Music has always been important to me, and I love discovering new-to-me music. See below for some of my current and past favorites organized by category.
I tend to listen to full albums so the individual songs here are representatives for their albums and likely also more albums by the same artist/performer. This list spans a wide range of genres and the music I actually listen spans a lot more than what’s listed here. On Spotify, I often explore mixed playlists based on one artist to discover related ones (“Radio …” etc.).
I tend to listen to one musician/ genre/ composer/ performer for a while – hours, days and sometimes weeks – before switching to something else.
Music has always been important to me, and I love discovering new-to-me music. I thought I would make a list of a few music favorites over the years. I have listened to a lot so this helps me remember and revisit some of them.
I tend to listen to full albums so the individual songs here are representatives for their albums and likely also more albums by the same artist/performer. This list spans a wide range of genres and the music I actually listen spans a lot more than what’s listed here. On Spotify, I often explore mixed playlists based on one artist to discover related ones (“Radio …” etc.).
I realize the combination of music can seem a bit odd and discordant. In reality, I tend to listen to one musician/ genre/ composer/ performer for a while – hours, days and sometimes weeks – before switching to something else.
Now and then, I come across something I love and want to share here, even if there is not too much more to it. What a spectacular choreography and performance. It combines old and new, and beautifully captures the themes and feel of the song. It’s rich and layered, and I keep noticing more on repeat watching.
The song is spectacular and beautiful too. It’s real, vulnerable, and give space for both to share their view. Even the harmonies and disharmonies capture their relationship.
I am in a duo, the other one on traditional Tibetan instruments and I with electronics. Together, we make music that’s rich, unusual, textured, and beautiful. It takes us and the listeners on a deeply sensual journey that’s cosmic in context.
This dream is visceral, and I hear and feel the music in detail. I am not sure who the other musician is, and it doesn’t seem too important. What’s important is that he is playing traditional Tibetan instruments – strings, drums, wind. The music is rich, sensual, undulating, unusual, and beautiful.
I have very occasionally made some music, and I love it. In general, I love music. I have just not gone into it because other things have taken priorities (art, university studies, sustainability work, health, and so on). But I would love to make music.
As in the dream, I am mostly familiar with making electronic music, although I find pure electronic music a little boring. I much prefer it when it’s combined with acoustic instruments, again, as in the dream.
I would love to make this kind of music. Something unexpected, innovative, and at the same time beautiful.
I get the sense that the dream is literal. It’s the kind of music I would love to make.
Of course, it’s also all about what’s already here. It’s all a mirror of what’s here in me. I am this music. I am this weird, unusual, rich, beautiful music. It’s good to notice.
The music I am is metaphorically electronic and acoustic. I am mental and sensual. I am Spirit and human.
And it is cosmic in context. It’s one of infinite local and temporary expressions of Existence. It’s happening in the context of the consciousness I am being aware of itself.
This is music I made when I was seventeen (?). Music came to me fully formed and with great intensity, and I had trouble getting it all into form because it was so much and happened so fast. I borrowed a synth module for one week that summer, and made this music on my Amiga during that one week. Listening to it now, it’s not amazing but there is something there.
I made the drawing a few months later, which also came to me fully formed and with great intensity. (It’s a self-portrait in charcoal, made the year before over just a few minutes.)
I meet and get to know a woman with impeccable taste in music, and for even more weird music than I am familiar with. She shares some music, and it opens a whole new world for me. As I listen to it, the music tingles and crackles through my being. It’s a visceral and sensual experience, beyond anything I have known before. I am grateful and happy to have found her and for having my music horizons opened so far beyond what I was familiar with.
My connection with her is intimate and rich, and as musical soulmate friends. I am already in a relationship, and what I have with this new friend is about music and what that music opens up for and in both of us.
I heard the music in great detail in the dream, and it was in different styles and composers.
It had an amazing effect on my whole being, tingling, popping, and crackling throughout me like a fizzy drink.
The music was way beyond anything I have heard before, and the effect – the depth, richness, and aliveness – was far beyond anything I have known before.
As I woke up from this dream, my first thought was: Oh no, it was just a dream. I was so happy to have met her, and now I am losing her. My next thought was: Although she is in me, the music is in me. I am her and the music, it’s all here.
