Still Light

Time Past and Time Future meet in Time Present.

The argument that those who value history are "nostalgic for a past that never existed" has never been valid.  Appreciation for art, artifact, and the arc of events in time is an understanding of connectivity with humanity that ideological suppression can neither erase nor replicate with materialist cant.

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Changing Landscape

Authentic expression exists regardless of circumstances and conditions.

This holds true for every form of art.  When these representations of the reality of the human condition are repressed, culture is set back decades or longer.

Yet, always, the central reality remains, and will ultimately be revealed.

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Light in the Wasteland

When the artist brings fire, the risk is great.

With fire comes illumination, danger, expansion of perception, and elevated consciousness.

No totalitarian culture tolerates these, because oppression cannot withstand their force.

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Look, Listen, Go

Certainly it is possible to be "ahead" of the culture at large.  Far, far ahead.

There is no consolation in the fact that one may realize the significance and potential value of cultural developments long before they impact society generally.  This is, in point of fact, the authentic nature of the avant-garde, regardless of the myriad ways in which that term is abused. Such foresight is of interest only to those in possession of it.  

What is essential is to recognize, and act decisively upon, each and every opportunity to make the envisioned future become present in real time.

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Misdirection

Do not fail to distinguish art from propaganda.  To do so is ignorant, and infantile.

Self expression reflects personal perspective, not collectivist culture and ideology.

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Defiance

Nuanced expressions reveal sharp contrasts between factual and specious perspectives.

Visual and sound arts convey some things that can only be communicated indirectly through language, particularly in conditions corrupted by cultural ideologies.

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Implosion

The arts reflect society when they develop without interference.

Once the arts are appropriated for social engineering purposes in the service of political ideologies, even the most puerile of the popular arts are ineffectual as mirrors of the human condition.

In the final analysis they become impotent, execrable parodies of their original forms of individual expression, distinctive merit and innovation are no longer recognized, and this is the state of things.

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Arc of Idea and Action

Meaning implies continuity.

Left unresolved, chance and accident provide little in the way of significance.  

When intent and purpose impels action, freedom of will has profound influence in determining the outcome of events, regardless of the vicissitudes of circumstance. 

It should not be forgotten that this applies even to nuanced artistic gesture, as it contributes to the progress, and ultimately, to the total effect of finished works.

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Working

See, hear, directly.

Observe with aesthetic perceptivity, act with existential certainty.

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Some Will Understand, Others Will Not

Bring the uncanny into expression.  It is a tall order, yet it can be done.

The beginning is abstract, that is to say, theoretical.  This vision must comport with the possibility of perceptual reality that may be rendered in concrete form.  For the composer, this acknowledges the fact that sounds must be transformed and synthesized to evoke extramundane experience, and then juxtaposed and reproduced in aesthetic contexts unrelated to designs generally attributed to music, while being accessible within the sphere of art.

What the mind conceives, the hand may render.  Listen, and hear.

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Something Missing

Among many things, culture reflects the common aspirations of a social group.

Without cohesion, there is only decay, and no government of any value can provide this.  It is found in the vision of the artist, in authentic expression, and in the traditions and rituals of community.

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Singularity of Form and Content

Ubiquity and saturation have reduced all media to a nugatory state.

Feigned interest is the rule of the day.  One can no longer say, such and such a thing is "marvellous", or "unique",  Availability and repetition renders even the finest forms commonplace, mundane, and, to some extent, regardless of quality, banal.

Those seeking authentic representations of experience must discover expression that is sui generis, uncanny, unexpectedly original, and transformational.  One must go far beyond externals to do so.

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Implications

Cultural variables directly impact perspective and expression in varying degrees.

It is worth noting that some cultural groups are interested in a broad spectrum of experience, while others are conditioned to respond to extremely limited sets of expectations.

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Light of Reason

Fundamentally, one must discriminate between reality and the mere appearance of reality.

Critical discernment of this nature informs all experience, from perception to expression.

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Near Distances

Where the commonplace ends, risk begins.

Discover the unseen, and find sounds unheard.

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Illuminate

As the eye is opened, so the ear is filled, expanding awareness.

To drive perceptual acuity down to narrow limits is absurd.  One sees the world, listens, and hears, beyond the contexts of art and music.

This is elevation, of aesthetic insight and individual consciousness.

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Perspective Shift

Observe any environment carefully.

Detailed observation reveals that elements of the environment may be seen as both separate and unified forms.  With care, sounds may be composed and presented in ways that may be perceived in like manner, as opposed to methods utilizing the common aspects of musical composition and production.

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Soul Sacrifice

If one is an artist, one gives of oneself.

This is the force and the risk of art.  It is expression, and it is being.

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Great Doubt

Instinct, intellect, and intent motivate artist and listener.

Conformity, complacency, and consumerism motivate audiences.  But this is a general rule, and an observation that is dynamic in scope.  Artist and listener remain unmoved, and undeterred in the search for the creative fire that alters reality and culture.

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Fortunes, and Reversals

The arts are not simply Reformed, as are institutions, from without or within.

Visions are conceived, old orders collapse, and culture is broadened and elevated by expressions both unexpected and unheralded.  Often this arrives at the end of any prolonged and implacable oppression, and, as is so often said, nothing is ever the same again.

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