Four Mystery Cults - part one Contemporary varients

                

   

          May as well preface this with an acknowledgement. I get both negative and positive feedback on these writings. Some want me to run for President and some want me to run for President and lose.What can I say? a particularly biting criticism is that I am in a long line of American commentators who come off as a man of the people but who actually have had an extensive education and life experiences.

                I plead guilty and more guilty every day.  The fact is the people in the intellectual and business elite are not dumb. Let's give them credit.  The problem for them is not the way I say what I say - it's what I say. I discovered long ago that a politician doesn't want a paper written or speech delivered unless he knows  whats in it and that what's in it isn't going to make waves.

           Again let's not put down the professional politican's spiel. I guess though I have pretended to be a regular guy for so long that I've turned into one 

                 Let me get this straight. The past was never a paradise. In fact while we were experiencing it we often wanted nothing more then to get to the future, which is now. And now is all and all, not bad, but there’s something happening and for the record I think it ought to be brought out into the light. 

                        Depending on who you ask the beginning of wisdom is either the conquering of fear, or the knowledge if fear, but in any event there’s a level of fear that, guess what?, we all have to live it.It simmers; sometimes comes to a boil, but mostly not. The Germans, who have a lot of words about states of dissatisfaction, have a term which Freud referred to often – unlustig, which means not sorrow exactly, or pain, but the state of having to live without that which makes you happy.

                         Suffice to say the Puritanical mind, and the minds of many other cultures as well, especially the religious ones, have raised the state of being unhappy to a virtue. Life according to them , is not about being happy. It is about working, raising children and sometimes being “the one who dies with the most toys”

                        In truth the best survival strategy is, like your daddy always told you – moderation. It’s good to keep focus but it’s also good to get along and possibly even learn from your neighbors. The English are glad to remind us that regular pub goers make more money then teetotalers.

                                 And so we come to the present day. It’s possible, I believe that after fifteen or twenty economic depressions since the civil war Americans are getting the message that Capitalism, like the big dog in the yard, has to be kept an eye on. What is more the White Anglo Saxon culture (If I may describe it as so) that seemed quintessentially the American model is not taking over the world as fast as it once did.

                             It would be nice if we had a choice of mindsets. In the great Chinese Restaurant menu of our lives it would be swell if we could keep the love affairs going and find all our tumors benign. The ancients had a word for this menu – it was called fate – and fortunate were they who were no subjected to it’s every dictate. I’m here to tell you, at least most of us have some say in the matter, not much, but some.

                                              I refer often to ancient wisdoms, because they were concerned with the same things we are. “What happens to us when we die?” , “What is the purpose of life?” and “Why couldn’t Woody Allen find a nice Jewish girl to marry instead of that skinny underage Asian chick?”

                                  The ancient question pertinent to todays dissertation was posed by the bards as, “Is it better to live a short life of heroism and great deeds or is it better to live a long life as a self interested coward?” (They didn’t always put it that way but I am taking some poetic license. Obviously the vast majority of people choose the second path)

                                    Again as with the issue of the utility of fear the answer depends on who you ask. Another way of saying it is “Exactly how much are the meek going to inherit anyway?”

                                  Courage is not a bad thing, per se. We tend to appreciate it in others mostly when it involves self sacrifice. Futile courage, or self sacrifice, “to take arms against a sea of troubles”, doesn’t pay well. 

                      Then again (and I must stop all these old cliche’s) the devil has all the best tunes.

                          These things having been said we may begin. For the sake of the newcomers I spent eight years in England, studying old legends and modern corporate fictions, then a year or two on Long Island, nursing my Mom through cancer death, and the past three years have been upstate New York in a college town I’ve known and lived in on and off for many years.

                   It seems to have changed, I have to allow for the possibility that it is I who have changed, but even doing that there are subtle changes. This used to be a laid back town, sort of a hippie ville, artsyland, bust the balance of power has shifted.