It was a moving dream.
I listened to Lamomali the day and night before, and although I love the music, I know that what’s possible is far beyond this and almost any other music. The one I know who can touch what I know is possible is Arvo Pärt. That’s the same with visual art. A few can touch the edge of what’s possible.
They can touch the edge of what I was familiar with from between incarnations (similar to near-death experience). They can touch the edge of what was revealed in the initial oneness shift when I was sixteen. They can touch the edge of the richness and quiet bliss that’s here now.
What was it about? I suspect it was about just that – the amazing richness and quiet bliss that’s here throughout my being, as this human self and Big Mind. The day before, I had invited in healing for myself using the familiar and intuitive approach that came to me in my teens. (And which seems remarkably effective.) I invited in healing for the energy production of each cell, and went to sleep noticing golden spots in each cell in my body.
I went to a chamber music concert in Oslo today, with breath exercise included before the music part of the program. (Members of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at Trekanten.)
I am happy to see that these kinds of things are entering the mainstream in Oslo. At the same time, it seems a bit of a fad. It’s the hip thing to do. I did secretly slightly roll my eyes when I saw it.
We first did the vase breath – into the belly, hold for 3-5 seconds, out through the mouth with a gentle sound. The second breath exercise was the same, with an additional sharp in-breath to fill the lungs. I was rushed getting there, and have had some extra amounts of stress over the last few days, so the exercises were welcome and I noticed they helped calm down my system.
The concert started immediately after the breath exercises, with no words spoken and no clapping until the end of the concert. I was surprised to see how focused and calm the audience was. They all seemed to pay full attention and sat still until the end. There was no restlessness, no coughing, no phones, no whispers.
For all I know, the audience would be equally attentive without the breath exercises, but I doubt it. I suspect the breath exercises played an important role.
It’s an example of how fads sometimes work. Especially when they are grounded in ancient traditions, common sense (changing the breathing inevitably changes the bodymind activation), and what we know works from experience (and some science). For instance, I imagine that holding the breath for a few seconds activates the mammalian response to diving underwater which slows down all body processes.
I would love to see this before more concerts. I suspect it would help people enjoy the music far more, because they are in a more relaxed and attentive mind-space and physical space.
Is it really a fad? Yes and no. In Oslo these days, and in these settings, it’s a kind of fad. It’s the new, fascinating thing for many. It’s also an ancient tradition and far from a fad.
I am listening to this wonderful album again: Creator Spiritus by Arvo Pärt, performed by Theatre of Voices & Ars Nova Copenhagen and directed by Paul Hillier. (Playlist on YouTube.)
When I received the playlist of my most listened-to songs from 2024, I noticed it was mostly nu-jazz, jazz-funk, electro-swing, Afro-jazz fusion, and Brazilian, which I love. It also reminded me of all the music I love that I hadn’t listened to much that year, including Arvo Pärt.
These days, I seem to be more on a classic listening track again.
I think of this blog mostly as a journal for myself. A way to explore and process and possibly share if someone happens on it and finds something interesting, entertaining, or useful.
That’s why I thought I would share some of my most-played songs on Spotify from 2024. It’s an opportunity for reflection. It’s been a challenging and somewhat overwhelming time, which is reflected in this music. Most of this music is spirited and/or chill and/or atmospheric. Since I tend to listen to full albums, most artists have several songs on the playlist.
I made a curated version with a few favorites added in and minus some that didn’t fit the general feel of the playlist. The original is here.
What I listen to changes from year to year. Sometimes, it’s music from around the world. Sometimes, it’s “modern classical” music like Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, John Adams, and others. Or ordinary classical music, usually early music and baroque, and especially anything performed by Jordi Savall.
I do exist, I’m a feminist, environmentalist and pacifist I am a snow scooter hooliganist and an egoist I am a Buddhist, I believe in Jesus Christ
I was here first, not last Don’t treat me like a legal wrangle Between, yours, mine, lines on a form Historical inventions and lies
Anti-racist – my ass When you don’t see from whom you stole your cash He, she, they, “son” You stole our land back in time
Indigenous woman, snow lioness I am your retina’s rainbow I am all of this but I am more I am queer, I have existed for thousands of years
Hi Minister, can I have a word Even though you have such a small table This concerns our whole world Do you know we commit suicide?
