Beethoven And "The Common" In "Communion"

Dear Chuck,

Thanks for your email.

I love the Beethoven story.

It got me thinking about "time" and America's glorification of The Future.

Although there is nothing wrong with "composing for the future," I think composing "out of" the Now -- and "for" the  Now -- is a more mindful Buddhist approach. 

No crees?

Don't get me wrong.

I'm a big fan of Time Travel and Time Capsules.

But if we're going to "make love" (rather than speculate about how love might be made in future) we seem obliged to "do it" in the flow of the moment.

The French call sexual climax "a little death," probably because it takes us out of time altogether.

Or, as Gabriel José De La Concordia García Márquez noted: "El amor es eterno mientras dura." "Love is eternal while it lasts." 

There's theology for ya!

Gabriel José De La Concordia García Márquez : Love Counsel... And Other Insights

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/gabriel-jose-de-la-concordia-garcia.html

And since "flow" changes "by definition," what does it matter if we're "ahead of our time."

Trust me bro'... 

We'll be "outdated" soon enough.

You bring to mind my favorite Wendell Berry quote:

“There is also the Territory of Historical Self-Righteousness: if we had lived south of Ohio in 1830, we would not have owned slaves; if we had lived on the frontier, we would have killed no Indians, violated no treaties, stolen no land.  The probability is overwhelming that if we had belonged to the generation we deplore, we too would have behaved deplorably.  The probability is overwhelming that we belong to a generation that will be found by its successors to have behaved deplorably.  Not to know that is, again, to be in error and to neglect essential work, and some of this work, as before, is work of the imagination.  How can we imagine our situation or our history if we think we are superior to it?” http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/04/wendell-berry-american-prophet.html

Your email also recalls Bob Newhart's shtick about the discovery of a distant planet, home to an advanced civilization. 

When "the news" is broken at a specially-convened press conference, the lead scientist is asked "Just how advanced are they?" 

To which he replies: "About two weeks." 

If the newly-discovered civilization had been much more advanced, "we" might not have understood them any better than a bivalve understands The Solar System.

Or, we might not have understood them at all.

It's even possible (likely?) we wouldn't have understood that they were an "advanced" civilization. 

C.S. Lewis speculates that we are surrounded by macroscopic beings, too big to be seen.

What good is it to be so "far out" that communication will -- with near certainty -- not take place?

Sure, self-expression is an ipso facto "good" and we all labor under the prime mandate to "be true to ourselves."

But "communion" is "common union." 

And there is something to be said for "the common" therein. 

Pax tecum

Alan

PS I love "Oliver!" Did you know it was directed by Carol Reed who directed "The Third Man?"

On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 3:44 AM, CH wrote:

http://popculturemadness.com/Trivia/Oscars/Top-1969-O.php 

Interesting to note that O"liver!" swept the Oscars in 69, beating Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" for best director, best picture and best art direction.  2001 won best visual effects (the only other nominee was Ice Station Zebra whose only visual effects were snow and a submarine below arctic ice). 

So if history repeats, Interstellar will win best audio (an odd nomination in the first place for a film criticized for inaudible dialogue) but not best score. 

I do agree "Windmills of Your Mind" was the best song of that batch. 

There was an honorary award for make-up effects for "Planet of the Apes" and an appalled Arthur C. Clarke commented, "maybe they thought we used real ape-men." 

I still hold lack of institutional award response to Interstellar's brilliance has something to do with it's being, truly, far ahead of it's time (pun intended), boldly visionary and not limited to conventions of genre. 

There is a story that when a cellist complained bitterly to Beethoven about the one-pitch "melody" opening one of his quartets, the composer responded calmly, "Oh, it's not written for you, it's written for fifty years from now."

C