{"id":18441,"date":"2016-10-07T13:39:54","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T17:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=18441"},"modified":"2016-10-07T13:39:54","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T17:39:54","slug":"the-voice-the-song-the-vision-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-voice-the-song-the-vision-the-light\/","title":{"rendered":"The Voice, the Song, the Vision, the Light"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oo7Ic-Zg1ic\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"smalltext\"><em>[Video: 10,000 Maniacs and David Byrne (live), performing Iris Dement&#8217;s &#8220;Let the Mystery Be.&#8221; (Lyrics <a title=\"Lyrics: 'Let the Mystery Be'\" onclick=\"javascript:wopenScroll('https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/lyrics\/letthemysterybe_10kmaniacsandbyrne.html', 'new', 525, 600); return false;\">here<\/a>.)]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>From <a title=\"whiskey river: Lauren Oliver, on the non-centrality of you\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2016\/10\/one-of-strangest-things-about-life-is.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>whiskey river<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of today) free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. His spiritual sight is stereoscopic, like his physical sight: he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. Thus he has always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such a thing as free will also.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(G. K. Chesterton [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Orthodoxy,' by G.K. Chesterton\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=p7UEAQAAIAAJ&amp;pg=PA48#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<a title=\"whiskey river: 'Old Man At Home Alone in the Morning,' by W.S. Merwin\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2016\/10\/old-man-at-home-alone-in-morning-there.html\" target=\"_blank\">and<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Old Man At Home Alone in the Morning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are questions that I no longer ask<br \/>\nand others that I have not asked for a long time<br \/>\nthat I return to and dust off and discover<br \/>\nthat I&#8217;m smiling and the question<br \/>\nhas always been me and that it is<br \/>\nno question at all but that it means<br \/>\ndifferent things at the same time<br \/>\nyes I am old now and I am the child<br \/>\nI remember what are called the old days and there is<br \/>\nno one to ask how they became the old days<br \/>\nand if I ask myself there is no answer<br \/>\nso this is old and what I have become<br \/>\nand the answer is something I would come to<br \/>\nlater when I was old but this morning<br \/>\nis not old and I am the morning<br \/>\nin which the autumn leaves have no question<br \/>\nas the breeze passes through them and is gone<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(W. S. Merwin [<a title=\"The Writer's Almanac (September 30, 2016): 'Old Man At Home alone in the Morning,' by W.S. Merwin\" href=\"http:\/\/writersalmanac.org\/episodes\/20160930\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Not from <em>whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Ripe Seeds Falling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At home in late summer after the long<br \/>\nspring journeys and their echoing good-byes<br \/>\nat home as the year&#8217;s seeds begin to fall<br \/>\neach one alone each in its own moment<br \/>\ncoming in its blind hope to touch the earth<br \/>\nits recognition even in the dark<br \/>\nknowing at once the place that it has touched<br \/>\nthe place where it belongs and came to stay<br \/>\nthis is the place that I wanted to hear<br \/>\nto listen to the daylight and the dark<br \/>\nin this moment that has come along with me<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(W. S. Merwin [<a title=\"Copper Canyon Press: 'Ripe Seeds Falling,' by W.S. Merwin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.coppercanyonpress.org\/pages\/util\/email_poem_to_friend.asp?bid=1596&amp;pid=2078\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>The Man at the Door<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last night in my dream I took some steps<br \/>\nUnderground. It seemed to be a holy place&#8212;<br \/>\nPerhaps monks a thousand years ago<br \/>\nThought there. I had almost forgotten them.<\/p>\n<p>How could we forget? Well, it&#8217;s easy.<br \/>\nA guard at the door&#8212;you know the kind,<br \/>\nThose who keep people out&#8212;stopped me.<br \/>\nI began singing, &#8220;<em>Hum-du-lah,<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>Hum-du-lah.<\/em>&#8221; I couldn&#8217;t remember<br \/>\nWhat those words meant.<br \/>\nBut the man at the door grew<br \/>\nLight-headed, and let me slip in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Robert Bly [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Talking Into the Ear of a Donkey: Poems,' by Robert Bly\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=gvVyJHqoR-wC&amp;pg=PA91#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Siren Song<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is the one song everyone<br \/>\nwould like to learn: the song<br \/>\nthat is irresistible:<\/p>\n<p>the song that forces men<br \/>\nto leap overboard in squadrons<br \/>\neven though they see beached skulls<\/p>\n<p>the song nobody knows<br \/>\nbecause anyone who had heard it<br \/>\nis dead, and the others can\u2019t remember.<\/p>\n<p>Shall I tell you the secret<br \/>\nand if I do, will you get me<br \/>\nout of this bird suit?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t enjoy it here<br \/>\nsquatting on this island<br \/>\nlooking picturesque and mythical<\/p>\n<p>with these two feathery maniacs,<br \/>\nI don\u2019t enjoy singing<br \/>\nthis trio, fatal and valuable.<\/p>\n<p>I will tell the secret to you,<br \/>\nto you, only to you.<br \/>\nCome closer. This song<\/p>\n<p>is a cry for help: Help me!<br \/>\nOnly you, only you can,<br \/>\nyou are unique<\/p>\n<p>at last. Alas<br \/>\nit is a boring song<br \/>\nbut it works every time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Margaret Atwood [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths,' edited by Nina Kossman\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=d8qTLjwGw8gC&amp;pg=PA265#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Hildegard of Bingen [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Hildegard of Bingen: Essential Writings and Chants of a Christian Mystic,' translated and annotated by Dr. Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=xrRoCwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PR15#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Video: 10,000 Maniacs and David Byrne (live), performing Iris Dement&#8217;s &#8220;Let the Mystery Be.&#8221; (Lyrics here.)] From whiskey river: Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. [&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":"10,000 Maniacs\/David Byrne, W.S. Merwin, Hildegard of Bingen, et al.: 'The Voice, the Song, the Vision, the Light'","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,74,5,50,36,251,4159],"tags":[66,351,1395,1645,1871,1994,2162,2227,2917,4414,4415,4416,4417,4418],"class_list":{"0":"post-18441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-music","9":"category-06_writing","10":"category-language-writing_cat","11":"category-reading","12":"category-poetry-writing_cat","13":"category-essays","14":"tag-gk-chesterton","15":"tag-ws-merwin","16":"tag-robert-bly","17":"tag-margaret-atwood","18":"tag-natalie-merchant","19":"tag-light","20":"tag-david-byrne","21":"tag-mystery","22":"tag-vision","23":"tag-10000-maniacs","24":"tag-hildegard-of-bingen","25":"tag-singiing","26":"tag-song","27":"tag-voices","28":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-4Nr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18441","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=18441"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18453,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18441\/revisions\/18453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}