Rebel With A Cause

 

 MILDRED:

 What are you rebelling against, Johnny

 JOHNNY:

What have you got?

 

In 1953 Marlon Brando roared into a small town somewhere in America and with him the teenager was born. Surly and monosyllabic, Brando stalked the screen making the girls melt and the boys buy leather jackets. However, Brando was not like the character he portrayed. When he died all of his acting memorabilia, bar one photograph, a picture of him and co-star/lover Rita Moreno, was in his shed and his house was full of books and blueprints for his inventions. Brando became the greatest actor of all time by rebelling against Hollywood convention.

 

‘There’s something absurd about it…people will go…into a darkened room…with (their) fantasy. The person up on the screen… kissing the woman (they) want to kiss…being brave in a way that (they) want to be brave.’ (Brando) Being rebels in their fantasies.

 

Camus said that there is no such thing as a rebel for once one becomes a rebel one is bound by the convention of the rebel, indeed, it seems, to be a real rebel one must be one’s own self.

 

‘When he holds my hand, I’m so proud

‘Cause he’s not just one of the crowd

…

He’s a rebel ’cause he never ever ever does what he should’

 

(The Crystals)

 

If one considers the history of the world then one will, possibly to their surprise, discover that the greatest rebels in history have been gentle, mild mannered people. Jesus Christ went around saying wouldn’t it be great if people were nice to one another and that temples should be used to pray and not make money? Jesus found himself before not one but two of the political heavy weights who offered him an easy out- explain what you mean and you can walk. Jesus smiled for he knew that they would not be able to understand the truth, and, after all, it was his truth and no one else’s business. Socrates, on the other hand, decided to try to educate those who oppressed him. Given three options- a fine, exile or death. Socrates laughed and said- I don’t care about money, if I can’t get on in Athens (the centre birthplace of the modern world- science, philosophy etc) then I am unlikely to get on better elsewhere and you can kill me but I don’t know the context so I can’t have an opinion on whether it is good or bad (Kierkegaard said this was the birth of irony). Clearly shaken, the wise elders of Athens sentenced him to death.

 

Another great rebel was the Buddha- not only did he go against the ruling classes but he also went against the rebels. By saying that abstinence from the world is as equally bad as hedonism, the Buddha preached moderation.

 

Mozart wrote a piece of music called ‘Leck mich im Arsch’ which literally translates as ‘lick my arse’, the scamp.

 

Rebels are often feared by society simply because they cannot be controlled (Dr Robert Oppenhiemer was made the leader of the Manhattan Project because he could be controlled by the trappings- a nice army uniform, the approval of the generals as opposed to ‘Albert, comb your hair’- *dismissive look*- ‘Teller do as I say!’ ‘Who do you think you are to talk to me, the great Edward Teller!’) and whilst the presiding model of the rebel is the inarticulate rebel without a storyline a true rebel is simply a person who is true to one’s self and is not a rebel at all.

 

 

‘till next time!

On The Nature Of God

 

 

The title of this entry is very carefully chosen- the nature of God- not an enquiry into the existence of God for one can categorically say that God does not exist, for to exist one must be finite- have a beginning and an end. God is, for lack of a better word, beyond existence with no beginning or end but is complete. As to the exact properties of God I cannot say as all meaning is dependent upon context and without experiencing God one cannot know the context, one cannot even say if God is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for everything that is good or bad can be bad or good depending on context.

 

In his Ethics, Spinoza explains the nature of God in a scientific manner, showing how everything that ‘is’ is an aspect of God, that the divine lies in the details, for it not to be would be ‘absurd’, yet Saint Augustine asks how can one come to God if one is within God? indeed Rumi wrote ‘he is closer to you than yourself’. Most come to God through prayer, however Kierkegaard points out that prayer does not change God, rather it changes one who prays which raises another question- does God take an active role or passive in the lives of man?

