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Vision River
Pro Reefer
Joined: 12 Jul 2008
Posts: 222
Location: Europe
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 Post subject: Seed of a Songwriting Idea |
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Are there any composers reading who would possibly create a song with me?
I wrote a poem that seems to have potential, but don't have the experience to make it into a song. I wouldn't mind having a variety of versions.
The poem is written in response to graffiti I saw on a wall. The writing contains the f word, and I respect Rob's wish to not have swearing on the board so won't post it here.
However, if you are interested, the poem is online at the Acts of Peace site (link below) along with an animated GIF showing two photos of the graffiti that inspired it.
You can find the poem and photos by clicking the "An Easy Fix?" link in the Recently Published section on the left side of the home page.
Cheers!
_________________
http://www.actsofpeace.net
Last edited by Vision River on Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sat Aug 09, 2008 11:39 am
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bardofely
Supreme Reefer
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Posts: 3292
Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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I´ll have a lok at might give it a go but can't promise anything as I am too busy already.
I was sad to see graffiti etched into giant bamboo stems and the massive leaves of agaves in the botanic gardens in Puerto. Some idiots had also been shaving off the bark, which had already killed some stems. Kids in Cardiff do this to trees. There was a sign saying "Please respect the plants" but clearly the people who wrote their names and other messages didn't! Why do humans always have to destroy natural beauty and what is the answer?
_________________
Find out more about me here: http://www.myspacetenerife.com/index.php?page=view_profile&id=10 |
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Sat Aug 09, 2008 12:38 pm
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Vision River
Pro Reefer
Joined: 12 Jul 2008
Posts: 222
Location: Europe
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| Post subject: Seed of an Idea |
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| bardofely wrote: | I´ll have a lok at might give it a go but can't promise anything as I am too busy already.
I was sad to see graffiti etched into giant bamboo stems and the massive leaves of agaves in the botanic gardens in Puerto. Some idiots had also been shaving off the bark, which had already killed some stems. Kids in Cardiff do this to trees. There was a sign saying "Please respect the plants" but clearly the people who wrote their names and other messages didn't! Why do humans always have to destroy natural beauty and what is the answer? |
Those are big questions, Bard.
We've noticed that in areas of the greatest natural beauty, the surrounding population is usually 'denser' in its consciousness.
It is difficult for me to understand how people can drop their cigarette butts or trash on the ground in a national park, for example. People who cut into a living being such as a tree, and for egoistical purposes, are just another sign of the density we live in.
Giving an answer probably has to touch on human psychology -- such as lack of self awareness and self esteem and disconnection from the environment. Most people function on patterns of habitual behavior.
I used to feel a lot of anger about human society and am more neutral now, as anger only fuels the sense of separation. I feel compassion towards (but not superior to) people who are trapped in mass consciousness.
The answer -- well, I feel it lies in raising awareness. The most potent way for this to happen could be through the public school system, to reach young people before they have completely stiffened their mental function.
The school system is quite sick also, of course. But it could be penetrated.
The graffiti I responded to in poetry is painted on a wall in a German college town. And no need to promise anything, Bard. I just put out the seed of an idea and am not attached to outcome. Thanks!
_________________
http://www.actsofpeace.net |
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Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:17 pm
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bardofely
Supreme Reefer
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Posts: 3292
Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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It's something that has both saddened and angered me all my life. In my childhood, boys in a park near where I lived used to catch what are now endangered Great Crested Newts, not to take them home and keep in a tank or their own pond or just to catch them and let them go but to call them "salamanders" and put them on the grass and throw sheath knives at. They did the same to the now nearly extinct Medicinal Leech. When I was much older in the years before I came here I lived on a council estate where besides damaging trees the kids would wait until a sunflower or daffodil was in bloom and then snap it off. An old lady who was one of my neighbours eventually gave up growing flowers in the front garden because this happened so often. If you asked these kids why they did it they might say "Cos I wanted to!"
