Celyn

 

Artist Site: Celyn

The Search for Authenticity Begins Within

With recent events in Haiti, there is a tendency to see the collective behavior of its residents as a robust example of human nature. Here is one person's feeling on the matter:

It's during the worst trials and tribulations you see how human-beings REALLY are. That's when they reveal their REAL disgusting behavior. In times of good it's easy for everyone to be a good person. It's in times of hardship you find out the truth about humans.

I would like to address this sentiment.

First off, if my "real" self were present only during dire circumstances, I think I would prefer a shitty life because it would at least be true. Perhaps I would crave suffering for the sake of authenticity. Fortunately, I do not agree that the one who suffers most is any more real than the one in a comfortable lifestyle.

To play devil's subtle advocate, I do think the common truism to which I refer does have some merit, that its error lies only in it being poorly expressed. When people say that disaster brings out the real image of another, perhaps they wish to express the knowledge that a person can't be limited to present circumstance lest we dampen our ability to adapt to changes in others', or our own, behavior.

It is an awareness of the endless possibilities of behavior, recognizing that in the dynamic nature of personality, a shift in circumstance will result in a shift in behavior. Despite how the truism may sound when taken at face value, because it is indeed not the most semantically sound way of stating things, it does, however, also confirm that there is no fixed self. Or so it seems to me.

Also, there is a feeling directed within that detects a more basic self that exists beyond mere reactions. It is the source of creation rather than the reflection of the created, yet it is not the "doer" in consciousness at all. This, I think, can't be denied if you've actually experienced it.

This isn't to say that it actually is more authentic, or that it must be the singular method of self-definition, but various spiritual practices can make it apparent that it is entirely possible to enter the state of the observer, which can feel far more real than everyday tendencies to be fully engaged in a continuum of knee-jerk reactions.

Ultimately, however, this self is not separate and by its very nature it does include all other states as a mode of itself. It is always present, even if not the star of the show, so we are never any less or any more real than any other time.

But I want to acknowledge that sometimes we do feel more authentic, that sometimes we do feel as if we are going with or against the grain of what we intuit to be a healthy coexistence with our environment. The trick is to do what feels real without punishing yourself and alienating yourself from any manifestation of your being.

I enjoy meditating, through the observer, on all possible selves, including them all in the loving folds of self-identity. This means the good, the bad, and the fugly. I try to always show compassion, but I also know that I am capable of terrible things given the proper circumstance. And that would be real too. Like Sartre said, "existence precedes essence." Or as someone else said, "real is as real does."

Slug Sex, Make It Hurt

Skontog - VHShaman

Ohhhhhhhhhh yeaaaaahhhhhh, time to lay down some mo' funk. In today's struggling economy, how can you afford NOT to groove on the celestial howl?

Some more psychedelic mash-up stuff I've been doing:

http://phalaris.bluesphereweb.com/skontog/Skontog_-_VHShaman.rar

(This is the new link.)

I used only Cool Edit Pro 2 this time. Feels good. Call it an audiobiography of a schizophrenetic.

Hang On To Your Ego

Holy Mountain Low

Every Fool Thing

every hang-nail holy
every butt pimple holy
every wolf in the tea house
scratching at back door mind
scratching at black hole velvet intelligence within
every fool thing holy
every rainbow-hued ghost in blue moon trance
every black-nosed buddha of translucent breath
everything falling through cosmic gutters of night
behind pastoral screens beaming
droning freak enchantments
yep it's holy
every stoned reflection
every heart lulled
every sweet graceful shadow rhythm
everything in a ragged old universe holy
everything an open eye
everything harvesting zen from seeds of fire
every star banging bright tonight
holy holy holy
until the chao comes home
until the tao comes home
until ET phones home
until a monkey AUMs
like I said
it's all holy
every serpent string
in the ever-holy musick of the spheres
every clear mist of this fur-spotted body
every blossomed jewel on death's wilderness mask
every liquid invocation anchoring time
every beatific grind in blood and bone holy
every fool thing holy
because it is also wise
everyone I love you
because you are holy