OBOE BEFORE DAWN

Listen.

Lyrics.

I'm trying to love my neighbor and do good unto others
But oh, mother, things ain't going well

(Bob Dylan, lyrics from "Ain't Talkin'")

OBOE LOOKING OUTSIDE AT THE TRAIL

solvitur ambulando (it is solved by walking)

-- St. Augustine

AS THE CRESCENT MOON WAXES / NASRUDDIN MEETS THE CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART SUTRA , TALES OF THE HASIDIM, KEN KESEY, AND BOB DYLAN PLAYING GEORGE BURNS

I keep thinking about the anonymous young man who jumps out the window and runs off into the night at the end of Bob Dylan's "Must Be Santa" video, directed by Nash Edgerton.

If you've not seen Bob Dylan's horrifying "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" video, also directed by Nash Edgerton, I don't recommend it. I repeat. I don't recommend it.

However, it did give me a terrifying and sobering and ultimately cathartic and healing glimpse into a scene that could have been from my life in 1971 after Richard returned from Vietnam. What was so distressing to me in the first moments of the "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" video was that I had loved the song "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" until then. Hearing what I thought of as a sweet love song as the soundtrack to scenes of domestic violence broke my broken heart but also freed me from years of denial of what had happened to me and to Richard.

It is in that discordant light that I see and hear and feel "Must Be Santa."

When I woke up this morning, it occured to me that "Must Be Santa" could have had Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" for its soundtrack:

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

What starts out as a silly joking video is shattered for me by the fleeting image of an anonymous man lying outside on the steps of the large white house and then the image of another anonymous young man being chased down the stairs, throwing glasses, keeping people at a distance with a fireplace tool, swinging from the chandelier and jumping out the window. The man jumping through the window and running made me think of the final scene in the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Bob Dylan may be playing Santa Claus and George Burns in "Must Be Santa," but I wonder if the young man who dives out into the night is playing the role of Bob Dylan.

"Human beings are alone with their secrets. Masked and Anonymous. No one truly knows them."

(from the words of Val Kilmer's character in Bob Dylan's film "Masked and Anonymous")

SNOW IN THE FOOTHILLS / MEDITATION

From:

the "Who laughs this way: Ho Ho Ho" koan on:

Must Be Santa

to the "O Little Town of Bethlehem" koan:

How silently, oh how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.

(Bob sings "Amen" after this, the last song on the CD)

It's all there on "Christmas in the Heart."

"The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it."
(Sri Nisargadatta)

UNIVERSE AT PLAY INSIDE YOUR DNA / YOU'RE A BILLION YEARS OLD TODAY

Listen.

Red duck
luck
where's my paint

AFTER THE THUNDERSTORM

“Our religion keeps reminding us that we aren't just will and thoughts. We're also sand and wind and thunder. Rain. The seasons. All those things. You learn to respect everything because you are everything. If you respect yourself, you respect all things.”

(William Least Heat Moon)

MORNING WALK / SOUTH BAY TRAIL

Listen.

VETERANS DAY 2009

May all veterans of war find peace today and always.

THAT LUCKY OLD SUN

Listen.

LOOKING NORTH / LISTENING

Listen.

AND THAT'S THE WAY IT IS / SUNRISE

Listen

More often than not, ever since I was 14 years old, Bob Dylan's music has affected me in the way it affected Kyle Theiss. Bob Dylan's music brought me back to life again and again. It's good medicine.

"So bitter and so sweet."
(Joni Mitchell)

CLOUD ILLUSIONS / CELTIC NEW YEAR

See post by Solitary Walker for more about the Celtic New Year and "endless renewal and other things."

Listen.

As she said, "Life is for learning."

New Year!
The sun rose above those clouds today!
New Morning!