To thine own self be true

1. What is my bliss? What do I like? What am I into? What am I passionate about? What can I lose myself in/distract myself with? What is positively engaging, immersive, and distracting in my life?

2. What am I good at? What are my strengths? What do I have to offer others and the world?

3. Who can I rely on and trust? What for? To what extent can I do as completely as possible for myself? What are my current (known) limits and limitations?

4. What missing pieces do I still have in my life? Do I need to address any isolation, alienation, or loneliness? How might I do this?

5. What specifically is ‘to do’, remains undone, unfinished, and unfulfilled?

6. What do I have to look forward to today, soon, or in the near future?

(previously published November 27, 2012)

“The stars are in one’s brain.”–Bertrand Russell (attributed to, by R.D. Laing in The Politics of Experience)

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…in that life, as experienced by the individual, is primarily and mostly a subjective affair, and that our sense of others and the external world is always mediated by our personal individual consciousness, and all the possibilities and limitations that that implies. That is not to say that the ‘external world’ including the stars do not exist independently. Just that, for individuals–perception, observation, apprehension, intuition, imagination, understanding, and appreciation of anything outside ourselves depends upon the individual. And life is, for most people, largely a subjective experience tempered by the amount of consciousness one is blessed (or cursed) with. What matters most then is not that the stars are ‘out there’ so much as we can perceive, feel, and know them inside ourselves, our awareness, and consciousness. (c.f. Berkeley’s philosophy)

Again, this is a matter of information– in this case, internalized, realized, or achieved. What matters is what we know, feel, understand, and appreciate–the information that has been processed by us as individuals, that is–information derived from context and process, itself processed and known by the individual. The main goal and purpose of all acquired information in the course of a life: how it registers on the individual via consciousness.

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(previously published November 20, 2012)

Probably the first memorable songs of my early ’50s beginnings would be “Dear John” by Stan Freberg and “Mr. Sandman” by The Chordettes–popular pop tunes of the day. There were to be many more, but the music that still got radio air play came from the Swing Era–the music from pre-WW2 (1937ish) to post-WW2 (1946) when most of the big bands were disbanded. I consider myself very fortunate to have heard or been exposed to all the great swing artists and swing classics which continued to dominate the air waves into the mid-1950s when `Rock Around the Clock` and rock and roll were born.

The titles below are all classics, and I’ve put my favorites closer to the top of the following list. Incidentally, the best CD collection I’ve ever found of major songs and bands is All-Time Greatest Swing Era Songs, a Holland issue. And most of these can be sampled on YouTube, too, of course.

Stardust–Artie Shaw
String of Pearls–Glenn Miller
Sentimental Journey–Doris Day with Les Brown
One for My Baby–Frank Sinatra
And the Angels Sing–Benny Goodman
Take the A Train–Duke Ellington
At the Woodchopper’s Ball–Woody Herman
Don’t Be That Way–Benny Goodman
I Can’t Get Started–Arties Shaw
I’ve Heard That Song Before–Harry James
In the Mood–Glenn Miller
Begin the Beguine–Artie Shaw
Satin Doll–Duke Ellington
Song of India–Tommy Dorsey
Moonglow–Artie Shaw
Opus One–Tommy Dorsey
Sing, Sing, Sing–Benny Goodman
Over the Rainbow–Judy Garland
Nature Boy–Nat King Cole
The Christmas Song–Nat King Cole
Mack the Knife–Louis Armstrong
September Song–Sarah Vaughn
Get Your Kicks on Route 66–Nat King Cole
Moonlight in Vermont–Billy Butterfield
Blue Moon–Ray Noble with Al Bowily
Moonlight Serenade–Artie Shaw
Some Enchanted Evening–Jo Stafford
Caravan–Duke Ellington
Laura–Freddy Martin
In the Still of the Night–Tommy Dorsey
Big Noise from Winnetka–Bob Crosby
Ain’t Misbehavin’–Fats Waller
Perdido–Duke Ellington
Chattanooga Choo Choo–Duke Ellington
Stompin’ at the Savoy–Benny Goodman
Jumpin’ at the Woodside–Count Basie
Why Don’t You Do Me Right?–Benny Goodman & Peggy Lee
I’ll Never Smile again–Tommy Dorsey
Fools Rush In–Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey
Don’t Fence Me In–Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters
The Very Thought of You–Ray Noble with Al Bowily
Someone to Watch over Me–Eddie Condon with Lee Wiley
My Blue Heaven–Artie Shaw
Laura–Freddy Martin
Mood Indigo–Duke Ellington
April in Paris–Buster Bailey
Solitude–Billie Holliday
Perfidia–Jimmy Dorsey
Lover Man (Where Can You Be?)–Billie Holliday
Stompin`at The Savoy–Benny Goodman
Night and Day–Billie Holliday
S`Wonderful–Benny Goodman
King Porter Stomp–Benny Goodman