Because we are too few to exist And that which concerns the few does not matter Can you understand that I do not want to disappear When we have lived here as long as the land can remember
Is this democracy? When the dominant class rules over the likes of us I want to be free not only inside One thing is for certain I belong to the land
Indigenous woman, snow lioness I am your retina’s rainbow I am all of this but I am more I am queer, I have existed for thousands of years
I realized that I have a lion’s heart with strong power I am a light that shines from horizon to horizon
– based on an English translation from Mats Melin
Snölejoninna
Jag finns visst Jag är feminist, miljöaktivist och pacifist Jag är skoterligist och egoist Jag är buddhist jag tror på Jesus Krist
Jag var här först inte sist Deala inte med mig som en rättstvist Mellan ditt mitt rader på vitt Historiska lögner och påhitt
Antirasist my ass När du inte ser från vem du snott all din cash Han hon hen son Av oss stal du landet en gång
Urfolkskvinna snölejoninna Jag är regnbågen på din näthinna Jag är allt det men jag är mer Mon lean queer har funnits här i tusentals years
Hej minister kan jag byta nåt ord Fast du har så litet bord Det här rör faktiskt våran jord Vet du om att vi tar självmord
För att vi är för små för att finnas För att det som rör få inte kan hinnas Kan du förstå en vill inte försvinna När en levt så länge vidder kan minnas
Är det demokrati När massan styr över såna som vi Jag vill vara fri mer än inuti Är det nåt jag gör är det att höra hit
Urfolkskvinna snölejoninna Jag är regnbågen på din näthinna Jag är allt det men jag är mer Mon lean queer har funnits här i tusentals years
Since I use this blog mostly as a journal, I occasionally put some more personal things here.
I am going through some of my old things from my teens and early twenties, and found this album which I absolutely loved in my early teens. I loved Yello in general, along with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Zang Tumb Tuum artists, Laurie Anderson, and others.
My wife will say that my love for Yello: Live at the Roxy is an expression of my venus in Aquarius. I guess that also means I love to explore new things, including music that’s new to me, so I have gone through many phases since then – Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Huun Huur Tu, African, Latin, and so on.
Mu eadni / Mother of Mine is a song of love and lament for the woman who gave me life, and for all women who suffer under systems that shame and subordinate them. As a Laestadian Christian, my eadni was bound by strict gender roles, and that insidious association of the feminine with sin. She was taught to be self-denying: that her highest purpose as a woman was obedience. (To males, naturally, all the way down.) When her daughters resisted, she felt it was a personal failure. And yet, she was Sáami, with echoes and stirrings from a much older worldview, one that celebrated the feminine, that found purpose in reciprocity, not hierarchies. Sometimes, I feel her with us, free from shame, sharing our freedom. Smoothing our fringe. Adjusting our belts. Asking us to twirl.
One of my favorite musicians is the Norwegian Sami artist Mari Boine. Here, she is in a TV program and is singing the song of one of the other participants. (I think that may be the idea of the program?) The original is a typical – relatively predictable and flat – pop song, and she makes it into something of primal beauty. Look at the reactions of the other participants.
Don’t judge me You could be me In another life In another set of circumstances
– Sting in Tomorrow we’ll see
This refrain from Sting frequently comes to mind when I see people in different situations and with other values and orientations from me.
I could be them, in another life, in another set of circumstances.
We are both the product of a slightly different set of infinite causes going back to the beginning of time and out to the widest extent of existence.
Their life, my life, are both expressions of existence, of this universe. We are expressions of this living planet. We are expressions of the same seamless whole.
I can find them in me. I could be them.
In a very real sense, I am them. Whatever story I have about them, I can turn around to myself and find genuine and specific examples of where it’s true. To me, they happen within and as the consciousness I am. The consciousness I am forms itself into my experience of them and all I see in them. It’s me.
I had the good fortune to see my favorite musician – Mari Boine – play tonight, at a book discussion in Oslo about the Sami and Christianity. (Many good stories, including about the Jesus child taking on the form of a cloudberry to hide from his mother but it didn’t work because he was too full of light.)