 

In mythology, the early Gods were made in the image of man and were petty and, well, ‘human, all too human’. Everything that ‘was’ was because of the Gods. Such early enquiries into the nature of the gods gave rise to science. Is it surprising that the culture and time period that gave us modern philosophy also gave us science?

 

Aristotle’s nature of the universe was held as sacred until Galileo Galilei showed that the earth orbited the sun, not visa-versa, thus disproving a thousand years of scientific fact. Fact itself is simply opinion that enough people agree on to call it ‘true’ and is not science, philosophy and theology the same? The search for a higher meaning, a truth? Is not the search for a unified theory the same as the search for intelligent design (a designer)?

 

Yet God is not solely a cerebral abstract, rather there is an emotional component to it. Two of the most important documents for me are Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne (he himself was broken– Jesus in the cross (no pun intended) between the finite and the eternal) and (I walked into this empty church, I had no place to go…the sweetest voice I ever heard came whispering to my soul/I don’t need to be forgiven for loving you so much). Here, I believe, is the crux of the matter- whilst God is a higher concept of the mind, it is often emotional need that drives one to God- many of the great theologians (Luther, Buhdda, the aforementioned et al) all suffered emotional distress that took them to God which means that, surely, the dogma surrounding God can be done away with and the teachings of the great religious figures be used as, well, gospel, for all the greats preach one thing, love, and surely everything else is irrelevant?

 

‘till next time!

Rebirth (part 3 of 3)

—–

 

Note to reader: this is the third part of a trilogy of personal siginficance hence why the entries are slightly bloated. ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’ and I will exercise it more from the next entry. Thank you for your indulgence

 

—–

 

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small long for survival-this is how they thrive- not according to Nietzsche who said that all things must yearn for destruction of self otherwise they grow stagnant and die. Is it a coincidence that one of the pioneers of electricity, Nikola Tesla, was born during a thunderstorm? Yes it is.

 

 

Death plays a prominent role in many theological practices, changing as the conception of God is changed, and yet its nature is not known, “…either death is a state of nothingness… like the sleep of him who is undisturbed …even the great king, will not find many such days or nights…or…there is a…migration of the soul from this world to another.” (Socrates) however, as with all things finite, there are rules that are inherent and I Ching, science et al are attempts to understand and control that which cannot be understood or controlled.

 

 

Pythagoras spent many years in China and there he learnt of Buddhism (he then spread it to the rest of Asia meaning that Buddhism not from India and China is actually Pyrrhonism, a Greek derivative) and the logical foundation that only a few were good or bad enough for paradise/hell and most were reborn appealed to the Greek philosophers.

 

On Yom Yippur it is inscribed into the book of life who will live and die, however God may be swayed by prayer but before one can go to God and repent one must first, on Erev Yom Kippur, find forgiveness in the mortal realm.

 

The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife and lived to prepare for it, however, the exact nature of the art of mummification was passed down by the oral tradition and any insight into the exact nature of theory behind it was probably lost when the library at Alexandria was razed to the ground, along with, now lost, Plato, Aristotle and, possibly, the original old testaments explaining the exact nature of them in context.

 

For many it is considered to be glorious to die in battle. In the Iliad, Achilles wants to die in battle so that his name will echo in eternity, however when, in the Odyssey, Odysseus comes upon his former comrade in the Hades, Achilles rather bitterly tells Odysseus that there is no glory in death- in death there is only death.

 

To be reborn, to change, requires great personal strength (‘You are fighting for the truth, and that’s why you are alone…and the strong must learn to be lonely’- Arthur Miller) and when one transmigrates/ transfigures one must do so without any residual harmful emotions that may weigh one down and prevent either the ‘migration of the soul from this world…or…to another sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by the sight of dreams’.

