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Sunday 30 August 2015

"Signs" Division or Unity, Love or War....

Little commercial jingles, or catchy song fragments from favorite groups, often play in the backdrop of my mind. Most often; I discover a tune creeps to the forefront shortly after it has danced across my waking consciousness. Often; I don't want the jingle to persist, yet marketers ensure it does. Some say; the most effective way to dislodge a pesky tune is to take a few moments to hum another. What if the tune in question persists over many years, popping in and out for no apparent reason, would this suggest the ditty represents something more than just another archived piece of media entertainment? There are times when mass media, in the form of music, art, or literature seems to have the uncanny ability to speak directly to the heart of who we are. Certain thought forms appear capable of transforming a nation, while at the same time, intruding deeply into the persona of a given individual.

Like most of us; I consider myself to be an aficionado of popular music. My taste varies greatly, however, there are a few groups that make lyrical statements capable of defining the spirit of my life and the essence of my ideology. Rush, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Santana, John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, Elvis Presley, represent just a few favourites that pop into my mind as I pen this essay. Having stated a few bands of choice; one would assume, if one particular tune were to stick in my head over decades of time then the song would probably be the work of my most preferred group, however, this has proven not to be the case. Point in fact; as much as I love Rush, or am forever moved by John Lennon's "Imagine", these personal cornerstones of pop culture rarely, without prompting from the radio or a spinning C.D., rush to the forefront of my mind's eye.

For me; the one and only song which continually plays in my mental backdrop is from a group I never followed. Their single top ten hits spoke to me with such intensity it instantly became a staple of my memory archive. The song was written by Les Emmerson, it was released in 1971 by his group entitled "Five Man Electric Band". This progressive rock group hailed from Ottawa, Canada, in a very small way they helped form the hippy resistance of 70's pop culture. The song in question made it to number three on the American Band Stand hit list. Possibly you know the song to which I refer? Its title was "Signs", somehow it managed to resonate perfectly with the sentiments expressed by the youth of the day. The song rallied countless youth to rebel against the corporate and government machine. The lyrics, as illustrated below earnestly demanded freedom from the oppression of what we then called "The Man".

Today, as I recollect the purposefully charged lyrics of Mr. Emmerson, I choose to reflect upon the song's nature whilst taking a quick moment to ask why, this one song, above all others, has been my constant companion for over 40 years. I never owned a copy of the album, never followed the group, hell, I even had to look them up on the internet to discover who penned this short little jewel.



And the sign said
"Long-haired freaky people
Need not apply"
So I tucked my hair up under my hat
And I went in to ask him why
He said, "You look like a fine upstandin' young man
I think you'll do"
So I took off my hat and said, "Imagine that
Huh, me workin' for you"
Whoa

Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery
Breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign?

And the sign said
"Anybody caught trespassin'
Will be shot on sight"
So I jumped on the fence and I yelled at the house
"Hey! What gives you the right
To put up a fence to keep me out
But to keep Mother Nature in?
If God was here, he'd tell you to your face
'Man, you're some kind of sinner'"

Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery
Breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign?

Now, hey you, mister, can't you read?
You got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat
You can't even watch, no, you can't eat
You ain't supposed to be here
The sign said, "You've got to have a membership card
To get inside"
Uh!

And the sign said
"Everybody welcome
Come in, kneel down and pray"
But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all
I didn't have a penny to pay
So I got me a pen and a paper
And I made up my own little sign
I said, "Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me
I'm alive and doin' fine"
Woo!

Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery
Breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign?

Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Sign



Division Versus Unity:



Generations of music come and go; each leaves a signature upon the masses distinct from the previous. Quickly changing social morals, mind programming, and a bevy of cultural influences, ensure the next generation of music will brand upon the youth of the day a unique form of outrage. Music speaks to our heart; the beat tugs on our primal nature preparing us for lyrics cleverly crafted to echo the most powerful thoughts, feelings and emotions each of us covet. Bands, talented enough to resonate with youthful consumers, discover their product can move masses with such fervor they can irrevocably alter the path of society. Speaking to this point, recent history illustrates the role music played during the 1970's by shaping a path toward peace, love and unity, when, all signs indicated, elite masters would have preferred to align with the war machine. 
Our masters, resolutely molding the essence of society, comprehend the vastly important function music plays in steering the piss and vinegar of youthful exuberance toward destinations which do not wholly conflict with the overarching direction of elite rule. The powers that be appear to walk a fine line of censorship; like all puppeteers, the trickery of illusion only succeeds if they manage to remain completely hidden from the spectator. Pulling the strings of the society puppet, their mandate is to manipulate us without our knowledge. In fact; if done correctly, we must believe it is our steam, our outrage, our desires which manifest the designs of humanity's future.

From my perspective; the 70's taught our masters a keen lesson in what can happen if they take their eye off the musical entertainment ball. No one could dispel the fact that, for a short while, in the crazy years of hippy love, the elite lost control of the stage. Masters yanked on strings discovering, to their horror, the tiny puppets were acting out a play of their own design, a play most definitely in contrast to the masters vision. How did the puppet master react? They looked at the little puppets whose strings no longer worked then simply swept them off the stage, John Lennon, Bob Marley, too many others to mention. Too much loss for the world to bear. We wept while they consolidated the reigns of power, tightened the grip of control then forcefully directed music away from love, peace and unity toward fear, violence, commercialism, and despair.

Now; some forty years removed from the hippy era, we find the music industry voice has taken a 180 degree turn. This day, can you name any vocalists advocating love, freedom or unity? To be fair; I am not up to date on what the kids listen to, however, from what I do hear, the messages seems to be very commercial, egotistical, corrupt, fear biased drivel. I feel sad for the poor young women trapped in today's musical genre. From my jaded perspective, it seems these young ladies are forced to promote themselves as sex toys. Their lyrical messages, at least in my mind, appear to take a backseat to their tawdry appearance or disingenuous lifestyles specifically designed to jolt the consumer with opulent vulgarity.

Possibly, my age is catching up to me? Perhaps, I, like those of my time, lament the past, desire more from the future, and feel the children of our time are not quite the captains of change we envisioned they would become. Could it be; I am turning into the Fuddy Duddy I thought my parents represented when I was the youth they viewed as bereft of decorum, respect, and integrity?


Seeing The Signs:


I am and always have been a rebel. For the most part, I have stood against elitism, fear, injustice, government, authority, most importantly, I have dedicated my life to rally against divisiveness. Now, I can see the lyrics of Mr. Emmerson have in fact hit close to my heart. More than any other song, they spoke to my future, a path I was not capable of vocalizing or envisioning at the tender age of ten. Nonetheless, unannounced to me, these words were the seeds that would spawn the Oak of personal resistance.

Now, as I look in the mirror, I see a long-haired freaky person seated on the outside of an elite construct, I feel sick as I peer into the fabric of a society gone mad. Signs have in fact blocked out the scenery, they are breakin' my mind, they continually tell me to do this, not that, they still demand I quietly conform to elitist signs. Never did I want a membership card, nor would I ascribe it just that one being should, in any way, dominate another.

There are signs everywhere we look, signs which should cause us to pause, signs which beg us to confront societal injustice. One-third of the world population lives below the poverty level, this is a sign. Over one billion of our brethren are starving to death, can you read this sign? Education is falling apart, children being dumbed down, why can we not understand this is a sign? Our health, and the well-being of our environment, hijacked by greedy corporate profiteers, do we even know how to read these signs? We are a people divided; borders, rules, religion, class structure, race, sexism, sports, education, do you see everywhere there are signs? Some of the signs prove we are losing the best of what makes us human; fear replacing love, division instead of unity, ignorance trumping knowledge, greed in lieu of sharing, a religion where there should be spirituality, war when we all want peace, money where compassion belongs, corruption where there once was cooperation, hunger when we should demand nourishment, violence where there once was caring. 

Insanity abounds, it compels us to read the signs. If we fail to read the countless signs, our corporate masters will ensure a future biased toward, love, unity, compassion, and the many attributes we covet will never come to pass. Presently, the next generation has a right to ask; why didn't you react to the signs? Where was your outrage? Why did you allow the hippy message to die, why did you not carry that torch? You dropped the ball, you sold us out, you, spellbound by the snake of opulence, chose to turn your back on love, peace, and unity! The question I pose to each of you today, can you read the signs, are you going to stand against "The Man"?  Are you ready to read the signs?