It seems that we have kids here who do likewise but here they shave bark off bamboo and cut their names into trunks and large plants. It's all similar destructiveness and it starts at an early age.
_________________
Find out more about me here: http://www.myspacetenerife.com/index.php?page=view_profile&id=10 |
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Sat Aug 09, 2008 5:03 pm
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Vision River
Pro Reefer
Joined: 12 Jul 2008
Posts: 222
Location: Europe
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| Post subject: Answer? |
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| bardofely wrote: | | It's something that has both saddened and angered me all my life. .... |
Well, Bard, I can relate.
I seethed with anger toward humanity in my teens and wrote a paper titled "Man," expressing how I felt.... the way man treats animals as objects and possessions and the inhumanity of man towards each other.
Well, to make a long story short, I was essentially put into exile in the deep wilderness for a summer at age 15 because of my "anti-social" behavior. My family didn't know what else to do with me. It is probably the same for all who have a sensitivity towards the whole of life, that they feel isolated.
The behavior you describe, that saddens and angers you, is considered "normal" or no big deal by most people.
There is, in my opinion, no real answer short of an intense global awakening.
I understand how you feel.
_________________
http://www.actsofpeace.net |
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Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:05 pm
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bardofely
Supreme Reefer
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Posts: 3292
Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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"The behavior you describe, that saddens and angers you, is considered "normal" or no big deal by most people."
Yes, I know! people don't seem to think anything is wrong with stuff that horrifies me!
And on the subject of people who throw litter and rubbish that you mentioned earlier I have noticed that all sorts of people are guilty of this and again "it's no big deal" for many people. I have seen very smartly dressed people drop litter and parents with children doing it too. I was disgusted some months back when a team of workmen doing maintenance spent all day hacking down a lot of shrubs in the border outside here and pulling up Century Plants and then with rubbish and litter they had found in the border too they threw it all over the wall into the barranco where it still lies and has been added to with broken fencing, plastic water bottles, drink cans, paint tins and plastic bags. The beautiful barranco with wild plants and lizards and birds and butterflies is becoming a rubbish dump. In the UK they would at least have taken the rubbish away with them on the lorry! This mess was created by paid Icod workmen and done in broad daylight. When I see this sort of example being set is it any surprise when people chuck an empty can or a food wrapper on the street?
_________________
Find out more about me here: http://www.myspacetenerife.com/index.php?page=view_profile&id=10 |
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Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:45 pm
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Vision River
Pro Reefer
Joined: 12 Jul 2008
Posts: 222
Location: Europe
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| Post subject: A Trickle of Truth |
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| bardofely wrote: | | Yes, I know! people don't seem to think anything is wrong with stuff that horrifies me!.... This mess was created by paid Icod workmen and done in broad daylight. When I see this sort of example being set is it any surprise when people chuck an empty can or a food wrapper on the street? |
Bard of Ely,
What I write is from my own viewpoint, with no intention or expectation of convincing anyone who might be reading. It is a rare opportunity for me to put out writing that is a little deeper, a little more authentic -- on a public platform. I am aware that others are reading, and won't let loose with all that I feel, but here goes with a trickle....
The government won't be an example of expanded awareness. Government mentality is part of the problem, not the solution. Only those with sensitivity towards the whole of life can be an example.
Individuals can follow their own inner guidance and their own truth, whatever the examples or influences may be around them. It takes courage, of course, to stand against mass consciousness. Individuals are responsible for their own choices and actions, no matter the circumstances. That is self-empowerment.
Now, I don't want to offend you Bard, and this is in no way a criticism. I still just “practice" what I preach, not live it fully. I still have times of feeling resistance, anger, sadness, etc.
I am saddened by malicious behavior, and have an affinity with bamboo. I could not see it maliciously damaged without feeling some sadness.
