Continuity

We sped down a clear freeway this morning. The sky was bright with an unearthly translucence that was almost blinding. As we approached the ocean the vast cargo ships lined up resembled spaceships from another world. I disappeared for a moment into memories of the scenes from Interstellar where they land on Miller, the water planet and time bends into a different arc altogether. California lends itself to such fluidity of mind; a powerful tool if one can understand how to use it and not become trapped in a fold of time somewhere, unable to get back to or even recognise the present.

I gaze at the ocean and its boundless essence swims right through me but I’ve learnt that it’s necessary to live within the marriage of perfect opposites. Such formlessness must be fused with precision and an ability to strengthen the essential structures which remain in the fast falling shadows of the greatness of our culture.

In this land where appearances shout through the megaphone of a thousand voices the true gems lie hidden in plain sight. I sit in the evening in a Los Angeles apartment; from its exterior just a plain grey box. Entering into the main room, dominated by a Steinway grand piano, I am transported into another realm of lights, Russian musical brilliance, high art and culture. I listen as a concert pianist of immense talent patiently teaches her student, just a beginner, the foundational points of positioning, placement and sound. Endless repetition of seemingly simple motions which in their execution are anything but.

I remember that which the spirits who rule America are intent on making us forget. We must learn, preserve learning in all of its endless depth and wonder and pass it on. One can not come here to this land of Lotus Eaters and simply allow one’s past, one’s memories and indeed one’s very essence to be obliterated. One must fight for the continuity of the wonderful complexities which our forefathers wrought. One must sit by the ocean but one must also toil each day anew in the fields of mind until the lamps burn low, to ensure the illumination of the future.