One of the people asking a question was a shaman, and it made me curious about his energy system. When I checked in, his energy system was a bit unusual although not particularly awake.
I then checked the musician’s energy system (I sat directly behind her when she didn’t sing), and her system was far more awake. Not like Adyashanti or people like that, but close.
It’s not surprising. People who are into spirituality or work in that area don’t necessarily have a very awake system, although many do. And they can still do very good work. (This shaman can still be very skilled and effective.) Conversely, people who are not explicitly into spirituality can have an unusually awake system, often without knowing it or having any inclination to put that label on it. (Thank God!)
I suspect this is a big part of why I love her music. It reflects the awakeness in her system.
Note: This is obviously just my perception, although when I checked with someone else good at sensing these things, she found the same. In general, if I check with others without first telling them what I sense, we sense the same or something very similar. If I check an energy system in person, and if I check the level of awakening in the system, it seems very accurate, and it’s still often accurate although a little less so when it comes to other topics and at a distance. And I am also very aware that my perception is not reality itself – it’s filtered through my system and consciousness.
I was saying to the disease: I know you are here and I have accepted your presence, but I am still going ahead with this work. To start it I have to make it as intimate as possible.
As soon as it got complex, I stopped. I wanted to stay close to the song, to sing it. So I was turning my disease into a song.
The disease taught me a lot. The greater the experience, the deeper the simplicity. Time is the most complex part of that simplicity.
– Keith Jarrett from the documentary “The Art of Improvisation”, 2005
In this quote, Keith Jarrett talks about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and how it helped him simplify and become more intimate with the music. He didn’t stop making music, he changed his relationship with making music.
I love what he says here. It mirrors how my relationship with spiritual practice shifted when my CFS dramatically worsened some years ago. I also had to simplify and become more intimate with it.
For instance, basic meditation is to notice and allow what’s here. Instead of intentionally noticing and allowing, I shifted into something more simple and intimate. I notice that what’s here in my field of experience is already noticed and allowed. It’s already allowed. (By space, mind, life, existence.) It’s already noticed by consciousness before any conscious noticing. I align with what is already here instead of trying to manufacture anything or achieve something through effort. It may not look like a very big shift, and yet it makes all the difference. And it is more closely aligned with reality.
I was aware of and explored this difference long before this happened, but the CFS motivated me to be more simple and intimate in this noticing, and more diligent in finding the most simple and effortless way to notice.
And that’s happened in other areas of life as well, including in my connections with others. I have had to drop a lot of pretense and facades and be simple and more intimate, especially in my more close relationships.
I always enjoy discovering new music, including through people’s lists of favorites. So I thought I would return the favor and list some of my own favorite albums here.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL
Arvo Pärt: Passio, Miserere, Arbos, Te Deum, Da Pacem, Creator Spiritus, Alina (ECM recordings, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Paul Hillier)
Philip Glass: Akhnaten, Satyagraha, Glassworks
Meredith Monk: Book of Days
Steve Reich: Different Trains, Music for 18 Musicians, Reich/Richter
John Adams: Shaker Loops
EUROPEAN CLASSICAL
Jordi Savall (performer): Tous les matins du monde
JS Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge (Keller Quartet)
Rachmaninov: Vespers (Paul Hillier)
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli, Missa Aeterna Christi Munea, Stabat Mater
Allegri: Miserere (Tallis Scholars)
Marin Marais: Pieces de Viole du Second Livre (Jordi Savall)
Canteloube: Songs of the Auvergne (Dawn Upshaw)
NORDIC
Mari Boine: Eight Seasons, Goaskinviellja / Ørnebror, Leahkastin
Agnes Buen Garnås & Jan Garbarek: Rosensfole
Jaga Jazzist: Starfire, Magazine, Stix, What We Must
Kings of Convenience: Riot on an Empty Street, Quiet is the New Loud, Declaration of Dependence, Peace or Love
EUROPE
Bulgarian Women’s Choir: Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, Bulgarian Custom Songs, Ritual
Maria Salgado: Siete Modos De Guisar Las Berenjenas
Kila: Tog e go bog e, Gambler’s Ballet, Luna Park
CONTEMPORARY POPULAR
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love, Aerial part II, The Sensual World
Sting: Nothing Like the Sun, Ten Summoner’s Tales, Mercury Falling, Brand New Day
As so often, this is very simple and there is also a lot here.
