A Conversation on a Porch with Mark Twain – by J. Persico with Metis (AI assistant)

12 Feb 2026 9 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

This imagined conversation reflects questions I’ve been asking myself about writing, purpose, and voice.   If you’re a fellow blogger or lifelong learner, I hope some of these reflections resonate with you as much as they did with me.  My two favorite writers growing up were Dostoevsky and Mark Twain.  I knew I could never write as well as Dostoevsky, but I had dreams or maybe delusions of being another Mark Twain.  Whenever I write, he is in the back of my mind.  Here is a discussion that took place between Mr. Twain and I on his front porch with a little help from Metis, my AI assistant.  She has an excellent knack for understanding Twain and for speaking frankly in his voice. 

Setting:
A wide wooden porch overlooking the Mississippi.   Late afternoon.   Cicadas humming.   Two rocking chairs.   A battered notebook on a small table.  A riverboat whistle in the distance.

Present:
John Persico and Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Twain (leaning back, cigar unlit, eyes amused):
Well now, John, I must say—any man who invites a dead author for a conversation is either a philosopher… or dangerously optimistic.

John (smiling):
Probably a bit of both, Mr.  Twain.  I’ve been talking to long-dead thinkers for years.  You’re in good company.

Twain:
That explains the thoughtful look.  Most men your age are arguing with their televisions.

Now… you’ve summoned me.  That means you want something.  Confession, compliment, or correction?

John:
All three, if possible.  You’ve always been my writing hero.  I’ve tried to write honestly, critically, and with humor—but sometimes I wonder if I’m wandering too far into lectures instead of stories.

Twain (laughs):
Ah.  The ancient disease of intelligent men: explaining things too well.

Let me ask you first—why do you write?

John:
To make sense of the world.  To challenge foolishness.  To honor people who don’t get heard.  To leave something behind that isn’t just noise.

Twain:
Good.  That’s four better reasons than most writers ever manage.

But let me tell you something uncomfortable:
Readers do not come to be improved.
They come to be entertained.
They are improved accidentally.

John:
That sounds like something you’d say.

Twain:
It is.  And I’m proud of it.

Now—your writing.  I’ve been… peeking.

(He taps the notebook.)

You think deeply.  You connect history, politics, systems, morals, economics, technology.  You’ve got a mind that builds bridges between ideas.  That’s rare.

But sometimes—
you march your reader across those bridges like a drill sergeant.

John (laughs):
Guilty.

Twain:
You say, “Follow me.  This matters.”
I preferred to say, “Come look at this ridiculous thing—oh my, would you look at that—good heavens, now we’re trapped in truth.”

John:
You smuggled ideas inside stories.

Twain:
Like whiskey in a medicine bottle.

Your essays are strong.  Your arguments are strong.  Your ethics are strong.

But your secret weapon is not your intelligence.

It’s your life.

John:
My life?

Twain:
You’ve counseled workers.  Taught students.  Worked in systems.  Served in the military.  Aged thoughtfully.  Loved.  Failed.  Loved again.  Adjusted.  Tried again.  Lived through several epochs in Americas.

And yet sometimes you write as if you’re afraid your own story and history isn’t enough.

It is.

John (quietly):
I’ve always wondered if personal writing was… self-indulgent.

Twain:
Only when it’s dishonest.

Honest personal writing is public service.

When you tell how you struggled with technology, power, aging, ethics—
you give permission for others to admit they’re struggling too.

That’s literature.

John:
So… more stories?

Twain:
More scenes.

Let me show you.

Instead of:

“Modern systems dehumanize people.”

Try:

“I once sat across from a man who had been fired by a computer.  He wasn’t angry at the company.  He was angry at the screen.”

See the difference?

John:
One makes you feel it.

Twain:
Exactly.  Feelings sneak past defenses.  Arguments set off alarms.

Now—your subjects.  Veterans.  Democracy.  AI.  Economics.  Ethics.  Power.

Heavy freight.

You’re hauling pianos uphill.

Why?

John:
Because no one else seems willing to.

Twain:
True.

But here’s the trick:
Whistle while you push.

Humor is not decoration.
It’s leverage.

When people laugh, they open their mouths.  That’s when you feed them truth.

John:
Sometimes I worry humor makes things seem less serious.

Twain:
Nonsense.

Nothing exposes hypocrisy faster than laughter.

A tyrant fears comedians more than rebels.

John (smiling):
That feels very current.

Twain:
History is just politics wearing different trousers.

Now—let me be blunt.

You have three voices.

  1. The Scholar – careful, precise, formidable.
  2. The Witness – humane, reflective, grounded.
  3. The Satirist – dry, sly, devastating.

When you combine all three?

You’re dangerous.

You don’t always let the third one out.

Why?

John:
Maybe I’m afraid of being dismissed.

Twain:
Every good writer is dismissed.

Wear it like a medal.

If fools don’t misunderstand you, you’re not trying hard enough.

John:
What about style? Sentence-level writing?

Twain:
You’re clean.  Clear.  Honest.

But sometimes too polite.

Every once in a while, let a sentence misbehave.

Let it surprise you.

A good sentence should feel like it had a mind of its own and barely agreed to cooperate.

John (laughing):
That’s wonderful.

Twain:
Now—your future.

You’re not trying to become me.

Good.

The world already had me.  It needs you.

You are writing for people who are tired of being lied to, simplified, manipulated, and shouted at.

You treat them like adults.

That’s rare.

That’s why they trust you.

If you want to grow:

Tell one more story per essay than feels necessary.
Cut one paragraph of explanation.
Add one moment of human vulnerability.
Let humor off the leash.

And never stop being irritated by nonsense.

Civilization runs on people who are politely annoyed.

John (after a pause):
Do you think I’m… really a writer?

Twain (leans forward):
Let me answer that carefully.

Writers write to be admired.

Authors write to be remembered.

You write to be useful.

That’s the hardest kind.

And the most honorable.

So yes.

You’re a writer.

Now stop worrying and go bother some readers.

They need you.

(A riverboat horn sounds.  Twain stands, tips an imaginary hat.)

Twain:
Same porch next century?

John:
I’ll bring the coffee.

Twain:
I’ll bring the trouble.