Allowing ourselves to be absorbed in anger, sadness or horror, though, is also part of the problem, not the solution. These emotions are energy (energies in motion = e-motion.) Energy is real, and has a real effect in the world. You may already know this and I am not trying to be a teacher!
There are energies which contribute to the problem and energies that contribute to the solution. So if you and I want to be an example, we have to be aware of our own energies as well as our actions.
A true story:
Demonstrators against war lined the street of an American town, dressed in black and waving signs such as "No More War!"
I was curious to hear their viewpoint, so engaged a woman in conversation. She was full of bitterness and anger towards the American government and its wars. I realized that her energy of anger actually contributed to the energy of the actions she was protesting.
*
To make a difference with our example, we (those who are on this wavelength) have to rise above the lower emotions to the higher feelings such as compassion, courage and confidence from love. That doesn't mean to suppress anger. Emotions buried alive never die.
There is nothing 'wrong' with the lower emotions. They just 'are' what they are. Seeing things as right or wrong is again part of the problem, not the solution. My practice is to feel the emotion, acknowledge it, and let it pass through without lingering -- with a focus on who I am, really. That is a way to be an example and make a difference.
_________________
http://www.actsofpeace.net |
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 6:03 am
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bardofely
Supreme Reefer
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Posts: 3292
Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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I agree with most of what you say apart from this "Seeing things as right or wrong is again part of the problem, not the solution."
We live in a Yin/Yang universe of duality and our minds analyse in terms of opposites so something is either one thing or another, or more one polarity than the other, or an equal split.
If I consider rubbish thrown on the countryside the "wrongness" far outweighs any "goodness".
On the goodness side the only factors for consideration are that it got rid of the rubbish from where it was, the men who did it "earned" their pay, and that eventually after a very long time it will be destroyed by natural causes, and thirdly that a very small percentage of wildlife such as rats and spiders perhaps would appreciate it.
On the wrongness side it has made an unpleasant to the eye impact aesthetically, it has set a bad example that others of sheep mentality follow by adding to the mess, it covers plants and animals that were living there, it puts material that is not easily biodegradable into the environment (plastic bags, tin cans and bottles), it promotes a lazy way of dealing with a problem - push it someplace else - and it adds objects like bags and containers to the habitat which are a known danger to small animals that can get trapped in them.
The solutions are: pick it all up either personally and/or enlist the help of others and take recyclables from the rubbish to recycling units, tell people about it in the hope that others would look around and see such examples and take action, organise countryside cleanup teams.
_________________
Find out more about me here: http://www.myspacetenerife.com/index.php?page=view_profile&id=10 |
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:12 am
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Vision River
Pro Reefer
Joined: 12 Jul 2008
Posts: 222
Location: Europe
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| Post subject: Problem and Solution |
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| bardofely wrote: | I agree with most of what you say apart from this "Seeing things as right or wrong is again part of the problem, not the solution."
We live in a Yin/Yang universe of duality and our minds analyse in terms of opposites so something is either one thing or another, or more one polarity than the other, or an equal split. |
Well, we are writing from opinion here, and I don't say your opinion is wrong! We just see things differently.
I see the human mind in its present condition as being the largest part of the problem.
And I question that the universe is Yin/Yang. Is the universe Yin/Yang, or is that just the way it is seen through the duality of mass consciousness?
Certainly, there are natural laws and universal forces which are polarities - positive and negative electrical charges for example. Or, we could say night and day are opposites. But seeing night and day as opposite is from a socially conditioned human perspective.
And the Yin/Yang of right and wrong has nothing to do with the polarities of natural law. Right and wrong are subjective moral judgments.
