{"id":15939,"date":"2014-08-22T12:32:56","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T16:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=15939"},"modified":"2014-08-22T12:32:56","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T16:32:56","slug":"putting-aside-the-enchanters-wand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/putting-aside-the-enchanters-wand\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Aside the Enchanter&#8217;s Wand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d9NF2edxy-M?rel=0\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"smalltext\"><em>[Video: &#8220;Somebody That I Used to Know,&#8221; performed by Walk Off the Earth. Lyrics <a title=\"Lyrics: 'Somebody That I Used to Know'\" onclick=\"javascript:wopenScroll('https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/lyrics\/somebodythatiusedtoknow_gotye.html', 'new', 570, 500); return false;\">here<\/a>. See the note about the video at the bottom of this post, too.]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>From <a title=\"whiskey river: 'What Narrative Is For' (excerpt), by Margo Schilpp\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2014\/08\/so-there-are-errands-and-hours-when-you.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>whiskey river<\/em><\/a> (italicized portion):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>What Narrative Is For<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How fine the mind that can calculate<br \/>\nchange and recognize destiny,<\/p>\n<p>as if luck had something to do<br \/>\nwith knowing, as if the lease<\/p>\n<p>signed with the eyes closed<br \/>\nmeant happiness, or even time<\/p>\n<p>that&#8217;s bearable, slow breaths exchanging<br \/>\nthe currency that wanting spends,<\/p>\n<p>and how fine that sedatives<br \/>\nand jewels exist, those slanted elegies.<\/p>\n<p><em>So there are errands and hours<\/em><br \/>\n<em>when you hear your own breath&#8212;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>or feel my breath coming from within you&#8212;<\/em><br \/>\n<em>and register the haunt of cicadas<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>summering under the porch. So there is time<\/em><br \/>\n<em>spooking off into the wings.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>These are going to be big surgeries, bloody<\/em><br \/>\n<em>gauzes of conditions, when loss<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>must be measured, and then<\/em><br \/>\n<em>there are the outcomes, the calls<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>that must be made. Wouldn&#8217;t we all like to avoid<\/em><br \/>\n<em>being the reason for anguish, to understand<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>why it&#8217;s so easy to cut ourselves<\/em><br \/>\n<em>on our own edges?<\/em> Silent,<\/p>\n<p>the responders. They might<br \/>\nhave the answers, but they&#8217;re not<\/p>\n<p>telling, even when the vise grips<br \/>\ngo for the nails. All that&#8217;s left is to know<\/p>\n<p>we will suffer through almost anything&#8212;<br \/>\nmake sure to remember it well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Margot Schilpp [<a title=\"Verse Daily: 'What Narrative Is For,' by Margot Schilpp\" href=\"http:\/\/www.versedaily.org\/2005\/whatnarrative.shtml\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<a title=\"whiskey river: Mary Ruefle, on the lessons of art\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2014\/08\/art-gives-us-knowledge-that-many-have.html\" target=\"_blank\">and<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Art gives us the knowledge that many have gone before, and had the same strange feelings and the same unanswerable questions, and that we are not alone in the art-endeavor, let alone life. It gives us the knowledge that people have always been stupid and violent and cruel, and compassionate and confused and curious and wondrous and astonished and tired. What it does not give us is answers. It gives us instead a picture. It does not ask that we analyze the picture, but that we stand before it and look, in the hope that looking might turn into gazing. For gazing will hold our attention for a very long time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Mary Ruefle [<a title=\"Kenyon Review: 'Virtues of Madness and Vices of Honey: An Interview with Mary Ruefle' \" href=\"http:\/\/www.kenyonreview.org\/2013\/08\/virtues-of-madness-and-vices-of-honey-an-interview-with-mary-ruefle\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<a title=\"whiskey river: Aldous Huxley, on coming to terms with Maya\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2014\/08\/the-world-is-illusion-but-it-is.html\" target=\"_blank\">and<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The world is an illusion, but it is an illusion which we must take seriously, because it is real as far as it goes, and in those aspects of the reality which we are capable of apprehending. Our business is to wake up. We have to find ways in which to detect the whole of reality in the illusory parts which our self-centered consciousness permits us to see. We must not live thoughtlessly, taking our illusion for the complete reality, but at the same time we must not live too thoughtfully in the sense of trying to escape from the dream state. We must continually be on the watch for ways in which we may enlarge our consciousness, we must not attempt to live outside the world, which is given us, but we must somehow learn how to transform it and transfigure it. Too much &#8220;wisdom&#8221; is as bad as too little wisdom, and there must be no magic tricks. We must learn to come to reality without the enchanter&#8217;s wand and his book of the words. One must find a way of being in this world while not being of it. A way of living in time without being completely swallowed up in time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Aldous Huxley [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Aldous Huxley: A Biography,' by Nicholas Murray\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=tukmDMYu6ysC&amp;pg=PA453#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Not from <em>whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Mushrooms<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"epigraph\">for