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  • Music, art, politics, war and the human condition.
  • nedrapier
    Full Member

    Right. Today’s journey: I’m in Finland, and we’re around the 150th anniversary of the death of Jean Sibelius, the man who was at the height of his composing powers when Finland was establishing itself as a nation, railing against Russia’s cultural sanctions and looking to Europe to as a mirror for the best reflections of what it aspired to for its capital-city-in-the-mould, Helsinki.

    So I should have a stab at getting into Sibelius, right? First thing I properly plugged into, headphones in, eyes closed was the Finlandia – Symphonic Poem, Op.26.

    https://soundcloud.com/emiclassicsus/sibelius-finlandia-symphonic-1

    And I sobbed all the way through.

    All the sturm und drang, all the uncertainty, all the hints at resolution and the attacks and the dissonance again; an amazing piece of composition and a masterful manipulation of emotion – are the two the same? They must be.

    A day after visiting the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition and his window on the world, and its inhabitants, the rise of Communism in China, the death of Ghandi…

    And a few hours after reading this:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/the-benefits-of-getting-comfortable-with-uncertainty/409807/

    There was a Nazi psychologist who was saying — this is Erik Jaentsch in 1938 — he was saying a healthy personality is characterized by certainty and order and an unhealthy personality is characterized by a tolerance for ambiguity. Extremism of any kind is characterized by a very high need for closure and a distaste for ambiguity. After the war there was a psychologist, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, and she basically reversed Jaentsch. She suggested that actually it’s the intolerance for ambiguity that characterizes the unhealthy mind.

    And out of that came Kruglanski. And what he said was: Instead of pathologizing this, which seems like the obvious thing to do because this is so horrible and crazy, what if we all have a natural distaste for ambiguity and confusion that can go up and down? It was originally conceptualized as a personality variable, but then he began to explore situational factors. [For example,] threat makes it go up. He did an experiment where just reminding people of 9/11 raised their need for closure. And a high need for closure leads to stereotyping.

    Which basically describes, to a great degree, the most influential art, politics, warmongering, ambition, adventure, destruction, ecstasy, misery, beauty and joy
    the world has ever been drawn into.

    … and what we’re being drawn into and how, who’s benefiting, who’s being ignored, by whom, and at whose expense.

    And here’s Göring:

    … voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

    So I cried.

    Then I listened to this: [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk28cgCG3Ho[/video]

    And I felt a bit better.

    Which has now made me feel sad again. Human pleasures are partly simple, quiet life, a degree of continuity, and we’ve been sold down the river, and been inspired to greatness by the maniacal, psychopathic, thirst for power, glory and everything that isn’t a quiet life and a degree of consistency.

    athgray
    Free Member

    Very deep ned. Trying to get my head round it all. I am a Sibelius fan and really love the emotion and flow of Finlandia. I will think of your comments when I listen to it next.

    slackalice
    Free Member

    Liking your style OP. Wait, more than that, loving your style!

    The realisation that those in authority have been doing this for centuries, using tactics of fear-mongering, promises of false protection and thus divide and conquer has enabled the few to control the many.

    Nothing has changed. Just the symbols that are used and paraded before us. Seemingly uniting, yet ultimately designed to divide.

    It is each our own responsibility to find ways to hold on to our true nature, music and art are but two ways. As are riding a bike, walking in the back country. Being in the present, where nothing else matters except our own heartbeat, breath, feel of the air around us, the ground beneath us. Aim to be in that place of the now as often as we can, it salves the pain and suffering of the world we are told about and have little control over.

    Ultimately, planet Earth will live on for billions of years after the last human has left their footprint. It will recover, flourish and grow until our star completes its own life cycle. Nothing lasts forever, forever is a long time. So give thanks and gratitude every day for everything and hold onto that, the warmongerers can’t take that. 8)

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    senorj
    Full Member

    Very interesting. Oh and the Sibelias music is so wonderful I though it was Friday for a moment or two. Cheers. 🙂

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