Feeling Good - Nina Simone

Hello Everybody ! I hope you are well  today and loving life! I've been wondering which song to tackle next in the blog and haven't posted for nearly a month because none of the potential candidates were really grabbing me. I wasn't really feeling the love with any of them. Anyway I heard Feeling Good come through my iPhone this morning and knew straight away that it would be the topic of my next post!

Like a couple of the other songs we've discussed on the blog this song is so well known and so much part of our musical cultural heritage that I've been guilty of not really listening to the lyrics. I've heard them but never really listened properly. There have been so many versions in recent years from Muse, to Buble, to various X-Factor protagonists that I can't remember the last time I really listened to the seminal (if not original) 1965 Nina Simone version. Whichever version you like best though - these are the amazing lyrics:

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel.

It's a new dawn, It's a new day, It's a new life for me yeahIt's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me 
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree you know how I feel

It's a new dawn, It's a new day, It's a new life for me
And I'm feeling good

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done that's what I mean
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world for me

Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel

It's a new dawn, It's a new day, It's a new life for meAnd I'm feeling good

___________________________________________

The format is super simple verse / chorus / verse / chorus and the message in the lyrics that stands out to me is the connection that we can feel to all aspects of our reality, through all our senses. The fish, the river that the fish are in, and the blossom on the tree next to the river all know how I feel. They are not separate from me  - but intimately connected. 

The dragonfly out in the sun, and the butterflies having fun know how to live life and have much to teach us. Act natural and don't get too stressed! And when its time to sleep - sleep in peace without a care in the world.

The chorus takes up this theme that everyday is a new day, with a new dawn and an opportunity for a new life for every one of us. 

Even the stars shining know how I feel, the scent of the pine too. I love the way the lyrics appeal to our different senses here: feeling, sight, smell, touch. And then - not only do all aspects of reality know how I feel, but through my experiences of reality I know how I feel - and I'm feeling good.

Its a truly beautiful message. We are instrinsically connected with nature - not separate from it. The universe cradles us, understands us and can even sympathise with how we feel. This overwhelming feeling of cosmic consciousness and shared experience is one that has recurred time and time again to people of all cultures through all time.

"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper" W.B. Yeats

"The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here, and you are out there" Yasutani Roshi

"To drop into being means to recognise your interconnectedness with all life, and with being itself. Your very nature is being part of larger and larger spheres of wholeness" Jon Kabat-Zinn

"Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better" Albert Einstein

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin" William Shakespeare

"Earth laughs in flowers" Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Enjoy today and remember you have another chance tomorrow !

Megalomaniac - Incubus

For my 11th post I want to tackle a song that might allow us to highlight one of the major differences in outlook between the exoteric messages of the great monotheistic religions and their guarded, esoteric, mystical teachings reserved for the initiated.

Christianity has a rich mystical heritage through a long line of initiated adepts: sects such as the Anabaptists, Levellers, Brothers of the free spirit and the Quakers. Deeper mystical schools developed independently in the form of The Freemasons, Rosicrucians and The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Judaism has most famously the Kabbalists but a great mystical heritage through the Essenes (from which both John the Baptist and Jesus emerged) to the Hasidic tradition still flourishing today.

Islam has the Sufi mystical sect most notably espoused by the illuminated poetry of Rumi.

For many years I struggled with the notion that an open, egalitarian religion such as Christianity (claims to be) should maintain a more secretive wealth of inner teachings reserved for the few. This seemed horribly unfair and I couldn't reconcile the words of Jesus "Do not cast your pearls before swine" Matthew ch.7 v.6. with his broader message of the equality of all human beings. Surely the inside knowledge or inner teaching should be available to everyone.

