Phone-Salesman turned Opera Star

Thanks to Jeff Meyer for sharing the below link with me.

Upon viewing it, I saw yet another example of what real music, and true artistry can do to a crowd of people, even when that crowd is gathered for shallow entertainment. Can anything in the pop-music world achieve such an effect? How else does a phone-salesman bring people to tears?

http://www.maniacworld.com/Phone-Salesman-Amazes-Crowd.html

The Fascists and the Phallus

The great American author Sinclair Lewis wrote that:

"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."

Many Americans have heard this quote as of late, though not as a result of their literary dispositions or bookishness. This quote, like many other liberal one-liners, has become a popular commodity in the land of bumper-sticker politics.

Unfortunately for Mr. Lewis and his legion of one-liner bumper-sticker wielding liberals, there is no precedence for supporting such a statement. I think it would be more accurate to say:

"When Communism comes to America, it will be in the shape of a giant neon rainbow-colored dildo."

Such a powerful political symbol would be in the front of marches and parades across the nation, proudly followed by the likes of Barrack Obama, Al Gore and his fuzzy scientists, proud Frenchmen everywhere and Dumbledore. "Follow the Phallus!" would be their rallying cry. Actually, now that I think about it, it already is...

You see, my passionate bumper-sticker one-liner loving liberal friends: Christianity in America may have a historical precedent for being occasionally oppressive, but it has never made America weak. Nor has a God-fearing nation ever turned Fascist since the second world war. The facts are that the Nazi paradigm was built on Pagan superstition and Atheist philosophy (Nietzsche's.) The fact is, the grand Atheist Utopian worker-paradise known as Communism managed to amass a body count to make Hitler, Napolean, and Nero blush. Liberals parade around misinterpretations and sloppy history concerning the Inquisition, while totally ignoring the recent bloody work of their own kind.

There is no historical precedent linking Christianity and Fascism, despite what Mr. Lewis and his post-mortem bumper sticker publication success might lead you to believe. There IS, however, a clear and undeniable linking between Atheism, liberal thought, and more dead people than we can count.

This doesn't matter to the left, however. I've always been jealous of the liberals and their numerous bumper stickers. How comforting it must be to have a worldview supported by colorful snippets, one-liners, unburdened by solid research, information, or deeper reflection. It is no wonder that this perpetually childish offshoot of humanity supports Barrack Obama, a candidate who thinks that one-liners and half-baked visions are enough to run an entire nation.

Not that the Conservatives are doing much better, considering the candidates they're supporting and the great potential leaders they're allowing to be swept aside. Who ever thought that a female Presidential Candidate, especially one bearing the name of Clinton, would ever strike fear into the straight-shooting testosterone overdrive of the Republican Party? All the Jeds, Hanks, and Dicks are shaking in their collective cowboy boots.

As usual, the answers don't lie on bumper stickers. Liberals are wrong about most things, and extreme Conservatives fair only slightly better. The truth generally lies in the middle. The truth is also complex and uncomfortable, hence the general rejection of moderate political candidates who seek solutions instead of playing on fears or perpetuating one-liner political debate (a-la tv-news political "discussions.")

I've become convinced that American Democracy is only a larger, gray-haired version of high-school elections. Since the nation is not likely to drift into actual informed debate anytime soon, the question remains:

Is America ready for a moderate bumper sticker revolution?

Silence and Priorities.

I have a problem.

Chances are, you share this problem as well.

It's a common social ill nowadays, and what's worse, it is often glorified.

We put too much stock in our lives. It is very difficult to seperate what is good, true, and necessary, from what is merely convenient, attractive, and self-glorifying. This is where "careers" replace "callings" and "vocations" are usurped by practicalities.

This social disease has a universal symptom: the lack of silence. The average American fears only death and spiders more than silence, recent surveys show.

Silence is where God resides, and therefore the truth.

The tragedy of the modern Atheistic movement, led by 'intellectuals' like Richard Dawkins, is only succeeding on casting enough doubt to move the uneducated and weak of faith. In trying to deconstruct religion, they are deconstructing humanity. When they say that "the only real thing is the here and now," the miss the most important parts of what makes us human and what gives our lives meaning. They often sight the ills brought about by organized religion, failing to see that one century of atheist/secularist rule has generated a greater body-count than 19 centuries of Europan Christianity combined.

Unfortunately, many people of various belief-stripes, including myself at times, fall into the mistake of overembracing the secular, and not separting meaning from reality and destiny from selfish convenience.

It's a common flaw, and it is only cured by... silence.

The silence leads us inward. Coming inward, we discover God. We go deeper, and the next thing you know, you're living the "examined life."

It's actually really easy to start. It's just hard to keep it going, considering all of the modern American fabric, religion included, is geared to lead us away from the contemplative lifestyle.