Sign, sign,

 

Everywhere a sign,

 

sign! 



In Lak' ech, brethren, prosper with love.... read the signs.... fight the man...



16 comments:

  1. A beautiful post brother Christopher. I LIKE the same music and more. Don't be too hard on all of today's music. I agree that most/much of today's POP Music SUCKS.... at least from a creative standpoint. There are a few good and even some great music artists out there still that have creative writing and something meaningful to say. (and I don't mean people like Madonna or Justin Bieber). You just have to know where to look. I have found hundreds of albums worth listening to in the area's of Blues, Hard Rock, Jazz, Folk, Celtic and even a little heavy metal. I do like Opera and Classical music as well.

    Much of the so called modern music is designed to confuse and send subliminal messages to suggest lunacy to our Chrystal Brains as how the world should or should't act. These perverted messages, in many cases, aren't good for anything or anyone.

    All music has hidden messages. A post about the meaning behind Hotel California is one of the 10 most popular post on DarkStar. Check it out when you have time...you'll see what I mean.

    http://darkstar888.blogspot.ca/2010/01/hotel-california-illuminatimatrix.html

    Also there is a new post on JediTheOne that you may like...it's about LOVE.

    Be well my brother,

    Ian

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    1. Namaste brother Ian; thank you for taking a moment to weigh in on this subject. You are certainly right, insofar as there still is some great music being created by today's youth. However; most of the music is controlled and directed by the greater corporate voice. Kids like Justin Beiber are manufactured, usually at a very young age (Micky Mouse Club) then molded into a corporate tool. I tend to agree with you about the music of today being filled with perverted subliminal messages, our brother Carl has done a great job over the years highlighting many hidden messages contained within pop culture.

      I look forward to stopping by your site to read the latest article, always a treat. Thanks again for the visit brother take care and go well.

      In Lak' ech, prosper with love... live in peace...

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  2. From one Fuddy Duddy rebel to another: you say that insanity abounds - yes we are living in a mad mad mad mad world. But don't worry about "our corporate masters" as they have no mastery over us, unless we give it to them. I guess that is exactly what you are saying - read the signs, and rebel. They can mind-control 7 billion zombies into destroying every vestige of goodness and life that is left on planet Earth, but where does that take them? Into a bottomless pit of darkness. They are welcome to it, and indeed they do deserve it.

    Don't worry about planet Earth - she will take care of herself. There will only ever be one winner in nature versus man. Man is part of nature, so by destroying nature we destroy ourselves. And nature as a whole is way tougher than humanity, and will inevitably gain the upper hand soon enough. Furthermore, the despicable system that we humans have created, which we call, ironically, "civilisation" is now in the final stages of a self-destruction, that will most likely take out most of humanity with it. Nature will soon get a long respite from us.

    I guess I gave up on this "civilisation" and the vast bulk of the human race long ago. The '80's did it in for me. Since then I have morphed through political activism, to burying my head in the sand, to dark night of the soul, to finally arrive at a divine perspective, from where the destruction of this "civilisation" looks absolutely imminent and inevitable, and a thoroughly beneficial thing for all concerned - not beneficial as humans perhaps, but as souls it means escape from jail, to live again in better times.

    Others might see this as a doom and gloom perspective, but from where I sit it is all golden light. We are living in hell, and we are now witnessing it going to its extremes. But that hellish energy is already well past its sell-by date, and the final pushes of desperation we are now witnessing are simply accelerating its absolute demise. Our wonderful planet will need some healing time for sure, but there is plenty of time left for that, once mankind's current demonic activities are removed from the picture.

    As for standing against "The Man", yes I am with you there - we have to stand up for our principles. But lets do it on our terms and not on theirs. Only a divine solution will fix this. We cannot get anywhere by standing against "the man" on their mundane terms.

