I have seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces.
John Mansfield
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
TRICK 'R TREAT
So it's Halloween is it? All Hallows' Even. 'Tis the season to be scary. This is the night when children and adults become ghosts, ghouls, witches, owls, crows, vultures, pumpkin men, black cats, spiders, goblins, zombies, mummies, skeletons, demons, devils, fairies, pirates, vampires, frankensteins, wizards, various movie stars and political figures. The child-monsters to collect bags of goodies of dubious benefit to their well being, often accompanied by adult-monsters who may go off later to masquerade parties where who knows what dubious liaisons are formed.
Although at home we wrapped up candy and oranges to give out, I never went trick 'r treating. My mother wouldn't let me. There was one exception when I went out as a gangster trying to scare people with a water pistol. No one was scared.
In this eastern Pennsylvania town Halloween is a big deal. And now that the Phillies have won, it's liable to be more rambunctious than ever.
But remember, the ugly little monster that shows up at your door this "een" may grow up to be a great scientist, or artist, or educator, or writer, someone who does kind things for the world. So treat 'em with treats.
Boo!
Vagabond Journeys
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Lively Latching 10/30/08
Let us live for the beauty of our own reality.
Charles Lamb
********************************
When you finally get to that sacred point in life when you stop trying to be someone you're not or to accomplish something you're never going to do, you have taken the first baby steps toward understanding yourself.
One day in the lobby of an office building in New York City there were two young boys running to Mommy. Well, one was running, the other was crawling. It was a long lobby which stretched from 59th Street all the way to 58th Street. The crawler wass so fast he got to Mommy first. He was an expert crawler. He was showing the world what a good crawler he was. I said to his mother that he really had the crawling thing down solid. She laughed and said that it was too bad there was no crawling event in the Olympics.
The kid was such a good crawler, why should he bother to learn how to walk?
Well, as we all know, sooner or later he's going to have to find out what his legs are really for. He'll stagger and fall down. He'll resent his brother for being able to do it better. He'll get frustrated and go back to crawling. But, inevitably, he will get the gist of it and discover that he really is a walker, and maybe even a runner. He will have given up thinking of himself as a crawler and stand proudly on his own two feet, as the saying goes. What a grand day that will be!
As I grew up and began to learn about myself I discovered two things. One was just how many illusions and fantasies I had about myself. And the other was that deep down I really was a great guy and no one else's opinion of me mattered.
I still wanted approval, of course. I was an actor after all. Approval is part of the pay packet. It kept me going. But in the long run the only approval I really needed was my own.
Understanding oneself is a life long enterprise, but dropping off the unreal veneer of fantasies reveals more of the beautiful reality of human character.
Oh, I know what you're saying, "But I like my fantasies." That's okay. Mine sometimes help me get to sleep at night. Just don't take them seriously.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Charles Lamb
********************************
When you finally get to that sacred point in life when you stop trying to be someone you're not or to accomplish something you're never going to do, you have taken the first baby steps toward understanding yourself.
One day in the lobby of an office building in New York City there were two young boys running to Mommy. Well, one was running, the other was crawling. It was a long lobby which stretched from 59th Street all the way to 58th Street. The crawler wass so fast he got to Mommy first. He was an expert crawler. He was showing the world what a good crawler he was. I said to his mother that he really had the crawling thing down solid. She laughed and said that it was too bad there was no crawling event in the Olympics.
The kid was such a good crawler, why should he bother to learn how to walk?
Well, as we all know, sooner or later he's going to have to find out what his legs are really for. He'll stagger and fall down. He'll resent his brother for being able to do it better. He'll get frustrated and go back to crawling. But, inevitably, he will get the gist of it and discover that he really is a walker, and maybe even a runner. He will have given up thinking of himself as a crawler and stand proudly on his own two feet, as the saying goes. What a grand day that will be!
As I grew up and began to learn about myself I discovered two things. One was just how many illusions and fantasies I had about myself. And the other was that deep down I really was a great guy and no one else's opinion of me mattered.
I still wanted approval, of course. I was an actor after all. Approval is part of the pay packet. It kept me going. But in the long run the only approval I really needed was my own.