A clue was early on the president of the school was found to have had a pound of pot shipped to him from out of state and they eventually dropped the charges but not after making a big deal of it. One got the impression that things ought not be done that was. In the past it would have been handled far more discretely.

                             And the usual jive is happening. Developers want to bult 250 housing units in a town where resources are already stretched. The local river has a fecal pollution count that is off the charts. They are fighting fracking. And what one begins to realize is that the students are a form of resource to be exploited.

                        We covered this years ago- but young people are target markets, largely because their income profiles are so lucrative. Do not misunderstand. They are no better off then the rest of us, but everything is being paid for by mommy and daddy who won’t mind a thousand here or there.

                         Here’s the new dynamic however. People are fleeing the sprawl and seeking more pleasant living conditions. Clean air, clean water, low crime, all are increasingly missing in the suburban communities.The people in the older rural communities are nevertheless resisting. They don't like sharing what they have.

           As an aside years ago they used to have regular concerts called farm aid and all the Nashville millionaires would get up in their flannel shirts and raise money. To me however the notion of living in a farmhouse surrounded by a few acres of land didn't seem that bad - especially when contrasted with family being crammed tree or four to a room in Bed Sty, or any one of many American ghettos.  But no one ever did benefits for the American poor - instead sleazy politicians made jokes about them. 

    But this is neither here nor there. I got different fish to fry.

 

                            What happened on the large scale is the white population moved west and south in reaction to the Nixon and Reagan policies. The immigration was mostly younger people leaving an increasingly aging population in the rust belt. The democratic snowball effect came into play – which means as on area grows poorer it looses representative clout in congress and is further weakened which in turn reduces more influence and so on.

It is no surprise that the number of immigrants from the south is large and we are also beginning to see a huge increase in those from the India/Pakistan region. They are moving into established neighbor hoods and by and large all they want to do is make a living and put down roots. That is really not a problem. 

  

     Those who would constrain immigration by artificial means miss an important point. I speak here from long experience and can state that there was a long period prior to the influx of foreigners when, if wanted, something could have been done about it, but nothing was done.

                                   In simple terms if housing is expensive and the average salary of the average worker is sufficiently high you are not going to get immigration from third world countries. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t remain indifferent to the impoverishment of a region and then pretend you don’t understand when people either leave, or move in from less advanced regions.

                             I’ve been harping on this for decades and apparently the only one that get’s coverage is Paul Krugman – but he had to win a nobel prize to convince the blubberboys at the Times he had a public. Again the collapse of the northeastern economy did not begin yesterday – it began long ago. As to the cause I won’t suggest people did not try hard, or were corrupt – these are long term factors that come into play.

                               As I pointed out as well in an essay long ago the jobs that were first impacted by the trends, manufacturing primarily, did not include the chattering classes and as long as they were safe from competition they turned a blind eye to other threats.

                                 I am a little fed up and disgusted with the powers that be. They have made it obvious that they will never listen to the needs of the people. The Russians used to say, “If the Czar only knew of this corruption,” well the Czar knew damn well and what is more worked only to increase the problems.

In the immediate case of the Hudson Valley what we have is a native population that wants the money the refugee, or newcomers are bringing, but doesn’t really want them. So there’s friction of the town and gown variety as well.

               Last Friday I’m in a combination Coffee Shop/Night club in town. By nine it is fairly well filled. There are three folk acts. The first guy has a good voice, sings originals, but most of the tunes are in ¾ and they are not that strong. The second act is s a songwriters circle. Again folk music. A guy who reminded me of Tom rush, a girl with a very good voice but mediocre material and a guy with better material but not enough “presence”.

There was air conditioning , and fruit juice and a mixed crowd. Mostly the people were in the 18-25 bracket and dressed up for the evening. After each song they politely clapped. I surreptitiously dialed up Jenny Lewis on youtube.

If I am going to have to listen to folk music I’m going to listen to the good stuff.

