Fall in Line

Observe the predictable and the "new".  Apparently, they are synonymous.

This is the continuing legacy of groupthink.  All must conform to type, express no more or less than approved attitudes, and commit to reflexively perpetuating rigid, narrow points of view.

So what is new is old again, no less benighted than it once was, a morass of subjective ignorance.

Ephemera

Varieties of artistic experience dominate the cultural landscape from time to time.

Novels, films, music and fashion create interesting effects through their interactions. These are for the most part transitory, though for some they are difficult to abandon when they run their courses.

It is difficult to envision and create those things of lasting value. More difficult is to recognize the desire for them.  But such desire exists.

Hidden, Waiting

Inclusive language is ubiquitous, and insidiously manipulative.

While the implications for art and culture are obvious, they have not always been so, with the result that conformity of thought is now more rigidly enforced than in previous, less dangerous times.

The danger lies in loss of vision, followed by loss of freedom.

The Lake, The Sky, Disappear

When there is only darkness, or noise, perception declines.

But endless argument is pointless as well, and there are always those who will call day, night, and night, day.  So forward, from there, to evil ends, or beyond these to unknown tomorrow.

Nova Sound

The indiscriminate ear reflects the intellectual nature as well.

A simple bias toward things "random" is a key indicator of the mental laxity that will not put forth the effort to determine cause and effect or its impact on ideas and events.  Such minds cannot be troubled with "meaning", and are easily set in perpetual, escalating conflict with all who have the wherewithal necessary to acknowledge simple, objective perspectives.

Thus was established the environment of din and clamor that has plagued the past half-century and eviscerated its cultural arts.

Posed Little Time

Ideas are shaped and colored to purposes.

Some purposes are intentionally clear; others are crafted to be intentionally obscure.  What is necessary is to be cognizant of the ideas, rather than of their appearances only.

Mindful

The general Western perspective on living recognizes a central idea of continuing progress.

This is natural, given historical experience and the impetus to invent and to refine and improve existing technologies.  Even so, human progress, that is to say, the ways and means by which the human condition and state of being may be elevated, cannot be neglected without consequences.

And, again, it is often the artist who is first to recognize this fact, and to act upon it.

Stone

Access to knowledge is not culture.

A culture that countenances the belief that any view of the nature of reality is no different than any other is one step removed from barbarism, and may anticipate the immediate arrival of what will be known as a dark age.

Image and Sensation

Observe the extent of vicarious and "second hand" experience.

Art is direct representation, experienced directly, not filtered through "media".  Remember that.

Fading False

Without common vision and purpose, there is no culture, but only its false appearance.

What remains is nihilism, centered upon obsessive and bellicose disputation over long-past failures of moral reason and creative vision, ideas rendered obsolete by the test of time.

The real goal of those engaged in conjuring such a state of affairs is one of totalitarian control.

It is the artist who is often the first to realize that the single, essential struggle is one for individual freedom and personal autonomy, regardless of whether society as a whole is capable of it.

Sounds Real and Imagined

Give conscious attention to the full spectrum of sounds in the surrounding environment.

This is a difficult task, and one that demands intent. Like any critical mental exercise, it does not "just happen".  Ultimately, over an extended period of time, one begins to imagine sounds one has not previously heard.  

This is an arduous journey, but a worthy goal, and one that the artist and composer may realize.

Momentary and Continuing

Attend to culture as it is experienced in personal ways.

This is how culture is extended and transformed.  All the rest is noise and debris.

Real Light

A balanced, yet critical and incisive state of mind is not effortless.

The purpose of my compositions and recordings, beyond the application of experimental and aesthetic principles, is to promote and enhance the emotional state of equanimity.

In terms of contemporary music, very little is done in that regard, and very little of that is done effectively.

Movement of Ideas

Culture includes both convergence and dissolution.

One may therefore realize both possibility and loss, choice and crisis.

Fire, Fix, Pose

There are uncanny aspects to contemporary experience.

Where cultures lack common subtleties of perception, and these qualities are suppressed within the social order, any heightened sense of reality beyond the mundane is stifled.  Those experiencing the transcendental are silenced.  Dubious materialist beliefs are held unassailable, and promoted with imperious ardor.  Still, those who most strenuously hold to such ideas claim to be so intellectually weak and helpless that they must be "protected" from perspectives they reject and denounce as a matter of faith, because these points of view make them afraid.

Not Hiding, Yet Hidden

Meaning is dynamic, or else it is lost.  It transcends limits placed upon it, or withers.

