The Oldest Song

"These were never your true love's eyes.
Why do you feign that you love them?
You that broke from their constancies,
And the wide calm brows above them!

This was never your true love's speech.
Why do you thrill when you hear it?
You that have ridden out of its reach
The width of the world or near it!

This was never your true love's hair, --
You that chafed when it bound you
Screened from knowledge or shame or care,
In the night that it made around you!"

"All these things I know, I know.
And that's why my heart is breaking!"
"Then what do you gain by pretending so?"
"The joy of an old wound waking."

- Rudyard Kipling

Ignorance ain't no bliss, but then, so ain't knowledge

Socrates equated virtue to knowledge. Everyone is deep down, good. No one does wrong intentionally. Wise men do what is right. If man has no knowledge he cannot do what is right. If man has knowledge he cannot do what is wrong. All wrong doing arises out of ingorance. No one does wrong intentionally.

Goodness is knowledge! Actually in real life, it is just the opposite. Bad experiences put things in perspective for people. Presupposing goodness and ignorance just elongates the length of those experiences, till appearances get shattered. Presupposing bad is just as twisted, only it is recognised to be more so. But everybody presupposes. Both good and bad. More often bad than good, I think. Fixing things is not hard with the real at hand. Usually it is not, and that is the hard part. But it is hurtful to fix nevertheless, specially when one doesn't believe in vengence for the bad incurred. More so, because there comes a need to fix, what one has not broken. The remedy is for a patient unaware of an illness diagnosed correctly.

I have a good friend, who is not really so,
Whether not good, Whether not friend,
I do not know.
What I know is that I am a friend,
Whether good, whether not,
Friend doesn't know.
The protocol is to abide by, what one knows.
And no one knows what the other knows.
Because of goodness. That much, I know.

God forbid anyone from going through life because of presupposing the stuff philosophers sell in their sleep. Ignorance or knowledge doesn't really stop anyone from doing anything, does it? No one is aiming towards goodness. Maybe, it should not be aimed for, anyways. If goodness is the aim, that person ain't good. And if that is not true, the good one does, might just be to cover up the bad incurred by some. The need won't arise otherwise. One doesn't need a cross or nails to believe that Jesus lived or live. Just take a look around. There will be many cruxified, others trying to crusify. Whether there is an angel up there, one doesn't know. What there is, is a willingness to engage in this activity. Presupposing goodness is likely to get one engaged in problems. A naive victim doesn't for see the trap, or rather the maze one lives in.

Dusty Music

In the Glee fever I think about soul searching souls and invariably when solos or duets would be performed, I would think about Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand. I recently came across ‘Losing you’, beautifully sung by Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien. The name ‘Dusty’ does this woman no justice. Her voice is all about finesse. If I could sing, and sing well, I would like to sing like her. Not just her wonderful voice or the persona. I would like to be as articulate as her singing. I would like to be understood. Her song leaves no communication gap, language and arguments, come across in philosophy. Or atleast, the way I do it. Her voice gives life to the lyrics. It unfolds in itself spiraling a whole lot of meaning, as the song progresses. It didn’t take me long to get submerged by the emotions and the energy of vibrated in her voice. The power of it is uncanny and mesmerizing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Xd8bgXLLA
She was born in 1939 and died in 1999. The woman’s growing up years was probably living through a world war. In dark political climate one often ends up coming across existential writings and eludes a strange philosophical epiphany to them. But music is buried, when one thinks of that time, in the noise of violence and devastation. And music like this, ‘Pop’! Let’s face it. It is easier to see the silver lining when one is brought up in happier times, with happy ideals and principles. But when one goes through dark times, it seems easier to write in all probability, than sing. It must have taken courage to grow up to be a singer and releasing and revealing oneself like that. We live our lives, oblivious to what we want and strive for. Once we find our true passions, we work towards it. If one is lucky, one succeeds. I don’t know how easy or difficult Dusty’s life has been, how her life choices were made. But when I heard her sing in the video, I am sure, she was able to utilize her being in the best way possible for her to do so. Her voice, it makes me admire not just a good singer, but one person who fulfilled the purpose of her life. It is truly inspirational. I thought I’d share.