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THE POWER OF MUSIC ACCOMPANIED WITH A LIGHT SHOW by Gary Smolker
Posted by Gary S. Smolker
Values
Music is about our values.
Music is about our values as a country.
Music is about our values as an individual.
Our music is about who we are.
Friday Night June 15, 2018 Performances of
Chicago and REO SPEED WAGON at the Forum in
Inglewood, California
Friday night, June 15, 2018, I went to a Rock & Roll concert at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
REO Speed Wagon and Chicago each put on outstanding shows/performances.
Spiritual Power of Music
Throughout the concert the psychological and spiritual power of music was palatable.
Each song REO Speed Wagon and Chicago performed was performed with the emotional oratorical power of an outstanding preacher determined to resist oppression preaching a sermon re-reinforcing the strength of the human spirit reflected in the slave spirituals:
“Go down, Moses
Go down to Egyptland
Go tell ol’ Pharaoh,
Let my people go!”
Psychic and Spiritual Sustenance
- Music gives people psychic and spiritual sustenance.
- Music always fuels a rising tide of conscience and consciousness – social consciousness and racial consciousness.
- Music is a mighty force for social reform.
- The Music Performed at this concert promoted a personal sense of dignity, self-respect and pride.
Grace and Speed
REO Speed Wagon played meat and potatoes Rock & Roll with a message: “Don’t give up. Press on!” with “Blue Lights” and a blue light show going on in the background.
While performing, the REO Speed Wagon bandleader commented, “Listening to Rock & Roll keeps you young.”
Colors convey feelings, values, relationships, contrasts, dramas and tensions.
The REO SPEED WAGON Light Show
Color is a means of expression.
Color effects us.
Goethe wrote that “… a blue surface seems to recede from us … it draws us after it.”
Blue is linked with eternity, the beyond, supernatural beauty, religious transcendence, the spiritual and mental as contrasted with the emotional and physical and with detachment from the earthly.
Blue draws us into a meditative mood.
Blue cools and calms. It is the color of moonlight.
The Mind and Mood Altering Show Put on by Chicago
After the psychedelic images above were put on the screen other images which told a story in pictures which reflected what was going on and the mood of a strong active majority of young people and the public at large that prevailed in the United States during the 1960s.
Everyone over the age of 70 ought to go to a modern day rock concert, like the one I went to on Friday June 15, 2018, and reflect how things have changed and haven’t changed in the United States since the 1960s.
Everyone under the age of 70 ought to ask people over the age of 70 who lived in the United States in the 1960s what life was like in the United States in the 1960s, what the mood of the people was with respect to (1) the Vietnam War, (2) the Civil Rights Movement, (3) with respect to segregation, race relations, and Freedom Riders, (4) with respect to Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., (4) with respect to President John F. Kennedy, (5) with respect to the Space Program, the Moon Program, (6) with respect to the assassination of President Kennedy, (7) with respect to the assassination of Dr. King, (8) with respect to the Civil Rights Act, (9) with respect to the Voting Rights Act, (10) with respect to social reform and (11) with respect to America’s dissenting tradition.
I am a visual person.
My personal reaction to seeing the light show put on by Chicago while the Chicago band members were playing their musical instruments was that I felt like was in a time machine that had transported me me back to the United States in the 1960s when the Beatles invaded America, when I watched the Beatles perform, when I listened to newly released Beatles’ songs, what was going on in my mind while I was watching the Beatles’ movie “The Yellow Submarine”, how I felt and where I was and what I was doing when I heard that JFK had been assassinated, vivid memories of watching Vietnam Protestors protest, the light show reminded me of what it felt like to be fully personally aware of racial segregation, my feeling as I was witnessing non-violent civil rights protests, how I felt upon hearing that Martin Luther King had been assassinated, what I felt while I watched President Nixon resign, etc. etc.
The 1960s in America was a time of civil unrest but also a time of feeling we (Americans) could fix anything.
For many Americans (myself included) the 1960s was a time of hope, a time of optimism, a time of being idealistic and a time of idealism, social activism was rampant, massive public protests were ongoing and there was rising prosperity.
The light show put on while the band Chicago played its musical tunes, brought back all those memories to me.
Below are some of the scenes flashed on the screen behind Chicago as Chicago performed at the concert.
Dr. King delivered the historic keynote address we know as his “I Have A Dream” speech before the nationalized televised March on Washington on August 28, 1963. He received the 1964 Nobel Prize for Peace. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
The alternative to violence is nonviolent resistance, made famous by Mohandas K. Gandhi, who used it to free India from the domination of the British empire in 1948 and made more famous in the 1960s by Martin Luther King’s leadership in a concentrated drive against injustice.
Laura Bush Speaks Out: Separating Children from their
parents at the border ‘breaks my heart.’
