Exercise XV

Observe what is not present.

That which is to be expected is subject to control. This is to say, one would not be aware, in a given scenario, of one or more elements beneath one's notice.  Attention would be focused elsewhere for any number of reasons, complacency, for example, or fatigue.

Perceptual consciousness is not mere ego. Recognition of unexpected information may yield abstract perspectives outside of common events and their causal relationships, altering one's point of view and, by extension, expression.

Listen to Be

Information provides understanding, and choices.

Thus the impetus for heightening the sensory perceptions, these contributing to the subtlety and refinement of critical observation, analysis, and judgement.

These are essential tools of the composer's art.

Contention

That which is "almost possible" is not possible at all.

This is absolutely certain: without freedom of expression and freedom of thought there is neither liberty nor art.

Against Collective Thought

Authentic artistic expression may be viewed from diverse perspectives.

This authenticity is a form of "breaking out", and breaking out is not a form of "joining".

Intuitive Illumination

Art evokes elevation, and perceptual experience is heightened.

Empirical science measures neither aesthetic force and virtue, nor enlightened state of being.

Consciousness and Environs

"What are you doing out here?"

Listening.

"I don't hear anything."

You have to listen, and hear.

Between Light and Dark

It is easy to say, "day is night, and night is day".  It is nonetheless false.

So it is with art and war. What is false brings destruction.

Croesus consulted the oracle at Delphi concerning going to war against Cyrus of Persia, and was told, "If Croesus goes to war he will destroy a great empire."

The empire thus destroyed was Croesus' own.

Disappeared

Totalitarian societies do not evolve naturally.

These rigid systems are created by ideological partisans, over time, through intimidation and manipulation of mass media. On the surface, they appear to embrace universal freedom and acceptance of all perspectives, but this is a transparently false narrative none dare question.

Such cultural tyrannies must continuously maintain and consolidate power against innumerable enemies, who must be hated and feared, and so must be dehumanized.

Without exception, the anti-conformist artist is the first to go.

Mystic Stew

Art bears witness, true or otherwise.

Popular taste does not always bend to political narratives.  Something else is out there. 

Drift and Surge

Attend to limits as indicators of what lies beyond them.

What is revealed offers choices in creative action of all kinds.  For artist as composer, it is a means to the discovery and exploration of sounds and their interactions.

Reality View

Consider the influence of individual will upon critical perspective.

Contrast this influence with that of a "collective will" as represented by mass media. In this way, reflect upon a common course of action, and one that is personal.

It is through volition alone that authentic choices are made, as opposed to unthinking reactions.

Creation and Loss

There can be no compromise.

Free expression is worth the sacrifice, or it is not.  Choose to lead, and lead by example.

Choice, or No Choice

Ostensibly free to create, one knows the gravity of coercive prevailing standards.

Every artist realizes the impact of cultural conditions characterized by totalitarian conformity.

Wind Blowing Past the Grand Palace

It is possible to eliminate many of the abstract and "man-made" elements of music.

The result is sound composed to represent the reality of perceptual environments.

Above All Else

The present-day artist has one monumental obstacle.

A single thing is critical, and it must be accomplished: the artist must rise above all media and do as the art demands, with or without acceptance or appreciation.

Listening and Knowing

I compose for expression through sound of a universal sense of being.

That is the "statement", and there are no others to diminish the art of experience.

Ghost Stories

Consider the reality of things left unexpressed that are beyond living memory.

The artist as antiquarian may reconstruct impressions to evoke settings, moments, characters, and something of the mood and tone of obscure imagery otherwise utterly lost.  These are perceptions outside the parameters of what is effortlessly known, and their value is immeasurable.

Force of Suggestion

Totalitarian society establishes the foundation of coercive rule.

Innovation vanishes with imagination; originality in the arts dies first, long before tanks roll.

Of The Unexpected

In a free culture, the unexpected creative expression is regarded highly.

Where only the expected expression is accepted and tolerated, there find a totalitarian society.

Transmission XI

Artistic works prior to the introduction of mass electronic media convey diverse expressions.

These works are the result of individuality and tradition, rather than being a reflection of a common intellectual and emotional currency. This individuality of voice held firm until the latter quarter of the twentieth century, when it was gradually overcome by the conformity of idea and opinion rigidly held in force by the dominant, globally-informed media of contemporary times.

One need not think when one can assume a perspective and attitude already fully formed.

Thought and Memory II

Individual expression reflects knowledge in the abstract as well as direct experience.

So it is with any endeavor refined and elevated to the point at which it exists, evolves, and conveys meaning in the form of art.

