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| Chinese representation of Fu Xi by an anonymous artist. |
Lei Qiang - The Flickering of the Candle Flame
Chinese music might be somewhat of an acquired taste for some so be patient, give it time and it will grow on you.
Life is a gift, however this gift is reserved for a few, lucky enough to be born under more auspicious circumstances than others. For the vast majority life is a challenge, a contest, a fight for survival and so they made their philosophies and religions accordingly. In my short existence, till now, I have made a few conclusions which I would like to share with those who care. Trust is most often a Trojan horse and maybe that's why people tend to place their trust in the most "nonhuman" places like trust in God, trust in science, trust in philosophy and so on. A divinity, universal and personal at the same time, a concept or a branch of human activity and even objects end up with our trust more often than other humans or even ourselves.
Novalis, Marx, Lenin were all right when they said in their own ways that religion is like opium for the people. However I tend do disagree on the actual significance of such a statement, as I have seen, without a religion to either dominate through fear or enlighten through example, humans are indeed the most savage animals on this planet, it is simple as that, it's in our nature. We bring destruction to ourselves but we don't see, actually it's even worse, we tend to seek dark and muddy places because the actual concept of enlightenment is very distant from most of us.
For me it's hard to see suffering and violence because it's all based on lies, on suspicions or on misunderstandings, greed and power. People dying for what... for nothing. It doesn't matter if you are a Christian or not, the story of why and how Christ was crucified is the story of our species, the story of the few that have to live in a world of savages, divine grace can only do so much when it comes to the wickedness of man.
Art should be the creation of a well balanced mind and a worm soul like that of ancient Chinese scholars who used to retire in the mountains, often alone, and painted only to express their spiritual experiences and philosophical ideas (Dao), like they also did with music. Antiquity, generally, viewed art as it truly should be viewed, now we live in a world where this form of expression is with nothing less different from the cinema in the book "Brave New World", an experience for the senses packed with action and grotesque emotional drives. This is the art for the masses. While some artists try to uplift people, most like to see others dance in their slime, they usually are the stars because the "people in the markets" simply love them. As I have stated in past articles, I don't place myself apart from the "people in the markets", however I have glanced at better things and I have faith.
This site was planed to galvanize people around a few simple ideas and grow from there into a community of men and women who seek God and want to understand and help others to understand. God can stand for enlightenment, for inner peace, generally understood as opposing ignorance. During these years I have indeed met great people who helped me in my journey and I hope that I was a good influence to at least one of you. I apologize for my shortcomings. This being said I plan to take some time off from writing, maybe if conditions will prove favorable I will someday return. All the best to you all.