Where once authentic artistic expression was discovered, now find only political expression that appropriated and absorbed it.  It cannot transcend the limits of its narrow vision and purpose.

One is never told where to look, but knows what is real.

Outside

Connectivity does not unify cultural visions.

Rather, it renders them more distinct, and distant.

Unknown Extent

The mind imagines.

It is then a matter of drawing the future into the present.

Distant Sight

Expression of perspective requires an expenditure of effort.

The greater the effort necessary, the less likely the rewards will be commensurate with the work.

This, too, is control, and the expansion of control.

Seem and Be

Some face the real; some fabricate the unreal.

Some experience directly, while others negotiate every moment of existence through dense filters of supposition and pretense that may be utterly without foundation and self-evidently false to one with clarity of mind.  Think.

The Artist is Not Alone

The contemporary, modern person has a single, essential choice to make.

It is a simple and difficult choice: to live and act autonomously or to be a complete puppet, strung to innumerable forces of control, and especially to those beyond one's knowledge and influence.

Stakes

Rather than observe expression, determine what is not being expressed.

Consider the reasons why visionary works are not being seen, or heard, or expressed. Here find the origins of a continuing diminution of perceptual awareness, and of decline in cultural experience.

Something Will Break

For the past four decades, the tedious, incessant focus of virtually all media has revolved around a dubious interpretation of "human rights" that has had nothing at all to do with individual humanity or freedom, but has, in point of fact, been nothing more than a collectivist struggle for power over the common culture and its controlling interests.

As important as these numerous, familiar, interrelated issues may be, this collectivist perspective has done nothing to improve socioeconomic conditions for marginalized people through directed redistribution of wealth; nor have the unceasing demands of every available media to make their various struggles the central facts and most critical crises of all human history provided the key to the release of their human potential. The essential fact is that this awakening can only happen on a personal level, and it never has and never will "evolve" through the concept of a "collective will" that does not exist beyond false semantic constructs.

Culture, which has been within living memory a thriving force, has remained stagnant for more than forty years; very likely it has reached and remained at a nadir for a generation.  It will continue in this manner as long as the ignorant and narrow minded, abetted by highly, yet poorly, educated people, obfuscate cultural perceptions and create obstacles to individual expression that only exist in such totalitarian, dystopic states as these, their proponents, admire and glorify.

The virtue of human aspirations is built on the golden rule, and upon the combined strengths of patience and good will, but it will not survive if it tolerates this state of affairs and fails to rise above it much longer.

Yet to Be

No one finds without searching.

Therefore, some things simply remain unknown.

Recognition

Every work of art exists as an expression of its own merits.

Every work of propaganda exists for other reasons entirely.

Hive Mindless

Consider consciousness given over entirely to celebrity, internet memes, and gaming.

Any perspective on culture that fails to take decline in the transmission of knowledge and values into account errs greatly. It is an immediate, factual, existential threat.

Rethink

Look clearly at reality.

Every expression is an expression of consciousness.

Analyze, Create, Evaluate

Judgement is necessary; the "self" is not.

The creative act demands perspective, not ideology.

Unreasoning

Art, as a representation of reality, is not confined to material existence.

It is nonetheless absurd to claim a purely imaginative narrative is factual and somehow valid, as has become a constant cultural assertion throughout diverse fields.  Nor, unfortunately, can such claims be taken lightly. They have become not only foolish, but dangerous, and must be confuted, whether by art or by other responsible means, in the strongest possible terms.

Chaining Air

Certainly, cultural settings may be manipulated and expression held in check.

This is always done in the attempt to confine expression to narrow, "acceptable" limits.

And it always fails.

Lower

The expectation that somehow "reality" will bend to one's will is ever absurd.

It is fascinating how those who find certain events, outcomes, and effects incomprehensibly strange and complex are unable to take the simple step of viewing these from a clear perspective.  To such minds, this implies "philosophy", and can thus be neither understood nor trusted.

Such blind ignorance is fatal to culture, the arts, and social constructs.  It is often fatal, period.

Place

False appearances lead to falsified actions.

Neither the individual nor culture at large can withstand the errors of falsity.  Sound judgement is needed to distinguish between reality and unreality. Belief supported by sensory evidence and the critical faculties must resolutely stand against merely clever illusions and fraudulent semantics.

Culture, along with the individual, can not long afford tolerance of any poisonous combination of ignorance and belligerence, whether it finds expression in the arts or in anything else that elevates and values freedom.