 

However, Immanuel Kant said that one does not act unless one is backed into a corner and Kafka said ‘there is a point of no return and this is the point that must be reached’ for only then can one move on to the next phase of their existence. Ghosts linger as they cannot move on or are not allowed to move on but time, as the ocean after the great storm, leaves no trace and one must not fear this step but rather embrace it and transcend where they are now and move onto the next stage of being, in Scientological terms going clear or in Buddhist terms reach enlightenment, to put the soul ‘into the wind’ (The Rig Veda (Hindu Scriptures))

 

Evolution takes place on an atomic level and takes place during the gestation ergo that what came before will be different than what comes afterwards (yes folks, the egg came before the chicken) so one must pass through what one is to reach the next stage of one’s being.

 

 

 

 

‘till next time!

 

 

Death (Part Two of Three)

 

 

A few years ago I was in the Royal Academy of Arts looking at some select pieces. Afterwards I was wandering around the rest of the rooms and a painting caught my eye. It was nothing special, the kind that many gaze at, think ‘that’s pretty’, and move on. I glanced at the plaque next to it to see what it said and it told how the painter had been going blind when he painted the sunset, presumably mirroring his fading sight. This struck me cold but what I could not tell was- was the painting relishing the beauty of the world or was the painter, in the words of Dylan Thomas, ‘not go(ing) gentle into that good night’

 

 

Endings and death usually have a negative connotation and many, like me, need a sense of order to life thus making such things absolutely terrifying yet these are basic parts of existence, if not the most basic part, which are no more or less profound than waves of water or light which, when you remove the romanticism, are perfectly functional, indeed we live in an indifferent universe and if there is a God is it a God that takes an active role or one which set things in motion and left them to their natures? I have no idea but as Einstein said, ‘God does not play dice with the universe’, so why fear that which is inevitable and is not death the greatest mystery of all? Albert Camus said that suicide was the only philosophical concept worth thinking about, the great unknown.

 

In many ways life is like Chopin’s Prelude in E Minor (op. 28#4), short, sweet and profoundly beautiful. It is not the ending of the prelude that moves one, it is the journey from the first to the 164^th second and when the music ends one is left in the afterglow of prelude. In many ways the crucifixion of Christ is a gimmick speaking to the nature of people for if one is to read the gospels then one will find a man of true wonderment, a man who truly mattered, but who was not acknowledged by the masses until his death. Jesus’ life is the prelude to his death and, as with Chopin, this is where the true beauty lies.

 

In the late nineteenth, early twentieth centaury, America, there was a young black man called Willie Johnson. Mr Johnson wanted to become a preacher but when he was seven, it is generally considered, his father beat his stepmother for infidelity and then out of spite his stepmother blinded Mr W. Johnson by throwing lye in his face. However, Mr Johnson went on to record some very beautiful gospel-tinged music and one of his songs Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground was included on the 1977 (the year of Star Wars) Voyager probe’s Golden Record. This beautiful piece of music made by some poor black kid who was blinded out of hate and ignorance has left our solar system and will, possibly, be one of the last traces of the human race in time.

 

We cannot fear the inevitable, indeed we must accept it for what it is

 

Remember when the scenery started fading

I held you ’til you learned to walk on air

So don’t look down the ground is gone,

there’s no one waiting anyway

 

So set your restless heart at ease

Take a lesson from these Autumn leaves

They waste no time waiting for the snow

 

(Leonard Cohen)

 

And there may even be some solace in this thought

 

The only things I have passionately loved in life are: Cimarosa, Mozart and Shakespeare. In Milan, in 1820, I wanted to put these words on my gravestone. Everyday I would think of this inscription, firmly believing that I would have no peace of mind except in the grave   (Stendhal)

 

However as Dave Scott, of Apollo 15, was standing on the moon gazing out at all of creation and a lump of rock called Earth he said

 

“As I stand out here in the wonders of the unknown at Hadley, I sort of realise there’s a fundamental truth to our nature. Man must explore…and this is exploration at its greatest!”

