The Creative Impulse
Inspired by DGM Live's Daily Aphorism
“May we trust the inexpressible benevolence of the creative impulse.” - Discipline Global Mobile’s Daily Aphorism
This leads me to write creatively to all of you. It is fiction, insofar as I know that I do not know anything other than the way in which things appear to me and are, thereby, interpreted by me using the past experiences that I seem to have lived. I use the word “seem” often since there is a great deal of difference between the way in which “things” seem and how “they” actually are….if “things” actually are at all. We construct our view of the world and use labels; names, to classify that which presents itself to our sensory apparati.
So I muse - and reflect on this as I make may way from apparent dawn to apparent dusk and back again. We are. So we think! So we think and in thinking, we work very hard to make sense of the things that appear to be. We should, ideally, remain open to new information as we go through life. Building experiences upon our experiences of simply appearing to be. Appearing to breathe in, I relax and calm myself down to be receptive to the present moment. I listen to music on my Como Audio system - in this case, CD-1 of The New Year’s Eve performance of Further on 12/31/2011 - a band consisting of Sunshine Becker, Jeff Pehrson Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir. John Kadlecik handling the lead guitar duties. Jeff Chimenti is playing the keyboards. Joe Russo is on drums. It is fortunate that we have the technology to relive these matters.
Trusting oneself to get out there and perform for others - to share our creative work - to be freely giving what has been passed to us by our forbears. That’s really what the Harold B Gill Foundation, LLC is all about. All I have is my abilities to write - to express myself vocally - to synthesize something of my own from the inputs gathered over the first two thirds of life. If past is prologue, I should make it just about thirty years more before making my exit - that is, if I do the right things. The jury is out on whether that will be the case or not.
Many of you know that I have many irons in the fire - one of them is the Fife and Drum Corps Fans Group on Facebook. Another is the Historic Trades Preservation Special Interest Group. I was able to get out to be a part of the “Drummers Call” weekend in Colonial Williamsburg last weekend. At about 3 minutes in on the YouTube post below, you’ll see my group, the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums Alumni, making our way up Duke of Gloucester Street.
This was an excellent example of the art of fifing and drumming which is where I got my start at amplifying signals through the noise - and I’ve been at it ever since. In particular, when I first found out about email, I was fascinated by the ability to reach out and touch the mind of another person with symbols tapped out onto the screen. This was in the fall of 1994. Now it is over 30 years later and we are on Substack reliving those heady times. It is particularly important, I feel, to keep this feeling of freedom and connection that I sense on this particular platform.
I’ll muse on these matters further but hope it sparks something in the consciousness of those who might read this post. If it does, drop a comment!
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Thank you for reading me!
Your writing does indeed spark something...each of us does live in our own version of "reality" based on our unique perception which is all happening within consciousness...we can practice presence, open our perception and change the way we experience this human life - tapping into the creative source. I witness how you are present on your walks. I feel your passion for preservation and creativity! I am learning about some things I have little previous knowledge of and appreciate the opportunity.