I see things from a perspective of integrating human life with the most fundamental state of the universe, where quantum physicists and mystics have some agreement - where there are no longer any distinctions and all is one.
| bardofely wrote: | | The solutions are: pick it all up either personally and/or enlist the help of others and take recyclables from the rubbish to recycling units, tell people about it in the hope that others would look around and see such examples and take action, organise countryside cleanup teams. |
Absolutely, that is part of the solution. From my perspective, it is the smaller part. For example, when we traveled through Mexico, we were told about the habit of the people to take their trash to a canyon which was known to flood in the rainy season. The canyon would fill with their trash, a flood would hit and wash it to the beaches, the people would pick it up and throw it back into the canyon! True story! And the teller slyly called it "Mexican Recycling."
In America, there is an Adopt-A-Highway program. Businesses and organizations volunteer their employees to pick up roadside trash. Actually, instead of inspiring others to not litter, it has another effect. Some people throw their trash and say, well, that’s what Adopt-A-Highway is for. They will pick it up! At least the program gives the ones who bag the trash some exercise and maybe fresh air and sunshine. It is the American version of Mexican recycling, but at least not with the same trash.
But definitely, clean up the rubbish. Next month it will be back, that doesn't matter. Sometimes actions have to be short-sighted to have an immediate effect.
I worked three years in the mail-room of a six hundred employee corporate headquarters where two tons -- two tons! -- of recyclable paper went into the dumpster every month, to pile up in the overburdened Atlanta landfill.
The company was headed by a tough former military man who set strict rules. One was there were to be no communications sent to all divisions of the company. There had been mergers and acquisitions, and feelings between divisions were strained.
I educated myself about recycling and took the information to a manager. But because recycling would not make any profit, it was not important. It would not cost the company anything, and actually could save them money if they would see the whole picture, but no, the effort was not worthwhile for the bottom line.
So I wrote a passionate letter about recycling to all departments. On my last day of two weeks notice, since I pushed a mail cart through the six floor buildings -- I distributed the letter with the mail to all departments.
Yes, the poop hit the fan. If it were not my last day, I would have been fired on the spot.
About five years later, I called the manager and apologized for the way I had broken the rules and put him on the spot. He was delighted to hear from me and said "We are still re-cycling!"
So, in that case, an action did make a difference. My letter could be considered the educational portion. It was potent enough to reach their hearts and initiate a shift in their consciousness.
I don't believe for a minute that just doing clean-ups, without tending to the consciousness of the people, will have any meaningful effect. Hoping that others will look around and take action is a false hope.
_________________
http://www.actsofpeace.net |
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:07 am
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bardofely
Supreme Reefer
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Posts: 3292
Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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"And I question that the universe is Yin/Yang. Is the universe Yin/Yang, or is that just the way it is seen through the duality of mass consciousness? "
Well, at one level no it is not a Yin/Yang universe and no it is not made of opposing polarities but is just energy or spirit or chi or however you want to think of it and it just IS! But for the sake of communication and understanding we divide things according to qualities and according to their polarities. A man or a woman makes a lot more sense to most people than a "being of energy". Humans do this dividing and apportioning quality based on polar opposites. Thus we have Gods and Goddesses, men and women, day and night, happy and sad, sweet and sour etc etc.
"I see the human mind in its present condition as being the largest part of the problem." - that statement makes complete sense to me, however, it appears that this is how it has functioned for the majority in recorded history, so what is going to change it now? People thousands of years ago divided the world into good and bad, angels and demons, day and night etc.
We do this constantly - the process of categorising every impression our senses receive. Is a sensual impression beneficial or harmful, enjoyable or unpleasant, wanted or not wanted, lighter or darker, warmer or colder and so on.
Animals do this too - they enjoy or dislike, they recognise male and female, they respond to darkness or light, hot or cold.