Exercise XIV

Focus the attention on an abstract idea.

Take account of imagery evoked and events, both visual and auditory, suggested by the abstraction and its meanings. Develop these as aesthetically informed compositions within any desirable limits.

Gesture and Resonance

Cultural environments may or may not impose conditions upon perspective.

Artistic perspective is concerned with vision, concept, finished work, total effect. and little else.

Against the Enervating

The artist today is well-advised to seek perspectives outside the cultural mainstream.

This is not to say it is necessary to focus the attention away from tradition or the self-evident good in society and culture, but to risk the observation that these may, in fact, be far removed from the norms in common currency and worthy of interest and perusal.  Very little is as it appears to be.

The Unseen Path

A common perspective is, by definition, mundane.  So, in fact, is its opposite.

That which is forward-thinking comes into being by individual and independent thought, neither commonplace nor contrary to the expected, but sui generis, outside and distant from agenda and ideology.  This is thought as art, and contemplation as elevated experience leading toward solution-based outcomes.

Sparks in the Night

Indefensible perspectives and ideas cannot withstand dissent and debate.

For such benighted ideologies to attain and hold cultural dominance, all contrary expressions must be silenced.  There are places where this is possible, and conditions that make this possible.

Where one voice is raised, others will rise.

Courage, Risk, and the Avant-Garde

Art cannot exist in a totalitarian social environment.

It can only go underground.  Wherever in the shadows it may be glimpsed, it must be defended.

Music for Polymorphic Listening

Sounds in combinations form constructions, and these, in juxtaposition with other sounds, evolve.

This evolution develops an extended structure, or design, based upon simple tones or other chosen sound events. These may then be increased or decreased in scope by adding or removing elements, and continued to any duration desirable according to the aesthetic judgement of the composer.

The total effect of such compositions varies with the perceptual awareness of the listener, who is not directed to the specific experience of "the movement of sound through time".

Unknown Unknowns

Unnecessary information is ubiquitous, and stultifying.

Essential information consists of all that is forgotten, or not yet known. Go in this direction.

Value and Respect

All cultural roles are available to the artist, for whom choice and responsibility are one.

One's duty is to one's art, not to social expectations, academic and cultural criticism, or the various "demands" of the public.

It is self-reliance, coupled with individual freedom, that makes this possible.

Known, Unknown

In every art, it is gesture that determines outcomes.

Neither the assertive act nor the reserved one guarantees success or failure. The authentic gesture accomplishes everything, while the artificial, forced, or otherwise unsound gesture realizes nothing.

Command Line

Illusions are wrought, and delusions fixed in minds, through words, imagery, and sounds.

But this is the ultimate consequence of a culturally bereft society and the concomitant darkness that eradicates the future, first of individuals, then of generations, then of civilizations.

Levitation and Somnolence

In contemporary culture, observe a pervading, and rather benighted, materialism.

It is a point of view without a fragment of merit, one unworthy of empathy, and one that most often sees good will as a weakness to be exploited.

This is not a modern perspective, being far too incurious and complacent. It is by no means a measure of sophistication to claim to believe that every question of grand moment is long settled, and that life, being metaphysically worthless, is fit only for an ideal of epicurean hedonism.

The abysmally ignorant arrive such a conclusion with far less effort than the "highly-educated".

No, the modern perspective is informed, analytical, and cognizant of cultural and historical forces that elevate the fundamentals of human understanding.

Here, find the voice of perception, realism, and critical, open awareness that says, "There is much more to experience, much more to be known. There is always more."

Exercise XIII

In any setting, consider the various ways in which limits apply to the conditions.

This is not to determine what is possible or what is not possible, but rather to observe the ways in which unforeseen outcomes might be set in motion within the confines of control and restriction.

Restrain what is predictable, directing action toward intention or purpose if, and only if, the desired effect is clearly realizable.  The result is a decisive gesture, whether concrete or abstract in nature.

This is true of artistic gesture, communicative expression, games, or other activities with set "rules", yet it cannot be otherwise that it involves risk.

Time, Now

The warrior, the sage, and the artist have the same existential mandate.

By virtue of every available power, bring Time Future into Time Present.

Pop Downturn, Reform Pop

What is know as the "popular imagination" conforms to a dull immediacy.

By "immediacy" I am referring to the dubious sense of urgency associated with the omnipresence of media.  The dullness, or lack of imaginative acuity, is the consequence of incessant repetition of the same ideas, beliefs, and social norms in opposition to the same "transgressive" perspectives, as if these latter were, in fact, of any consequence in comparison with expression of original, creative thought.  That is the state of culture, unless and until efforts are made to transcend the mundane, and those efforts recognized as essential to the idea of a forward-thinking civilization.

