Open-Secrets

Tag: john-cage

  • Independence Day

    Ducks

    In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him. – George Gurdjieff

    There is no absolute up or down, as Aristotle taught; no absolute position in space; but the position of a body is relative to that of other bodies. Everywhere there is incessant relative change in position throughout the universe, and the observer is always at the center of things. – Giordano Bruno, 1584

    It is better to make a piece of music than to perform one, better to perform one than to listen to one, better to listen to one than to misuse it as a means of distraction, entertainment, or acquisitiuon of “culture.” – John Cage

    Image by ArtDream

  • Subtleties

    Elf lovecraft

    George Ellery Hale (1868-1938) founded Yerkes Observatory, Mt Wilson Observatory and Palomar Observatory. Beginning at age 42, Hale received regular visits from an elf who advised him on numerous matters, including the administration of Mt Wilson and the planning for Palomar.

    All life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of  real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value the one above the other.  – H.P. Lovecraft

    There is no such thing as empty space or empty time There is always something to hear or something to see. In fact, try as we might to make a silence, we cannot. For certain engineering purposes, it is desirable to have as silent a situation as possible. Such a room is called an anechoic chamber, its walls made of special materials, a room without echoes. I entered one at Harvard University… and heard two sounds, one a high and one a low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system and the low one was my blood circulation.  – John Cage

  • Perspective

    It’s presumptuous to speak for all of humankind, but I think it fair to say that most of us seek meaning, a higher purpose, completeness or some form of deep personal satisfaction.

    And, most likely, in that seeking, we find ourselves at times following a path or a person that turns out to have been a distraction, a misrepresentation, or a dead end.

    The more constrained or distorted our view, the greater the possibility of being misled or misleading ourselves.

    In my experience there are two critical tests we can use to measure the potential of a path or a teacher:

    • No Sacred Cows or Stones Left Unturned
    • Freedom – There should be an evolution of freedom in all facets of our unfoldment.

    In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him. George Gurdjieff

    There is no absolute up or down, as Aristotle taught; no absolute position in space; but the position of a body is relative to that of other bodies. Everywhere there is incessant relative change in position throughout the universe, and the observer is always at the center of things. – Giordano Bruno, 1584

    It is better to make a piece of music than to perform one, better to perform one than to listen to one, better to listen to one than to misuse it as a means of distraction, entertainment, or acquisition of “culture.” – John Cage (1912-92), U.S. composer

Open-Secrets