Laura Bush is a former first lady of the United States.
The following is my quotes of something written by Laura Bush on Father’s Day, June 17, 2018, which I read today in the “Washington Post.”
“I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.
“Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history…
“We Americans pride ourselves on being a moral nation, on being the nation that sends humanitarian relief to places devastated by natural disasters or famine or war. We pride ourselves on believing that people should be seen for the content of their character, not the color of their skin. We pride ourselves on acceptance. If we are truly that country, then it is our obligation to reunite those detained children with their parents – and to stop separating parents and children in the first place.
“People on all sides agree that our immigration system isn’t working, but the injustice of zero tolerance is not the answer. I moved away from Washington almost a decade ago, but I know there are good people at all levels of government who can do better to fix this….”
“In 2018, can we not as a nation find a kinder, more compassionate and more moral answer to this current crisis? I, for one, believe we can.”
Laura Bush, the performers and audience at the Friday, June 15, 2018 concert at the Forum, in Inglewood California, which I attended believe AMERICA CAN NOT ONLY BE GREAT BUT ALSO GOOD.
COPYRIGHT © 2018 by Gary Smolker
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Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin – by Gary S. Smolker
Posted by Gary S. Smolker
ONLY YOU CAN BE COMFORTABLE IN YOUR OWN SKIN
We are living in a time of large scale social change, marked by creativity, innovation, questioning of authority, rugged individualism, concern for self, the emancipation of women, changing demographics, wide scale use of smart phones and many other significant life style transformations.
Today, people are devoting significant amounts of their personal time and energy focused on themselves. Many people are making strong efforts to take charge of their own individual future.
Today, a developing emphasis on the individual and individual responsibility is growing, the power of authority over the individual is constantly being questioned and reassessed, the traditional authority relationship between men and women – granting authority to the men – is undergoing change and scrutiny, and there are significant changes in the racial educational and economic composition of the population in the United States.
The increased emphasis on the individual cannot be over emphasized.
Concern for individualism has vigorously appeared.
Today, compared to times past, women have attained a great deal more responsibility and freedom.
As a result of having more freedom and responsibility women have themselves come to question their traditional family and social roles and reciprocally, males have raised similar questions about male-female relationships.
As women move out of confinement to the domicile, they experience new outlets and opportunities, demand power/empowerment, respect and “equality”, and are more and more interested in change.
Improvements in methods of contraception and the increase in experiential access to opportunities outside of the home have released women for participation in new roles and functions as never before.
As a consequence of “women’s liberation”, on-going debates on issues of gender and racial equality; the government’s ever growing increase of public debt and social change, including laws regarding contraception and birth control; a cascade of new technologies; and, being bombarded by an avalanche of messages, visual images of massive disintegration of society, a steady stream of information and misinformation and ideas; and, as a result of being constantly exposed to loud acrimonious debates over different points of view, it has become impossible for anyone to live in solitude or in the past.
People Are Tired of Being Talked To, They Want to Be Talked With
The mega-trends that are shaping our times have massively accelerated.
One mega-trend is that there has been a seismic shift from presentation to participation in many areas of daily life. People are fed up with being talked-down-to.
The shift from presentation to participation means that the days of the Gods, sitting up on Mt. Olympus and telling us how things are and what to do, are long gone or rapidly coming to an end.
People are tired of being talked to they want to be talked with.
Today, people can use technology to search for information and to have a global conversation.
People are hyper-connected: As a result of our use of the Internet and other communications technologies we all engaged in a global conversation.
We are using technology to connect with others – not just with people we already know, but with people who have similar or related interests that resonate with us – and not just to search for information.
In fact, it is estimated that 3 billion more people will join the Internet’s community by 2020.
Everyone’s perceptual space, expectations, life style and peace of mind has been shaken up.
Taking Care of Your Body and Mind
Understand Your MD’s Behavior
Move Forward
Take responsibility for your own life.
REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS
Mind Expanding Experiences
Another one of my MDs friends further explained to me why there is such a pronounced lack of creativity and innovation in the medical profession as follows:
- “Most MDs are one trick ponies.”
- This friend (a highly acclaimed MD – who does not practice one trick pony medicine) further explained to me – “If you only know how to use a hammer, everything is a nail.”
Energizing the Minds of Physicians
Is It True that Physicians Are “Poor” Businessmen/Have No Business Sense?
- QUERY:
- (1) How many physicians practicing medicine have thought about what practicing medicine has done to the functional capacity of that “muscle” in their head called their brain as a result of lack of mentally stressful mind-strength building exercise in their daily lives?
- (2) How many care?
- By the way: “Scientific” experiments demonstrate that use of the brain builds neural networks that enable the brain to process information faster and more efficiently. In other words, using your brain makes you smarter, increases brain function.