The song Megolomaniac by Incubus explains why the true (and near identical) inner teachings of the these three great religions are reserved for those who are able to deal with it. Incidentally as an Incubus is a mythical creature their inclusion in this blog seems entirely appropriate! Its a cracking song too, which is a further prerequisite for analysis here!
Here are the lyrics:

1. I hear you on the radio
You permeate my screen, its' unkind but
If I met you in a scissor fight
I'd cut off both your wings on principle alone
On principle alone

2. Hey megalomaniac
You're no Jesus
Yeah, you're no fucking Elvis
Special, as you know yourself
Baby, just step down, step down

3. If I were your appendages
I'd hold open your eyes
So you would see
That all of us are heaven sent
There was never meant to be only one
To be only one

Hey megalomaniac
You're no Jesus
Yeah, you're no fucking Elvis
Special, as you know yourself
Baby, just step down, step down

Yeah
You're no Jesus
You're no Elvis
You're no answer

Hey megalomaniac
You're no Jesus
Yeah, you're no fucking Elvis
Special, as you know yourself
Just step down

1. The most vociferous (and often fundamental) members of these religions tend to be the ones with the most primitive theology: think atonement (its basically saying human sacrifice is what God likes?), think Jihad (that a holy war is an actual war to be physically fought with violence rather than an inner spiritual struggle?), think circumcision (God for some reason wasn't happy with the way he created male genitalia?). These theologies are no better (and probably worse) than the theology of a childrens' playground.
Brandon Boyd the lead singer and lyricist for the band is not keen on such base theology and those that espouse it as virtuous and somehow enlightened. He eludes to every person's innate divinity that he would "cut off both your wings on principle alone" - we are all angels with the wings to fly through the spiritual realms - but those that are ignorant of this and subvert the true message of religion should have their wings clipped. After all we are all buddhas - we just don't know it . . .

2. And there in lies the danger of the esoteric message of these great religions - and why its plain dangerous to cast pearls before swine. The petty and small minded fundamentalist already deludedly believes that his small minded theology makes him closer to God - and the mystical message of all religion that we are already One with God (we just don't realise it all / most of the time) only makes this worse. It can genuinely turn people into Megalomaniacs. True union with God / the Universe / the Dao / Brahman or whatever else you want to call it (the ground of all being, Paul Tillich?) occurs with the dissolution of the ego and the humbleness of the true servant. So "step down" off the throne and lose the ego-trip.

3. Brandon here shows his frustration at these ego-megalomaniacs. Why can't they see how deluded they are? All of us are heaven sent - not just Jesus (or Elvis) - every single one of us. Jesus was not the only one. Mohammed was not the only one. Elijah was not the only one. To quote Maxi Jazz from my first post on this blog:
Because damn it, he didn't just give us the planet 
And its wealth, deep inside your soul he left a piece of himself 
The lord is in here. 
His voice is small. 
You keep lying and trying, 
Denying the call From inside 
 Its a dangerous message but one I think we need to trust more people with in this age.

Wandering Star - Portishead

Good evening! I actively encourage those of you kind enough to read these posts to comment and please do make suggestions for music that you think I should be listening to - either in comments or on Twitter @mystmodmus. It is the dialogue and the connection that allows us all to grow. The inspiration for today's post comes from my anonymous friend who has been commenting extensively on the Radioactive - Imagine Dragons post. She / He recommended that I listen to Seven Stars by Air as it had helped her / him through a particularly tough time. Not only do I recommend that song to you dear readers but it prompted me to look at a song that might allow us to discuss one of the great mystical numbers: 7.