The actions of any of us would make sense if we knew their background and inner and outer situation.
We could easily have been born into another set of circumstances.
If we are in a privileged inner or outer situation, it’s ultimately not our own doing. It’s all given to us by our family, society, culture, and ultimately Life. Even our talents, motivation, and drive is given to us.
Whatever story I have about you, I can turn it around to myself and find where it is true. I can find examples here and now, and from the past.
When I explore what I am in my own first-person experience, I find I am capacity for the world. I am what the world, to me, happens within and as. To me, you happen within and as what I am.
If I don’t notice what I mentioned above, it’s because of a hangup I have. And I can explore that hangup. I can befriend it, get to know it, and invite it to heal and wake up.
Yes, the miracle of love will take away your pain.
And this is the love we give the hurting parts of ourselves.
It’s the love we meet our own hurt with.
That’s the only love that can heal.
That’s the only love that can touch these parts of us.
We are the only one who is in the position to give this to us.
It may seem it’s the love from others that does this – whether it’s a person or divine – but that love only reminds us of our own love. When we receive that love, we give ourselves permission to love these hurting parts of ourselves.
When it comes to freedom in a very basic sense – in terms of human rights and so on – it’s important to find freedom and support the freedom of others.
Beyond that, we can chain ourselves in the idea of freedom. If we hold our ideas about freedom tightly, that in itself chains us.
It’s good to examine our ideas about freedom…. What it means. What we hope to get from it. What we fear the most. What type of freedom we seek. Our identities around it. And if we hold onot the idea of freedom tightly, what we try to escape.
For me, the one freedom that resonates the most (beyond human rights etc.) is the freedom Adya talks about. The freedom to experience what’s here as it is.
This is all happening at the human level. As what we are, we are capacity for all of this. This human self and the wider world happens within and as what we are. Any ideas of freedom or not, and any situations these refer to, happen within and as what we are.
So we can work for some kinds of freedom for ourselves and others. We can examine our ideas about freedom, and find some freedom around these ideas. And we can find ourselves as that which any ideas about freedom, and what they refer to, happen within and as.
One of my favorite recent discoveries is the music of Sona Jobarteh. Her music and work beautifully combine tradition, innovation, and education and social engagement with an eye on the future.
There are many ways to evaluate art: skills, technique, heart, humanity, psychology, sociology, symbolism, politics, reflection of society, impact on society, and so on.
In daily life, people often generalize based on how they experience music, paintings, writing, movies or whatever it may be, and say “this is good” or “that’s terrible”, or “these people have good taste” and “those people have terrible taste”.
For me, art is largely about match. How does someone experience and receive it? Do they get something out of it? Does it resonate with something in them? Does it help them get in touch with someting in themselves? Does it add to their life?
I love some music that few others seem to like, and that’s fine. The music means a lot to me, and that’s enough.
Similarly, I sometimes don’t like what some others like, and that’s good to. If they get something out of it, that’s very good for them and it makes the existence of that piece of art even more meaningful (beyond what it means to the one creating it).
This is very simple, and yet I am surprised by how often people seem to generalize based on how they personally perceive a piece of art, as if their individual experience says something inherently about the piece of art, and about the people who either resonate with it or not.
I assume it’s partly because we have trouble differentiating our perception from what it’s about (which we cannot say anything final or absolute about).
We may have trouble deeply realizing that we all have our own biases and backgrounds and so perceive the world differently and uniquely.
We may have trouble feeling relaxed about our own likes and dislikes, and enjoying the enjoyment of others even if it’s about somehting we personally don’t like.
It may also have to do with our identity. We often use our likes and dislikes to create an identity for ourselves, and to filter people into us and them.
The photo is of Huun-Huur-Tu from Tuva, which is one of my favorite bands and the one I have seen most often in concert. It also happens to be music many or most from the western world wouldn’t easily resonate with or like. And that’s understandable and completely OK.
