.

Cross Talk

Clearly, perceptivity stands in opposition to nihilistic insensibility.

Yet the latter perspective always takes contemporary precedence by dint of incessant clamor, appeals to ignorance, and mob mentality. The sleep of reason yields monsters; their attempted expressions are nugatory, and absurd.

That which will be must conform to reality, and reality will not be coerced.  Contrived eccentricities create neither power nor individuality, and the quest to make them do so has rendered them common, pointless, vapid, and impotent.

Art Under The Boot

The presence of propaganda means one thing: the presence of chains.

In a totalitarian, politically correct culture, the artist must be self-reliant.  Or there will be no art.

See, Express, or Grasp Nothingness

Art collapses in the hands of the unfinished intellect, the ideologue, and the timid.

This is a failure of vision as well as intellect. A failure of recognizing the human condition, it is disabled further by a lack of critical foresight.  Yet it is sustained by the like-minded, until definitive revolt can no longer be restrained.

Divergence in Direction of Sound and Idea

Put plainly, music is one form of creativity involving sounds, and there are other forms that do not necessarily conform to the categories generally considered to encompass music.

Music is an art and a science. The creation and expression of aural imagery is a different kind of art, and a different application of science, one that analyzes environments for the purpose of replicating their varied atmospheric elements in stylized forms through processes of sound manipulation.

Art and Accord

Expression serves greater possibilities.

Things will not always be as they are. Change will come. Elevation inevitably parallels decline.

Consciousness is a rarity in the universe, and expression in every form speaks to its permanence.

Aesthetic Constructs

There are perspectives from which cultural expression is unnecessary.

This does not alter the fact that every human idea and action reflects a perspective upon reality, and that existence itself shapes that view into one form or another of expression and meaning.

Active Thought

Thinking ahead is essential to progress, and it is not difficult.

What is, in fact, nearly impossible is for a culture immured in material attachments to undo the belief that there is nothing more to live for than the present moment now, and thus recognize innumerable possibilities-- with the understanding that many of these are already within reach.

I see the experience of listening to sounds dancing in the air.

Loud, Bright, Fast, Inferior

Conditions that reduce art to spectacle are entirely artificial.

Such conditions follow a prolonged period of decline and apathy. The central focus of culture is no longer attached to spurious ideas and expressions.  Interest is lost, change is difficult to recognize.

But authentic art never varies or loses force, and draws change toward future reality.

Auditory Frame Theory

Sound is constant.  Perception is context.

The composer chooses a theoretical setting in which sounds are arrayed as they occur in perceptual consciousness and sets them in motion.  Patterns, therefore, are not established beforehand, but are the result of fluidity and juxtaposition as the work progresses. This is listening, and hearing, as it takes place outside the context of "music", its paradigms, and its arrangements.

Crossing

Culture provides context.

Nonetheless, the role of the artist is beyond that of validating or contradicting culture.  Let all those incapable of detachment do those things.

The point is devotion to the work, to the progression of ideas, and to the force of vision greater than the vanity of ego.  The finished works, with their impact in total effect, speak for themselves.

Question Motive

Some refer to "the broader culture" in terms of gaining acceptance. This is oversimplification.

Impulse to create reflects a sense of meaning and direction forward in experience. Nothing more.

Burning Drafts

In theory, aesthetic perception elevates experience.

That one may realize such elevation in experiential reality is fact, yet it is not effortless, requiring some critical thought with regard to multifarious ideas. and therefore it is the common experience of but few.

It is revealing how often those who lavish praise upon the "elite" athlete are quick to condemn the arduous efforts and work of the thinking individual, whether in the arts or other fields of endeavor.

Expression as Disputation

Consider the possibility of irreversible intellectual decline.

Contrast present cultural perspectives with objective experience.

Expression, Conscience, Permanence

Certain arts reflect nothing more than the transient character of culture.

Other, more noble arts, speak to the elevation of culture and the individual, together and separately.

Stand, Fall, Rise

Art will be, or it will not be; brazen attitude will not hide failure, nor timidity grasp success.

Cultures and societies may be oppressed, or coerced into self-censorship, but art obeys the law of the individual artist.

Expression, Impact, Integrity

Reality and the artist's imagination are the sources of art.  This is my judgement.  Others are free to deny it, whatever their inclination may be towards the subject.

I am the originator of the work, and the work is my responsibility.

These are things within my power, my knowledge and my control.  Among the things outside my power are the opinions of listeners, the intellectual and emotional projections they may place upon the works, and the manner in which the works are received generally. This is to say that I bring forth the works as they are, and that whatever they may become is out of my hands.

