modern culture

"There’s nothing in the design of modern culture which inspires people to be great and to be grand and to think in terms of grand thoughts."
-- Ryan Adams, Salon interview (10/9/11)

spirits in the material world

There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution

Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
They subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure

Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it's something we can't buy
There must be another way

We are spirits in the material world

--Sting (1981)

living in the material world

I'm living in the material world
Living in the material world
Can't say what I'm doing here, but I hope to see much clearer
after living in the material world

I got born into the material world
Getting worn out in the material world
Use my body like a car, taking me both near and far
Met my friends all in the material world

Met them all there in the material world
John and Paul here in the material world
Though we started out quite poor, we got 'Richie' on a tour
Got caught up in the material world

From the Spiritual Sky, such sweet memories have I
To the Spiritual Sky, how I pray
Yes I pray that I won't get lost or go astray

As I'm fated for the material world
Get frustrated in the material world
Senses never gratified, only swelling like a tide
That could drown me in the material world

While I'm living in the material world
Not much giving in the material world
Got a lot of work to do, try to get a message through
And get back out of this material world

I'm living in the material world
Living in the material world
I hope to get out of this place by the [Lord's] grace
My salvation from the material world

--George Harrison (1973)

Steve Jobs - RIP

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired.... It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

-- Steve Jobs (Stanford Univ. commencement address) 2005

the scoop

i'm getting intense, not talking nonsense
i made up my mind, not sitting on the fence
i don't always know the right from the wrong
i do my best to figure it out and work it out in the long
i try to do a lot, more than i can chew
balance out my ambitions, what i've got to do

DIY -- that means do it yourself
i don't sit around waiting for someone's help
i don't sit back and say good enough
keep on striving, reinventing, keeping it off the cuff

-- Mike D (Beastie Boys) 1994