It Is Difficult On Train "A"

Ideas and actions have consequences.

The idea that individuals or cultures are somehow "beyond" cause and effect brings about the most severe of consequences.  There is a profound difference between destruction and extinction.

Agency

Vanity and money are undeniably powerful motivations for creativity.

The creative act in the service of a higher vision is its own motivator.

Up for Air

Artful contrivance is not the central fact of cultural expression.

That central perspective is, and always is, reserved for expressions of authentic experience, as opposed to mere appearances, no matter how refined, raw, or superficially impressive.

Among many things easily observed, the continuing decline in cinematic arts attests to this.

Grotesques

There is no individuality within collective strictures, nor can there be.

Yet this does not apply to appearances, as these are by nature insignificant in contrast to conformity of collective thought, expression, and action.  A spurious, superficial "sense of personal identity" is conferred by acceptance of infantile extravagances. Countenance and bearing are of little moment to those who define social and cultural agendas, provided absolute conformity to ideology remains fully intact. Consequently, the apparently extreme, distorted, and abnormal become commonplace, and the slavish adherent to illiberal groupthink is as easily identifiable as a traitor to humanity as the nameless, faceless apparatchik.

The independent thinker, artist, warrior, and self-reliant individual, on the other hand, defies both illegitimate authority and mundane expectations. The very existence of free culture demands this.

Projection vs. Awareness

It is ignorance, or a lack of intelligence, to approach any artistic work with assumptions of any kind.

Artistic works, paintings, music, performance, mixed media, etc. only suffer when crafted for the purpose of serving social and political agendas.  What may "make a statement" as propaganda is nonetheless transient as "art".  Of even less value is the assessment or opinion regarding a work that is based upon such ideological conventions, which are as insignificant as mere subjective biases.

What is demanded of the artist is equally expected of the observer, and that is aesthetic perception.

If You Look Closely

Consider a social and cultural environment that is actively hostile to the arts.

Suppression of individual freedom is the outcome of collective tyranny and its concomitant control of expression that reduces every work to a form of propaganda.

It is a monumental challenge to stand against a tide of surrender.

Edge of Perception

Know the concrete and the abstract of the phenomena of appearances.

Awareness of the cultural environment is the difference between freedom of action and acting according to the influences of forces neither recognized nor understood.

Metaphysical Approach

A contemplative aesthetic elevates sense of being.

This is an objective like every other aesthetic purpose, and will not be denied those who seek it, whether artist or audience, unless and until a culture has totally lost the wherewithal to accept and embrace it.

Presence

Expression conveys the observer within reach of experience.

Culture may or may not make that expression accessible; the observer may or may not extend grasp. Nonetheless, it is impossible to reduce all aesthetic possibilities to a point at which the ignorant and illiterate can comprehend them. There are ideas and experiences that can never be transmitted in their entirety through choreographed dance moves.

Art of Flux

In dysfunctional cultural conditions, the artist is an island of energy.

Bounded by absurdity and failure, that is to say, failure of the culture to thrive without direction, the artist, like the military strategist, brings reason, experience, and foresight to the creative act.

This is the essential nature of expression both critical and independent, without which cultures are entirely lost.  Many will recognize this loss of once-thriving cultural settings within living memory, with the understanding that the surrender of personal freedoms brought about these extinctions.

As far as cultures of free individuals are concerned, the artist is the last line of defense, the last stand against encroaching darkness.

Enough

The antithesis of the creative act is the dismissal of the reality of Time Past.

Beyond the benighted repudiation of cultural fundamentals, of much more profound moment is the elimination of cultural momentum, the negation of future possibility.

Observe contemporary cultural and social conditions.

The Great Work

No present-day artist and composer can ignore cultural decline.

At issue is not commercialism, but essential human knowledge.  This is an era burdened by mediocrity and superficiality in every area of endeavor.  As an artist, explorer, innovator, or independent thinker, one must rise to enormous challenges, if for no other reason than one's obligation to oneself.

Dharma for One

Boethius (A.D. 480-525) suggests the arts, particularly music, are revealing as means to transcendental contemplation and perspective.

But certainly the failed Nineteenth Century ideologies of scientific materialism and collectivism will not allow for such considerations.  The individual, however, retains personal freedom and choice.

Impulse, Elevation, and Decline

Every artistic gesture represents choice and purpose.

Simply put, expression in all the arts may enhance or diminish a sense of shared culture.