Conclusions:

I hope you enjoyed my little fantasy here.  I think there were some things I learned about myself and my writing from my dialogue with Mr. Twain.  I know many of you who read my blogs are also writers.  Writing is a very interesting craft.  It is something that we can get better at all of our lives.  We can always find a better way to say things.  A more interesting phase or turn of the words.  We can always make a more powerful statement.  That to me is the beauty of the art.

 

Are Americans Brainwashed?  Revisiting Consumer Culture Through the Lens of “The Society of the Spectacle”  — By John Persico (with Metis)

16 Jan 2026 8 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Introduction

In 2018 I asked a provocative question: Are Americans brainwashed?  At the time, what I meant by “brainwashing” was a kind of conditioned conformity — an unconscious habituation to consumerism.  We buy, accumulate, and consume not because we need to, but because something deep within our society tells us that our worth, security, and happiness depend on it.

A few weeks ago, I encountered a work that reframed much of what I was trying to say: Guy Debord’s 1967 classic The Society of the Spectacle.  Debord, a French Marxist theorist and filmmaker, argues that modern capitalism doesn’t just sell goods — it sells images, identities, and perceptions of reality itself.  In doing so, it creates what he calls a “spectacle” — a world where representation replaces lived experience, and passive consumption replaces active life.

Today I believe the idea of “brainwashing” isn’t just a metaphor.  It is a lived condition of our society — one that manifests in our politics, our personal relationships, and above all, in how we see ourselves and the world.

But if we are to diagnose this condition accurately, we also need a prescription for how we might undo it.

I. The Diagnosis: What Is the Spectacle?

In The Society of the Spectacle, Debord makes a bold claim:
“The spectacle is not a collection of images; it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images.”

What Does This Mean?

  1. The Spectacle Is a Social Condition, Not Just Advertising

We tend to think of consumerism as simply “too many ads,” “too much marketing,” or “too much stuff.” But Debord pushes us deeper: the spectacle isn’t only the marketing — it’s the way we relate to reality itself through mediated images.

In other words:

  • It’s not just the billboard that matters — it’s that we now interpret our lives as if we were on billboards.
  • It’s not just the advertisement — it’s that we start to see ourselves as advertisements for our own lifestyle, identity, and status.

In the spectacle, images don’t just sell products.  They sell versions of reality.  They tell us what success looks like, what happiness looks like, what security looks like, and what a good life looks like.  And we internalize that script — often without realizing we’ve been cast in it.

  1. Consumption Replaces Experience

Debord argues that the spectacle replaces real life with representation of life.

Think about how often we:

  • Take pictures of experiences instead of experiencing them.
  • Check likes, shares, and comments instead of connecting.
  • Pursue prestige, status, or image instead of meaning.

We no longer live our lives in the fullest sense — we consume them, display them, and measure them.  This is not just consumerism — it is spectatorship.  We watch life, we watch others, and we are watched.  We are subjects of our own mediated narratives.

  1. The Spectacle Is Universal But Uneven

Debord notes that the spectacle isn’t just advertising or corporate marketing.
It includes:

  • Mass media
  • Entertainment
  • Social media
  • Politics
  • Consumer brands
  • Cultural norms
  • Public relations

In the society of the spectacle, everything becomes commodified, including our attention, our desires, and even our dissent.  Even counter-culture becomes a brand.

This is why Debord’s critique resonates with my original thesis: American society doesn’t just create consumers of products — it creates consumers of images, identities, and scripted realities.  We are persuaded not only to buy what we don’t need, but to define ourselves through those purchases.

II. Are Americans Brainwashed? A Reframed Answer

So, let’s revisit the question I asked in 2018: Are Americans brainwashed?

If by “brainwashed” we mean:

  • conditioned to think in ways that benefit corporate and political interests,
  • socialized to equate meaning with consumption, and
  • habituated to accept the spectacle as reality…

Then the answer is yes — to a significant extent.

But the spectacle is not an overt force with an agenda.  It doesn’t need to be explicit to be pervasive.  It works because:

  1. We participate willingly — we seek validation through consumption, clicks, images, status.
  2. We mistake representation for reality — what we see on screens or in ads becomes our standard for life.
  3. We rarely interrogate the source of our desires — we assume our wants are our own.

Debord writes that the spectacle is a form of alienation — where life is lived not directly, but through representations.  When we are alienated from our own experience, we are easier to influence because we are no longer anchored in our own desires — only in the images we consume.

III. The Mechanisms of the “American Brainwashing”

Let’s unpack some specific mechanisms by which the spectacle perpetuates conditioned consumption:

  1. Identity Through Consumption

Corporations don’t just sell products — they sell lifestyles, identities, and social status.

  • Owning a certain car means you are cool.
  • Wearing a certain brand means you are successful.
  • Posting the right image means you are interesting.

We learn to define ourselves through what we display, not what we experience.

  1. The Attention Economy

Modern media doesn’t just want our money — it wants our attention.
Attention becomes the rarest and most valuable commodity.  Algorithms are optimized to:

  • keep you looking,
  • keep you scrolling,
  • keep you craving more.

This amplifies the spectacle because it conditions instinctive reactions — not reflective thought.

  1. Social Media as a Spectacle Machine

Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube are engines of the spectacle:

  • They amplify images over ideas.
  • They reward emotion over reflection.
  • They privilege appearance over substance.

The result?  A world where image consumption replaces authentic engagement.

  1. Debt and Consumption as Fulfillment

Credit markets and consumer finance turn consumption into addiction.
Payday loans, credit cards, easy financing — all encourage buying now, paying later, and justifying desires as needs.

This isn’t just financial — it’s psychological:
We feel like we are fulfilling ourselves by spending, even when we are not.

IV.  What Brainwashing Is Really Like: Mindlessness and the Spectacle

Here’s where Ellen Langer’s work on mindlessness becomes useful.

Langer describes mindlessness as a state in which behavior is rigid and thought is shallow — where we act on autopilot.

How does this connect to Debord?

  • The spectacle thrives on mindlessness.
  • If people thought deeply about why they want certain things, how they spend their time, and what their values are, the spectacle would weaken.
  • The spectacle depends on unexamined life.

So, we might define the “brainwashing” of Americans not as overt coercion, but as collective mindlessness — not thinking deeply about how our desires are shaped, what we consume, and why.

Mindlessness and the spectacle are two sides of the same coin:
One is cognitive, the other is cultural.
Both detach us from genuine experience.