This is another epic song and music video, similar to This Is America by Donald Glover (Childish Gambino). Both highlight issues of conflict, division, violence, and dehumanization in their countries, and bring these uncomfortable and often politely ignored issues right in front of us.
The music video for Deutschland follows these themes through German history, and I won’t go into the specific references since it’s easily found online. (Red thread, Germania, high technology co-existing with primitive cruelty, etc.)
In the lyrics, I am especially struck by the phrase…
Im Geist getrennt / In the mind apart Im Herz vereint / In the heart united
That’s the human condition in a nutshell. We often find ourselves divided in the mind while united in the heart.
Just by being human, and being part of existence, we are united in the heart and our being. And as soon as our mind believes its own ideas about the world, we are often divided in the mind, and this is what’s behind (most of) the violence, conflict, and division.
And then…
Du / you Ich / I Wir / we Ihr / you (plural)
…. which I take to mean that this applies to all of us. We are all in the same boat. We cannot blame some of us and pretend we are not part of it.
Rammstein are masters at the occasional epic and unforgettable lyrics, music, and music videos, and also of marketing. They know how to upset some people just enough so they get more attention. In this case, it’s the hanging scene that’s controversial, although they cast themselves as the jews (again, the theme that this is about all of us) and the lyrics and video are obviously critical of the themes of cruelty and dehumanization running through German history. And not only German history, but the history of humanity.
Every day we live a miracle Unpredictable You don’t need an upgrade anymore Can’t you see the leak? Don’t worry I will teach you how to take the pill To feel the thrill and touch it all!
I was happy to see that one of my favorite bands has a new single out.
Every moment of every day is a miracle. That we are alive is a miracle. This Earth and universe is a miracle. That anything exists at all is a baffling and awe-inspiring miracle.
Recognizing this miracle doesn’t change (the rest of) what we experience, but it does change how we experience it. It changes the context of our experience.
And how do we take the pill? Here is the prescription from Caravan Palace.
I will teach you how to take the pill To feel the thrill and touch it all!
(Act like a brother) Every day is a miracle (Help one another) Connect back with the people (Give it to your lover) And all the people you miss (Let’s come around)
(Act like a brother) Don’t think you’re invisible (Help one another) Connect back with the people (Give it to your lover) And all the people you miss (Let’s come around)
Once I was a hollow man In which a lonely heart did dwell You know love came creeping upon me Bringing life to an empty shell
Now I heard so many times before That your love could be so bad I just want to tell you people It’s the best love I ever had
Don’t you know that I just want to testify What your love has done for me I just want to testify What your love has done for me
Ooh, ooh luscious Sure been delicious to me Ooh, ooh luscious Sure been delicious to me
I just want to testify What your love has done for me I just want to testify What your love has done for me
Parliament, Deron Taylor / George S Clinton, Testify
I listened to this song by Parliament and realized it falls into place more for me when I turn it around to myself. (When I hear songs or watch movies or read stories or look at the world, I find it interesting to explore it as I would a dream, as if all aspects are in myself.)
I can understand the lyrics of Testify in a conventional sense, as someone who comes alive through the love of someone else. I allow myself to come alive because I tell myself I am loved and lovable.
And when I see that, I also realize I can give myself that love.
How can I give myself that love?
I can do loving things for myself (take a bath, make a good meal etc.).
More importantly, I can find love for whatever parts of myself come up, and especially those parts I previously have shunned and pushed away. I can find love for my experience as it is here and now, even if it’s uncomfortable and something I previously have shunned.
To get started, I can do this with the help of a structure. It can be a basic meditation such as natural rest. When I notice and allow my experience, as it is here and now, it’s a deep expression of love. It can also be a heart-centered practice such as ho’oponopno, tonglen, or metta. Or I can do it through a simple inquiry such as the Headless experiments or the Big Mind / Big Heart process.
If I want to be more thorough, I can also find and investigate any beliefs that prevent me from finding a deep and lasting love for myself. I can do this, for instance, through The Work or Living Inquiries. A common thought is that I am not worthy of love or I am unlovable. One of my thoughts is that the love of someone else (preferably a woman beautiful inside and out) is more important or worth more than my own love.