- The old saying “use it or lose it” applies to brain function.
GIANTS IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
There are giants in the medical profession who are human wonders.
Also, the conventional make-up of the scientific and educational background, personality, values and world-view of a growing number of people in the medical profession is changing.
I am meeting a physician this afternoon at the check in area of jetBlue at Logan Airport in Boston before I fly back to LAX, Los Angeles International Airport.
This physician has an open mind, but that description seriously understates the reality, which is that he is totally curious and eager to learn and asks question after question.
This morning my daughter and son-in-law took my ten year old grandson to be examined by a retina specialist and a trauma eye surgeon for a follow-up examination.
The first thing the retina specialist and eye surgeon said when he saw my grandson was: “I know how to make toys. Would you like to see me make toys?”
The surgeon then proceeded to make an origami hopping frog and a flying helicopter. He precisely folded pieces of paper and precisely tore pieces of paper with his own fingers.
When he was done those pieces of paper had been transformed into a hopping frog and a flying helicopter.
This is a true story – someone with that dexterity and people skill actually practices medicine as an eye surgeon in Boston.
He is an expert in the retina of the eye.
The rest of the members of the clinical medical team have extraordinary expertise and are just as kind and as extremely accomplished and competent physicians as the toy making eye surgeon who made toys for my grandson just before examining his retina early this morning.
Males Being Rebuffed by Stunning Women
- Believe they will prove their worth to their parents by being an MD. They psychologically are not well formed or mature adults. To the contrary, they will have a never compelling need to obtain their parents’ approval, the approval of the rest of their family and of their community and her approval by being a money making machine.
- The feeling of lack of worth has been so consuming in their lives that nothing short of overwhelming financial success will make them feel acceptable.
It is her opinion that those young men are unhappy and will always be unhappy.
For all the reasons listed above, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with any of those young suitors.
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One beautiful smart successful woman explained her mindset: She is revolted at being cast in the role being a dynamic businessman’s Gucci purse.
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She is revolted at being a prestige high status decoration.
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Another beautiful smart successful woman explained to me that the pressure of being phony – while accompanying her successful husband at ‘society events: While at parties and social events the amount of phony interest she must display and being forced to be entertaining she is is too emotionally exhausting.
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She would rather stay home and watch TV than go to another party in the star studded world she lives in. The routine of being a member of high society is maddening. Doing the same thing day after day, year after year, is maddening to her. She cannot imagine anything more boring than living her present high society life.
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The routines people in her social circle have taken up are tasteless.
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She is a rugged individualist, who is physically fit and intellectually cultured, who can’t stand the “over-civilized life” she is forced to live.
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The boorishness and meaninglessness of her existence tests the very limits of her endurance.
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She is resolved to escape her present life.
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These women know who they are and who they want to be in a very fundamental way.
- They have self knowledge.
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They are dedicated to protecting their dignity in their money-driven every day world where their souls and status as a person are constantly under attack.
- They realize how precarious the balance is between creation and annihilation and destruction in the life they lead and in the business world they and the men in their lives inhabit.
- In that world everyone always is seeking investors and to make more money.
- In such a world everyone feels they must “look” successful. They must spend a lot of money on clothing and cars and houses and jewelry, etc. etc. etc.
- However, the “thinking” women described above – who are moving towards becoming the persons they want to be, and have understood who they are and the psychodynamic forces at play in the world work – don’t want to be emotionally and financially dependent on a man or to be his “eye candy.”
- They are not hostile or bitter or resentful.
- Nor do they have destructive feelings.
- They know what they want.
- They want to be loved and to love; they want to receive bliss and to give bliss.
- They want to give and receive care and nurturance.
- They are not fickle.
- Their sexuality and emotions are inextricably intermingled.
- Their bodies wear the smile of accomplishment; they emote a subjective sense of freedom.
SOCIAL STATUS AND NUMBING OF A PHYSICIAN’S BRAIN
- Cal Tech students have the highest SAT scores —
- Additionally, it is a small elite school. There are only 1,000 undergraduates, 1,000 graduate students and a faculty of 1,000.
- This leads to lots of interaction between students with one another and with faculty which is prized by everyone.
- The faculty wants to teach the most brilliant students.
- The most brilliant students want to be taught by the most brilliant faculty and to interact with other brilliant students.
- The amount of interest in entrepreneurship at Wharton is just crazy.
- Historically the school has been associated with careers in finance and consultancy.
- For the first time, more Wharton students are interested in starting companies than in buying them.
- A growing number of Wharton graduates are willing to trade wing tips, three-star Manhattan restaurants and Tribeca lofts for sneakers, take-out pizza and sleeping under their desks as they race to get a product out the door.
- In fact more members of the Wharton graduating class of 2013 started a company than joined a hedge fund.
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