Understanding oneself is a life long enterprise, but dropping off the unreal veneer of fantasies reveals more of the beautiful reality of human character.
Oh, I know what you're saying, "But I like my fantasies." That's okay. Mine sometimes help me get to sleep at night. Just don't take them seriously.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Knocking Knowledge 10/29/08
Truth is the child of time,
erelong she shall appear to vindicate thee.
Immanuel Kant
***********************
It seems to me that all great, new ideas go through three steps. First people summarily dismiss and ignore them. Then they argue and put up defenses against them. And finally they adopt them.
The irony is that when you finally accept the truth of something you've been told you have usually forgotten who it was that told you, oh, so long ago. Not only that, but some people actually come to believe that it was their own idea to begin with. That's an intellectual injustice, of course, but it's inevitable.
When someone says "mark my words" you know damn well that the "my" referred to is probably going to be forgotten about, even though some day the words might be remembered.
I know things today that I refused to believe years ago. But I don't remember where I first heard them. And in my lofty aerie of intellectually superior senior citizenship (?) I know I have given young folks the benefit of my original thinking which has been met with suspicion and disbelief, and that when those folks finally know that I was right they will have forgotten all about me. That's the way it goes. That's life.
These days people are complaining about the toxicity of plastic. I was doing that 30 years ago.
I have even had returned to me one of my own quotes, one of my Vagabondisms, as an "old saying." That made me smile.
I've been humbled enough by time and by a sense of humor to be content with the realization that, about whatever it was, I was right. Forget who gets the credit.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
May all the flies stay away from your ointment.
erelong she shall appear to vindicate thee.
Immanuel Kant
***********************
It seems to me that all great, new ideas go through three steps. First people summarily dismiss and ignore them. Then they argue and put up defenses against them. And finally they adopt them.
The irony is that when you finally accept the truth of something you've been told you have usually forgotten who it was that told you, oh, so long ago. Not only that, but some people actually come to believe that it was their own idea to begin with. That's an intellectual injustice, of course, but it's inevitable.
When someone says "mark my words" you know damn well that the "my" referred to is probably going to be forgotten about, even though some day the words might be remembered.
I know things today that I refused to believe years ago. But I don't remember where I first heard them. And in my lofty aerie of intellectually superior senior citizenship (?) I know I have given young folks the benefit of my original thinking which has been met with suspicion and disbelief, and that when those folks finally know that I was right they will have forgotten all about me. That's the way it goes. That's life.
These days people are complaining about the toxicity of plastic. I was doing that 30 years ago.
I have even had returned to me one of my own quotes, one of my Vagabondisms, as an "old saying." That made me smile.
I've been humbled enough by time and by a sense of humor to be content with the realization that, about whatever it was, I was right. Forget who gets the credit.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
May all the flies stay away from your ointment.
Winter Wonderland
I'd like to announce that it is snowing in eastern Pennsylvania, great huge snow flakes some as big as my big toe (I know because I stuck my foot out to see). Winter is here. If you want winter, it's over here. It's mighty beautiful.
DB - The Vag
DB - The Vag
Jazzy Javelin 10/28/08
Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.
Samuel Johnson
******************************
There is one thing in this world that I can honestly say that I hate. I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I hate anything, but this one thing I truly detest. I hate it so much it can send me into a rage.
Ugliness disgusts me. Disappointment and dashed hopes make me sad. War and torture anger me. The abuse of children and animals makes me sick. But I HATE NOISE.
The increasing cacophony around us is one of the greatest threats to civilization there is. I think the internal combustion engine is a marvelous thing. But when it finds its way into lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and leaf blowers it becomes a menace. The ironic thing is that when you buy one of those things they will put in ear plugs so that the noise doesn't bother you. But they give you no ear plugs for your neighbors.
In Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, they wait until noon, when everyone is out on lunch break sitting in the park, enjoying the peace and listening to the birds, to start mowing the lawn or blowing the leaves around. That's another bit of irony.
In New Hampshire one year a man decided to make a few bucks by installing a Go Cart track in his back yard, oblivious to the idea that the noise would annoy his neighbors. A bunch of people from all over town chipped in to hire a lawyer to get the thing closed down.
