ZenGlop The Podcast

I've been criticized for using the term ZenGlop - -that this silly word trivializes the substance and structure of my work.  Fair enough, perhaps it does.  But ....  Reading about pre-socratic philosophers and their focus on the question of why something exists.  And if it exists, what did it come from . (The Miletians, Thale Anaximander and Anaximenes) .  The fragments that we have from 6th century Miletus suggests a lively discussion about whether there is a determinate single substance ( one of the elements) that serves as the source of all being.  or whether there's some indeterminate substance filling that same purpose.  It's a question that has driven most of philosophy for close enough to 3000 years.  Somewhere in there is ZenGlop.   

More episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/

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Thoughts on recently finished composition for piano and electronics.  Also a consideration of what it feels like inside an MRI, and whether that's sufficient aesthetic inspiration (give away the answer: "it is").

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Hear 'Magnetic Resonance": https://youtu.be/SOYaVNwTC24

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We bring to each moment a set of insights, capabilities, strengths ( weaknesses) - - and even as this accumulated wisdom may be obscured by afflictive emotions, it is entirely sufficient to embrace a wise and compassionate reaction. 

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More episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/

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If music is a still, then I am a fermented mash ready to be evaporated and precipitated out as an alchemical spirit.

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Thinking more about Socrates and his final day described in Phaedo, I asked myself what my final meal would be.  Turns out....Mahler and sparkling water.  

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On the morning of the day when he would be executed, Socrates woke from a good night's sleep; massaged his feet; slowly placed his feet on the ground; and the spoke for the day about a good life.  And you know what, I get that.  If I knew I was to die tomorrow at sunset, I'd want to wake up well-rested, clear-headed and with the aches and pains massaged out.  

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Kathryn (otherwise known as Mrs. ZenGlop) is taking a course online with Pema Chodron,  We were talking at dinner last night and one of the things she said that resonated was the gift of wonder.  That as we pay attention and practice, there's a real amazement that this moment is happening.  At all!  I know I get stuck sometimes in pushing to 'understand' the way my mind is working or the way to fit this realization or that understanding into some framework.  But before all of that is this glorious beautiful breath, and a body pumping with Oxygen and air flowing over the whole freaking planet...wow!

More episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/

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Probably not.  We all have slightly different physiology, and that's particularly evident in our hearing especially as we age.  Hearing tests will show quite different responses to frequency range.  I'm deaf in one ear and with damaged hearing in the other, as the result of surgery about 15 years ago.  I've seen my brain create sounds where none are there and modify sounds to match what my memory expects.  it's fascinating, thrilling and disorienting.  What does this mean in electronic music where so much of the output is intuited through exploring different sound modules?  I have no idea what you're hearing and really very little what I'm hearing.  More to come...working on a new piece with accompanying lecture due out this next week or so.  

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Art - the aesthetic object, whether music, poetry, painting, landscape - stimulates a wide range of responses in us.  What about art that needs to teach us what the response could be?  Art that facilitates the response.  

More episodes on  Ekpyrotic Art notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/ekpyrotic-art/

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What I've been thinking about lately is the formulation "What Would do?". It's important to have a teacher in spiritual practice.  The experience, direction, instruction, guidance, support are essential.  But who - or what - is that teacher?   We're accustomed in America to seeing spiritual leadership corrupted by materialism, sex and greed.  What if the teacher here can be anybody....a monk, sure, but maybe also a martial artist, a piano teacher, a leader at work. Anyone - - in this particular point, I'm more interested in being able to create that moment of cognitive distance.

So the question "What Would do?" is a cue for each moment and not necessarily asking for a prescriptive list of required responses.  Rather, asking the question "What Would Socrates Do?" (for example) gives me that immediate second opinion about what is actually happening in the moment. Maybe I am reacting with anger, and taking the second to consider Socrates would allow me to realize that this anger is actually more like hurt pride...that perhaps some humility and gratitude in the moment would transform everything.   

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