_________________
Find out more about me here: http://www.myspacetenerife.com/index.php?page=view_profile&id=10 |
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:38 am
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Vision River
Pro Reefer
Joined: 12 Jul 2008
Posts: 222
Location: Europe
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| Post subject: Duality and Polarity |
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| bardofely wrote: | | But for the sake of communication and understanding we divide things according to qualities and according to their polarities. A man or a woman makes a lot more sense to most people than a "being of energy". Humans do this dividing and apportioning quality based on polar opposites. Thus we have Gods and Goddesses, men and women, day and night, happy and sad, sweet and sour etc etc. |
Well said.
| bardofely wrote: | | "I see the human mind in its present condition as being the largest part of the problem." - that statement makes complete sense to me, however, it appears that this is how it has functioned for the majority in recorded history, so what is going to change it now? People thousands of years ago divided the world into good and bad, angels and demons, day and night etc. |
True, "this is how it has functioned for the majority in recorded history," but there have been notable breakthroughs and shifts in consciousness. Some forward in essential evolution and some backward. Newtonian science had a backward effect. Certainly it brought technological advances, but accompanied by an entrenched world-view of separate objects and organisms.
Some pockets of indigenous societies were more essentially evolved than we see in the world condition today! They had a rudimentary understanding with some aspects of their lifestyle based on the earth as an organism with which they were interconnected.
Quantum science has potential to initiate a forward effect.
[Whoops, I better clarify that, in case there are any physicists reading this. They don’t consider quantum physics to be science. Not yet.]
I consider quantum physics to be science-in-the-making. It definitely is on a road of truth which leads to essential evolution.
Regarding the effect of more enlightened education -
A man who worked in a program to help developing countries told me about two cultures on Sri Lanka which had been in conflict for many generations. People in a walled village were exposed to an educational program initiated by Gandhi.
Some time later, my friend observed that the two cultures within the walls of the village lived in harmony, while outside the walls they were still killing each other.
I am not saying a global shift in consciousness would be easy to effect. It starts on an individual basis. When those who are on the fence about it see the benefits it brings to those who are living it, they will get off their butts.
It trickles into the educational system, on a small scale at first. Schools which stand out from others are used as models. Eventually, maybe in our lifetimes, maybe not, the shift in consciousness takes root.
Look at the public attitude towards cigarette smoking. You and I can remember when it was considered very fashionable and the "right" thing to do. With constant, hard-hitting education over the years about its true nature and harmful effects, cigarette smokers have become social outcasts in at least some places in advanced nations.
| bardofely wrote: | | We do this constantly - the process of categorising every impression our senses receive. Is a sensual impression beneficial or harmful, enjoyable or unpleasant, wanted or not wanted, lighter or darker, warmer or colder and so on. |
Yes, Kati and I had an intense discussion about this very subject last night.
It becomes complex and subtle.
I feel the duality comes in with judgment and resistance.
It has nothing to do with my idea of duality to say one thing is hot and another is cold -- unless my words or thoughts carry the energy of judgment.
I distinguish duality from polarity -- duality is charged with a lower emotional energy which separates from the whole -- polarity is emotionally neutral. But even an unemotional conviction can be from a dualistic mindset, including some convictions held by logical intellectuals. So there is more to this…..
| bardofely wrote: | | Animals do this too - they enjoy or dislike, they recognize male and female, they respond to darkness or light, hot or cold. |
So, my versions of duality and polarity address this. Animals don't judge. They function from instinct in response to polarities, not from a dualistic world-view as I define those terms. 
_________________
http://www.actsofpeace.net |
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 10:15 am
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rob
Moderator
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 7707
Location: Tenerife
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What's all this to do with Tenerife music?
_________________
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Who am I? Follow the myspacetenerife link under my avatar.
Remember: You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing. |
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 3:47 pm
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Vision River
Pro Reefer
Joined: 12 Jul 2008
Posts: 222
Location: Europe
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| Post subject: Tenerife Music |
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| rob wrote: | | What's all this to do with Tenerife music? |
It started with my post asking Tenerife musicians if they might be interested in songwriting together.
But I won't go on with it here.
_________________
http://www.actsofpeace.net |
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:51 pm
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bardofely
Supreme Reefer
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Posts: 3292
Location: Playa San Marcos, Tenerife
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:55 pm
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