Music that evokes the times, the moods, the dreams, the joy, and the sensibilities of the people (like my parents) who lived through the `30s and `40s, and clung to them following the last great war. For me, they evoke my parents and many old listening pleasures.

No, they don`t write or play them the way they used to. And the people of that time had their own special glorious soundtrack that embodied the best that North Americans could be through some incredibly hard, stressful times. That best can be heard in each of the above songs and lives on forever.

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I will probably end up writing more about the rock era of the `50s, `60s, and `70s later, as well as folk, jazz, and classical in entries to come. My life has been one long continuous soundtrack, beginning when my mother would plunk me down by the radio-record player for occasional babysitting or when my Dad and aunt would allow me to play their 78s and 45s. A veritable surfeit of great sounds and classic tunes and artists. Later in the mid-60s, I would become a performer myself recreating and sharing many popular songs of the day for thousands of listeners and dancers. In the end, listening and performing go together, and have kept my music going these many years later.

“The intelligence that’s making itself known is Nature. And we must surrender to it.”
–Shirley MacLaine, Calgary speech, May 26, 2014

“Imagination is the eye of the soul.” –Joseph Joubert, The Science of Mind

Imagination is a mental faculty which creates images and possibilities of things we think of and suppose. Typically, when we imagine, we behold things that we would like and might prefer, as well as those we dislike and fear. As long as our minds are working, we imagine a range of possibilities in the course of sleeping and daily wakefulness.

Of especial interest are those positive imaginings that tease us with what might be or become, what only we ourselves can actualize or bring into being. That archetypal imagined process has been responsible for much of what is beautiful and man-made, whether they be impressive or admirable buildings, paintings, pieces of music, movies, books, quilts, and many other works of art. Every work of art or architecture that one might think of had its beginnings with one person’s imagination and a desire to realize imaginings and dreams of various kinds.

By itself, imagining can be a totally fascinating, self-engrossed/engrossing process that never gets off the ground until the imaginer chooses or is impelled by inspiration to take action through the acts and process of creation. “It is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed.” (Vida D. Scudder) Otherwise, imagining is nothing more than a limited personal “possession” or diversion likely to be shared at most in conversation with family and friends.

Far more interesting and influential are the imaginings shared with greater numbers of people, including many strangers and people we will not necessarily ever meet. When something as relatively brief as a poem is published in a newspaper or magazine, it is encountered later at different times by many (usually personally unknown) others. It becomes a meaningful and purposely shared communication that is a realization of something briefly and uniquely imagined some time before. In short, whatever becomes creative, whatever is creatively shared adds something to the knowledge, experience, and soulfulness of others as well, as to that of the world. “The process of writing, any form of creativity, is a power intensifying life.” (Rita Mae Brown)

Whereas imagination originates in self first, registering as inner awareness and exploration, creativity and creation bring imaginings to birth, to light, and into existence. It is much the same way with unborn children as it is with works of art–that which is imagined, conceived, and brought forth into being. Generally, human beings are creative by nature, whether they are parents or artists. In that life-giving, life-potential sense, we are, finally and perhaps ultimately, defined by our creativity and creative potential. “When I can no longer create anything, I’ll be done for.” (Coco Chanel)

Clearly, imagination is a wonderful faculty and process, in and of itself. But the creativity realized from imagination and imaginings is a fuller, richer, more significant expression of our individual potentials as people and as inner beings or souls.

(previously published here October 24, 2012)

“I dwell in Possibility.”–Emily Dickinson, #657

“We make ourselves up as we go.”–Kate Green

Periodically, along the way in our lives, we become temporarily, sometimes permanently, aware of missing pieces. These moments of awareness of things and people missing in our lives haunts us from time to time, alternating teasing and frustrating us in our daily lives.

When we are young we first become conscious of missing pieces that we desire, these being typically external. On a basic level, we may lack healthy food, clean air or water. Perhaps we are born into a lower economic level with none of the toys and possessions that some of our friends have. Or that we may find ourselves in a single-parent situation, wondering why we don’t have a mother’s or father’s presence to complete our sense of what a family ought to be. As always with missing pieces, we believe that our lives will somehow be better if we have the particular absent thing or person.

