This is Joy Harjo's ongoing journal of dreams, stories, poems,music, photographs, and assorted reports from her inner and outer travels about Indian country and the rest of the world .
10/5/06
As I Pack for Tucson I am Still Bothered By the Disjuncture Between The Way I See and the Way I am Supposed to See
This morning I realize I am going to have to re-imagine music to close the distance between my spirit and music. When I am inside music there is no separation. And there is amazing articulation of image and concept. When I train to lines then I lose the connection. Louis Armstrong saw musical tones as images, as apples hanging at various distances. What damage is done to communication by training your mind to be linear, by reading from left to right, all concepts funneled to letters? You can lose subtlety; you might forget to listen. I thought I was musically dyslexic, unable to “get” the system. I understand it, like understanding the mechanics of seeing. This doesn’t bring sight.
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JUST BECAUSE WE MAY UNDERSTAND THE MECHANICS OF PAINTING A PICTURE, THIS DOES NOT NECESSARILY MAKE THE CREATION ANY LESS MAGICAL FOR THE ARTIST, OR THE IMAGE ANY LESS MAGICAL TO THE VIEWER.
JUST AS A PERCEPTION OF GRAVITY CAN EXIST WITHIN A UNIVERSE BASED UPON RELATIVITY, SO IT IS POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND LINEAR PROGRESSION WITHOUT SACRIFICING CIRCULAR PERCEPTION.
AS CYCLES TURN, CHANGE STILL HAPPENS ALONG THE EVOLUTIONARY SPIRAL.
OFTEN, IT MAY SEEM DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN A CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF THE INTUITIVE, WHILE EXPERIENCING SO-CALLED, EPISTEMOLOGY; HOWEVER, IT IS A MATTER OF BEING AWARE OF VARIOUS LEVELS OF EXISTENCE, SIMULTANEOUSLY.
WE ARE OF THE EARTH AND THE GREATER MYSTERY ALL AT ONCE, AND WE SEEM TO BE INDIVIDUALS WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY EXPERIENCING THE INTERCONNECTED NATURE OF ALL THINGS.
A SEEMING DICHOTOMY IS FURTHER PLAYED OUT WITHIN THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MANY INDIGENOUS CULTURES WITH ANCIENT ROOTS (CIRCULAR), AND THE IMPERIALIST RELIGIONS WHICH CONTAIN AS PART OF THEIR DOCTRINE, FORCING THEMSELVES UPON OTHERS (LINEAR).
LIVING AT ONCE WITHIN THE DUAL NATURE OF THESE DIFFERENT VIEWS CAN CREATE INTERNAL CONFLICT.
YET, TAO IS UNDERSTOOD THROUGH THE MODEL OF TAI CHI, CONTAINING THE COMPLIMENTARY ESSENCE OF BOTH YIN AND YANG.
I SUPPOSE THAT THIS IS JUST MY WAY OF SAYING THAT WHAT THE FUTURE NEEDS MOST TO EXIST, IS FOR MORE OF US TO CONTINUE EXPRESSING THE TRUE POWER OF LOVE, WHILE FACING HATRED WHICH IS NOT UNPRECEDENTED, YET WHICH HOLDS GREATER CONSEQUENCES.
JOY, REGARDLESS OF HOW ANALYTICAL YOU FEEL THAT YOU MAY HAVE BECOME, YOUR MUSIC, YOUR POETRY HAS ALWAYS BEEN MUCH MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS.
WHITEHORSE
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