A Wood Prophet believes in the power and majesty of the element of wood. The wisdom of symbiosis. The benefit of forming a personal, expressive voice through woodwinding.
I turn 47 today. Sometimes, your solar return is the time for a new oath, this is one. I am entering into a role/persona, not very far afield from where I have been, but, with amplified intention and purpose. It is a renewed intention: coagulated, elevated and aspirational. Bold, open-hearted engagement. If you are curious what it is, I am copy pasting the briefest of descriptions here from my video that went up today that has the title of this character/role, which is: a Wood Prophet.
“A Wood Prophet understands and demonstrates the wisdom of symbiosis. Specifically, collaboration between a human musician and the element of Wood. Backed by the power of the deep past, a Wood Prophet is the bridge between many styles of music, and the intelligence of living Nature. Masters of respiromancy and proponents of natural music, Wood Prophets’ mission is to provide the soundtrack to a profound shift in the human/Nature relationship.”
There’s more to it than that, it is an ongoing experiment, but that reveals the primary facets of it. We are in the slowpocalypse of our own making: it is time to merge my ethics with my philosophy with my life and with how I spend my breath, and have it mean something that is not decided only by mandates that burp out of the degraded sphere of human insanity. I now believe “compassionate anarchy” is likely necessary, the time is now, and some fresh growth will need to come from the compost of the middle 21st century. What will be your role?
Hey,
Beautiful playing.
Everyone has wondered if, given one wish, what would it be. For me, it would be an end to cruelty in all its forms. It only comes from homo sapiens to other homo sapiens and, just as tragically, or worse, from homo sapiens to other life forms. (There is, however, evidence that other primates, i.e. certain monkeys, are cruel to rival groups.) The history of cruelty is vast. The older I get, now seventy-two, the more I try to understand it. It haunts me, in part from some of my life experiences. Conflict has always been a part of human existence, but, does it have to be? Is the biology of our systems such that it is inevitable? In other words, does every generation, in almost every part of Earth have to create a cluster fuck? If I understand you, “compost of the middle 21st century” may be too generous a phrase; compost is a beneficial thing and it is hard to see much, in the long run, globally beneficial going on.
Perhaps I do not understand what you are saying. I will study the concept of compassionate anarchy; it seems to fit with my beliefs. Most of my life has involved giving thought/action to what my role will be, as you have asked your readers. As a retired physicist and, I believe a sincere musician, I experience a tug-of-war between the absence of “meaning of life” to the joy and purpose that music/art brings to you, me, and so many people on the planet. Is it just brain chemistry and nothing else? That is a fundamental part of philosophy that will never be answered.
At any rate, the bamboo flute music (or, at least, your bamboo flute music) seems to contemplate the questions that people should ask about life. As a woodwind player (lately bass clarinet) my future playing/performances? may include dancers and poetry reading. This is what is swirling around in my brain currently, but I can’t explain exactly what it will look like. I consider the question a gift…keeps me going.
Best regards,
Mike in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
Thanks Mike, on the same wavelengths for sure!