The Whole Picture and the Hollow President

Many of those who may from time to time, when truly bored, read by blogs. I never really set out to be a blogger but from time to time I like to get my thoughts into words and for those who want to read them, make them available.

I suppose my tweets of twitter and even this blog itself seems a contradiction. A conservative Catholic who writes about Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd and at the same time, Catholicism and conservatism. Perhaps, many see these as contradictions.

In my spiritual journeys in life, and there have been many, I came upon a wonderful spiritual practice, Zen Koans. Koans were written by Zen Buddhist monks to break the back of logic. To present to the mind what might seem like a contradiction to bring about the knowledge of a greater truth.

I suppose that is what I am trying to do. I like Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd because frankly, since I was a naive young kid I loved synthesizers and electronic music. My first electronic Album was Morton Subotnicks "Sidewinder" in vinyl which I still have today and probably has thick grooves in in from being played so many times. Later in life I discovered Floyd and then much latter, Tangerine Dream. I continue my love of electronic music now by writing it myself.

As I have stated before, I understand that both of these bands are associated with a certain drug culture. Let me state again that I am extremely anti drug. I have seen the damage that drugs and alcohol do and I do not want to see anyone go though that hell on earth that is addiction.

That said, what I like about these bands is their creativity and artistry which I find sadly lacking in much music today and why I like to support new artists who follow their own drummer. I have reviewed their music on my music blog.

As for me, I also have my own drummer. I see all beauty as a reflection of God's creative work. I find sound beautiful and I know that its created by God so if it comes from the wind blowing thought he trees or the circuits of a Moog Voyager, I know that its all part of the same creation. Music is to be, a way of participating in God's creation, to praise God by praising the ability of my mind to order and structure sound to make music. Like Olivier Messiaen, who I very much take as a role model musically, I do not limit my music to what one might hear in a Church but rather, express my feelings in my music much like David did when he wrote some of the psalms some of which are to be played with harp accompaniment.

So is some of my music theological? Sure, some of the ideas I have that lead to ideas about sound that lead to pieces of music are.

So that's the "whole picture", onto the hollow president. Much of what I believe about God effects how I see the world. I believe that God gave us all freedom so we can create but create responsibly. So when I see that freedom being curtailed, I get a bit upset.

The funny thing about change is that sometimes, it does not come up to us and tell us its there. I remember when Barack Obama ran for president and how he spoke about being transparent. Truth is that he has been the least transparent president who probably has ever been in the White House. S..E. Cupp recently eluded to him being like an "empty veseel". I see him as the hollow man. In some ways, perhaps he is transparent, in that we see through him and don't see him, who he is and what he really believes.

The truth is that Obama seems to be like a puppet for a cause that is dark and sinister. Now I am sure that that makes me sound like a radical tea party person who is ignorant and wants to save the world for guns and bibles. OK, well I don't own a gun and yes, I have a bible, a few of them actually, and a Catechism of the Catholic Church which to some may make be a papist I suppose but I also have a bachelor's degree and two masters degrees so ignorant? Well, you decide.

What I see in the latest bills that seem to weigh enough to bend any table they are on, is hollow bills, transparent bills, bills that are not what they seem. it seems to be that change is not what many Americans think it is. I fear that one day we will wake up with the government controlling every aspect of our life and Orwell's 1984 or Huxley's "Brave New World" will sound like the news of the day. Net neutrality for example sounds a lot like Orwell's newspeak.

A wise man once said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I guess don't want to see some rather ugly periods in the 20th century repeated. For those who don't study history, you might learn from this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091116/wl_asia_afp/chinausdiplomacymediacnn

and this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution

which banned a lot of music.

Truth is, I like to practice my faith and make my music and yes, talk to people about God. I am not sure that I will be able to even make posts like this soon and will have people at the door coming to take me to a re-education camp. I feel the Autumn winds of change and a winter storm coming but perhaps, I have just been drinking to many tea or perhaps, that terrible book that is on my shelves is right when it says this:

"no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So it is not strange that his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds." (2 Cor 11:14-15).

Perhaps with transparency also comes a certain degree of light and darkness or perhaps, I have just drunk to much tea. Perhaps, I need the government to tell me how much I can drink, after all, we have to save the polar bears don't we?