Yesterday we were discussing the disturbing fact that we all have our parts to play and lines to speak, but no one seems to have access to the whole screenplay. Is it a crime drama? Screwball comedy? Suspense thriller? Horror movie?
Again, man "is an actor, playing a part in the drama of being and, through the brute fact of his existence, committed to play it without knowing what it is." The role "must be played in uncertainty of its meaning, as an adventure of decision on the edge of freedom and necessity."
Stipulated: it's an adventure movie, but it's also improv, nor does it ever stop being the latter.
Or rather, the opposite of improvisation is routine, so I suppose it's best to have some combination of the two.
I just read a biography of Charles Mingus, whose music was always on the knife-edge of order and chaos. As he put it to his musicians, You can't improvise on nothin'! But nor can you do so on something that has become overly rigid and predictable, and devoid of surprise.
These here posts: are you not surprised?
Boo!
So it's a suspense thriller after all? Yes, that's why there is always the possibility of a train(of thought)wreck.
Just why are there surprises at all in the cosmos? Beginning with the cosmos itself? I can see bad surprises, but why on earth are there so many pleasant ones?
This material is challenging enough, so let's stay focussed. First of all,
existence is not a fact. If anything, existence is the non-fact of a disturbing movement in the In-Between of ignorance and knowledge, of time and timelessness, of imperfection and perfection, of hope and fulfillment, and ultimately of life and death (Voegelin).
Okay, but some of these are not like the others, plus there's a whole lot about the movement that is not -- surprise! -- disturbing.
True, being alive means living on the horizon of death, but why all the knowledge, perfection, and fulfillment in between? Are these hints of something better, or just illusions swept away by death's tide?
I want to say that living between, say, ignorance and truth, is not analogous to living between life and death, because truth touches on, and must descend from, eternity and immortality. And if our existence were a mere existential fact, well, first of all, You can't improvise on nothin':
if man's existence were not a movement but a fact, it not only would have no meaning but the question of meaning could not even arise.
Speaking of which, and I'll try to find an example, but in one of his greatest bands, Mingus and Eric Dolphy would literally improvise by conversing with one another, asking questions, testifying, shouting answers, telling jokes, etc, in the moment. Almost like an analogue of life or something.
On first exposure it may sound like noise, but it's full of pleasant surprises. Start with the bass solo -- or lecture -- at about 4:50, followed by Dolphy's response (around 7:00) and conversation (9:30):
I wish the blog could be more like that, with lots of call-and-response, of comments in real time instead of after the fact, because the Light -- the luminosity -- is always in the in-between.
Otherwise, we face the possibility of existential shrinkage, in which the living God
has been thrown out of the search and is no longer permitted to answer questions: living in retirement from the life of reason he has shriveled into an object of unreasoned faith... and declared to be dead.
Can't improvise on nothin'! Nor on something ideologized and frozen.
Rather, we improvise in the space or "tension of existence between the human and divine poles." God is "the mover who attracts or draws man to himself," as man is the arrow aimed at or attracted to or pulled by God, "in which the movement becomes luminous to itself."
Now,
To follow Christ means to continue the event of the divine presence in society and history.... of God's pull becoming effective in the world through Christ...
Not a dead doctrine but a living relationship to the Beyond, because you can't improvise on nothin':
In the historical drama of revelation, the Unknown God ultimately becomes the God known through his presence in Christ....
The Adventure, or
drama of the Unknown God who reveals his kingdom through his presence in man, and of the man who reveals what has been delivered to him by delivering it to his fellowmen, is continued by the existentially responsive disciple in the gospel drama by which he carries on the work of delivering these things from God to man.... the presence of the drama partakes of of both human time and divine timelessness...
Or at the intersection of form and improvisation. Monday Morning Prayer Meeting:
7 comments:
Assassination! Angry! Blues Number Disturbed Blow! Anyway buri buri, crunchy, pounding one that is ringing. Mingus Eighteenth number to control the turbidity of such sound as music is well enjoyed along with his mood. It's free. Who's going to leave your possession and beat the piano? The audience seems to be fun too. Listen to your clinging, so as not to be blown away!
Is the sound coming out well in the open air, the sound of the instrument is clear and pleasant. What's more, you can see the audience enjoying jazz-drinking beer on the grass. It is rich in noise unique to live, “Hack Sean” is a fun thing.
Of course the performance is also great. What love is what love? In the trumpet of Ted Carson who blows the main melody, the dolphi bass class is entangled like a snake, and the spectators are also “peepies”.
Listening to the first one; it's like following an alley cat on his travels through a sketchy neighborhood at night.
Meanwhile, in the background, my kids are facetiming with a friend while playing with their respective dogs. They were going to play vijya games together, but the friend's internet is selectively acting up so they are just having a very random conversation instead. What a peculiar world we live in.
Ha - Back to Mingus, I like how in the background you can actually hear one of the musicians at one point saying, "Talk to me, Baby!"
Mingus was the sketchy neighborhood in which be traveled.
:D
And the musicians were the cats traveling in it.
Now, as a construction worker well-experienced with working in desert conditions, I tend to agree with Texas governor Abbott’s decision to criminalize water breaks, especially for our Hispanic child workers.
My own crew has been wearing stillsuits (of Fremen design) for many years now.
Reclaimed water circulates to catchpockets from which you draw it through a tube in the clip at your neck. Urine and feces are processed in the thigh pads. In the open desert, you wear a filter across your face, a tube in the nostrils with plugs ensure a tight fit. With a Fremen suit in good working order, you won't lose more than a thimbleful of moisture a day.
While they don’t make a children’s version of this stillsuit, the skillful use of paper clips and duct tape will ensure that suitable and simple modifications can be easily made. I noticed that one of the boy wears his suit slip-fashion, as if our ways are already known to him. Could he be the kwisatz haderach?
Anyways, our governor has also been working to make Bud Light illegal in our state. Not a problem since I’ve been buying Modelo (please drink responsibly) the brand which celebrates the Fighting Spirit.
We also guard our crew and equipment with some holy santos (El Santo Niño de Atocha is a good one) and to bring us good luck.
That is all
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