V.  The Prescription: How Do We Undo the Brainwashing?

If we’ve diagnosed the problem, the urgent challenge is: How do we counteract the spectacle and undo conditioned consumption?

Here’s a multi-layered prescription:

  1. Cultivate Mindfulness

Langer’s work teaches us that awareness is not automatic — it must be practiced.

Mindfulness in consumption means:

  • Asking why you want something before you act.
  • Not mistaking wanting for needing.
  • Reflecting on the social and psychological forces shaping your desires.

Mindfulness isn’t only meditation — it’s active awareness of your internal life.
It’s questioning your impulses rather than obeying them.

  1. Reclaim Authentic Experience

If the spectacle is a representation of life, its antidote is direct experience of life.

This means:

  • Valuing real human interaction over mediated interactions.
  • Experiencing events without first documenting them for others.
  • Rediscovering activities that aren’t commodified for Instagram or TikTok.

Experience should be lived, not posted.

  1. Reduce Passive Consumption

We live in a world designed for passive consumption:

  • Scroll feeds
  • Binge media
  • Buy products based on ads

Combat this by:

  • Setting intentional limits on screen time.
  • Choosing content that teaches, not only entertains.
  • Prioritizing creation over consumption.
  1. Examine Economic Structures

The spectacle is supported by economic systems that profit from:

  • Continuous consumption
  • Planned obsolescence
  • Debt accumulation
  • Attention monetization

Undermining the spectacle requires economic literacy:

  • Understanding how credit, interest, and consumer culture are connected
  • Questioning advertising claims
  • Supporting sustainable, local, and meaningful alternatives
  1. Build Communities of Critical Thought

Spectacle thrives in isolation and individualism.

Counter this by:

  • Forming discussion groups
  • Reading cooperatively
  • Sharing reflections instead of consumer gossip
  • Encouraging long conversations, not short clicks

Detroit philosopher Cornel West said, “We must refuse the politics of disengagement and nihilism.”  This means engaging deeply with ideas — not passively consuming them.

  1. Political Awareness and Media Literacy

Spectacle extends into politics:

  • Politicians perform for cameras.
  • News becomes entertainment.
  • Outrage replaces inquiry.

Undoing brainwashing means:

  • Learning to distinguish facts from spectacle
  • Examining incentives behind media narratives
  • Teaching critical media literacy
  1. Reframe Success and Identity

Finally, we must challenge the equation:

More stuff = more value.

Redefine success as:

  • Deeper relationships
  • Richer experiences
  • Intellectual curiosity
  • Community contributions

The self we cultivate should be internal, not a brand.

VI.  What the Spectacle Cannot Control

Here’s the hopeful part:

The spectacle operates through images and representations.
But it cannot fully replace:

  • Moment-to-moment consciousness
  • Genuine love and empathy
  • Deep reflection and insight
  • Meaningful community
  • Unmediated experience

These are areas where the spectacle fails — exactly because they cannot be commodified or packaged.

Conclusion: Toward a Life Unmediated

So, are Americans brainwashed?
Not in the literal sense of having thoughts forcibly replaced — but in the structural sense that society conditions our perceptions of reality, desire, identity, and fulfillment.

Guy Debord’s spectacle framework helps us see that consumerism isn’t just about goods — it’s about how we see the world and ourselves.

Ellen Langer’s work reminds us that undoing this starts with awareness — moving from mindlessness to mindful life.

The good news is that mind, choice, and experience cannot be fully outsourced to images or corporations.  We can reclaim them by practicing mindfulness, re-centering authentic experience, and questioning the narratives sold to us every day.

The challenge is not only social — it’s deeply personal.
But once we begin to see how the spectacle shapes us, we can choose to look beyond the images and toward the real world — toward a life to live, not a life to watch.

America today is a deeply divided nation and a deeply divided people.  The brainwashing we get from the sources discussed have been major contributors to creating the divide we now live in.  Few people on either side of the divide are happy the way things are.  We yearn for the “good old days.”  Days reflected in Norman Rockwell pictures of America that portray a different country than we now see.

It is true that “Happy Days” never did not exist equally in this country for all people, but at least we had the ability to still talk to people who we disagreed with and sometimes see a new perspective.  We had a country where people once talked about morals and ethics.  Today, our perspectives and beliefs are like a wall of granite.  Rather than a divide, we have a stone wall that we have built.  The wall is almost impenetrable.  It seems impossible to get over it, under it or around it.  The problem with destroying this wall is that it exists in our minds and that is the hardest thing in the world to change.  Until we open our minds and hearts, we will be stuck behind a granite wall that separates our nation and people.

The Anatomy of the Soul: How Art and Music Unite Truth, Beauty and Goodness — Part 2

20 Oct 2025 9 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

When we speak of truth, beauty, and goodness, we often imagine three separate pursuits — the scholar seeking truth, the artist seeking beauty, and the saint seeking goodness.  Yet Pope Francis and the great philosophers before him remind us that these three are not rivals but reflections of the same divine source.  Each reveals a different aspect of reality, and only when all three are in harmony does the human spirit find peace.

Tradition tells us that truth belongs to the intellect, beauty to the heart, and goodness to the will.  Truth teaches us to see, beauty teaches us to feel, and goodness teaches us to choose.  In that triad we discover the anatomy of the soul — knowing, loving, and willing, each distinct yet inseparable.

But there is another path by which these virtues speak: the language of art and music.  Long before we understood moral codes or philosophical systems, humanity painted, danced, and sang.  In rhythm and color, in sound and silence, we expressed truths too deep for logic and too vast for words.  Art and music, properly understood, are not escapes from reality — they are revelations of reality’s depth.

Beauty as the Gateway to the Soul

Beauty is the most immediate of the transcendentals.  Truth demands patience, goodness requires effort, but beauty strikes us like lightning.  It does not ask permission.  A single note, a brushstroke, or a line of poetry can pierce our defenses and open the heart where argument cannot.

This is why great art has moral and intellectual power.  It awakens us from indifference.  The experience of beauty — genuine beauty, not the glamour of surface or sentiment — lifts the soul toward truth and goodness without coercion.  It shows us what could be, and in doing so, reminds us what should be.