I love music, I hate noise. When most people think music they think songs. Songs are good. I like songs. But songs are mainly about words, lyrics, not about music. In many cases the music is minimal, it's the words that matter. In the case of Rap the music has virtually disappeared (even though it's still called "music"). I have also noticed that with some popular music the stupider the song the louder they play it.
I don't care for Rock Music, most of it is way too noisy for me, but I won't put it down because there is extremely good musicianship among some of the performers. I don't care a rap for Rap.
Pure music (if there is such a thing) is classical, jazz and some new age. Folk is usually pleasant to hear, but it's very simple by nature of what it is. And Opera is for crazy opera lovers like me.
In 1685 a man was born in Germany named Johann Sebastian Bach, who took all of the music which came to him from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, organized, codified and engineered it into some of the greatest music ever written He wrapped music up in a golden spear and thrust it out into the world to weave through the centuries right into our own and it';s still flying. Western music, of whatever kind or style, owes its forever existence to Bach. And every serious musician will acknowledge that.
But the horrifying fact, which Bach could never have imagined, is that the noises of the world are drowning out the music of the world. Noise is a pollution. It's toxic, dangerous and destructive. And it's getting worse.
So remember, the next time you take out that motorized lawn mower or leaf blower that, unless you live where there are no houses near you, you are destroying the neighborhood.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Samuel Johnson
******************************
There is one thing in this world that I can honestly say that I hate. I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I hate anything, but this one thing I truly detest. I hate it so much it can send me into a rage.
Ugliness disgusts me. Disappointment and dashed hopes make me sad. War and torture anger me. The abuse of children and animals makes me sick. But I HATE NOISE.
The increasing cacophony around us is one of the greatest threats to civilization there is. I think the internal combustion engine is a marvelous thing. But when it finds its way into lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and leaf blowers it becomes a menace. The ironic thing is that when you buy one of those things they will put in ear plugs so that the noise doesn't bother you. But they give you no ear plugs for your neighbors.
In Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, they wait until noon, when everyone is out on lunch break sitting in the park, enjoying the peace and listening to the birds, to start mowing the lawn or blowing the leaves around. That's another bit of irony.
In New Hampshire one year a man decided to make a few bucks by installing a Go Cart track in his back yard, oblivious to the idea that the noise would annoy his neighbors. A bunch of people from all over town chipped in to hire a lawyer to get the thing closed down.
I love music, I hate noise. When most people think music they think songs. Songs are good. I like songs. But songs are mainly about words, lyrics, not about music. In many cases the music is minimal, it's the words that matter. In the case of Rap the music has virtually disappeared (even though it's still called "music"). I have also noticed that with some popular music the stupider the song the louder they play it.
I don't care for Rock Music, most of it is way too noisy for me, but I won't put it down because there is extremely good musicianship among some of the performers. I don't care a rap for Rap.
Pure music (if there is such a thing) is classical, jazz and some new age. Folk is usually pleasant to hear, but it's very simple by nature of what it is. And Opera is for crazy opera lovers like me.
In 1685 a man was born in Germany named Johann Sebastian Bach, who took all of the music which came to him from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, organized, codified and engineered it into some of the greatest music ever written He wrapped music up in a golden spear and thrust it out into the world to weave through the centuries right into our own and it';s still flying. Western music, of whatever kind or style, owes its forever existence to Bach. And every serious musician will acknowledge that.
But the horrifying fact, which Bach could never have imagined, is that the noises of the world are drowning out the music of the world. Noise is a pollution. It's toxic, dangerous and destructive. And it's getting worse.
So remember, the next time you take out that motorized lawn mower or leaf blower that, unless you live where there are no houses near you, you are destroying the neighborhood.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Inside Inspiration 10/27/08
If a composer knows more about a horse
than he does about heaven,
he might better stick to the horse,
and some day the horse may carry him into heaven.
Charles Ives
**************************
Substitute for horse the word, violin, or kitchen, or garden, or farm, or fishing boat, or aircraft, or whatever and you have it. The trick is to do what most people never do which is to look behind the thing that occupies your time and attention to find and understand the true, invisible reality behind it.
