Tags
books, Buddhism, culture, God, Henry Miller, history, James Joyce, Joseph Campbell, Life, Nietzsche, poetry, religion, spirituality, Zen
“If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through.”—Black Elk, from the Preface to Black Elk Speaks
We’re sitting in an Irish pub on Crescent Street in downtown Montreal having a pint after a long walk around town. It is the perfect way to bid adieu to the day.
The two men sitting with me are retired university professors and I am not trying to play coy with them but I know that nothing I can say will change their minds. The reality is the things that I am trying to say here at the Cafe—with a special emphasis on the word ‘trying,’ are not exactly ‘of this world.’ Again, I am not trying to be coy or ‘New Agey,’ it is just that things of the spirit, things of the ‘other world,’ however you wish to term it—and I simply prefer saying Life—cannot be explained or defended with reason.
That is where our conversation inevitably reaches an impasse, and it annoys reasonable ‘educated’ people to no end that I am not inclined to debate or argue with them about things that cannot be debated or argued.
“They just are,” I repeatedly say.
“But that’s not enough!” They protest.
For me, the Cafe is following in the steps of a great many people, individuals I like to refer to as Giants of the Human Spirit. Nietzsche, Spengler, Faure, Bergson, Miller, Joyce, Proust, Hesse, Campbell, plus countless Zen masters—how many am I leaving out! Every one of them to my thinking devoted their lives to singing something that we all cry out for.
“This is not my song!” I insist. “I am just rephrasing what others before me sang. Different words, different melodies, same song! And to me this song is all around us today, if we only open our ears and our hearts to it!”
Life!
Omphalos Cafe 
I feel the artists today and prophets are more marginalized than ever. The crap art gets promoted and these crap art people make money like the royalty of years ago. To be honest I don’t know how artists , writers and filmmakers are surviving in this Imperial Gilded age. The ones on the fringes which are most of us. I keep looking for better jobs and there aren’t any. How to keep doing art and surviving is a good topic. If one is worried about money it is so hard to focus inside and hear those creative voices.
I wholeheartedly agree, Mame, and wish you and everyone struggling with the frightful prospect of earning a living in our callous blinkered world the very best. For my part, as I’ve said, I took to trucking. Had I tried to make a living long before I knew what I had to say or came anywhere near the place where I could say it I would surely have crashed and burned. “Live an integral Life!” has been my catchword. Seek out community and leave any thought of ‘popular’ or acknowledged creation to others. I’m not sure these are the times for genuine artists to stand up and shine. For me it is a time for community building on a new simplified foundation, quietly, away from the Madding Crowd. Recently I’ve been rereading Durant’s volumes on the Decline of Rome and rise of Christianity. The gathering of at first handfuls of citizens of all walks and means to hear a new message interests me. How they formed tiny rudimentary communities that looked after one another, refound the courage to believe and returned to a sense of communal compassion and thus renewed their lost faith in Life is fascinating to me. That, to me, is what the future holds. It won’t be a popular movement, at least at first, for there is too much noise and distraction and yes, hardship lying ahead. It will take place behind the scenes, modestly, simply and very gradually. That’s my belief at any rate. Good luck, have faith, and find a modest manner of ‘earning a living’ that sits well with your values. And avoid ‘fighting the system!’ Win with a smile and joy in your heart!
Yes I think you are right. I also think there might be a terrible economic and climate collapse in our future and we will have to do this to survive. I am glad to read your blog again. I am trying to get off the social media.
Thanks for that, Mame, I appreciate it. Yes, challenging times lie ahead. I ask myself: ‘how can I play a part, how can I help.’ And what I come up with is to laugh and share a message of courage and joy with unflinching eyes wide open. We have no need for the naysayers, the doomsayers, those who have thrown in the towel. There’s Life still to be lived and shared and community to be built! In a few hours I fly out to Calgary for a visit with my son. The message I have for him is the same. “Have faith, learn widely and work hard because there’s nothing free and no more free rides. Position yourself well, have courage and compassion for others less fortunate than yourself, and strive as best you can to foster lifelong friendships and a community of positive like-minded souls.” What else is there?