    Money, politics, economics, fences, and signs that dictate to us, are all part of the old hell. We should reject every aspect of each of them. Whenever possible, opt out of every aspect of this hell. For example, don't be a consumer, a news follower, television watcher, or corporate wage slave. Even political activism will pull you into rage and violence, unless it is Gandhi-style. Even by thinking about these things in a rebellious way, we draw ourselves into that dark old-paradigm energy.

    For spiritual health, we should remain detached observers IMO. Focus on love and light - peace, harmony, virtue. All else is unworthy of us.

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    1. Namaste brother Ian, thanks for the visit and, as always, taking a few moments to weigh in on the subject matter. I should note that all of your aforementioned comments are synchronous with my sentiments. When writing these little essays, I don't direct my attention to my close friends like yourself, Ian or Ron, rather, I direct the subject matter to the greater world out there. I guess, I should maybe think directly of you few, considering you, and a smattering of others, are the only ones who read my posts, however, the messages are really for the greater masses.

      With that said; let me address, elaborate, and concur with your astute comments. I don't see an "out there" Ian, as a result, I truly embrace no fear for what the future may hold. Consciousness is eternal, omnipotent and omnipresent. This world only appears to be "out there", rather, we both know, it is merely a non physical construct of consciousness. We are convinced the world is being torn asunder, but truly we are the world, the world is us, consciousness is planet Earth, we are the totality of reality. In the absence of consciousness, nothingness exists.

      The control presently exerted by elite masters upon our minds is a part of the greater perfection of existence, it is exactly where consciousness, and the "we" which is being experienced is determined to be.

      I believe consciousness, like manifest reality in physical form, expresses itself as both a duality and as a fractal. We can look at the expression of duality from many perspectives; personal, community, global or the viewpoint of civilization in transition, when doing so, we note duality as a fractal does fundamentally exist in all forms of reality.

      Taking this knowledge, we can deduce the expected path of consciousness from a macro evolutionary perspective. With this jewel of understanding, we can then assume consciousness to have two fundamental characteristics, the first being the movement from physicality to nothingness and back again and the second being the movement from awareness of the Godself to the depth of EgoSelf and back again.

      cont....

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    2. cont...

      Presently, none would argue, consciousness is in a state of ignorance, undoubtedly we are swaddled in blankets of Egoic maya.
      Extending the fractal, we then assume the journey of the GodSelf incorporates the prodigal sons return, in turn, we accept the departure from the GodSelf as part of the expected journey.

      The Earth itself, Gaia, is a conscious being which inevitably will succumb to the same rigors of fracticality and duality. This gnosis allows us to accept she, Gaia, is meant to be torn asunder, while at the same time, knowing her return to Godself splendor is imminent.

      We see the greater circle consciousness forms, this allows us to accept all points of the circle as divine expression, the only thing left is to ask, where are we in the circle and what can we expect of the imminent future. Like you, I believe we have reached the nadir of ignorance, I feel consciousness is now moving toward the awareness of the GodSelf.

      Does it really matter where we are in the circle? Of course not! Can we not accept the greater experience of consciousness? Certainly, logic would encourage this acceptance. Is it not reasonable to embrace the totality of all manifest experience as divine perfection? Reason insists we do.

      This post would suggest to the untrained mind that I rebel against the present state of consciousness, however, nothing could be farther from the truth. I do not rebel against the state of reality, I rebel against the lack of reason, knowledge and truth. In this post I suggest to my uninitiated brethren, whom this, and all posts, are directed, that it is incumbent upon us to break free from the grips of ignorance, see the devious plot of elite masters, and choose to reach for something more. This something more I wish my brethren to discover is masked behind illusion. therefore, I speak to their undeveloped greater self. We can only reach the uninitiated by communicating to their EgoSelf and the physical world they believe is real. Standing against the man is a statement all can relate to, breaking the chains of enslavement is a concept all can embrace. Knowing that this reality is perfection personified is an esoteric truth few can grasp.

      Thanks again brother, as mentioned previously, we two are peas inhabiting the same pod, we speak a language foreign to most others, therefore, our message must be wrapped in the trappings of an illusory world.

