Song: Moon-Star
(I had originally bought this album in the early 1980's while at university...
and this song has remained my favorite since.)
Original Composer: Kitaro
Rendition: Royal Symphonic Orchestra
As I have said before...
this is my favorite rendition of my favorite song...
of all time.
It is a beautiful demonstration of a well lived life...
and it is this song which my subconscious plays during serene moments...
and in a manner which is not only heard and felt...
but with a spatial separation and with infrasonic frequencies not presented in real life
(only infrasonic frequencies are felt to the bone and reverberate within).
As the composition unfolds...
it is the story of the beginning of life.
As the organ, strings, and percussion build towards a crescendo culminating
in the cymbal crash which is then accented by the chord strikes of the grand piano...
it is the building of the great anticipation of childhood...
where our eyes are filled with the wonders of the world as sensations are newly experienced...
and a carefree outlook fills our hearts with the dreams of a future unknown...
and yet...
with a direction of travel determined.
As the song transitions to a lonely sounding oboe
and the accompanying plucking of a violin's strings...
it is the steady beat of a child maturing.
It is when the child must experience the discipline of learning in school...
still not understanding much about himself or about life.
As he is thrown into the new social experience of having to be around others...
albeit in the controlled structure of a school...
he still feels alone in life even though he is surrounded by others.
As the southing pull of the strings then accompany the plucking of the strings...
the child learns that isolation comforts him as he begins his travels to his inner world...
his place where he first discovers himself.
As the percussion fades in and the lone violin solos...
this is when the child learns to dream of his future...
as he realizes that it is he...
and only he...
who controls his destiny.
And for years...
he keeps his dream alive as he continues to mature.
He realizes that he must play the long game in life...
that it will be a marathon...
and so...
that he must pace himself for the long haul...
or face an early burnout.
The song progresses...
as does his life.
He gets a stable job so he will have a promising future...
and so...
the song plays on.
And just as the song new to the ears has a yet to be determined outcome...
so it is with his future...
however...
as all beautiful songs and sonatas have a known and reliable structure...
even though the sonata had never before been heard...
one can count on a building crescendo leading to a beautiful ending...
as in all great songs...
and so as in all lives well lived.
As the piano's chord strikes once again rejoin the song...
as the violins increase in volume...
and the percussion accent the mood...
it portrays the many carrots in midlife coming to fruition...
but not yet revealing the most delicious portion of the sonata...
the steady buildup towards its magnificent resolution.
As the song once again transitions to the building and repeating
crescendos and decrescendos and building in intensity...
it tells the story of the previously planted fruits of life having had come into fruition...
and so...
are savored as they are devoured.
With the final portion of the song being repeated in waves of ecstatic expression...
as all the instruments come together in delicious harmony...
and in support of one another...
just as it is so with everything in life coming together in the well prepared
and preplanned life in retirement...
with plenty of time left in the song to be fully experienced and enjoyed.
As the song expands and contracts until the lone organ chord leads to the final
playing of the strings as the song gently returns you to Earth...
just as one prepares for a beautiful ending having had fully experienced a soul stirring sonata...
so it is so as a person is gently returned to his inner world as he prepares for death...
filled with an inner serenity as he flies through the luminescent clouds of his sunset...
on his final flight of freedom.
-----------
If you think me as being a tad dramatic...
I assure you...
living life well is far more dramatic.
Life can be a beautiful sonata...
or have the deep ugliness of incoherent melodies and absent harmonies...
all of which are transparently as sonically masturbatory in nature
as is the nature of a monkey on a tree branch seeking out immediate gratification
over that of an artful buildup of anticipation...
followed then by its masterful release
(deferred gratification).
Moon-star is the song of life...
from birth to death
(subjectively...I admit).
Through its melodies, harmonies, partial syncopated and driving on beat percussions...
its sweet, lonely and delicious solos, its masterful transitions of intensity...
of its crescendos and decrescendos artfully applied to its absolutely heavenly
and serene resolution...
it demonstrates the concept of living life well.
This is also an example of what should play in the orchestra of the mind
during the ecstatic and serene times of a deeply engaging sunrise or sunset...
where you are not merely hearing music...
but feeling it...
and of allowing it to transport you to your inner world...
where your dreams of the future rule and guide you towards the necessary action...
to goad you to keep on the path to its fruition...
while simultaneously allowing you to truly live in the moment.
------------
Now...
once again...
it is the dream which provides the impetus and the never ending drive
towards the summit of the mountain before you...
besides providing the schematic...
the map for the necessary route of travel.
Nothing in life gets done without motivation...
and there is no more efficient and effective form of motivation
as that which is self induced...
as it is ever present.
It is as simple as having your ultimate goal ever present in your mind...
and of knowing that there is but one shot in life
that not only lays out the necessary path in life to achieve that goal...
but gives you the sense of urgency to actually walk that path...
without which it forever remains but a pipe dream...
the realm and refuge of the lazy.
This is important to understand...
there is a clearcut defining line between merely what you think...
and that what you ultimately do.
What lies in the realm of the mind...
while being of extreme importance...
is merely to motivate you...
and to lay out the necessary path to tread in order to achieve positive results in life.