Later in school, we may find ourselves wishing we could be or do better in certain school subjects or in athletics. Perhaps we long to be the star of the school play, the valedictorian, and so forth. For many teens, however, the main goal is an inner one of belonging, social acceptability, respect, and having friends outside of family. Unfortunately, those kids that are shy, handicapped, different, or from a very different culture may find themselves ‘on the outside’ of many of the social situations and approvals they long for, which, in turn, may become the missing pieces of their formative years.

In adulthood, the missing pieces might be such things as having a place to live independent of one’s parents, owning one’s own house, being married, having babies, raising a family of one’s own, or having a good-paying job with ample opportunities for both career advancement and job satisfaction. It is important to recognize that, by this stage in life, adult missing pieces often have to do with autonomy, relationships, success, and achievement.

Eventually, by mid-life, concerns tend to become more ‘inner’ once again. With age and aging, people typically become more aware of matters of the heart and soul that satisfy and sustain us in the midst of an oft-corresponding decline in mind, physical powers, and a lesser emphasis on materialism. It is at this stage that many become aware that there is more to life than making money, ambition, performance, and success in its more obvious external forms.

The missing pieces we ultimately crave then are usually about being understood, accepted, and appreciated for who and what we are. They are also about giving, loving, and sacrificing for others and those values or things we consider to be more personally meaningful and, obviously, deeply satisfying.

Life usually becomes more interesting and fun when we address our missing pieces. This process itself can lift us out of the worst depressions and doldrums. Acting on missing pieces usually requires boldness and confidence that one is doing something that is right and best for oneself (and perhaps others). Choice is not enough, though; one can, of course, simply wallow in mere desire and longing. The courage to be true to ourselves and to actualize ourselves is inevitably an individual transcendence of self, mere facts, and the limits of whatever contexts. What is required, ultimately, is a will to action, personal fulfillment, and self-completion.

“If it is to be, it is up to me.”–Shirley Hutton

(previously published here September 19, 2012)

Aristotle wrote that “Man is by nature a social animal.” Similarly, poet John Donne wrote, that “No man is an island entire of itself.” And there is, indeed, truth that we are connected to others, living in social contexts daily. Often we do things for others or the approval of others. We are prone to seeking validation through connection and relationships from others. The opinions of others often influences us and guides or prevents us from doing or saying things we would not otherwise do.

And, so it is, that we go through life being praised, complimented, validated, criticized, and corrected by others. There are many other opinions of who we are as individuals, as persons. But what of our own views of self and who we really are? How many others, whether family, friends, or workmates do you feel really know, understand, accept, and appreciate you as you likely or truly are?

If you have seen the classic movie Citizen Kane, you may recall that the reporter Thompson collects different opinions about who the reclusive millionaire really or essentially was. He is left finally with many jigsaw-like pieces (that resemble Susan’s large puzzles) each of them possibly true and significant, incidentally. But it is left to the lonely, weary old protagonist himself to sum up the personal meaning of his life as he once desired, lived, and loved it. He confers the meaning of his entire life in one word–a name, a single image.

We are mostly conscious of what others think and say about us, and what we say and think, often differently, about ourselves. The famous Austrian psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl, concluded that, as individuals, we must answer for our own lives and find our own meanings through actions, values, suffering, and sacrifice. We each of us have the option of choosing and creating an “immortal footprint in the sands of time.”

And like Kane, we may have ‘the final say’, so to speak, in defining ourselves, the essence or significance of who we are, and the core personal, and perhaps privately understood, meanings of our own lives. Like him, we, too, may choose to confer the meanings of our own lives upon ourselves.

(previously published here August 24, 2012)

(picture from trip to sister-in-law’s park-like farmyard in Morinville)

If accessing site from Internet, activate any photos not showing automatically, by clicking on any picture frame. Then, despite Caution, safely click “Continue to this website”–pics will then emerge. When loaded, double-click upper left-pointing arrow twice to re-enter entire website with all blog photos now displayed. Pictures can then be enlarged or smallened as wished by clicking on each photo per se. This blog is, incidentally, Read-Only, but you can reach me by Google-searching “Richard Davies Edmonton” for the first link which comes up–my LinkedIn address, and you can access basic and contact info via there.