 

If you want shivers you can watch footage of him bouncing on the moon saying it- wow

 

But enough of this, in the words of Jack Kerouac

 

 

 

They say “Of course I know

I’ll die, Why shd you mention

It now – Why should I worry

About it – It ll happen

It ll happen – Now

I want a good time –

Excuse me –

It’s a beautiful happy June

Afternoon I want to walk in –

 

 

 

‘till next time!

 

 

 

Birth (Part One of Three)

 

 

I recently wrote a novel (don’t worry, no one else has read it either) called The Sweet Respite of Memory. The dominant theme was one of alchemy in terms of identity- of how one becomes. Whilst I was writing it I considered the central character Auguste, through his memories, in terms of who he was in terms of to himself and in the perception of others. As I was writing the book I realised that Auguste is Auguste throughout at his core. The changes in the book, the process of alchemy, create changes but only in a superficial sense. When all is said and done the Auguste that was at the beginning of the book aged three is the Auguste at the end of the book aged ninety-three.

 

One of the problems of giving people your work to read is that they generally make one of two assumptions- a) it is autobiographical (whilst it is true that fiction is autobiographical in terms of the imagination) or b) it is about them.

 

So, how is our identity created or are we as we always are? The process of identification is a big part of self-discovery, of ‘knowing thy self’ and it is through relation that we come to understand the world (and ourselves), which already are but that we do not acknowledge or recognise (sum ergo cogito).

 

One of the ways that this process happens is through literature, indelible impressions made which are so fragile that they last eternally but that one is in fear of damaging. When I was seventeen/eighteen I read A Descent into the Maelström by Edgar Allan Poe (who studied in Stoke Newington, London as a child in a school which is now a pub- I’ve been there). In the story a man is dragged down into a whirlpool- the details of the story- does he live or die- I cannot remember, I just recall reading the description as he stood there watching the world revolve around him, all of the other things being dragged down with him, and I discovered for the first time true beauty. I have not been able to reread the book in fear of damaging my conception of, and belief in, true beauty.

 

Other books and characters such as the hopeless Prince Myshkin in Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot have helped me to understand and shape myself (which comes first- self or perception of self, the answer I have put already).

 

 

Our notions of ‘self’ are created through relation. If you were in a room full of the most brilliant geniuses you might feel intellectually stupid but if you were in a room with people at the opposite end of the spectrum then you might feel like a genius yourself. Without day you wouldn’t know night blah blah blah.

 

 

The concept of fashion (I say concept because I would not know it if it stood before me) relies on contradiction- it is about expressing your individuality in the same manner as everyone else. As Camus wrote in The Rebel there is no such thing as a rebel for once one becomes a rebel one becomes encased in the concept of the rebel (more of which in a later blog). Our very notions of self are concepts and we generally have little interest in things which fall outside of our conceptions. Pericles said that just because one has no interest in politics does not mean that politics has no interest in you. The world exists without us yet without the personal connections there is no world and we may exist, others can create a conception of us, (and to a certain extent there are aspects of us that we cannot know- mannerisms, perception of us when we are not in the room etc) but we do not exist to us even through we are who we are eternally.

 

 

However, it is import that that from without sparks what is within and not what is without sparking what is without. As the pioneers of rap music Public Enemy (in 1990 they released a song called Fight The Power with one of the most amusing and poignant lyric about racial equality ‘Most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps’ and then in 2012 released an album called Most Of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear On No Stamp…) wrote in their song How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul (Time Is God Refrain))

‘Great people don’t ask comedians, actors and entertainers to lead, great people produce what we need’ – meaning that we have to let the outside bring out what is within, to be ourselves, to be ‘real’ but as the Velveteen Rabbit found (a book that I only found last year- if I had found it before I might have saved a lot of time!)

 

 

“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’

 

‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.

 

‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’

 

‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’

 

‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”    

 

 

Life is a journey of discovery and balance must be found between solitude and the social world for nothing, not even ourselves, is made without relation and what is made cannot come into being if it does not already exist within some conception (I think that answers nature vs nurture for you, tee hee)

 

 

‘till next time!