What does it really mean to tune a violin, wash and chop a potato, stick a hoe in the ground or plow a field? I have heard farmers and pilots talk about what they do in very metaphysical terms. It took me a long time to begin to take that kind of thinking seriously. It's just a potato. What's the big deal? A potato is always just a potato, but it has a deeper meaning in the over all cosmic scheme of things.
You are laughing.
About midway through my career I began to ask myself questions about what I was doing and expressing to, usually unwilling and uninterested, ears the answers that I had, so far, come up with. One of my colleagues, a stage manager, once said "Why do you talk about it so much? Why don't you just do it?"
I took those words home with me and wondered, not only why I was talking about it but also why no one else was.
I don't know what heaven is, but I know what acting is, and a great performance gives me a feeling of what they call "heaven on earth." And I know that performing a task, no matter how simple or complicated in may be is a divine opportunity. But it should always be done with the mind open for the inspiration that comes from the real heaven. That's what prepares us to get there.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
than he does about heaven,
he might better stick to the horse,
and some day the horse may carry him into heaven.
Charles Ives
**************************
Substitute for horse the word, violin, or kitchen, or garden, or farm, or fishing boat, or aircraft, or whatever and you have it. The trick is to do what most people never do which is to look behind the thing that occupies your time and attention to find and understand the true, invisible reality behind it.
What does it really mean to tune a violin, wash and chop a potato, stick a hoe in the ground or plow a field? I have heard farmers and pilots talk about what they do in very metaphysical terms. It took me a long time to begin to take that kind of thinking seriously. It's just a potato. What's the big deal? A potato is always just a potato, but it has a deeper meaning in the over all cosmic scheme of things.
You are laughing.
About midway through my career I began to ask myself questions about what I was doing and expressing to, usually unwilling and uninterested, ears the answers that I had, so far, come up with. One of my colleagues, a stage manager, once said "Why do you talk about it so much? Why don't you just do it?"
I took those words home with me and wondered, not only why I was talking about it but also why no one else was.
I don't know what heaven is, but I know what acting is, and a great performance gives me a feeling of what they call "heaven on earth." And I know that performing a task, no matter how simple or complicated in may be is a divine opportunity. But it should always be done with the mind open for the inspiration that comes from the real heaven. That's what prepares us to get there.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Heroic Harbinger - follow up
This is in response to the excellent comments I recieved on my issue called Heroic Harbinger of last night. In light of those comments I reread my essay and the only thing I find wrong with it is that it is not complete. But to completely address the issues might take a hundred pages.
First of all to probe deeply into such topics and to reason through them in the attempt to answer seemingly unanswerable questions does NOT make one an atheist.
I state "We have the right and obligation, by the way we live, to announce to all creation just what it is capable of." Why is that not to reflect back to the creator its own creation? Surely an act of love.
I also state "We are the pinnacle of earthly creation." That statement does not preclude a greater existence in the universe than ours.
My struggle has been to pass along in some viable way a lesson I have learned and am still learning which is to not oversimplify my own existence, to not cast my unknowns into the lap of God or gods and let it go at that, to not accept without question the doxology of some religious system of explanation and walk away with a cross, or some other "sign," on me, but, instead, to think for myself trusting that the creator has given me the freedom , right and ability to do that.
DB - The Vagabond
First of all to probe deeply into such topics and to reason through them in the attempt to answer seemingly unanswerable questions does NOT make one an atheist.
I state "We have the right and obligation, by the way we live, to announce to all creation just what it is capable of." Why is that not to reflect back to the creator its own creation? Surely an act of love.
I also state "We are the pinnacle of earthly creation." That statement does not preclude a greater existence in the universe than ours.
My struggle has been to pass along in some viable way a lesson I have learned and am still learning which is to not oversimplify my own existence, to not cast my unknowns into the lap of God or gods and let it go at that, to not accept without question the doxology of some religious system of explanation and walk away with a cross, or some other "sign," on me, but, instead, to think for myself trusting that the creator has given me the freedom , right and ability to do that.
DB - The Vagabond
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