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…has finally reached Edmonton the third week of May when the May trees are in bloom– their fragrant scent wafting through neighborhoods.

What little beauty we have in our yard through spring and summer depends on opening our deeper pockets to buy flowers and plants. There are so many species and colours to choose from. A small price for 3-4 months of intense surrounding beauty, transforming yards into private-personal mini-parks. (Last year’s flowers made it as far as Halloween with some overnight- or cold-day garage storage. And any year one can cycle into November or December helps, too.)

Fall colours have basically a 1 1/2-2 month run here, giving respite from the long white which lands from November into March or April: a 5-6 month very static-dry winter of our discontent with furnaces running every day. A good reason to head south in January or February–preferably to the desert and/or the west coast–flowery-parksy-oceany Vancouver or Victoria in April or early May.

Balance–completely necessary for outer and inner survival and relief from Jack- London-styled cabin fever. With access to natural beauty–the closer to one, the better.

With yet another warning from a fitness survey (these have been around for decades starting with the U.S. ones cautioning about the dangers of sedentary lifestyles for children watching too much tv), it is hard to imagine why any parents should be shocked by the news yesterday of the negative effects of smartphones on screen-obsessed Canadian kids, who, after all, simply take after many phone-bound moms and dads. Cop-out moms and dads who quickly offer their phones to the kids to play with in order to keep them quiet in doctors’ and dentists’ offices or restaurants, moms and dads who don’t let their kids go outside the house to interact physically with other kids and Nature.

Then there is the ‘great toy conspiracy’ to make available smartphone-like toys for kids as young as infants and toddlers, to play with rather than good old-fashioned blocks, stacking cups, Jacob’s ladders, tops, etc. Or the well-intentioned but misguided educational ‘revolution’ based on ‘inquiry’ (In reality, how many kids choose to use smartphones to look up in-depth information rather than chatting, texting, or game-playing?) and ‘discovery’. A ‘revolution’ which is a major deconstruction of basic autonomous skills and broad-based knowledge of old. A ‘faux-revolution’ which omits or pooh-poohs book-learning as ‘un-with-it’, and invites kids to ‘go play’ bigtime in an e-media world of entertaining infotainment news and dumbed-down programming devoid of significant, necessary contextually-structured learning experiences. This is the same kind of “Go play” of a parent turning over his or her phone to distract or control kids rather than being truly hands-on responsible for their behaviour, learning, and inherited values.

In my childhood and those of kids as recent as two-three decades ago, we/they did go outside to play for real–moving from the chair, couch, or floor to actively leave the house, to go outside into Nature and the ‘outside world’ to engage with Nature and others. If, on the other hand, as the surveyed have warned that relatively passive physical habits combined with sweet and salty snacks are acceptable or desirable home, family, or social behaviors, then the results will be obvious and predictable in the forthcoming lotus-eaters revolution I wrote about a few entries ago.

Technology, good and god-like though it has been and can be–c.f. my previous entry on the +ve effects and contributions of technology in Western civilization and lifestyle–has been given a free, unlimited pass in the area of e-media communications today. Education, parents, and governments have turned a blind eye to the short- and long-term effects of excessive reliance on smartphones on young people, in particular. A mass abandonment of personal, familial, and social responsibility, while companies and corporations laugh all the way to the bank as they foist their iPhone5s and ads that preach the sanctity and wisdom of kids lying around like Tennyson’s lotus-eaters zonked out in their own private, meaningless, dream-worlds. The mindless e-illusion of pseudo power, control, autonomy, and self-sufficiency. The ultimate pipedream of ‘The Good E-Media Life’.

Sven Birkerts in his classic, The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, concluded by saying:
“History,” said Stephen Dedalus, “is a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken.” This [the e-media age] may be the awakening, but it feels curiously like the fantasies that circulate through our sleep. From deep in the heart I hear the voice that says, “Refuse it.”                                                                                                                      

To which I would add, “Have patience. Focus. Concentrate. Work. Think. Critically question. Explore conflicts. Know the difference between shallow self-serving crap and meaningful information and knowledge. Learn contexts, patterns and structures. Imagine on your own without technology. Interact with Nature and the live in-person presences of others. Don’t miss the wondrous beauty. Experience real power and true control in your life. Breathe deep. Move!”

