Sunday Stream (192) ~ Simple Celebration

[mtmynd]

~Simple Celebration~

Foods - Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian... all popular the world over. So many other cuisines waiting to be sampled and enjoyed. It's a virtual smörgåsbord of tastes and smells awaiting the venturesome who dares to explore the foods and their preparations that can be found in this diminishing world of ours.

Here in the U.S. McDonald's reigns supreme. Indeed, Mickey D's bland and uninviting menu has captured the world wherever there's travelers from many points of the globe. Why this one chain restaurant is so popular is a puzzle to me. But my puzzle is a waste of time and energy to unravel as I watch, explore and even taste when possible the diverse beauty of foods far beyond the sterile and stress-filled kitchens of McDonalds.

Music is just as diverse and just as nourishing. Have you enjoyed the music of, say India? The magical instrument that has a long, long history, the sitar along with the tabla, produce a music that I find as haunting and mystical as any music can possibly get. The music of Japan..? their early music, classical if you will... so sparse but yet it speaks so much that implies, if not defines calm, order and serenity like no other music. The oud of the Middle East has a sound that surrounds the listener with an exotic mood filled with scents and tastes, clothing and the aura only the vast and vacant deserts of shifting sands can provide. World music, music of the world, Our World. Music is for all ears willing to listen, willing to surrender to it's pulse, its rhythms, its primal beat in the background like our heart beating...

Whatever the culture, like their food, their music is just as wonderful to listen to and move to.. and even in some cases the best music to meditate with, if not a good contemplation.

Cultures. So many cultures in this shrinking world of ours. The foods and the music are blending in the kitchens of experiments as both musicians and chefs explore the bounty of knowledge that makes up cultures - food and music... the two subjects that identify the culture from which they originated. From these two wonderful arts so many other arts bloom as if nourished by the food and the music... the heart awakens other arts within.

Can it be said the food and music inspire the direction in which the arts of the culture travel..? I would say yes. After all without food, the original sustenance, the music of celebration would not have arisen... the feasts and banquets certainly inspired the joy to give celebration. What good celebration does not have music identifying the occasion?

Of course, music is also the primitive pulse of our inner being, the spiritual rhythm of life that duplicates the path of quietude and calm the inward journey returns to the traveler, the pilgrim. When we experience this music and submit to it's sounds, food becomes as sparing and as welcome as the music itself. Simple foods for the simple spirit that gives thanks thru the simple sounds that awake the spirit within.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
English novelist (1812 - 1870)

This quote from Charles Dickens still resonates as it has for each generation since the book was written... the best of times, the worst of times. And these times we are living in now it can surely be said the same. We have both abundance and despair and the futurists don't see much improvement for quite some time. But if we surrender our goodness and give up our celebrations, our cultures weaken and even die in the extreme cases. It's our inner spirit that we must keep from being extinguished from neglect. Thru our foods and our music, these two powerful and necessary things are important to keep us nourished which in turn feeds the light of the spirit as a fire keeps us warm and willing to live for another day, another time when the Season of Light will once again shine upon our wants and needs and life will once again prove to be totally and completely worth living for. Cast despair into the realm of the unnecessary and keep that space for joy and celebration ready on a moment's notice to embrace you when you feast and when the music plays... as it has for as long as humans have explored the earth from which we are all sustained.

It's been said: Do not simply live life but celebrate life simply.



cecil
11 enero 2009

[Artguy]

Ya so now I'm hungry. Food has in our culture just another product to sell. So now like the car food has become an obsession. Watching the tube last night I couldn' help but to notice the 3 items most advertised are cars food and pharmaceuticals, of course to cure all the ailments caused by polluting cars and overeating. We live in the culture of gluttony, and like sheep we line up to eat at the trough. Isn't capitalism marvelous?

[mtmynd]

hi, kurt... yes, capitalism. another subject in and of itself. but after reading your reply i have to say capitalism is the extreme of excess, at least when given free reign in the market. more and more and more or it's not worth a damn.

this is where balance is soooo needed, but what is needed even more is knowing when that balance is due before the debt drowns the debtor.

ever since my 2Xangioplasty over a year ago, my life has been one of measured moderation. my body took as much as it could before it reacted negatively with jammed arteries, all because of the life of excess, at least in the dietary arena. we can celebrate without excess. just to recognize and accept the beauty of life that surrounds us daily is excess enough... to sample bits and sips from the earthly bounty without excessive behavior is beneficial to both body and mind, which in turn allows the light to penetrate both and feed truth in increments we can absorb at our given pace.

thanks, artguy. hope '09 is heading in the direction benefiting you and your family.