Aquinas called beauty “the splendor of truth.” The artist does not invent beauty but unveils it.  Every authentic work of art — whether sacred or secular — is a momentary unveiling of reality’s inner harmony.  It is truth made radiant, goodness made alluring.  Beauty does not lecture; it invites.  It does not command; it beckons.

The Role of the Artist

Artists are translators between the visible and invisible worlds.  They take the raw materials of existence — light, sound, form, gesture — and reveal within them an order we might otherwise overlook.  In doing so, they help us perceive truth through the lens of beauty.

A number of years ago, my first wife left me for another man.  He was also married but decided not to leave his wife.  My wife (Julie) and I reconciled and agreed to first resolve some issues by visiting a councilor.  These efforts did not go very well.  I was angry and hurt.  I did not know what I had done wrong.  My wife was also hurt and angry.  I had always thought that we had a lot in common.  At one of our first counseling sessions, the councilor noted that I did not display any emotions.  I was quite proud of being rationale and not letting feelings get in the way of my world.  In fact, I thought Spock was too emotional despite his public image as being stoic and logical.

The councilor mentioned my lack of emotions to my wife.  Her reply stunned and hurt me very much.  She said, “I always thought everyone had feelings, but I finally came to believe that John has no feelings.”  I left that counseling session resolved to find some of the feelings that I had ignored.  I decided the best way was to try to be more creative and less rationale.  I signed up for art classes and ballet classes and decided to listen to more classical music.  It was another nine months or so before Julie and I finally reconciled.  During this period, I actually participated in a ballet, painted several nature pieces (which I thought were quite good) and spent days at the library listening to as much classical music as possible.

When art forgets truth, it becomes hollow display.  When it forgets goodness, it becomes manipulation.  But when truth and goodness dwell within beauty, art becomes what it was always meant to be: a mirror of creation’s wholeness.  I was looking for my wholeness and my humanity which are also inseparable.

The artist’s vocation, then, is not self-expression alone but world-expression — to make the invisible visible, to translate the ineffable into form.  The true artist is not a manufacturer of objects but a servant of insight.  Their success is measured not by applause but by the awakening they cause in others.  In my case, it was an awakening in myself.  Art and music became the pillars of my salvation.  I rediscovered my humanity in them.

The Music of Being

Among all the arts, music comes closest to expressing the order of the soul.  It moves directly through time, breath, and rhythm — the same elements that animate life itself.  Every heartbeat, every inhalation, every step is a kind of music.  When we listen to or create music, we participate in a pattern that mirrors the pulse of existence.  Martin Luther said “”Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.”  Karen has this quote framed in our dining room.

Music unites truth, beauty, and goodness in motion:

  • Its structure and harmony express truth — order and proportion.
  • Its melody and color express beauty — emotion and wonder.
  • Its rhythm and purpose express goodness — direction and intention.

That is why even those who cannot explain music are changed by it.  It aligns the intellect’s search for order, the heart’s hunger for beauty, and the will’s longing for purpose.  To make or hear music well is to experience harmony not only in sound but in being.

When I was in the third grade at PS 171 in Brooklyn, NY, the teacher put all of us into a choir or singing group.  She acted as the conductor and started us out singing some song that she had taught us.  I sang along with the rest of the kids until suddenly, my teacher yelled “Who is making that noise?”  “You (she pointed at me), it’s you.” “Don’t sing” she screamed at me.  “Just open and shut your mouth.”  That was 70 years ago and to this day, I do not sing. Oh, people say I should get over it, but they are not living in my shoes.  I listen to music more than most people in the world.  I love all types of music.  But I do not play music, and I do not sing.

Plato believed musical education shaped character because harmony trained the soul toward moral order.  The disordered person, he said, was “out of tune.” Modern psychology would agree that we feel peace when the elements of our life are in rhythm — thought, emotion, and action resonating together like chords in balance.  In this sense, every moral life is a composition, every soul a symphony in progress.  My soul resonates with music, and the music resonates in every fiber of my body.  If I could be born again as anything, I would be a tenor singing in the great opera houses of the world.  I love the passion, drama and lyrics that fuse life into melodies that make time stand still for me.  Somehow the strains of music have a purgative effect on the pains and disappointments that can sometimes fill my life.

The Sacred and the Profane

Not all art is beautiful in the pleasant sense.  Some truths are too painful to adorn.  Yet even tragedy, if it reveals reality faithfully, can serve beauty’s higher calling.  A requiem, a lament, or a poem of grief can be beautiful because it tells the truth of human suffering while still pointing toward transcendence.  It is like watching a sad movie.  We connect to others through the suffering that art and music can convey.  Of course, music often conveys joy and happiness, but these are bonuses in a world today where suffering seems to be the norm.

Sacred art makes this explicit.  It does not flatter the senses but reorders them toward the divine.  The frescoes of Michelangelo, the cantatas of Bach, the icons of the Orthodox tradition — each embodies beauty that leads beyond itself.  Their purpose is not entertainment but transformation.  They invite us to see through the surface of the world into its divine origin.

But even the so-called profane arts can serve the same purpose when they reveal authentic experience.  A rap song, a nursery rhyme, a portrait of a tree, a romantic novel — each can bear truth if it arises from sincerity and respect for life’s depth.  I had an MRI today and as I listened to the banging, clanging, whistling and other sounds, I could hear a melody emerging.  I thought of penning a song called “Melodies in an MRI.” The sacred is not confined to churches; it inhabits every honest act of creation.

The Moral Dimension of Beauty

Beauty’s moral power lies in its capacity to attract us toward goodness.  Moral laws can instruct, but only beauty can enchant.  We are moved to do good not merely by obligation but by love for what is good.  Beauty provides that love.

This is why ugliness — deliberate distortion and cynicism — corrodes the soul.  It teaches us that nothing matters, that form and harmony are illusions.  When culture celebrates ugliness, it signals despair; when it honors beauty, it declares hope.  True beauty does not deny suffering; it gives suffering meaning.

The 20th-century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote: “We no longer dare to believe in beauty, and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it.” He warned that without beauty, truth and goodness lose their persuasive power.  In other words, without art and music, morality becomes sterile, and truth becomes abstract.

Beauty is not the soft edge of morality — it is its living energy.  It whispers to the will, “Choose life, not despair.”