One may well assert that such points are given, and unnecessary; one will be reminded, however, that it is effortless indeed to call day, night, and night, day.

In point of fact, such is the nugatory perspective of the foolish and the intentionally false, those who would indiscriminately influence the easily led for their own ends.

And this, certainly, is not the way of art, but of something else entirely.

Choice, Pressure

There is subtlety of expression, contrasting spectacle, to be experienced.

But culture everywhere at all times falls short of the visions of art.  This is nothing new.  No culture is viewed by objective standards as thoroughly "enlightened", and it is for the wise artist to grasp that the mediocre is the regular fare, and mundane, whether in extravagant or casual forms. It is only over extended periods of time that cultures acclimate to forward-thinking and visionary expressions.

Undreaming

The modern artist cannot fall prey to complacency.

Art reflects and expresses the failures of human cultures as well as their aspirations.

Rates of Change

Create with the effects of change over time in mind.

When the original can no longer be recognized, the work is finished.

Now, apply this concept to that of "music".

Learn by Impression

Perceive clearly.

But this demands refined awareness of sensory information, directly experienced and unmodified by emotional bias.  In this way it becomes possible to listen, and hear, in ways that allow understanding of aesthetic sound composition that neither depend upon nor express musical paradigms.

Well Aware

What is imperceptible is not beyond reach.

Give attention to what merits it, remove the attention from the vast number of things that do not, and be attentive to whatever becomes apparent as a result.

Orientation and the Creative Act

Mundane cultural paradigm: one perspective contrasted by another in opposition.

Real forward-thinking leads to entirely unexpected, even unknown, directions in cultural evolution, most radically in the arts uniting sound and vision.

Promoveo, promovi, promotum.

Too Starved an Argument...

The appeal of many aspects of popular culture is the same as that of numerous political ideologies.

They generate attitudes among their adherents that negate the need for thought; they eliminate the necessity for questions; they substitute, in point of fact, for educated, even literate perspectives.

And the result is a ceaseless cycle of ignorance, contention, and a host of ills easily done away with by refusing to acknowledge and support atavistic totalitarianism masquerading under the elitist banners of "progress".

Open Question

One is not given to thinking in terms of "enlightened culture", yet it is never an impossibility.

Rather than making demands upon culture, many appear to be in the position of allowing culture to make demands upon them. This is an untenable position, and the results are everywhere apparent.

Listening, View Time

Experience, absorb, and gain insight.

As the contemplative moment happens spontaneously, so may it be consciously brought into being by effort and intent.  Find the setting, observe, be still, and know.

Shock Value and Its Double

Expressive, perceptive art, even that of sublime merit, will not move the complacent.

A culture dominated by self-absorption must have either art that appeals to vanity or gives offense to its perceived "enemies", those whose perspectives on life are different.

Music and art that directs the attention to a greater sense of being and reality has no impact on such spectators and listeners. Nonetheless, creative minds of broader vision will neither be still, nor silent.

Transmission X

Observe the near-total absence of contemplative art forms, as if they have never existed.

Just as the desire for "enlightenment" is itself an obstacle to that goal, so is the quest for any kind of artistic meaning when cultures and societies are wholly given over to gross, material self-indulgence.

Become and Be

Nothing remains nothing.

Culture created with the expectation that it will become obsolete is not culture at all, but waste.

Everywhere At Once

The creative mind may be absorbed by the times, or defy them.

Yet there is another perspective, one that understands what is within one's will and power, and what is not.  With this understanding there is no reason to give consideration to anything beyond the work.

Against the Grain

There are those for whom art is a vehicle, and those for whom art is a work of creation.

A vehicle serves the ends and agendas of artist, and it is only successful insofar as it provides for the artist's "passions".  But by creation, I mean an objective expression that exists in and of itself, with its own intrinsic value and meaning, beyond the temporal reality of its creator.

Autonomy and The Work

The artist, if anyone, understands limitations and constraints.  These always exist.

Approaches to creative work that obviate the effects of circumstances beyond the artist's will and control are essential. One cannot accommodate ignorance; one can do everything within reason to elevate the light.

Ends and Approaches

Reach for those things that do not yet exist.

Expression reflects learning and experience as well as perceptivity and vision.

Rise to Realization

Advancement of vision is essential to creation.

Evaluate the past in terms of contemporary "standards" and "values" and commit the same errors as those who call the cave paintings of Lascaux "primitive". Real expression is not falsified to accede to such things as social acceptability or "political correctness", these now being virtually the same.

Real expression is revolution, at its core and at its roots.

Interpretations

An individual referred to one of these works today as "Zen Music".

