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/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-news

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").Listen to the latest episode and subscribe: Apple iTunes or Android Hear 'Magnetic Resonance": https://youtu.be/SOYaVNwTC24Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

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. Listen to the latest episode and subscribe: Apple iTunes or Android or download the episode directly:  More episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

If music is a still, then I am a fermented mash ready to be evaporated and precipitated out as an alchemical spirit.Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

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.  Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

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.  Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

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/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

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.  Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQ

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/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

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

Welcome back to a new season of the podcast.  On New Years Eve, Jean-Michel Jarre broadcast a concert set in a Virtual Reality Notre-Dame cathedral.  It was a wonderful show and resonated with the ancient, mystical architectonics of the space.  More episodes on sonic psychogeography here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/sonic-psychogeography/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

There are no requirements to meet or hurdles that need to be overcome before we can choose to interject compassion into the immediate moment.  I'll be taking a break for the end of year and I hope you are all able to enjoy some time off.  There may be an intermittent podcast, or a livestream from the studio but otherwise I'm going to be dug in and writing.  Cheers, all.more episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

I finished reading " Red Comet: The short life and blazing art of Sylvia Plath" , a recent biography written by Heather Clark.  Reading Plath's poetry  is like being alive:  strange, beautiful, elegant, upsetting.  Tragic. Ecstatic.   Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

A leap of faith? Or should it be a leap from faith?  What about a leap from Realisation?  A leap into what?  Towards what?  Is it a leap, or are we pushed?Listen to the latest episode and subscribe: Apple iTunes or Android or download the episode directly:  more episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

The Bodhicitta vow is the aspiration to bring compassion and empathy in all action of body, speech and mind.  I like the 'planetary gravity' metaphor.  Some anomaly in the gravitational continuum causes the accretion of atomic material leading eventually to suns and planets.  When we sit on a cushion and consider the Bodhicita vow, it is like a gentle indentation in space-time which over the course of lifetimes causes the accretion of compassion and empathy.  more episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

We are surrounded by noise, just about all of which we filter out either mechanically or mentally.  But when I  made note of unexpected and beautiful noises that arose throughout a day, in short order I started to have a sonic journal of surprising delicacy and emotion.  Just using the recorder directly on my phone to capture anything that struck me as beautiful or unusual.  Then I mixed it together for a short ( 1 minute) piece....but maybe over the weekend I'll get in the studio and work more with these sounds ( or others).for more posts on field recording, link here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/field-recordings/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to my newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

Picking back up on my opera ("Love,Love,Bing,Bing"  an opera about the Soviet Space Dog program).  Focusing for now on the text and trying to figure out some more details about the characters, specifically the character of The Program Director.  There's a history of bizarre occult influences on early Russian rocket science, and I'm digging up articles on Konstantin Tsiolkovskii -  self-taught, possibly Theosophist, certainly eccentric and now recognized as the 'grandfather of Russian space travel'.  Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to a newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

It's time for my meditation practice to shift gears.  The last several months have been a focus on a certain set of prayers and chants...I'm feeling like a shift to more open-ended insight practice.  It occurred to me that my entire practicing life, I've started a meditation session with a timer set to some pre-defined amount.  Could be 2 minutes (short, good meditation is excellent);  20 minutes ( a nice strong stable practice) or 40 minutes ( probably the longest I've ever sat in a single sitting).  But what if I turned off the timer and set a stopwatch instead?    As part of the observation, observe only when my session ends....not whether it's lasted a set duration?  It's such a simple and obvious question that I'm eager to see where it leads. more episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to my newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-

How much did Sisyphus know about the nature of his punishment?  Did he know that the rock was fated to roll back down?  Or did he think he had a shot each time, but was just really bad at pushing rocks up a hill?  Was he Happy?Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to my newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1

Vera Lotar Shevchenko was a French pianist who studied with Alfred Cortot, married a Russian - both arrested and sent to Siberia.  She survived ( her husband did not) and later in the 60's was able to record again.  There's recordings available to listen on Youtube.  I learned about this remarkable artist after reading "The Lost Pianos of Siberia" by Sophy Roberts.   (https://www.lostpianosofsiberia.com)Buy my book On Mortality and the Human ImaginationSubscribe to my newsletter for occasional updates on the podcast, videos and other writing. https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/zenglop-the-newsletter.htmlAnd/or subscribe to youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOlX6NXyQBABYljo1vAuHA?sub_confirmation=1