These are all very natural and understandable thoughts, and it can be a great relief and open up a whole new dimension of the world when the charge goes out of them (Living Inquiries) or we find what’s more true for us (The Work).
I have written about this beautiful song before, and was drawn to revisit it.
It’s easy to see this song as written by someone who has had a spiritual opening experience.
We stand in the Atlantic We become panoramic We become panoramic.
Our eye is one. We become the consciousness this ocean and the whole world and universe happens within and as. This is an experience I think many have at some point in their life, and often in the vastness of nature and with the stars above.
That’s how it first happened for me in late childhood or early teens – sleeping out under the stars in the panoramic mountains in Norway (Sølen). That night, I became panoramic. All was happening within me and as me. All was revealed as consciousness. All was revealed as more home than I ever imagined anything could be. (And later, that “I” falls away too.)
And then there is another thing we notice in an awakening.
All the time it’s a changing, like now All the time it’s a changing, like then again All the time it’s a changing And all the dreamers are waking
Yes, everything is always changing. It’s all alive, consciousness, new. When we wake up from the dream of separation and solid matter being only that, it’s immediately clear that all is changing. All is fresh and new in immediacy.
En av de vakreste norske sangene, med tekst som samenfatter visdom fra et langt liv.
Kom og lytt til lyset når det gryr av dag! Solen løfter sin trumpet mot munnen. Lytt til hvite sommerfuglers vingeslag: Denne dag kan bli vår beste dag.
Denne dag kan bli vår beste dag. Vi kan møte dagen så den kan bli vår beste dag. Og dagen i dag allerede er vår beste dag siden den er den eneste dagen vi har. Når vi virkelig skjønner det kan vi møte dagen som et barn som opplever verden for første gang, eller en gammel mann som vet at dette godt kan bli hans siste dag.
Stien som vi gikk i går er like ny, hemmelig som ved vårt første morgengry. Mangt skal vi møte og mangt skal vi mestre! Dagen i dag den kan bli vår beste dag.
Mangt skal vi møte og mangt skal vi mestre. Allikevel kan dagen i dag bli vår beste dag.
Kom og lytt til dypet når vi ror mot land! Hør maneten stemmer sine strenger. Løfterik er tonen i et fiskevak: Denne dag kan bli vår beste dag.
Fjorden vår er like ny og blå og blank. Blikket ditt er fritt og ryggen like rank! Mangt skal vi møte og mangt skal vi mestre! Dagen i dag – den kan bli vår beste dag.
Kjære lytt til mørket når vår dag er gått. Natten nynner over fjærne åser. Mangt har dagen skjenket oss i stort og smått, mer, kan hende, enn vi har forstått.
Mangt har dagen skjenket oss i stort og smått, mer, kan hende, enn vi har forstått. Det denne dagen har gitt oss og gjort med oss kan gå langt ut over det vi er klar over.
Månen over tun og tak er like ny, men tier stille om vårt neste morgengry! Mangt skal vi møte og mangt skal vi mestre! Dagen i morgen skal bli vår beste dag!
Donald Glover’s new music video feels iconic and is understandably receiving a great deal of attention.
Why does it feel so iconic? And what is it about?
To me, it feels iconic because of its simplicity, depth, and universal archetypal themes grounded in a specific time and place. There is a strong contrast between the violence and the joyful song and dance. There is a simplicity in that it’s in one setting and mostly shot in one take. It has sincerity, depth, and urgency. The theme is clear but it leaves the interpretation and reflection up to the viewer.
And what is it about? Most obviously, both the violence and the joyful song and dance reflect Black history in the US, and also the current Black experience in the US. Both are part of their history and lives. Beyond that, it’s part of the US culture as a whole, human civilization, and each of us as individuals. It reflects our human experience. We contain and experience both.
It’s interesting that the sequential nature of the video suggests different ways of relating to this. We can bring fleeting attention to the drama of violence and then move on as if nothing happened. (As US society and media seem to do with the current gun violence, and as we as individuals sometimes do in our own lives.) Or we can acknowledge both as part of our history, our lives, humanity as a whole, and us as individuals, and engage with it more intentionally and responsibly and do something about it. Both of these are relatively privileged ways of relating to it.