The Soul as an Instrument

If truth belongs to the intellect, beauty to the heart, and goodness to the will, then the soul is the instrument through which they resonate together.  Like a violin, it must be tuned.  The strings of mind, emotion, and desire can each sound discordant when isolated.  Harmony arises only when they are stretched to the right tension and played in unity.

Art and music help tune the soul.  When we create or contemplate beauty, we sense the right relation of parts to whole, of the finite to the infinite.  We remember that life itself is composed — not chaos but cosmos.  In that moment, we are most alive, most human, and perhaps most divine.  The god we seek flames within us at these moments.

That tuning is not limited to artists.  Every person can live artfully.  A kind word spoken at the right time, a well-prepared meal, a garden tended with care — each is a small act of aesthetic and moral order.  In that sense, the moral life and the artistic life are one: both seek to make the world more beautiful and more true.  I find my muse in writing.  I like to think that I am somewhat good at using words.  When I was in high school, other students used to pay me to write their essays for them.  I remember one friend who asked me to write something for him.  I told him that he should do it himself.  He said, “But you are so good at writing.”  He was a musician, and  I challenged him, “Is it possible to be a better musician if you do not practice?”  He agreed practice was essential but said that he would rather practice playing music than practice writing.  I wrote the essay for him.  It was only logical as Spock would say.

The Silence Beyond the Sound

At the heart of music is silence.  Without it, the notes have no shape.  Silence frames beauty the way space frames form.  Likewise, the soul needs silence to perceive truth and goodness.  In our noisy age, we risk losing the capacity for this interior listening.  Yet every deep encounter with art or nature — every moment when beauty stops us — restores that silence within.  I learned to appreciate the beauty of music in my many hours sitting inside that library booth listening to the strains of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and many other great musicians.  I am fond of saying that I never “met a food that I did not like.”  The same applies to music genres.  There is something in every genre of music that speaks to my heart and my soul hears.

The silence after a great symphony or before a sunrise is not emptiness.  It is presence — the awareness that life itself is music being played through us.  To live in that awareness is to live in gratitude.  Gratitude, in turn, is the purest harmony of truth, beauty, and goodness.  Ingratitude, St. Ignatius said was the “Gateway to all sins.”  How difficult it is to remember this for so many of us including myself.

Conclusion: Living Artfully

Art and music are not ornaments to life; they are its inner logic.  They teach us that creation is not random but composed, that our task is not to control the score but to play our part faithfully.  When truth informs our minds, beauty moves our hearts, and goodness directs our wills, we become participants in the divine symphony rather than spectators.

To live artfully is to live beautifully.  To live beautifully is to live truthfully.  And to live truthfully is to live for goodness. 

In the end, every human life is a work of art in progress — sometimes dissonant, sometimes serene, always unfinished.  Yet even our imperfections can contribute to the greater harmony if we keep tuning ourselves to the eternal themes of truth, beauty, and goodness.  Perhaps this is the greatest truth that we all need to discover.  As Pope Francis said “Truth, beauty and Goodness” are inseparable.

When we do accept this truth, we will find that the music of the soul is already playing, quietly, beneath the noise of the world — waiting only for us to listen.

Author’s Note:

Portions of this essay were developed in collaboration with “Metis,” my AI writing partner powered by OpenAI’s GPT-5.  The ideas, direction, and final reflections are my own, shaped through a dialogue intended to illuminate and refine the themes explored here.

Rhythm and Writing:  The Beat of Life

21 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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Allegro:  a brisk lively tempo

What does the beating of my heart have to do with my writing?  What does writing have to do with making love?  Can the changing of the seasons be compared to a concert overture?  What is the relationship between T. S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets 2: East Coker” poem and Stravinsky’s “The Rites of Spring?”  What does musical rhythm have to do with writing?

unnamedOn some primal level, we all live by an unseen law of rhythm.  The rhythm of the universe controls an eternal dance between the atoms and molecules that make up our existence.  This natural rhythm imparts an inexorable symmetry to all of life.  A regulated succession of strong and weak elements of opposite and contrasting conditions that becomes the master of all that we do.  Buddhists call it the Yin and Yang of being.

Springtime is upon us.

The birds celebrate her return with festive song,

and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.

Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,

Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.  — (From Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons:  Spring”, Concerto in E Major) 

DrumsticksIn countless ways, we observe that there is fundamentally no difference between writing or between a piece of choreography and the changing climate.  Creativity is carved out of the passion that is in everything we do.  The body and mind embrace in a never-ending minuet.  The music ebbs and flows.  Our love is gentle, restrained, then wild and feral. Mornings, afternoons, evenings, and nights fuse with the seasons of spring, summer, fall and winter.  The harsh gales of November resonate in the refrains of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.  “Summer Breeze” by Seals and Crofts ushers in the scorching days of July.  Poetry rings out in the rap music of the streets while the mellow voices of choir singers comfort the soul.  All things are one say the mystics.  If my writing is one with all things, will the tempo of my words cool, heat, soothe or disrupt the fashions of life?

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Adagio: a slow and stately tempo

Far be it for me to confuse philosophy with art.  Greater men than I have acknowledged that there is a unity to life.  We travel down our different paths often blind to the journeys of others who walk side by side with us. This one a carpenter, this one a computer scientist, this one a teacher, this one an artist and this one a hero.  Some of us have a long journey and some of us have a short journey.  For some the journey is rough and chaotic and for others the journey is smooth and predictable.  There are slow times in our journeys and there are fast times.  The rhythm of life is never the same for any of us.

Oh, it’s the same as the emotion that I get from you

You got the kind of lovin’ that can be so smooth, yeah

Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it — (From “Smooth”, by Santana)

For some, life is poverty and for others it is uncountable wealth.  The rich man longs for the anonymity and slower days of the poor man.  The poor man can be heard singing, “If I were a rich man, lord who made the lion and the lamb, would it really spoil your cosmic plan if I were a wealthy man?”

9781780231075We are all dust in the wind but our rhythms echo through the halls of time.  The most unforgettable and amazing repetitions will continue as long as humans walk the earth.  Coded in the numerous ways we have of capturing the rhythm of our lives.  Some code in music, some in text and some in clay. Some codes are dynamic, some peaceful, some violent and some sad.  We write our lyrics, pen our verses, create our stanzas, and design our choreography.  All efforts guided by the unseen law of rhythm.  Now we are hard, now we are brittle.  Now we roar and now we snore.