I have considered a number of songs for this task including: Seven Lives by Enigma, which is a great song to chill out to but lyrically unsophisticated; and, 7% by Sunna which is a stunning and mystically erudite song but isn't strictly anything to do with the number 7. In any case,  they are both artists that I want to return to in future posts. The song I want to springboard-off into a discussion on the number 7 is Wandering Star by Portishead:

Please could you stay awhile to share my grief
For its such a lovely day
To have to always feel this way
And the time that I will suffer less
Is when I never have to wake
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever
Those who have seen the needles eye, now tread
Like a husk, from which all that was, now has fled
And the masks, that the monsters wear
To feed, upon their prey
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever

(Always) doubled up inside
Take awhile to shed my grief
(Always) doubled up inside
Taunted, cruel...
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever

*******************************
Its a pretty dark and moody song and is full of galactic foreboding but as with many such songs I can't help but focus on the silver lining around the cloud. You'd be quite entitled to ask, what on earth has this song got  to do with the number 7? Well its a fair question and hopefully the answer will also shed some light on why 7 developed such mystical importance.
The title of the song is Wandering Star which is the literal meaning of the word now more commonly used: planet. In antiquity the planets were literally stars that wandered across the apparently fixed celestial background, and there were seven of them: The Sun, The Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The outer planets were not discovered until after the "invention" of the telescope at the start of the 17th Century.
And from this knowledge, the power of the number 7 has been reflected across almost all cultures and has worked its way into all walks of life. There are dozens of good websites that show he deeply this number has infiltrated our world, but it is commonly accepted that the number 7 represents divine perfection, completeness. It was the sages, wisemen, astrologers and adepts that had this knowledge and let it infiltrate the entirety of our modern world.
The many religious references to the number 7 are testimony to this, but the connection goes even deeper. Sure the days of the week are an obvious clue:  
The Goths had 7 Deities from whom come the English names of week days; Sun, Moon, Tuisco, Wotan, Thor, Friga, Seatur, corresponding, of course, to the planets.
But what about the 7 colours, or the 7 notes in music, or the 7 directions? These would have been more difficult to artificially manufacture . . . unlike days of the week, names of Gods or references in scripture.

So for me - this song is all about the number 7, and the number 7 is a great (literally daily!) reminder of the divine immanent in all - the core of the mystical revelation.

"If God is indeed in the body—and consciousness and physiology are, from an evolutionary perspective, inextricably linked—we must acknowledge that divine consciousness is available in and through physicality." Sol Luckman

or more poetically still:

"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour."

William Blake's Auguries of Innocence 

I Appear Missing - Queens of the Stone Age

This is a long one I'm afraid but please try to make it through! So far we've examined songs released as early as 1967 and as recently as earlier this year (2013). But for this post I'm going to break new ground and discuss a song that hasn't even officially been released yet! I Appear Missing will be released as a track on the new Queens of the Stone Age album (.... Like Clockwork) on June 4th. However, the album got leaked and the band decided to officially release a number of the promo vids to the public. The video is only 3 minutes long but you don't have to wait for the album to hear the full 6+ minute version - the live version is already out there!

1. Calling all comas,
prisoner on the loose,
description:
The spitting image of me,
Accept for the heart shaped hole where the hope runs out

2. Shock me awake, tear me apart
Penned like a note in a hospital gown
A prison of sleep, deeper down
The rabbit hole never to be found
Again… 

3. Where are you hiding my love?
Cast off like a stone
Feelings, raw & exposed when I’m outta control
Pieces were stolen from me or dare I say given away
Watching the water give in as I go down the drain
I appear missing now
I go missing, no longer exist
Some day, I hope, I’m someone you’d miss

Shock me awake, tear me apart
Penned like a note in a hospital gown
The deeper I sleep, further down
The rabbit hole never to be found
Its only falling in love because you hit the ground

4. Dancing on wire both ends are on fire
Cut me loose
Nowhere to run, no more room to pretend
Wandering along the road in the summer night
I go missing, no longer exist
One day I hope I'm someone you'd miss
Shock me awake, tear me apart
Penned like a note on a hospital gown
The deeper I sleep, further down
The rabbit hole never to be found

5. Don’t cry—
With my toes on the edge it’s such a lovely view…
Inside—
I never loved anything until I loved you
Confide—
I’m over the edge, what can I do?
Sunshine—
I’ve fallen through…
I appear missing.

