Quote of The Day 1/6/13

Lose your mind and come to your senses.

-Fritz Perls

I apologize for another Quote of The Day failure yesterday.  I was wickedly hungover and could barely function on a human level, let alone compose a short piece of writing.  Anywho, today's quote comes from Friedrich Salomon Perls, better known as Fritz Perls.  I find the quote apropos of my own condition the previous day.  I certainly did lose my mind a couple nights ago to the travails of alcohol consumption and was forced to come to my senses, quite uncomfortably, the following day.  I like this quote for its seemingly contradictory ideas.  The dichotomy between misplacing one's mind and getting in touch with your sentiment may seem like a drastic bridge to cross.  But I believe, in theory, that once the mind is "lost", one has no choice but to embrace the stimuli and environment that immediately surround you.  Disagree you may, but that is my two cents on today's quote.

Fritz Perls (1893-1970) was a German-born psychiatrist/psychotherapist of Jewish origin.  Fritz is credited with coining the term "Gestalt therapy" as well as the "Gestalt prayer".  Gestalt therapy is a speculative type of psychotherapy in which emphasis is put on personal responsibility.  It attempts to accentuate an individual's experience in the present moment, therapist-client relationship, the context of a patient's social environment, and the adjustments made to accommodate in the particular environment.  Quite in line with today's passage.

Quote of The Day 1/4/13

When I play from my mind, I get in trouble.

-Stevie Ray Vaughan

Today's quote comes from famous blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I relate very directly to this concept.  As a musician, I find that performing for an audience requires that you play from your heart.  You must play purely for the joy of playing and for the enjoyment of the listener.  There is a time and place to play from your mind, that place is the practice room.  During rehearsal time is when one should perfect technique and ability.  I confess that I have "played from my mind" on stage at times.  And thusly, I did get in "trouble".  One of my personal faults is my inability to forgive my own mistakes in the moment of performance.  I have had the issue of getting angry at myself during these performances.  The result of this anger is the dilution of the performance and my failure to ultimately provide the service I am responsible for.  Hence, "When I play from my mind, I get in trouble."

Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954-1990), the native son of Dallas, Texas and considered one of the greatest blues guitarists to have ever lived.  SRV followed closely in the style of blues legends such as Albert King, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, and of course, one of his obvious prime influences, Jimi Hendrix.  With his group, Double Trouble, which he co-founded, SRV was heavily responsible for the blues revival of the 1980's.  Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded several albums throughout his career including the 1983 classic Texas Flood, Couldn't Stand The Weather, and Soul To Soul.  I am not one to say my mind gets "blown" often.  Yet, when I first saw footage of Stevie Ray Vaughan, I WAS blown away by the sheer intensity of soul that could clearly be seen oozing from within him.  Truly, SRV was a special player.  In 1990, SRV's life was tragically cut short in a helicopter accident following a show in East Troy, Wisconsin.  His powerful tone, incredible showmanship, and heart-wrenching leads will live forever.

Quote of The Day 1/3/13

The universe is made of stories, not atoms.

-Muriel Rukeyser

Today's quote is from American poet and political activist Muriel Rukeyser.  I confess that I did not know anything about Mrs. Rukeyser before researching her for this Quote of The Day, but I find that I like her a lot.  The quote itself is clearly the wisdom of a poet; the universe is obviously composed of atoms if you want to travel down the highway of strictly facts.  However, this passage gives me pause to consider that, as humans, one concept connects us uniquely and ubiquitously throughout all cultures and creeds.  Stories.  Stop to think about how many stories you have and will absorb throughout your lifetime.  Stories educate us, they entertain us, they distract us, they feed us.... The story is our means of connection to each other and the universe we inhabit.  Without stories, we do not have humanity.  Take that science.  (And I love science by the way, remember that science is learned and applied through story).

Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980) lived during the 20th century and is heralded for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism.  One of her strongest works is her book The Book of The Dead which chronicles "The Hawk's Nest incident" in which hundreds of West Virginia miners died of silicosis.  Her poem "To Be A Jew In The Twentieth Century" was used by the American Reform and Reconstructionist movements for their official prayer books.

Quote of The Day 1/2/13

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

-Leondardo da Vinci

Today's quote is a creed which I attempt to follow.  Certainly, I struggle in my attempt to keep my life simple, but if you do not grapple with life's challenges in this world, you are doing something wrong.  Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly with the featured quote, simplicity IS the ultimate sophistication.  And we must remember that there is distinction between simplicity and complexity.  I like to believe that something simple can also be complex.  For example, the consumption of water.  A simple process, a simple means of hydration, a simple type of beverage.  Right?  However, consider the distribution of said liquid throughout the systems of one's body.  The explanation of that would surely be complex (not that I even could explain it properly).  The human body is naturally complex, we need not add to it.  And I believe that is the message here.  If we let most things in life simply be as they are, they are sophisticated enough.  Consider even, one of the definitions at the root of sophistication; sophism: any false argument, a fallacy.  Perhaps if one distinctly attempts to further sophisticate matters, one is introducing a layer of fallacy?

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance era.  Da Vinci excelled in the practices of painting, sculpting, writing, architecture, music, math, science, anatomy, geology, inventing, cartography, and botany.  Truly, Da Vinci was a Renaissance man and a genius.  While his view of the world was fundamentally logical, he also produced two of the most heralded paintings in history: The Mona Lisa, and The Last Supper.

Quote of The Day 1/1/13

No object is mysterious.  The mystery is your eye.

-Elizabeth Bowen

Today's quote is from Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen.  I love this quote.  The world in which we live can certainly seem mysterious, strange, foreign.  However, the truth is that what we physically see is necessarily agiven.  The tangible phenomena that is light reflecting on the surface of objects and transferred via the aperture of the eye is simply natural.  Though how this information is interpreted by the mind is the substance that one believes they "see".  Hence, what the mind sees is given its worth by the individual.  Okay, that probably sounded very convoluted and complex and may not have provided any insight whatsoever into this brief passage.  But I still enjoy this quote regardless and believe it imparts a tiny piece of wisdom.

Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) was born in Dublin and spent much time living in England.  She and her mother moved to the neighboring country after her father fell mentally ill in 1907.  Bowen's mother subsequently passed away in 1912 and her aunts continued to raise her.  Author of many books, Bowen enjoyed writing as she describes about "life with the lid on and what happens when the lid comes off".  Her novel The Heat of The Day is considered to be one of the most exemplary descriptions of London during the bombing raids of World War II.