Jenny’s got a so so voice, her tunes are not in the melodic tradition, like mine, nor is she the benefactress of spectacular production like KT Tunsell – but I like her - she speaks to me – she keeps my attention- you know that’s very important - especially in a woman.

The air in the club, as I said was clean, the crowd was mixed, old hippies, young yuppies, parents and children. There was a slow steady exodus out the door. The singers thanked those who stayed for staying. I walked out a little after ten.

                      Outside was more crowded then inside. Several people had guitars and were playing. All were playing different songs. There was an overall hubbub. Nobody was dressed well and several looked like street people.

                          Suffice to say in the local- foreigner and town and gown battles street people are a focus. There’s people living in tents and sleeping bags back in the woods and the authorities have had no luck finding them. The hardier ones, mostly older men, are there year round in the snow and all. What with food banks it’s a better life then camping out on west 53^rd street with the whores and junkies.

                                      There was a place a few doors down called Slash/Root which set itself up as a community computer center. Instead of being thanked and encouraged by the local community for taking on themselves tasks the community ought to, they got a nasty letter from the Mayors office saying they didn’t like all the bums loitering in front of the building. This town has five police departments . Slash/Root closed down a few months ago to be replaced by a hot dog restaurant where they sell hot dogs for four dollars. That’s progress.

                      I went home. For the briefest of moments I considered bringing the acoustic axe down the street to where the crowd was, then thought better. The Irish have a word for is, a guise, which is like a charm, often it says no as well as yes. I am not permitted to say no to anyone who asks me for help, but as well I am not permitted to offer help to anyone in any other way then is appropriate. This guise, or spell, dates to the times when musicians, priests and medical doctors were all the same person. To break it is to lose my abilities much like when any professional breaks their ethical code.

                     I am prepared to live this way until death.

                           As I was preparing for bed and watching TV with the sound off I found myself thinking of the Fillmore East. Between shows you’d walk through the lobby and the smoke was curtain think. All kinds of smoke; hashish, marijuana, cigarette smoke, and the voices, murmuring, then you’d go inside to your seat and the screen would be electric blue. The place sat maybe 2 or 3 thousand so you heard every note. Bill Graham did not book no Boybands. No girls in spangled revealing costumes.

                              Albert King, Blood Sweat and Tears, The Insect Trust, The Serpent Power and more.

I think of these people today – living their lives smugly.

The good, the bad, and thugly. Remember every time a smoker quits an insurance company makes a few thousand dollars –and cable television is bringing you quality entertainment-

                 I stand on the cliff and look over the valley and consider the hour is late. There are generations yet to be not to be. We have been ground beneath the wheel, too many of us, waiting for mr wonderful to appear in the mist and throw a rope.

                                Even at this late hour I wonder if something could have been done. Are we truly prisoners of the hand of fate? Has mankind ever be subject to the insatiable desires of the few?

                                  So we come to the end. I don’t know if you realized quite what has happened here. We have witnessed a way of life and what is more a dream of a better way of life, vaporized, gone like a dream, like the wind.

                                It has gotten better for others and there are many who would argue this is so. But for me who always needed new worlds to explore this vegetation is a sort of living death.

                        Surely the music in the Fillmore wasn’t so great – but it hardly mattered. It was loud. It was rock and roll. Each year society marches on to efficiency and a little bit more of the human madness is lost. It’s a new world maybe but it’s not a good world for the artists and poets.

                              And I don’t want to hear about new artforms, about complexity. Fuck that shit. I’m talking about how much we get paid. The moola.

                                 The idea that a better world has come about because a few people have gained at the expense of the many is a cockamamie lie – and lets not kid ourselves at the final end the state – that is the socioeconomic system is held in place with guns and the rest of coercive means

                             And I’ll make it clear I don’t advocate violence or for that matter engagement. The world I advocate hasn’t been born yet. Anti monarchists did not defeat them, they discovered a new way to govern;    one that will operate under the radar.