A few thoughts
Australia has gone lockdown mad, the world is on the verge of something big, and I'm going to take a few days off to process things.
In 1955 Allen Ginsberg wrote one of the most powerful and controversial poems of the 20th century, "Howl". In it he raged against forces that conspired to destroy human creativity and authenticity. It was prophetic. His opening line is the perfect description of our current era.
"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness..."
Then it got even darker!
"What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?
Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!
Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money!"
And on he went. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl
In 2016, barely two months before his death, the great musical prophet Leonard Cohen (may his memory be blessed), left us with a powerful series of songs that seem to foreshadow changes that at the time we had no idea were about to hit the world. The title track was dark enough:
"If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame
Magnified, sanctified
Be the holy name
Vilified, crucified
In the human frame
A million candles burning
For the help that never came
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my Lord"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nmHymgM7Y
And then he got darker again with "Puppets".
Early in the 20th century T.S Eliot wrote the poem that summed up the impasse that humanity had come to in "The Waste Land". That was powerfully obscure, but when I first studied it in high school, I was even more impressed by the relative simplicity of another poem of his that got to the nub of modern humanity. It is clearly echoed in the very different work of Allen Ginsberg. His 1925 poem “The Hollow Men” describes 'a desolate world, populated by empty, defeated people.' It begins:
"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion..."
And it ends with these prophetic words:
"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."
To use an old obscure Hebrew word:
SELAH
Here's a video everyone should watch. It explains a lot of what's going on right now all around the world:
"MASS PSYCHOSIS - How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill" www.youtube.com/watch?v=09maaUaRT4M
Still not convinced something is going on to erase our true humanity? Well check out this official World Economic Forum video:
"When Humans Become Cyborgs | DAVOS 2020"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrNaaz1isEQ
A few thoughts
Australia has gone lockdown mad, the world is on the verge of something big, and I'm going to take a few days off to process things.
In 1955 Allen Ginsberg wrote one of the most powerful and controversial poems of the 20th century, "Howl". In it he raged against forces that conspired to destroy human creativity and authenticity. It was prophetic. His opening line is the perfect description of our current era.
"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness..."
Then it got even darker!
"What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?
Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!
Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money!"
And on he went. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl
In 2016, barely two months before his death, the great musical prophet Leonard Cohen (may his memory be blessed), left us with a powerful series of songs that seem to foreshadow changes that at the time we had no idea were about to hit the world. The title track was dark enough:
"If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame
Magnified, sanctified
Be the holy name
Vilified, crucified
In the human frame
A million candles burning
For the help that never came
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my Lord"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nmHymgM7Y
And then he got darker again with "Puppets".
Early in the 20th century T.S Eliot wrote the poem that summed up the impasse that humanity had come to in "The Waste Land". That was powerfully obscure, but when I first studied it in high school, I was even more impressed by the relative simplicity of another poem of his that got to the nub of modern humanity. It is clearly echoed in the very different work of Allen Ginsberg. His 1925 poem “The Hollow Men” describes 'a desolate world, populated by empty, defeated people.' It begins:
"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion..."
And it ends with these prophetic words:
"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."
To use an old obscure Hebrew word:
SELAH
Here's a video everyone should watch. It explains a lot of what's going on right now all around the world:
"MASS PSYCHOSIS - How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill" www.youtube.com/watch?v=09maaUaRT4M
Still not convinced something is going on to erase our true humanity? Well check out this official World Economic Forum video:
"When Humans Become Cyborgs | DAVOS 2020"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrNaaz1isEQ