      I have no desire for my brethren, or for myself, to initiate change in the world, however I know that if I push them to see the veracity of their world, it stands to reason they will, in the course of seeking change, gain a modicum of esoteric understanding. Knowledge is the key to emancipation, see the world as dysfunctional and you will naturally rebel. The GodSelf will ensure all doors will be open to those who are ready to breach the threshold, it is up to us to make the right doors available.

      In Lak' ech, brother Ian, prosper with love... live with knowledge....

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    3. Chris I hear what you are saying, and I do relate to it. The dilemma, when writing for others, of whether to target those who are asleep, or those who already understand, keeps me from posting much more in the public domain. In the past I wrote for those who don't understand, and I got mainly negative feedback or none at all, and it felt like banging my head on a wall. When I write more deeply, I do seem to reach those who are already on a similar wavelength, like yourself and other regulars here, and I feel that I am also furthering my own understanding just through trying to write it down clearly... so I guess I am now taking the opposite tack from you, writing for existing fellow travellers rather than potential fellow travellers... I will take this difference of intended audience into account in future when commenting on your posts!

      However I still maintain that - whatever the public perception may be - there are no devious elite masters plotting our downfall - rather I see only confused and panicking would-be-elite-masters who in practice are completely out of step with the times and the rising divine consciousness, and indeed have little - and ever-decreasing - effective control remaining over anything. Their helplessness is something that we should all be very thankful for, and we should take care not to think like they do, nor to get caught up in dramas of their creation .

      love+light

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  3. Hey Christopher What a great post! Let me say you are not alone when it comes to the song Signs popping into your mind at times. It does the same thing to me! I was fortunate enough to have been at just the right age when the hippie movement evolved. I grew up a rebel, a dreamer, a hippie and whatever else they called us. As I look back that was one of the greatest eras of my entire life. Of course I was a dumbass about most "important" things but the ideal of free love, peace, and no wars stuck with me through all these years since! Carefree years, smoking pot, rebelling against the "MAN" long hair, beautiful music, Cheech & Chong, all that stuff was so beautiful. Thankfully I have been able to hold on to the idea of love, peace, and kindness. I can't afford the pot anymore , way too expensive, and the wife would probably kill me if I did it anyway! I loved the music so much and now that's about all I listen to at home. Hey, I still got 8 tracks which I moved to cassettes. Then cds replaced the cassette and I'm way too lazy to record all of the cassettes to cd. All those protests songs will live forever, like they say, good music never dies. In my later years I grew to love all the blues artists of yesterday(Muddy Waters, Leadbelly, Howling Wolf, Memphis Slim, Bessie Smith, John Lee Hooker, etc.) and the blues singers of this era (B.B. King, Solomon Burke, Bobbie Blue Bland, Little Milton etc.). And as I soon learned most of today's music which the youngsters claim to be "new" is nothing but a remake of the older stuff. Signs will always be one of my favorites so whenever that song crosses your mind remember it is probably doing the same thing to me right then! Great post Chris. And I also love the 2 comments above form the Ian friends. Seems like us 3 have a lot in common. At least I always feel grateful when I am talking with any of you guys! As always the best to you and yours

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  4. Namaste brother Ron, it is my pleasure to enjoy your visit. Thanks for adding to the expressed views. I knew you would find this post to be a breath of fresh air. My love of the blues also runs very deep. We all were young and dumb at the time, but we knew we wanted more, we could see the chains of oppression. I agree it was a time of beauty, love, compassion, freedom. Were they the best days of my life, they were great but what I value most in life is knowledge, back then I was as wet behind the ears as one could be. All I knew at that time was that it did not feel right having so much authority, it seemed false, aggravating and against all I believed. It was a time in my life where I was angry, rebellious, ignorant and slimy. I am much happier in my skin now, my life has purpose, I know love beyond the selfishness of Ego, this, to me, is a significantly more pleasant state of beingness.

    The energy of the time directed me toward love, it demanded I look closely at my world, moreover, it was a time where seeds were planted that later proved to change my reality. Unlike yourself Ron, I was a real piece of shit when I was young, I hated myself and my world and knew I either change or perish. The sixties gave me hope that love was real, it was attainable and was worthy of all my attention.