Choices and Variations

Observe the sources of quietude and those of chaos.

Consider the effects of culture upon consciousness. Act accordingly.

Watch, Listen, Wait

Reflection. Vision. Expression. These are critical elements of art and life.

The world does not need noise. There is more than enough.

Think quietly, act rightly, and decisively.

Trend

A single generation may lose a world to ignorance.  No art can remedy such a loss.

One who cannot comprehend freedom will neither experience it nor deserve its virtues.

One, Another

The artist thinks on personal, individual terms.

Otherwise there is no artist, but merely a facade for the expression of derivative perspectives.

Dynamism

Cultures are controlled and manipulated, but this need not be the case.

Under normal conditions, culture and the arts function interactively. When developments in one or the other are brought to a standstill, both succumb to a state of stasis that is ideal for the impress of any form of totalitarian, centralized, collective control.

The critical element that must be reigned in is information, but this cannot be done through direct, visible, means, or contention will ensue. Yet it is a simple matter to narrow the focus of the public discourse to a few vexing issues, and to make those appear to be the central facts of social reality, removing the creative impetus from the cultural setting-- to a great extent, if not altogether.

The result is darkness, and its perpetual increase, unless the visionary rise up against the benighted.

Changing Tide

Action leads to more action; control, to more control.

The necessity of both is obvious, and more necessary than these is balance.

Upend

Predictability reflects both expectations and the opposite of those expectations.

The act of genius, in its most elevated sense of reaching beyond the known, reflects neither.

Foreseen

No narrative replaces experience; it is without substance.

No ideology is a substitute for knowledge and wisdom; it always forms an untenable perspective.

Critical Mass

Knowledgeable, critical thought is one thing; ignorance is another.

Simply put, it is no longer possible to accept or tolerate inferior perspectives on art and culture. All these stultify vision and promote complacency, regardless of their origins.

The artist is urged to action; the supercilious and benighted, to silence.

Rising Tide

Give attention to the social, cultural, academic, and political norms of the present day.

It is the totalitarian culture and society that suppresses expression, artistic and otherwise.

The Sudden and Unexpected

While cultural progress typically moves slowly, it does, from time to time, evolve rapidly.

Regardless of the cultural catalyst, change is always subject to forces of history as well as those unforeseen events that come about in the present.  At such times, one may look to the arts for insights, and, not surprisingly, lies and absurdities.

Thus the essential nature of the aesthetic sense is empowered by the force of reason.

Dynamic Projection

Rather than be deceived by appearances, the critical mind observes with patience.

Some artists apply technique and medium to conceal, others, to reveal what can neither be seen nor heard directly, but nonetheless grasped intuitively.

Distant Note

In Lovecraft's story, strange music emanates from a room on Rue d’Auseil.

My perspective is that what is generally accepted to be "music" exists within the dull confinement of expectations and conventions that may be consciously put aside. Beyond these, consciousness begins to perceive sonic tones, patterns, and their combinations in novel, interesting, ways, these being more or less suggestive of the uncanny sounds the author describes. Yet the total effect I am most interested in is one of elevated perception in an aesthetic sense, something different, but not alien to, the sensibilities of Lovecraft and other artists of that particular modern period.

Balanced Focus

There are always clashes of perspective.

These take various forms, among them complaint, argument, insult, injury, and so forth. The arts are no exception, and these forces are continually at play.

Essentially, the sole alternative is silence, so the artist acts, takes the responsibility, and accepts the results.

Clear

If nothing else, eliminate cultural detritus.

Media obsessions, "conversations" and "issues" comprise a single burden; it is an unnecessary one.

Vision, Gesture

The virtue of art resides in the finished aesthetic creation.

This does not mean intent and action are to be discounted, but understood as critical elements that are subsumed in the final work and its total effect.

Phantom Loss

Discard freedom of expression and it will be permanently lost.

Were I to speak only from experience as an educator, I would aver that the world is awash in a sea of ignorance and stupidity.  It is never so simple, and foolish to take so narrow a view.  Yet it is of some moment to acknowledge the disintegration of cultures over the course of the historical record that have failed to transmit ideas and ideals to upcoming generations.  Those who never experience freedom, regardless of what manner or form it takes, whether in individual, artistic, or political terms, will be incapable of comprehending its loss, a loss immeasurable.

Leap

See the world.

Move beyond the limits of irresponsibility.  Be the one to discover what has not been seen, heard, and expressed.  This is self-reliance, existential clarity, and the virtue of contemplative being.