Tag: George Harrison

“We were talking about the space between us all”

George Harrison

“It’s always the same story. For a fact that interests us, touches us, it is necessary that it becomes part of our inner life, it is necessary that it does not originate far from us, that is the people we know, people who belong to the circle of our human space.”

Antonio Gramsci

“Hasta allí Gramsci. Siempre un adelantado. Siempre con los que sufren.”

Osvaldo Bayer

We all need justice and safety, none more than Jews in the wake of the Holocaust. But apparently those “filthy Arabs” are humans too. An artificial redefinition of space known as “a new nation” can be founded for ostensibly “humane” reasons but use patently inhumane means of achievement.

I thought in a “constitutional” “democracy” we were supposed to all agree on certain basic organic principles (not including freedom from want and fear, of course) and then work out the details with voting?–unless, of course, we are Native Peoples, African Americans, or European Americans who happened to be poor in the temperate Atlantic region of North America in the late 1700’s. What could possibly go wrong? For a contemporary answer to this non-academic question, so dependent on militarization and deception, look to the southeastern side of the Mediterranean Sea.

Has this already seemed like a long winter, even though the calendar tells us that nearly two months remain until the first day of spring?  Although some areas of the country have escaped the worst ravages of winter, many would welcome relief from heavy snow, icy roads, and freezing temperatures.  The current succession of one stinging disappointment after another, as we learn the news of each new day, seems to have mirrored the weather.  

Surrender to despair, especially when fatigued to the point of sheer exhaustion, can present a tempting option. Upon sober reflection, we quickly realize that quitting is not in our nature. Although the escape route out of the frightening labyrinth in which we find ourselves may seem hopelessly elusive, we must continue to choose survival — not just for our own benefit, but that of our loved ones, as well as those who share our quest.

We must maintain our vitality since once our ability to strive ends, in many respects, so does life.   Like the mammalian sea creatures of the deep, we, too, must occasionally come up for air.  Drugs are the choice of some (alcohol is technically a drug as well), although there are oftentimes matters of illegality, potential addiction and unpleasant sequelae to consider.  

Music presents us with a less dramatic, but far more benign option.  Yes, music can be mood altering.  Depending upon the song we are hearing, and its context, we may become angry, sad, energized, relaxed, exalted, nostalgic or pleasantly uplifted.

Rather than presenting extensive social commentary as a background for a song loaded with political implications, this week’s choice offers a rather pleasant, innocent, and hopeful message.  Hopefully, it may serve as a partial antidote to the seemingly constant barrage of unpleasant news that seems to await us each day.

The featured song this week never did appear on the Billboard Top 100 when first released in 1969, however, the album on which it was included ranks #14 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  This song was recorded from July 7-August 19, 1969, and the album was released on September 26, 1969.  

The title of this week’s song, serving as perhaps the antithesis to Bill Withers’ 1971 song, “Ain’t No Sunshine”, is the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”, written by George Harrison and featured on the Abbey Road album.  

This diary is all about the Beatles.  It is not particularly political or topical, though some politics do sneak in.  I offer it here mainly as a diversion.

I work on diaries like this when I need something calming, something to stave off however briefly the unyielding onslaught of relentlessly bad news – something to ease my woe and soothe my worried mind.  Reminiscing can sometimes do that for me, and what more pleasant subject to reminisce about than music?  Sweeter still, to my taste, the Beatles.  Not to dismiss all the other greats, I love them all, but the Beatles were special in my life.  

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup

They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe

John Lennon – Across the Universe

This diary grew out of a comment in The Dream Before the Awakening.  The comment was:

Do we really need more hippies?

You can shut out the world for the sake of achieving inner peace or whatever. It’s crazy to pretend, though, that if you get others to join you, the fundamental problems facing our future will go away.

I want to ask people to get engineering degrees, to become doctors, to learn the law, to learn about climate science – and to use this information to do good. Iin this world we need more Jane Goodalls and Barack Obamas, not George Harrisons.

Note:  This diary relies heavily on three brilliant videos from the TED conferences.  They’re a little longer than your average music video but they present what I consider to be some very important ideas as well as being very interesting and entertaining.  I urge you to watch them all in their entirety.  I think you’ll be pleased that you did.  Gracias.

Our entire improbable existence is the outcome of a long chain of bizarre circumstances, happenstances, accidents and experiments.  Human society has never been anything more than a jackleg improvised house of cards – the rise and fall of civilizations themselves something of a mirage in motion, houses of smoke and mirrors, patchwork quilts comprised of dreams, hallucinations, insight and insanity, traditions and superstitions.  We’ve been making it up as we went all along.  Human society is an organism unto itself and subject with any certainty only to natural laws.  It is understood poorly at best and nothing at all about it has ever been guaranteed.  As Lithium Cola says, “what made you think any of this was ever going to work out anyway?”

The one true and lasting gift that the hippies tried to give the world is precisely that which has been offered by every wise or holy man or woman to ever walk the earth – the gift of love.  Love as a conscious choice, love as an ethic, love as a way of life, love as the antidote to fear, hatred and violence – love as a way to walk lightly on the earth.

cross posted at Dailykos.com

Just thinking about the amount of change that our country needs to return to an actual Democracy is extremely taxing mentally, spiritually and emotionally.

As I have read these diaries I have almost decided to stop even bothering with politics or believing in social change.  It seems that we are stuck in a society that feeds upon human blood, takes advantage of the poor, and begins war out of a desire for quick profit for the rich, while keeping it out of the eyes of a media dazed public…AND NOBODY CARES. 

DailyKos must make this information from this website available to the world.  Some have taken to the streets in D.C.  Others make documentaries, post things on our car windows, houses and etc. 

These things will attract more attention, however, we need a complete revolution of conciousness if change is to occur.

In the hope that seeds of vast change will blossom before we are screwed 30 years from now with even more war, death, poverty, overpopulation; I suggest the soothing, meditative qualities of music to bring us back to the present challenge.

So music lovers of DKOS:  What songs are most enlightening to you right now as you seek change?