(moment at 2012 unbelievably fantastic Edmo Paul McCartney show at Rexall Place–sound and light technologies to produce maximum personal pleasure and mass media enjoyment)

Where would we be without? No question many technologies have contributed to the development of civilization and to our daily lives. I am grateful for each one listed below and the people that created them to make life more bearable, comfortable, convenient, fun, and healthy. In no particular order:

Communications: (reading, writing, pleasurable listening and viewing, teaching, film classification, school, university–all would have been impossible without)

papyrus, paper, pencil, pen, word processor

movable type, printing press, printers

books, newspapers, magazines

telephone, e-mail

radio, tv

phonograph, CD, DVD

Wheels:

wagon, cart, buggy, bike, train, car, bus, mass transit (also electrical)

Construction: (what would we live, work, and holiday in without)

nail, hammer, screw, screwdriver, drill, saw, tape measure, ladder

houses, buildings

furniture–chair, table, couch, lamp

flooring, carpet

windows, doors, locks

architecture, bridges arenas, stadiums, churches

Steam:

internal combustion engine: early factories, machines, trains (19th century on travel)

Gas & Oil:

gas and oil furnace heating (where would Edmo, Canada be…)

motor vehicle mobility (travel, increased personal mobility and freedom)–including planes

Electricity:

light bulb, battery

electric sewing machine (for mass making clothes)

stove, dishwasher, microwave, vacuum cleaner

electrical appliances: toaster, mixer, kettle

car radio, the other electrical communications devices

airplane (basically so)

lawn mower (also gas)

Refrigeration:

freezer

fridge

A/C

Food and Beverage Technology:

fork, knife, spoon, cup, mug, glass, containers

processed food

many types of beverages and food–tea, coffee, juice, pop, bread, yogurt, cereal, fruit, vegetables

alcohol–wine, beer, etc.

Sanitation:

plumbing, toilets, sinks, toilet paper, paper towel, tissue, hand sanitizer

pasteurization and food inspection system

garbage removal

Medicine:

syringe and vaccination

penicillin

antibiotics

The Pill

Prozac and all the other wonder drugs

Transistor and Wireless:

portable devices–transistor radio (my 2 transistor radio that brought me music from the U.S. late at night and accompanied me in all seasons while delivering newspapers), cellphone

microphones, amplifiers (also for mass communication) for speeches, music

performances (where would I, as conference presenter, performing musician…), modern mass sound systems

A Long Vital Miscellaneous:

Early Heating–match

Early Clothes–needle, thread, thimble

Cocks and Watches–mechanized, electric, battery (how could anything get done in an organized way, how could anyone predict without)

Plow–imagine all early agricultural development without)

Boats–life on water unimaginable without; all the harborfront cities would not have developed without)

Aids to Daily Living–wheelchairs, glasses, contact lens, hearing aid

Internet and WWW–as an instant mobile information source via computer

Musical Instruments–(as a performing musician to many thousands, where would I…)

Credit Cards–allowing us to buy and bank anywhere

Delivery Systems–newspapers, mail, UPS, Canpar, Amazon and other online systems

Reproduction Technology: camera–still and moving, photograph, photocopier, fax, scanner; recording equipment–tape, cassette, CD recorder                               

Children’s Toys                                                                                                       

Technologies that Develop/ed and Sustain Flowers, Plants, and Trees 

Road-Building Technologies–streets, highways to facilitate travel and access

Technologies that Support and Develop/ed the Arts–painting, sculpture, painting, architecture, film, photography, music                                                                 

Mosquito Repellant–(could one survive in most of Canada without?)

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Our lives are dependent on many technologies (and tools). The above would be the most basic and vital for daily survival, functionality, and convenience. But, as Thornton Wilder suggested, we not only got here, but survive personally and as a species, by the skin of our teeth.

One is blind if one is also not aware of the many things that could threaten and slowly or suddenly end our technology, our planet and us: wars, nuclear warfare, resource depletion (e.g., forests hewn down, water sources disappearing in dry places, pesticides leading to reduced butterfly population and decline in human food sources), melting ice caps, mysterious diseases resisting antibiotics and rapid potential plague mobility, failure of economic and banking systems, increased natural disasters, failure of power and electrical systems, to say nothing of living in a random meteoric bowling alley.

Every day I am thankful I and we are still here and are able to live and enjoy our lives with various realized technologies that intelligent, creative individuals and groups have made to truly advance our societies, cultures, and civilization. Technology-wise alone, it is all a lot to take in, comprehend, and appreciate. But technology does define who we are and how very far we have come. Simply put, we owe it a lot.