Questions, questions…
I am setting my affairs in order, a mess after decades of outer movement and touring.
My present stage, in the process of a life, is one of recapitulation: to digest my experience in the past that it may inform, direct and nourish my tomorrow.
So while I am measuring / weighing the past, with the aim of releasing me tomorrow, today I am in between. To re-enter my experience of before requires of me that I enter my experiencing now, in this moment. That is, I must strengthen my presence in this very moment: recapitulation requires that I am present, now.
I address the mechanics of the past, who was involved, what took place and where, the fact and function of the What. The How is also necessary. What was the actuality that enabled an event to become what it was?
The Why, the value of an event, re-experiencing the past to inform, nourish, liberate, lift and invigorate me today, to prepare my tomorrow – wow! This is a different bag of bananas. I discover “past” events that are more present to me today than they have ever been. When I return and re-enter into them, I sometimes find that answers, guidance, information are available with which I was unable to fully engage at the time but which part of me somehow knew to be of value. And here they are, still with me.
An intentional event persists in time.
A creative event keeps going for even longer than that.
My gratitude to those who take an interest in my work sufficiently for them to visit this page. I suggest we have more in common, more that brings us together, than not.
Many questions come in to FB. Some, I read and feel my heart sink. I feel pulled down by questions that are multiple, indirect, unclear, unkind (to whoever it may be), rude, hostile opinions and criticisms masqueraded as questions. There are sites better available, and seemingly welcoming, for the expression of nastiness. Progressive Ears, Reddit, KC fan sites, prog music sites – head on over.
Goodwill is a quality rarely available without cultivation and practice.
I would have thought it clear, to sharp-witted visitors and those of some acuity, that my attempts at courting popularity, obsequiousness and flattering commentary, have failed so utterly that this may not actually be my aim in having an online presence.
7november2024
House Rules Of Engagement.
We accept responsibility for our comments.
We accept accountability for our actions.
We accept public accountability for our public actions, including posting and commentary.
We are polite.
Questions that are easily answered on the internet are better answered on the internet.
We are not asked to passively accept any idea / comment presented to us.
Rather, we are encouraged to test ideas and comments we find surprising: to establish the veracity, or not, for ourselves; and to adopt a position of healthy scepticism while participating in a spirit of critical goodwill.
Opinions are of little value if not drawn from direct experience.
I engage with goodwill.
I engage with robust good humour.
If someone wanders into my world, head placed where sunshine never falls and comments on the weather, good to be prepared for rain.
If these House Rules are unacceptable, best to go elsewhere.
Alternatively, to borrow an expression from my old buddy Adrian Belew, colleague of many years: Take a long sip of my ass.
