BEING ON TIME

Ultimately, we come face to face with Time, as I have explored in earlier Blogs: IT'S ABOUT TIME. Having been devastated by the effects of the Pandemic COV-19 Lockdown, I know I needed to find a way of of my depression and despair.  Symbolically, I linked my dilemma to a song THE WAY, by Neil Diamond. His songs often reflect his quest to find his identity in someone else, even though ultimately this ideal is about being true and honest with ourselves.  As I listen to this song, I was struck by its structure, each verse reaching a new plateau of insight and realization, then regrouping and continuing to reach new plateaus... finally culminating in "I need to find, I need to find, I need to find The way..."

Neil Diamond: The Way

NEIL DIAMOND: THE WAY
Even as I write this, I am guided by the structure of this song, which is a remarkable achievement in linking the sense of being on a quest and arriving at deliberate destinations along this journey. The essence of the song is the feeling of a solid underlying structure that becomes more and more profound as the foundation of the structure is established through tonal destinations. . The music and lyrics lead to different plateaus of awareness, establishing  a moment when there are no words, only the plaintiff guitar solo--- then resuming the journey, the quest for identity, for reaching for the next level of inquiry... and in the end finding a renewed dedication. The Way always leads to new destinations of awareness. As in life, the Quest is never fully resolved, as we continue to find our way through life.

Neil Diamond I AM I SAID

Inspired by this Bard from New York who began his career hawking his songs to publishers and artists in the famous Brill Building in NYC located at 1619 Broadway at 49th Street, I was inspired that maybe we had crossed paths because the Brill Building was where the printers were for printing scores prepared on onion skin. Many times, while at Columbia, I would go to the Brill Building to have score of songs and shows and operas printed. I remember the cacophony of songs spilling into the hallways from producers, publishers, and sometimes famous performers in search of new material. I think of this modern day troubadour, coming from his humble beginnings (Brooklyn Roads) to extraordinary fame (I AM... I SAID).  Contrast the contemplative performance after a long career (linked here) to his performance 40 years ago at a live concert in 1971 (I am I Said 1971)... as he became an icon for a generation---an extraordinary journey.

BEING AND TIME (Heiddeger's famous inquiry) has always been central to my own inquiry, but now, after my own ontological inquiry, it comes down to the practical structuring of time that can bring me into a new relationship with myself and Time. As I noted in earlier Blogs, I researched how various artists and innovators scheduled their day.

BEING ON TIME: After reflecting on my situation and need to notice and structure time so that it became the conduit for creating quality, responding to the Qualia existing only within our conscious awareness, I found a structure that inspired me while organizing my creative energy productively.

I am now into the second week of implementing this new schedule, and by strictly following this new schedule, I have broken free from the miasma of this government-imposed LOCKDOWN, and have produced more new work in a week than in the past two months.  I won't go into the details of the RITUAL, but I am indebted to Twyla Tharp for her suggestion that a Ritual establishes a context for the whole day.  Each day begins with a renewal. Each of us establishes our own ritual for starting the day, even if informally, such as the first cup of coffee, or thinking reflectively, or working out. My own Ritual is evolving. The above schedule is for my work day, Monday through Friday. The weekend is entirely free, more open-ended.

This most practical outcome of this new schedule is that I focus on Being On Time, each part of the schedule is like the various plateaus attained in Neil Diamond's song THE WAY. And like the song, there is no ending, only the ongoing quest for discovery, for uncovering emerging reality as the experience of growing awareness, articulated in concrete outcomes.

In the midst of establishing a business website, I created a dummy website that serves to illustrate the structure and process of the new site so that web developers would have a guide to how ARTS RENAISSANCE COLLABORATIVE might evolve in this brave post pandemic new world. For a glimpse of this dummy website, you can visit ARC, Arts Renaissance Collective at least temporarily, until the real thing comes along.

I am still discovering MY WAY. Somewhere there's a new song inside of me making its new way to the surface.