First of all it seems obvious to me that Josh was inspired to write this song by his near death experience after surgery complications in 2010. His heart stopped and had to be defibrillated. He was bed bound for 3 months which caused him to rethink much of his world view and personal priorities. He himself has said that the experience influenced much of the material that subsequently evolved into ...Like Clockwork.

Josh's near death experience was a wake-up call for him but shouldn't we be able to cultivate that balance, self-awakening and structure our life's priorities without a traumatic event of that magnitude? Of course we can !

Its known in Zen as Kensho and it means to experience an initial insight and an understanding of your true Buddha nature. The purpose of Zen techniques is to encourage Kensho at all moments, in order to bask in Satori - enlightenment. Two main techniques used in Zen are zazen (literally sitting) and koans (riddles). The moment of clarity when you solve a riddle, or crossword, or puzzle gives you the smallest hint of what Kensho feels like. More to come on zazen, in later posts - because for me, the title of this song is a koan. By the end of this post I hope "I Appear Missing" might mean something more than it did at the start !

1. The first verse reads like the transcript from police radio. In this case, the "coma police" who patrol us all and keep us imprisoned, dumb-downed and asleep. Once you begin to walk the path and have your first wake-up call (Kensho) you become "a prisoner on the loose". The prisoner has not yet escaped but he is on the run and has the potential to enjoy total realization.
Kongo Roshi: "in Zen the idea is to rise from the dead each moment. Most of us in our everyday waking lives are at least half asleep. Each moment of our lives we must wake up, wake up, wake up! This is the Zen idea. This is the Zen goal. Zen is a philosophy of the here and now, not the then and there. This moment contains everything" 
Daubed in his blood, the protagonist in the video has "WAKE UP" written on his shirt . . . 

2. Your first Kensho can be as violent as being shocked awake, and as we have already touched-on in earlier posts it can be a seriously disturbing experience. Your ego will howl and whine - feel torn apart. Worse still - as the Kensho fades - you fall back to sleep and you yearn to return to that moment of ecstatic harmony. When you can't return to that place through force of will you can feel even further away, never to be found, down the rabbit hole. And as soon as anyone mentions a rabbit hole we have to reference Lewis Carroll and his Alice stories, particularly Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. These so-called children's stories are great works of occult literature. Its not my place to rehash what other great scholar's have already analysed but see here for an easy initial trip down the rabbit hole that is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. And here for something much more in depth.

3. The ego is in a real bind now. It yearns to return to the source and be reconnected but it also suspects that satori will be accompanied by a withering to nothing of the ego. It drains away and the "I" that used to be so familiar is now missing - its not there anymore. But the yearning to be "someone you'd miss" it still there - satori has not been found. We'll need many more posts to tackle this thorny issue - but all along the path the ego only "appears" to be "missing". A clue for now will suffice - many schools of buddhism actually frown on those who achieve buddhahood - becoming a boddhisattva is the best outcome until all souls are freed.

The last lines of the 3 minute version of song come in the form of "Its only falling in love because you hit the ground". Yearning, craving (see Between Angels and Insects post ) can only end in pain and tragedy.

4.  Time is now running out, the dance cannot continue forever. I love the lyrics here portraying impending catastrophe and a high-wire balancing act - so true to real life! Then BANG - it happens again: Kensho. It can happen anytime, anywhere - this time on a summer night's wander. But the yearning to be missed by you remains and back down the rabbit hole I go. “Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.” Alice to the White Rabbit

5. And here for me, is the sucker punch - the experience of waking-up is one that fills you full of love and compassion for all things. It makes it even harder to let go. The ego is playing a different role, a more subtle game and one that few people ever even notice. But our protagonist here, in this case takes the metaphorical leap, leaves it all behind and experiences the bliss (the sunshine). Something that Josh explicitly outlines earlier in the album with the refreshingly direct song, titled, "My God is the Sun"- perhaps a post on that another day . . .

But needless to say after all that - I Appear Missing