Jon and Jill<\/p>\n<p>Eyeing the grass for mushrooms, you will find<br \/>\nA stone or stain, a dandelion puff<br \/>\nDeceive your eyes&#8212;their colour is enough<br \/>\nTo plump the image out to mushroom size<br \/>\nAnd lead you through illusion to a rind<br \/>\nThat&#8217;s true&#8212;flint, fleck or feather. With no haste<br \/>\nScent-out the earthy musk, the firm moist white,<br \/>\nAnd, played-with rather than deluded, waste<br \/>\nNone of the sleights of seeing: taste the sight<br \/>\nYou gaze unsure of&#8212;a resemblance, too,<br \/>\nIs real and all its likes and links stay true<br \/>\nTo the weft of seeing. You, to begin with,<br \/>\nMay be taken in, taken beyond, that is,<br \/>\nThis place of chiaroscuro that seemed clear,<br \/>\nFor realer than a myth of clarities<br \/>\nAre the meanings that you read and are not there:<br \/>\nSoon, in the twilight coolness, you will come<br \/>\nTo the circle that you seek and, one by one,<br \/>\nStooping into their fragrance, break and gather,<br \/>\nYour way a winding where the rest lead on<br \/>\nLike stepping stones across a grass of water.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Charles Tomlinson [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Selected Poems,' by Charles Tomlinson\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=_D5ETaUkiyMC&amp;pg=PA141#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>], from Selected Poems 1955-1997)<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is better to believe than to disbelieve; in doing you bring everything to the realm of possibility.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Albert Einstein [<em>quoted EVERYWHERE, but never attributed to a specific lecture or written work<\/em>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Lake Echo, Dear<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Is the woman in the pool of light<br \/>\nreally reading or just staring<br \/>\nat what is written<\/p>\n<p>Is the man walking in the soft rain<br \/>\nnaked or is it the rain<br \/>\nthat makes his shirt transparent<\/p>\n<p>The boy in the iron cot<br \/>\nis he asleep or still<br \/>\nfingering the springs underneath<\/p>\n<p>Did you honestly believe<br \/>\nthree lives could be complete<\/p>\n<p>The bottle of green liquid<br \/>\non the sill is it real<\/p>\n<p>The bottle on the peeling sill<br \/>\nis it filled with green<\/p>\n<p>Or is the liquid an illusion<br \/>\nof fullness<\/p>\n<p>How summer&#8217;s children turn<br \/>\ninto fish and rain softens men<\/p>\n<p>How the elements of summer<br \/>\nnights bid us to get down with each other<br \/>\non the unplaned floor<\/p>\n<p>And this feels painfully beautiful<br \/>\nwhether or not<br \/>\nit will change the world one drop<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(C. D. Wright [<a title=\"Poetry Foundation: 'Lake Echo, Dear,' by C.D. Wright\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poem\/177349\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>_____________<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the video: <\/strong>&#8220;<a title=\"Wikipedia, on 'Somebody That I Used to Know'\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Somebody_That_I_Used_to_Know\" target=\"_blank\">Somebody That I Used to Know<\/a>&#8221; was released originally in 2011 by its creator, a performer known as Gotye, described by Wikipedia as &#8220;a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter.&#8221; His own performance (and <a title=\"YouTube: 'Somebody That I Used to Know,' by Gotye (feat. Kimbra) \" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY\" target=\"_blank\">corresponding video<\/a>) has done really well &#8212; the song won two Grammy awards in 2013, and has sold (according to Wikipedia) over 13 million copies, while the video, as of right now, has been viewed <em>540 million<\/em> times. Nick Messitte, of Forbes.com, <a title=\"Forbes.com: ''Rude' By Magic: What's With This Random Reggae Rock Song At The Top Of The Charts?' by Nick Messitte\" href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/nickmessitte\/2014\/07\/29\/rude-by-magic-whats-with-this-random-reggae-rock-song-at-the-top-of-the-charts\/\" target=\"_blank\">recently<\/a> called &#8220;Somebody That I Used to Know&#8221; the &#8220;only Reggae Rock song I can think of that reinvented the genre while still staying pretty much inside of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The video cover by Walk Off the Earth, shown above, has had a &#8220;mere&#8221; <em>160 million<\/em> views. (These numbers stagger me.) Still, while Gotye&#8217;s video is pretty great, and certainly hints at magic, Walk Off the Earth&#8217;s version has a nearly hypnotic attraction. It&#8217;s all one take, for starters. And even though I know it might very well be a lip-synced performance, damn, getting all five members of the band working a single guitar is a pretty clever bit of magic &#8212; legerdemain &#8212; in its own right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Video: &#8220;Somebody That I Used to Know,&#8221; performed by Walk Off the Earth. Lyrics here. See the note about the video at the bottom of this post, too.] From whiskey river (italicized portion): What Narrative Is For How fine the mind that can calculate change and recognize destiny, as if luck had something to do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,74,37,5,251,3477],"tags":[1214,3075,3700,3852,3853,3854,3855,3856,3857],"class_list":{"0":"post-15939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-music","9":"category-onlineworld","10":"category-06_writing","11":"category-poetry-writing_cat","12":"category-fantasy-06_writing","13":"tag-magic","14":"tag-mary-ruefle","15":"tag-aldous-huxley","16":"tag-gotye","17":"tag-walk-off-the-earth","18":"tag-c-d-wright","19":"tag-albert-einstein","20":"tag-charles-tomlinson","21":"tag-margo-schilpp","22":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-495","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15939"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15951,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15939\/revisions\/15951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}