There is also a third way of relating to it, which is – I imagine – is the reality of many black people in the US. They live with both and compartmentalize the violence and pain so they can move on with their lives.
Again, it’s a very simple theme. We all know that humans are capable of terrible things and wonderful things. We know both are part of our lives collectively and individually. We know that we often ignore the unpleasant things and move on to the pleasant ones. We know that can be fine in the short run but it creates problems in the long run. And yet, we often act and live as if we don’t quite know. And that’s why these reminders are so important, especially as they ignite reflection and discussion as this video is doing right now.
In most cases, there is no music during a TRE (Tension and Trauma Release Exercises) session.
For me, it feels intuitively right with silence during more formal TRE sessions. Why is that?
The music may not fit what comes up for each person, or what “needs” to come up.
Music preferences are very individual. Whatever music played will be liked by some and disliked by others. Occasionally, with more experienced people, this can be interesting. Whatever comes up in relation to the music can be included in the session. For beginners, it may be better with no music.
Any music can be distracting from feeling sensations, looking at mental images, and hearing words.
If I do it on my own, I may do it while music is playing or even while watching a movie. I do it in just about any situation, if it feels right.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in me, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me, Christ with me.
Attributed to St. Patrick, 385-461(translation by Kuno Meyer)
The coming of Patrick to Ireland about the middle of the fifth century initiated the “most peaceful invasion and lasting conquest of all”. This hymn is attributed to Patrick and certainly reflects many of the themes found in Patrick’s thought. The version we have today was likely written in the late 7th or early 8th century. The hymn is a celebration of the wisdom and power of God both in creation and redemption. It is an excellent example of a lorica — a “breastplate” or corslet of faith recited for the protection of body and soul against all forms of evil — devils, vice, and the evil which humans perpetrate against one another. The name of the hymn derives from a legend of an incident when the High King of Tara, Loeguire resolved to ambush and kill Patrick and his monks to prevent them from spreading the Christian faith in his kingdom. As Patrick and his followers approached singing this hymn, the King and his men saw only a herd of wild deer and let them pass by. The word ‘cry’ also has the sense of a prayer or petition.
[The chorus:] Sweet dreams…On this Midsummer might Everyone is sleeping We go driving into the moonlightCould be in a dream Our clothes are on the beach These prints of our feet Lead right up to the sea No one, no one is here No one, no one is here We stand in the Atlantic We become panoramic
We tire of the city We tire of it all We long for just that something more
Could be in a dream Our clothes are on the beach These prints of our feet Lead right up to the sea No one, no one is here No one, no one is here We stand in the Atlantic We become panoramic
The stars are caught in our hair The stars are on our fingers A veil of diamond dust Just reach up and touch it The sky’s above our heads The sea’s around our legs In milky, silky water We swim further and further We dive down… We dive down
A diamond night, a diamond sea And a diamond sky…
We dive deeper and deeper We dive deeper and deeper Could be we are here Could be we are in a dream It came up on the horizon Rising and rising In a sea of honey, a sky of honey A sea of honey, a sky of honey
[The chorus:] Look at the light, all the time it’s a changing Look at the light, climbing up the aerial Bright, white coming alive jumping off the aerial All the time it’s a changing, like now… All the time it’s a changing, like then again… All the time it’s a changing And all the dreamers are waking
The lyrics of Kate Bush are full of pointers, as a friend of mine also mentioned on Facebook this morning.
This song is especially direct. It’s a reflection of how an initial opening or awakening can be experienced.
It’s a shift into Big Mind recognizing itself as all there is.
We stand in the Atlantic We become panoramic
The stars are caught in our hair The stars are on our fingers A veil of diamond dust Just reach up and touch it
It’s also a reflection of the elation and awe that comes with this initial opening or awakening.
All the time it’s a changing And all the dreamers are waking
And it does easily seem this way. Big Mind (Spirit, God, Brahman) notices itself as all there is. It does seem like everything and everyone is awakening, as if Big Mind is awakening to itself through everyone. In a sense, it’s true. That’s what’s happening here, in “my” world. This is what the historical Buddha experienced too. (And it doesn’t mean it’s happening “out there” in others, especially on a large scale.)