It ALL comes to naught without the positive action...
carried out to fruition...
of which...
and only of which...
will result in the positive outcome.
This is where most people who fail...
fail...
for it is in the effort and discipline necessary to walk the path to achieving that dream...
that the dragon of laziness so often wins.
----------------
The very first and most important concept to learn in life
is that of deferred gratification vs that of immediate gratification.
I was very fortunate in life as it was one of the first concepts I had learned...
although not directly...
and certainly not by knowing the actual terms
(I was a very young child in elementary school).
In the 60s...
it was a common theme throughout culture.
Not only throughout TV...
through the various sports I had been involved with...
and in movies
(warriors and knights of Old England, the Samurai of Japan,
and the Old West Cowboys of America)...
but through my readings...
from fairy tales to more advanced books in my father's library.
I used to love to read the many books in my father's library...
from the many volumes of the encyclopedia...
to history and the sciences (both the soft and hard sciences).
I would spend many hours at a time as a young child in my father's library...
mostly reading about history, psychology, and philosophy...
as well as the various hard sciences.
I loved reading...
and still do.
But...
I especially loved Fairy Tales
(American version and Japanese fairy tales)...
for I saw them as depicting fundamental concepts in life...
of true gems of knowledge given in a highly digestible and compact form.
Now...
it is this concept of Deferred Gratification...
without which...
your dreams will never come to fruition...
and will most likely...
never even emerge in the first place.
With a love of Immediate Gratification...
one constantly prioritizes immediate comfort over any long term goals.
The natural consequence of this is laziness...
or of a constant search for distractions in life...
including various and mind warping drugs or alcohol...
whether in unnecessary prescription or illicit forms of excuses in a bottle.
-----------
Now...
having had already firmly established the concept of deferred gratification
in my mind (without knowing of the official terms used)...
the ground work of knowing that lofty dreams could be reached...
my positive outlook on life was established.
From that point...
even as a very young child...
my inner world emerged where I began to dream of greater things...
and so...
by dreaming of...
and living for the future...
I realized that I was but a young ignorant child...
but that by learning from the truly learned...
I would eventually mature enough to begin walking the path to my dreams
(and so...I was generally immune to peer pressure...
as I knew that they were just as ignorant as was I...
although I wouldn't really even start to mature until I went into the Army at 17 years of age).
And so...
it was solitude I had sought out.
And this was key.
Those of my generation (I was born at the tail end of the 50s)...
were actually very fortunate...
as we had very few distractions in life.
It was either play outside...
or play inside...
and as I was the only male child in my family...
I just ventured out alone.
I actually loved solitude...
as I often would spend all day exploring the rural area
surrounding our suburban housing area.
(we were an isolated community surrounded by orchards...
tomato fields...
a long river with high banks...
large open fields of rapeseed plants...
and with not so distant mountains to view on the horizon).
Even then...
I loved sunrises and sunsets.
It was during my all day walks along the riverbank of the nearby river
that I had found so much peace as I dreamed of the future.
I simply loved my inner world more so than the social outer world.
And so...
it was in solitude that I had found out more about myself...
and about the nature and of the great importance and meaning of life...
as well as the true nature of death (the impermanence and fragility of life)...
(as I have never been religious...I had taken a more philosophical approach).
But...
I say this not to make you think I was this super mature young child...
I was still afraid of the boogyman :)
The key point I wish to stress is that it is in solitude where dreams are formed...
but as guided and fomented through learning from the learned
(positive examples of leaders of true thought throughout history).
-----------
As paraphrased from Socrates:
Know yourself...
and you shall know the world.
I would add:
Master yourself...
and you shall master your world.
And above all...
dare to dream.
---------------------
Yesterday (New Year's Eve)...
I just made myself some Salmon Ochazuke to eat and I then went to bed before midnight...
after looking at the computer up in the loft.
I am still making myself quick and easy meals...
as I am still fatigued.
After reviewing some of my favorite websites on my computer up in the loft...
I then went to bed.
New Year's Day
Earlier in the week...
I had earlier received a Japanese care package.
New Year's Day in Japan is typically proceeded by a thorough cleaning of the house...
and then preparing meals on the eve of New Year's Day so nothing will have to be cooked
on New Year's Day.
In my acknowledgement of that custom...
I have been eating nothing but the contents of the care package I had received...
however, as I am still weak from my illness...
I omitted the deep cleaning portion of the house :)
I hadn't had so many of these delicious treats for such a long time.
I took up many of the treats to the loft so I could enjoy them as I typed up this article.
All of these were so delectable...
that as soon as I finished one bag...
I quickly moved on to the next one.
But...
as I am now finished with this article...
I will just go back to lie down in my bed until
I get hungry once again.
Later this evening...
I will make curry rice...
and I will then turn on the fireplace to enjoy the included chocolates...
and some peppermint tea in my recliner.
In the meantime...
I have been binge watching the best of this radio show on YouTube...
Brooke and Jubal Second Date Update...
and so...
I will just binge watch more of their show until evening arrives.
Not only are the hosts brilliantly funny and incredibly witty...
but the guests are so interesting in their views and reactions.
It is an in-depth look into basic human nature...
as some of what is said is just mind blowing...
as I cannot understand why some people think and react in the manner they do.