When looking inside of myself, beneath the sometimes cheerful sometimes sarcastic exterior, I found troubling things. I found confusion and shallowness of heart. I found a fickle and sometimes selfish nature. I found more fear than I ever thought could reside in me.

It's a troubling thing, when you discover how many of your "decisions" are motivated by a deep current of fear.

So, I have two choices: 1.)Pretend the problem doesn't exist and take the nearest ride into suburban controversy-free paradise, or 2.)deal with it.

What do you have to deal with? What noise in your life prevents you from dealing with your own issues, or from even realizing they are there?

Is the person with their new hummer, burgeoning stock-portfolio, 9 blackberries all keeping track of different financial situations, six personal assistants, a perfect wife and house and job, really living the "life?"

Or, is he hiding from something?

"The Pope and all the Idiot Americans..."

I love taking my laptop to the local book store to work. A nice fresh cup of coffee, the surrounding piles of completed work to inspire me, and the steady procession of interesting people. Generally, people watching is an activity I throw in between writing my notes, a way to temporarily rest the mind and keep a rhythm of working going. Sometimes, however, as in any other public situation, you only find yourself infuriated.

The purposefully amplified cell-phone conversation came from the middle table in my favorite local Borders store, being sustained almost entirely by a middle-aged Fara-Khan dressed man with a Jesse Jackson tone and attitude.

"You know what tha problem IS, brotha: It's like I say in all my classes: the Europeans gots it all figured out: you need a mistress."

My ears shot up. This was going to be good. I had already deduced -- by force rather than by voyeurism -- that this man was a professor at some local college. His "lecture" continued:

"It's not about morALity, brotha, but just about releasin' some pressure. It's a win-win, brotha: you get your fun, and she gets supported. But all the stupid Puritans in this country, they just can't get on board..."

Finishing this conversation, he proceeded closer to my work area, greeting all the older men around him. He began to engage in a conversation about the cover-story in Time Magazine (that great scholarly source) about global warming:

"Yeah, brotha, I tell you what: It's like I say in my clASSes, we need population control. Not just the humans, but the animals too!"

I was doubtlessly entertained at this point.

"The Chinese have already started to limit their births, but the Pope and all the idiot Americans can't get on board. Don't they realize our limited resources?"

He shook his head in disdain, bid his friend farewell, and presumably went to spread his learned wisdom to his next group of unfortunate students.

Apparently, Time magazine is a scholarly source. Apparently, this supposedly educated man would advocate planet-wide sterilization programs, despite the fact that the world has more food, resources, and space than it knows what to do with. Apparently, in all his enlightened wisdom, this man has no problem treating one woman as a wife, and another as a glorified prostitute. Apparently, these "beliefs" and "opinions" are somehow tolerated in the company of the academic elite.

There is nothing else I need to say here.

Sisters of Perpetual Cowardice.

Some people like to play with fire, metaphysically speaking.

Two members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence attended a Catholic Mass in San Fransisco this past week, accepting communion as an act of agitation against the Church which so publicly has opposed their actions.

(If you're not familiar with the "sisters," please read my blog "Is it time to boycott San Fran?" or check the Catholic League website.)

Regardless of your own beliefs, Catholic teaching holds that communion is only to be received by Catholics of good standing and moral certainty. For a non-Catholic to receive communion -- from the Bishop, no-less -- is blatant mockery. For Catholics, it amounts to a violation of the Sacred flesh of God -- no small action.

The Bishop has since apologized for distributing communion to these confused people, claiming he did not know their identity or affiliation. Fair enough: the burden of such a gesture -- a sin in Catholic eyes -- rests on the "sisters."

I will once again encourage the "sisters" to play fair: Catholics and Catholic countries denounce homosexual behavior, but certain Islamic countries behead people for indulging in it. Old Catholic Bishops and non-violent laity are easy targets for cynical (and sick) people. I suggest their next trip be to the local Mosque. After all, Christians have been martyred for their beliefs for over 2,000 years. Peter and Paul walked straight up to the gates of their "Babylon" itself, and paid the ultimate price for it. In fact, the 20th century has seen more Christian martyrdom than any other century in Christ's millennium. Can the "sisters" and their sister-organizations say anything comparable?

Let's see it, then: An international pilgrimage to Iran, with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence leading the way. Only then will I give them credit for being anything else but easy-opportunity, showboating cowards.

Echoes of Origin and Destiny

...and some days, you couldn't feel more alive. Outside it is cold, rainy, and generally smug. Inside...well...

I knew that something was up when I got moving this morning; there was an inexpicable yet completely palpable sense of joy in the air. Later, having a chance to speak with a friend, encourage him, and build him up, I suddenly found myself in the possession of wings. A little sweet Opeth on the car-stereo driving home, a few green lights, and the outside gloom could not have been a bigger antithesis of my heart.

This was far beyond having a "good day," however, because truthfully, it wasn't the best of days.