    Thanks for the visit brother, as always you bring to my world love, reason and peace, thank you, I find your contributions and wisdom are a great value.

    In Lak' ech, brother Ron, prosper with knowledge... live beyond oppression...


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  5. Wow, beautiful post! exactly resonating my present state of mind. Its a sign.. =) music is the most powerful means of expression, and even i seem to have a strong relationship with music! its hard to imagine life without music! strangely for me, i'm turning to music which is grounding me back to the source, the roots. the 'anhad naad' -unstruck sound is what the universe is said to have originally been struck with! besides, with all the rebel music and music strong with ideologies some of which you mentioned, music can be/IS a great means for spiritual upliftment. i have experienced it.. it brings me to a space sometimes which ii cannot bring myself to describe.. =)
    Love and light

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    1. Namaste sister Bani; such a nice surprise to enjoy your visit, it has been a long while. I hope all is well in your world, take care.

      In Lak' ech, prosper with love.... live with knowledge....

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  6. Hello Christopher,

    There is another bother posting informative videos that I think you and your readers would enjoy. It's Michael Vitale's blog. He has a good heart and is trying to reach other humans to share his awareness. It would be nice to see him have a more readers to appreciate this research. The current post is about The Psychology of Power". Its a relevant topic that several of us have just recently post about :) If interested, here is the address.

    http://michaelvitale.blogspot.ca/

    Be well my brother.

    Jedi - Ian

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    1. Nanaste brother Ian; thanks for the heads up. I visited his site earlier in the week, some nice video content. Take care, have a great week.

      In Lak' ech, prosper with love.... live in peace...

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  7. Great stuff, as always, Chris.
    The music industry is probably the most usurped, controlled and censored aspect of the global agenda perception management system.
    It has been right from the get go.
    There are a lot of artists and bands that I used to have a huge amount of respect for, that I keep at arms length now. This is the tragedy of contemporary music (and, indeed, music in general) because it can be a great force capacitor for change and good.
    My perceptions of the hippy music scene have also been shaken by knowledge I have accessed in recent years. A good place to start here is Dave McGowan's "Laurel Canyon" material and Alex Constantine's "Covert Rock" book.
    That said, there are artists who very much ended up in the arms of the machine (John Lennon and Bob Marley are good examples), who ultimately rebelled in small ways and paid the price for it. There are one or two contemporary acts that try to push the envelope within the limits of their master's reins. A good group, here, is Arcade Fire - although they have been making albums for over a decade now (and their most recent "Reflektor" has some highly questionable imagery and content.)
    The "powers that be" know the seductive subliminal effect of music - that is why the industry is so controlled.
    I don't want to be "down" on music because it can be a wonderful phenomenon. I think the positive energy of music is better harnessed by creating our own music - even creating little tunes and lyrics in our heads!
    I know that many households in the UK used to have a piano as literally "part of the furniture" - sadly those days are long gone. The same goes for the pubs and such. Anybody who could turn a tune would play an instrument and everybody else joined in as best they could.
    I love that! That's what music should be all about!
    But hey... what can you do!?
    All the best my friend.
    Carl (The 'Guide)

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  8. Namaste brother Carl, nice to enjoy your visit, thanks for stopping by. I agree that there must be a good amount of bands who are trying their best to break free of the control structure it can't be easy. Like you; I don't wish to get down on music, merely looking to shed some light on where I see the industry heading. Take good care brother, best wishes with your book.

    In Lak' ech, prosper with knowledge... live with love...

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  9. WOW! Great post Brother!
    As usual, everything you say is spot-on with me
    and it's nice to know there are those of us 'still carrying the torch' in the ways we know how...
    Keep up the great work my friend, as little by little, and person by person, change is taking place, and I'm honored to be sharing these times with you my friend...
    All the best! :)

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  10. Namaste brother Brad;

    I had missed this added comment. Thanks for stopping by, I am glad you enjoyed my little romp down memory lane. We all try to contribute where we can, the art you an Kiki create makes us smile and shares love around the world. In getting to know you I too feel honoured to count you a good friend.

    In Lak' ech, brother, prosper with love... live with colour...

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