The particular piece was the album Night Traffic, and the individual remains unaware that I am the composer and producer of the work.  A different perspective on the familiar is always suggestive.

That someone, in the midst of initiating a discussion about progressive music, listened to the sounds and associated them with the view of Zen represented in popular culture-- one of calm and a general sense of equanimity of attitude-- indicates a desirable effect.

And Far Between

The idea of beauty is intimately connected to the intellect and perceptions.

It is not always the strange, extravagant, or visionary event that evokes awareness of beauty, but merely the moment given over totally to reflection.

Such moments are indeed few, but do not have to be so.  To reflect, to experience fully, is a choice.

Timeless Expression

Reflect, contemplate, imagine.

Detached, experience what connectivity does not offer.

Nothing More

Technology, in and of itself, is central to contemporary culture.

Yet it is art that elevates the human condition, and technology is nothing more than a tool.

Exceptional Event Awareness

Take cognizance of those impressions that appear on the distant edge of perceptual awareness.

Sensory impressions of this order may, or may not, be within grasp.  For the composer, these can be indicators of auditory possibilities, just as the nebulous image in the mind's eye may inform the visual artist. These may be considered extramundane events, sought out by very few, but the scientist, poet, warrior, and individual of imagination know how to grasp and reveal them.

The Calling

Perceive, imagine, express.

The public, media culture, and social networks, reflecting overarching attitudes of the times, have their preferences and biases, expectations and demands.

But the avant-garde exists nonetheless, and grows increasingly distant, that is to say, far ahead, far beyond the mediocre, the mad, and the mundane.

Art, Social and Personal

Media directs the attention towards external impressions, and interprets them for various purposes.

Yet, given its superficiality, imagery for mass consumption cannot rival direct experience, and does so only in proportion to weakness of intellect and will.  One may well consider all the implications.

Technology, Sound, and The Uncanny

An inquisitive nature will not be satisfied with partial awareness.

Beyond artistic meaning, the aesthetic sense may discern phenomena without apparent connection to temporal and physical events. As the sensitivity of various digital technologies demonstrably renders a number of peculiar elements, particularly of the type termed atmospheric, into clear forms that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, the artist as composer may expressively exploit those preternatural perceptions that come within the scope of consciousness through aural compositions.

Incidental, yet unaccountable, impressions of this order of reality inform all the Black Mountain School recordings, and are ultimately bound up in their origins.

I simply ask, why would one choose to do no more than those things that have been done before?

Higher, Wider, Deeper II

Sound alone may assert moral reason, reflecting the artist or composer's purposes.

As aesthetic appreciation of expression expands to contemplation of meaning, such elevation of understanding is commensurate with the insight the work evokes.

Spark and Means

Technology has its place.  This is not a complex or nuanced proposition, but plain fact.

Technology, in proper perspective, is absolutely subject to human reason and will.  It is, in fact, only as valuable as it is utilitarian, and only useful insofar as it contributes to the elevation and unburdening of the human condition.

Let those who will have it direct their lives defend it if they can, but such arguments are of no concern to free human beings.

Image, Information, Awareness

Low cloud cover reflects distant environmental sounds.

Music is no longer a rarity, as it once was. It is the nuanced perception of atmosphere that is an uncommon experience, so unusual as to be uncanny. Thus, for composer and listener alike, new inspirations, and ultimately new forms.

Meaningless

Observe the state of things with culturally aware eye and ear.

One might be forgiven for persisting in the idea that "instant access to all information everywhere at any time must ultimately lead to a cultural renaissance in twenty-first century, the likes of which have never been seen" has ever been more than a highly dubious proposition.

Connection and Separation

The modern has, for a number of decades, no longer represented a rejection of tradition.  While some artists and scholars recognize this, and others do not, this is not the issue.

One must turn to the so-called post-modern, a declining subset of modern perspective, to find puerile desertions of reason and meaning at play.  The modern, as a matter of course, continues to repudiate the specious, the false, and the failed, in terms of culture, politics, and social perspectives.

With this understanding in mind it is evident that the dominant artistic vision promoted in the global marketplace, in terms of contemporary expression, is nihilistic in nature. In those visual and musical arts directly associated with the mass media, this outlook serves as propaganda for totalitarian statist
purposes, in that it reduces cultural communication to impotent, manageable and predictable forms of divisive absurdity at odds with those in favor of individual liberty and freedom of thought.

The artist who believes otherwise acts accordingly, regardless of all risk, and it is effortless to take into account the essential nature of the resulting works. These are forward-thinking, rational, and, most provocative to elitists, expressions that link the audience to experiential reality, rather than diverting attention toward spurious, illiberal ideals.