TIDBIT: WHY JOHN LENNON MATTERS
Why John Lennon matters in the ongoing War on Consciousness
I’ll depart from my usual practice in tidbits to say a few extra words of editorial opinion. Lennon – and for that matter, the Beatles, and the whole contemporary rock tradition on up to when popular music itself succumbed to corporate promoted uglification sometime in the 1990s – matters also because he stands in the broad western classical musical tradition(yes, I said classical) music that began in the High Renaissance, continued through the Baroque and Classical periods, and in many cases, through the Romantic era and on into the 20th century. He is much more in that tradition of craftsmanship and beauty than, say, the calculated artificiality and deliberate anti-music ugliness (yes, I said ugliness) of the serialists like Schoenberg or Berg, the polytonal and screeching cacaphonies of some of Stravinsky, and so on. Nothing wrong with polytonality or polyrhythms mind you (CPE Bach tried his hand, successfully, at both(look at the first movement of Wq. 27 if you don’t believe me[and for the musicologists out there, yes, I know, within figured bass one can have what later theorists will call polytonalities, without being "polytonal", but the effect, in my opinion, is the same], and there were even significant stabs at serialism in the Baroque era). Lennon, and the other Beatles, kept alive a tradition of tonality, of melodic beauty, and of creativity, without having to invent “new forms” to “prove their originality”. As for the musical uglification movement, that too was perhaps best characterized as an assault on consciousness.
Why John Lennon matters in the ongoing War on Consciousness
Today is the birthday of John Lennon (October 09, 1940 - December 08, 1980).
John Lennon and Yoko Ono Dick Cavett Show Excerpt 5 of 6
Tyndale was also murdered at about the age of forty, for the "crime" (which was not actually a crime -- see this previous post) of "heresy" (that is, articulating ideas which strongly undermine the existing system of control of inherently free men and women).
I believe the echo is also appropriate in that Tyndale's actions, for which he was criminally executed in a gruesome and public manner, centered on giving "power to the people" -- in this case, the power to read one subset of the ancient scriptures of the human race -- and against the prevailing idea that these scriptures belonged only to an elite few, who were actively employed in using those ancient scriptures to do the exact opposite of what they were intended for: that is, using them to constrict and imprison and oppress other men and women, instead of what they were originally intended for, which was the raising of consciousness and the shamanic message of reality creation.
Tyndale may not have seen the scriptures that way, but I believe it can be demonstrated that this is what the ancient scriptures all convey, and the fact remains that -- whatever Tyndale believed about the right way to understand their message -- he was willing to risk his life to put those scriptures in the hands of the "common" people (as if there is really such thing as a "common" person -- the term itself is a fabrication of those who believe they are "elite" and that everyone else is "common," and as such the term itself is a tool of mind control).
And so, as different as these two men were, and as different as were the times in which they lived, they can both be seen as "champions of consciousness" in the ongoing "War on consciousness" that yet another Englishman, Graham Hancock, spoke about in his infamous "banned TED talk" of the same name (a talk, by the way, in which he utters not one but an entire string of "heresies" against the established system of suppression of consciousness and its wars not just on consciousness but also on human bodies and human freedom).
In the above clip of an interview by Dick Cavett of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, there is a famous exchange which begins at almost exactly 4:00 into the clip, in which a member of the audience asks John and Yoko about "overpopulation," which is worth considering carefully:
Unidentified Woman: I want to know how you as a woman feel about overpopulation in the world and its relation to polluting the environment.
Yoko Ono: Well I think the problem is not overpopulation as people believe to be, but it's more of the balance of things, what, you know, like food: some part of the world is wastage of food, and some parts, you know, nobody has food. And that kind of a balance, if that is solved, I don't think we'll be worried so much about overpopulation.
John Lennon: I think it's a bit of a joke the way people have made this overpopulation thing into a kind of a myth -- I don't really believe it, you know. I think whatever happens will balance itself out, and work itself out. It's all right for us all living saying, "Ah, well there's enough of us so we won't have any more, don't let anybody else live." I don't believe in that: I think we've got enough food and money to feed everybody, and I think the natural balance, even though old people will last longer -- I'm sure there's enough room for us, and some of them can go to the moon, anyway.
Dick Cavett: You mean you think there's enough, if it were distributed --
John Lennon: Yeah, I don't believe overpopulation, you know. I think that's just a kind of myth that government have thrown out to keep your mind off Vietnam and Ireland and all the important subjects.
Dick Cavett: Oh, I think you're wrong about that!
John Lennon: Oh, I don't care!In addition to being a delightful exchange at the end, this is also an incredibly revealing discussion about what is really one of the most important subjects in the world (what economists refer to as "the basic economic problem"). Dick Cavett and the woman who asked the question are wondering about how "resources" can possibly be allocated if more and more "people" keep being born. John and Yoko take the position that it will "work itself out" if the imbalances (which have been created by criminal behavior) are corrected.
Note that the position John and Yoko articulate in this discussion implicitly trusts in the people: it is an "anti-elite" position. It thus relates precisely to the question of whether "the power" should be controlled by a few -- the "elites" -- or whether it should be distributed out to the men and women of this planet. Tyndale was articulating -- and living -- the exact same position.
Also, while they do not come out and say it in these exact words, both John and Yoko are taking a firm stance against the false idea that "people" need to be pitted against "resources" -- the way out of that artificial dilemma is to realize that people themselves are the world's most powerful resources! They are the ones who solve the problems, by creating new realities! For more on reality creation as it relates to this discussion, see "Shakespeare and the creation of reality" and also "John Rappoport's talk on the trickster-god and creating reality."
This conversation also relates to the essay by the ancient philosopher Plutarch, who argued that using "scarce resources" as an excuse to commit crimes against nature or against other human beings dishonors the gods and betrays a lack of trust in Demeter and Dionysus who provide the growing things of the planet for our sustenance.
John's argument towards the end of the exchange echoes Plutarch's quite closely: he argues that governments throw out fearful scenarios "to keep your mind off Vietnam and Ireland and all the important subjects" -- that is, the subject of illegal activity by governments. This is also a crucially important point, and one with powerful resonance today, at this particular juncture in history and the events unfolding around the world right up to this minute.
Finally, note that the above segment begins with a question about the thing for which John Lennon is of course most well known, and the enduring gift which he gave to the world: his music. Music is reality creation: in fact, as I have said many times in the past, in a very real sense we are made of music, as is the entire universe around us.
And, music is directly related to ecstasy -- the condition or state of breaking through the static, material, physical realm which, after all, is not the only aspect of existence (contrary to the teachings of the "ideology of materialism"), and in fact is not even the most real aspect of existence (see "The real world that is behind this one" and also "Why violence is wrong, even in a holographic universe").
John Lennon truly embodies the individual journey towards consciousness, and the shared mission of waking up others to the reality and importance of this journey. He continues to speak that message to the world today, at a time when the war against consciousness is still very real and very immediate.
Respect.
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