Scherzo:  a sprightly humorous movement commonly in quick triple time

Love is kind, love is considerate, love is not selfish. The waltz was a creation of times when love was more restrained.  Centuries of constrained love making has been supplanted, extending our beings, becoming our challenge.  The Tango alternates patterns of space and closeness with syncopated rhythms of violence and passion.  Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go.  Rock and Roll ushered in a wild abandonment of morality to a tune of conspicuous sexuality.  The rhythm of music exhibits striking harmonies with the rhythm of our love lives.  Can I be soft and gentle like a warm breeze but also wild and unrestrained like in the pulp novels?  Shall I make love to the William Tell overture or would Shakira’s lyrics work better?

Baby I would climb the Andes solely 

To count the freckles on your body 

Never could imagine there were only

Too many ways to love somebody  — (From “Whenever, Wherever,” by Shakira)

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Should my love making follow a classical structure or should it be more jazz like?  Is it enough to alternate patterns of tenderness with patterns of spontaneity or should I begin with an allegro, then an adagio, followed by a scherzo and conclude with a rondo?  And what of those who expect love to end with a crescendo or those who enjoy more syncopated jazz?

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Rondo: a recurring leading theme often found in the final movement of a sonata

Whether goes my writing.  I have written this concerto to writing in four parts to reflect the universality of the rhythm of life.  We form, norm, storm and then perform.  Spring is the opening that brings fresh growth to our world before the bloom of summer.  Summer brings the maturity and ripeness of life.  Fall brings the storms and winds that signify our frailty and insignificance to the universe.  Winter ends our symphony with the closure and solace that our work is done, and our day is over.

Blog+Image+-++Seasonal+RhythmsThe rhythm of life runs through our heart beats.  It runs through literature.  It runs through music.  Great music has rhythms that exhibit great variation.  Fast, slow, moderate than fast again.  Interesting speakers have a sense of rhythm in their talks.  Have you ever heard a lecture or a sermon without rhythm?  It will put you to sleep in less than five minutes.  Writing and speaking, just like music, must contain elements of rhythm.  A heart without rhythm ceases to beat.  Writing without rhythm is boring.  Life without rhythm is death.

To feel the rhythm of life,

To feel the powerful beat,

To feel the tingle in your fingers,

To feel the tingle in your feet. — (From “Rhythm Of Life,” 1969 Motion Picture Soundtrack, Song by Sammy Davis Jr.)

Our work, our art, our thoughts, and our lives are concluded with a hope to be reborn again.  We wish that someone will see the need to resume the rhythms that we have started.  Never a finality to our rhythms.  Only a continuation that started before us and will continue long after our memorials are put up.  Your headstone may simply have one verse on it or possibly it will be like the newest greeting cards.  They will walk up to your grave and press a button.  You will appear with a menu of options, and your visitor can select a video of you either singing or dancing or perhaps reading one of your writings.  Everything will have a four-part harmony.

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Time For Questions:  

Does music teach you anything about writing?  Does music speak to you?  Can writing be like a symphony?  How do you hear music?  Does it speak to you like a good poem or a good verse? What is your favorite kind of writing?  Do you ever think that the writing you enjoy could be like music?  What would it take to transform the music in your life into writing or the writing in your life into music?

Happy Holidays: John and Karen Holiday Letter for 2024

19 Dec 2024 18 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Greetings and Good Tidings to those of you who are fortunate enough to still be on our mailing list. 

Over the years, we have had to knock off several people who included both friends and relatives.  What we have left now, we like to believe, is the “cream of the crop.”  Yes, we are including you in the basket of friends and relatives who still talk and sometimes even walk with us. 

On the more serious side, the sad truth is that over the past few years, we have had all too many wonderful friends and relatives pass from this earth.  Those good friends and relatives were the people we “knocked” off of our mailing list.  We only wish they were still on it.  The topic of mortality seems to surround us these days.  A friend recently told me at church that he knew that he was going to be leaving for a better place.  I told him that I was not ready to go but if there is a better place, I will keep my fingers crossed. 

The last few years have brought much unhappiness to the world in terms of economics, politics and climate.  It is easy for me to be pessimistic.  Fortunately, my spouse is the eternal optimist.  She helps to remind me that we live a good life with many blessings.  We are not rich, and we certainly are not famous.  People may forget me at most parties I go to, but Karen always greets me when I come home and walk in the door. 

On the Joyous side,  Karen and I are joining with you to celebrate another amazing constellation of holidays including, Ramadin, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, Feast Day of Our Lady Guadalupe, Boxing Day, Yule, Zarathosht Diso, and New Year’s Eve.  All over the world, be it summer or winter, many people are celebrating ancient traditions that bring joy and happiness to their lives.  Studying some of these traditions one finds many common denominators.  Mostly that living a virtuous moral life is the pathway to happiness and respect.  

Today, more than ever, Karen and I enjoy our health, children, friends and relatives whom we would not trade for all the money or fame in the world.  Thus, as our chosen celebrations of Christmas bear down on us, we want to give you our gratitude for all the kindness, thoughtfulness and camaraderie that each of you has shown us over the years.  To paraphrase the famous Beatle song “We get by with a little help from our friends and relatives.”  Bless all of you this holiday season and may you all have peace, good health and happiness. 

Karen: 

Now that John has focused on the macro world, I’ll fill in the micro happenings for us this year.  I made my annual trip to MN and WI to visit my children and old friends in January.  The previous year had record breaking snow.  This year there was almost none.  But was it ever cold!!  There must be a little of the hardy Minnesotan in me yet as I was out and about daily with the -20 or greater temps. 

I came back to AZ and went back to work on my quilt of John’s ties.  I was totally amazed when it (my first quilt) won the “Viewer’s Choice” award at our club’s annual quilt show.  I continue to be obsessed with my new craft.  I also tried my hand at gourd painting for the first time.  If you happen to know our friends Dar and Denny, please don’t mention the picture of the gourd on our card.  We have had a gourd which is decorated by us or Dar and Denny and given at Christmas for 10+ years.  It is kept for a year, then redecorated and given back next Christmas.  Needless to say, Dar and Denny will not be getting our Christmas card this year until after they’ve unwrapped the gourd. 