Why does the simple act of helping someone open the doors within themselves lead to deep joy? What are these moments when we feel like we've just conquered the world, when in our realities nothing substantial has happened to trigger such feelings?

And when you know for certain that your "feelings" go well beyond simple chemical reactions such as energetic cheerfulness or smugness, what do you call them then?

I've been thinking a lot recently on how our shared humanity -- those similarities which sociologists show us in every culture -- point not only to a shared biological origin, but a spiritual/metaphysical one as well.

In the Ignatian spiritual excercises, one journies to the center of his/her humanity beginning with the contemplation of what God IS, and therefore what the creatures created in his image are/should be. When I participated in the excercises, my spiritual director at the time went in the opposite direction: We began at what we are as human beings, and moved down these shared paths to our shared maker. Both paths are equally valid, both often share the same two-lane metaphysical highway.

Both also point to the deeper feelings in life: those feelings which are in fact only heavenly consolations, or as I like to call them: "echoes of origin and destiny."

How often are we conscious of the different between soul and spirit, and the difference between our pscyhosomatic intellectual musings and the movements of the soul? King David, in seeking God's will for his life, would often ask questions of his soul. "Why are you so downcast, my soul?" As a friend of mine recently pointed out, artists share art on a different level, a soul-to-soul level. Our souls are distinct parts of our personhood, and we choose to let ourselves reverberate either with them, or against/independent of them.

The process of searching your soul is a tasking and often painful one: hence loud music, television, and every other human invention to drown out the beautiful stillness within. The 'highs' of the soul are extremely gratifying, hence the human invention of narcotics to mimic this effect.

Some days, you couldn't feel more alive. The "why" doesn't matter. It's the fact that God loves you enough to remind you of your mighty destiny is what is important at these times. Be thankful -- feel -- and live.

Why not?

Perhaps I am overly idealistic. At least, that is often the charge. Still, I can't imagine why the world of art is as it is. On one side is the academic elite, dismissing anything with populist overtones or even triadic structure. On the other side are the innumerable mass of sheep, mindlessly bobbing their heads to idiot rhymes.

Why?

When, in the course of becoming the most educated society in world history, did we lose the importance of the arts?

I can understand that as the music of a bygone era, Mozart and company won't appeal to the vast majority of people. But the world is filled with wonderful, accessible new music. Why not Part, Corigliano, or my beloved Gorecki on the radio, instead of the Black-Eyed-Peas?

I think I know why: yes, it is true that we have become an educated culture. But we have also become a shallow one. The sounds in our lives have become a soundtrack to the pursuit of shallow living, or the means by which to deaden the pain caused by such a low way of life.

When a composer like Gorecki sets before you a bleak and distant landscape, it is with an eye to help you slow down and confront yourself. This is not escapism, but realism of the highest order. Considering how short life is, I don't see why we would waste time with any lesser level of contemplation.

Yesterday while driving home, I had the windows down and the Tavener "Alleluia" playing. In the distant, the Church-bells tolled 5pm, and one of those wonderful Ivesian moments occured where unrelated sounds fused into a beautiful, momentary whole of music.

Then, some jerk drove by with his bass all the way up and drowned out the entire moment.

Music is not a way to drown out life, my friends. It is a way to embrace it, to challenge it, to move through it in a poetic manner.

So, why not? Why can't new music appeal to more people?

Bravo to Mike Gundy

I am a sports fan, I love competition, and believe that sports have a vital and educational place within our society. That being said, it is time for Americans to step back from their sports-obsession and evaluate their actions. (I wish this statement were only true of sports, as opposed to just about every form of popular entertainment available to us.)

Oklahoma State Football Coach Mike Gundy recently presented such a reminder to the press, criticizing them for their virulent attacks on young athletes. Here's a youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoMmbUmKN0E

The spineless have criticized Coach Gundy, perhaps too fragile in their populist assumptions to see the righteous (and many-layered!) truth such a well-deserved tirade illuminates. Gundy is a football man, and he reacted as a football man should. Is it really so painful to have the mirror turned on you?

We take our athletics way too seriously, and when this spills over into the amateur realm, the sort of criticisms that Gundy rightly vilifies can only hurt young players. These are not professionals, but amateurs. If a professional wide-receiver drops half his passes and he's making 5 million dollars a year, by all means criticize a man for not doing his job. To criticize a high-school or college athlete -- an amateur, and still a child -- in this way is the same as yelling at your kid for getting a 'B' on his chemistry exam, or for having difficulty in a certain subject. It is a heartless, brainless, and ultimately damaging action towards the fragile generation who we should be trying to rear into leaders. A nation which attacks its young is a nation doomed to fail.

Bravo, Mike Gundy. May other coaches take your brave example to heart. This is ONLY college football -- ONLY a game. As Gundy left the press-room, a loose smattering of applause could be heard. May it be echoed on Saturday by the loudest cheering in the history of Oklahoma State Football.