In mid-June we packed the car, or rather, stuffed the car full (including a sewing machine, of course) and embarked on a cross-country journey.  A visit with my cousin Jane and her husband Bill in Albert Lea, MN.  Six weeks in a cottage in the Wisconsin Northwoods.  Visits with friends Nancy in PA and Susan in NY.  Two weeks in Rhode Island visiting with John’s sister Jeanine and several of John’s friends.  John stayed with Pastor Kwame Rice for three days while we were in RI.  On to Montgomery, AL to visit the Rosa Parks Library & Museum and the Civil Rights Memorial Center.  A brief stay in Biloxi MS at John’s first duty assignment after basic training in the USAF.  Followed by Four sightseeing days in New Orleans  and a visit to an historic slave plantation.  John bought a book on Voodoo at a local Voodoo parlor so he could cast spells on Trump. 

More visiting with John’s cousin Elena and her husband Greg in Houston, TX and at their ranch in the Texas Hill Country.  We finally returned home in mid-September with 10,700 more miles on the car and wonderful memories.  Two of the highlights were my 80th birthday party in July which John hosted.  We had about 40 friends and relatives attend.  John’s 60th high school reunion in September was the second highlight. 

The numbers of friends and places we visited, and the miles traveled are hard to believe.  Luckily, I don’t feel 80, except climbing up or down stairs when my knees remind me or feeling the need for a nap after an exercise class. 

Although we always miss friends and family members in other parts of the country, we enjoy the Arizona weather and the many things to do that keep us busy here.  I have the Tucson Dulcimer Ensemble, the Tuesday Uke and Dulcimer group, my church choir, Coolidge Cotton Patchers Quilters and 2-3 exercise classes per week while John keeps busy with his Ageing Capriciously Blog, mentoring, running, subbing at the high schools and Veteran’s events.  We also enjoy attending concerts in the Tucson and Phoenix areas and the proximity to Mexico for trips to Puerto Penasco for seafood and beaches. 

Wishing you all health and happiness,

 John and Karen

Here are some pictures that we took along our journeys.  

My Final Will and Testament – Things – Reflection #4

14 May 2024 8 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

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Last year at my 40th Demontreville Retreat, one of the exercises that we were given by the Retreat Master included a very challenging set of thoughts.  The worksheet for the activity was labeled as “A Testament.” I took the worksheet and instructions home with me.  It had fourteen tasks or reflections to complete.  I did not desire to complete them during the retreat.  It is now almost a year since my retreat, and I have decided to make the mental and emotional effort necessary to complete this “Testament.”

The worksheet started with these instructions:

Imagine that this is the last day of your life on earth.  In the time that you have left, you want to leave a “Testament” for your family and friends.  Each of the following could serve as chapter headings for your “Testament.”

  1. These are the Things that I have lived for.

In my first reflection, I declared that “Things” were never very important to me.  However, this reflection forced me to look at some “Things” that have mattered to me in my life.  It is hard to admit that any things were ever really important since “Things” are so trivial in many respects.  Nevertheless, it is hard to exist without a few “Things.”  Thus, what are those “Things” which have really mattered to me, and a bigger question is why?  Here are a few of my favorite things and why they matter to me.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things — By Julie Andrews, “My Favorite Things”

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I love rain and stormy days:  I figured the “why out years ago.  On a nice day, my father would say “Get your ass outside and go play.  It’s too nice to be inside.”  Thus, I could only engage in my favorite activity (which was curled up with a good book) when it was raining, and I did not have to go outside.  To this day, I get a thrill when a rainstorm approaches.  I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see the rain and feel the raindrops on my head.

I love books:  I buy more books than I will ever finish in my lifetime.  I have already at  every move given hundreds of books away.  Just holding a book gives me a sense of excitement that nothing else in life does for me.  The book pulses in my hand like a living thing saying, “Read me and learn.”  “Let me tell you about a million things that you do not know.”

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I love a nap:  2 PM in the afternoon and I have nothing to do and no place to be.  I will take a nap.  I close my eyes wondering if I can really get to sleep and forty minute or so later, I wake up feeling energized and ready to continue taking on the woes of the world.  I am not sure where I get my joy of napping from.  Karen is not a napper, and I seldom can get her to take a nap with me.  It is a solo activity, but I guess it gives me a temporary respite from the trials and tribulations of everyday living.  Maybe it is just fun.

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I love food:  I have never met a food that I did not like.  One of the great joys of life is going someplace different and trying foods out that I have never eaten before.  I have eaten the local foods in all 44 countries that Karen and I have traveled to.  I will try anything though I draw the line if it is still moving.  I have eaten several unknown species of Arthropoda (Bugs) in China and Korea.  I have had rattlesnake in Texas, fresh eel in Japan and one of my favorite Italian foods, Scungilli salad whenever I get back to visit my sister in Rhode Island.

I love music:  Is music a thing?  Generative AI has the following to say about this query:

“Music is a cultural universal that is a human-created meaning, not a fact or thing in the world.  It is the arrangement of sounds to create a combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or other expressive content.  However, definitions of music vary by culture and throughout history, and there is no consensus on the precise definitions of the elements that define music.”

Nice to know what AI thinks.  Not sure it settled anything though.

Moving on with my thoughts, I find music sometimes soothing as with a Strauss waltz.  Sometime exciting as with the “Toreador Song” from Carmen.  Sometimes, a song reflects how I feel about life as with Ricky Shelton’s “I am a simple man.”  Sometimes, music reflects my sense of devotion for certain things.  I am always moved by national anthems like the “Star-Spangled Banner” and the “Marseillaise.”

I love what some call “World Music.”  I can spend hours surfing the various music offerings on YouTube.  I am always amazed at how much great music never seems to find its way into the US music stations.  As with food, I have never met a music genre that I did not like.  From Baroque to Grigorian Chants, to Asian, Latin, Hip Hop, Reggae and a hundred other music genres, I can always find an artist or musical piece that I fall in love with.  In Japan, it was Enka music.  In Portugal, I was Fado music.  In Spain it was the Tango music.  I could go on and on but every place in the world contributes to the store of great music that is out there.

Well, there you have it.  A few of my favorite things.  Perhaps I should add a few.

“Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things.”  By Julie Andrews

Next Reflection:    

  1. These are the insights that I have gained in the school of life.

 

The Seven Greatest Appreciations of Life: Art

18 Feb 2021 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

art appreciation

You may be expecting me to regale you with some long-winded bull about artsy fartsy stuff that you should absolutely have in your life.  My conscience tells me that maybe I should start this blog off with a disclaimer or perhaps a spoiler alert.  The big question I am asking myself is who am I to convince you of the value that art has for you or the rest of the world?

e9d976ac0ad1923d2a1b45f65431411aWhen I grew up, the only art in our house was an Elvis on velvet painting that my mother had hanging over the living room sofa.  We also had a wooden ship with metal sails and a clock that did not work built into the side of the ship.  It was featured prominently on the mantle over our fake fireplace.  Our furniture would have done the Salvation Army proud.  I do not remember any other art besides Elvis displayed on our walls, floors, or ceilings.  Neither my father or mother had any interest in art.  My mother liked Elvis and that is why she got the painting. 

s-l300When I think back upon my schooling, I do not recall ever having had a single class in art appreciation.  We would occasionally go on field trips but usually to a library or a science museum.  No one in my schools acknowledged the world of art.  For blue collar kids like myself, the world of art had little relevance or practical use.  Everyone knew that artists died poor.  The great Van Gogh sold only one picture in his lifetime and that to a relative.  The purchase of art was for the rich, spoiled, eccentric scions of old aristocratic families with more money than they knew what to do with. 

unnamedWhen Karen and I first moved down to Arizona, we took a day to go and visit Scottsdale.  Scottsdale is a wealthy upper-class community.  Scottsdale is generally considered the most affluent large city in Arizona.  The average income of a Scottsdale resident is $51,564 a year. The US average is $28,555 a year.  According to Zillow.com, the typical price of a home in Scottsdale is $582,292.  We walked around the downtown portion of Scottsdale and expected to see the usual mix of clothing stores, jewelry shops, antique shops, and restaurants.  We were not surprised except when it came to the antique shops. 

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Most towns we visit today seem to have an abundance of antique shops.  Not Scottsdale!  Instead of antique shops, full of overpriced cast outs from yesteryear, Scottsdale had more jewelry shops and art galleries than I could count.  It goes without saying that I do not generally go into high end jewelry shops selling Rolex watches.  In some of these Scottsdale shops, a Rolex would be a cheap watch.  Sporting my Casio, I would not even merit a sales attempt.  However, we were really surprised at the number of art galleries.  Foolishly, we dared to venture into a few of them.  Our trips inside did not last long. 

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My idea of an expensive piece of art runs in the double digits.  Most of the art in these shops exceeded my tax return from last year.  Meaning the art was well into four or more digits.  I found myself petrified of knocking something over or off of a pedestal.  My heart rate was so high, I almost called 911.  We decided we had seen enough art and it was time to find some decent tacos and beer.  We found a good Mexican restaurant and sat on the sidewalk where we could look at the expensively dressed local Scottsdale people.  I soon noticed that Scottsdale did not have any obese or overweight citizens.  I suppose that when you are really wealthy, you can afford a coach, trainer or whatever to help you diet and keep your weight down. 

HP-Hero-Header@2xArt reflects the beauty that life holds.  Paintings portray ideals and impressions that intrigue and magnify the senses.  Sculptures mirror the objects in our world that mystify us or that remind us of magnificent events.  Pictures bring us to other places and times that would be forgotten without the images the photographer captures.  Art does not attempt to simply mirror reality; it attempts to augment and enhance reality.  Art can be a caricature which like a Rorschach text enables us to see many different visions.  Art is a realization of values, norms, pain, happiness, the past, the present and the future.  Art can simultaneously create fantasy and reality.

flickr_-_cc_-_manuel_paternity_-_no_modification-_no_commercial_useYou may be rightly thinking, “But what good does art do me if I cannot afford to even walk into an art shop?”  I often asked myself this same question.  Why look at stuff that I could not afford?  It took me years before I even ventured into an art museum.  I have since visited the Louvre while in Paris and many other museums in the USA and in Europe.  My attitude is now one of gratefulness that someone has purchased these magnificent works of art to share with the public.  The vast majority of us could never begin to afford the pricelessness of these museum pieces.  I strongly encourage you to visit an art museum sometime. 

il_794xN.2697702323_8azbWhen it comes to art that I would like to own, it is simply a matter of what I can afford.  The art world is full of overpriced works of art.  Many would rebel at my labeling art this way.  My critics would say that it was high priced and not “over” priced.  That may well be.  I have talked to a number of artists and the vast majority do not get paid for the value of their efforts and creativity.  However, just like in athletics, a few stand out and are disproportionally rewarded for their efforts.    

I will also claim that there are many underpriced works of art.  I find what I call bargains done by both artisans and artists that I would have thought would sell for much higher prices.  Karen and I have visited quite a few art festivals.  When we moved to Arizona, we decided that we would decorate the interior of our house with affordable works of art.  Art that we admired and liked and that fit our budget.  We chose to find original works of art rather than just reproductions.  There is nothing wrong with reproductions, but we opted to save our money for art that we thought was unique and one of a kind.      

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I have not said what I consider quality art or great art to be.  That would be more than presumptuous.  More astute minds than mine have tried to define “great” art.  I have always subscribed to the maxim that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”  I cannot define great art, but I can tell you what I like.  Sometimes, it is simply something that reminds me of another place or time and sometimes it is something that I think is beautiful.  My house could never hold all the art that I have admired over the years.  As I said before, I am grateful that there are people called artists who are willing to venture into a field where the rewards are so problematic compared to the skill and creativity required.   

If you find the world boring, if you wonder if there is more to life than you experience, if you are depressed at the bad news each day, if the daily diet of mayhem and misfortune makes you wish you were living in another time or place, then art may be the solution to your misery.  Art is a bouquet of flowers which can bring joy to your heart.  Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet said that, “art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness.  It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind.  As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.

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You can begin to appreciate the world of art today.  It will not cost you a single penny.  Your initiation fee is paid by the amount of time you are willing to devote to art.  There are classes on art online for free.  There are YouTube videos with tours of art museums and histories of great paintings and artists.  Your local library will have dozens of books that are collections of some of the great art works in history.  The Salvation Army and Goodwill have many used books that include works of art for you to purchase at less than two dollars a book.

10 Free Courses to Help You Understand and Appreciate Art …    

Another option of course, is to appreciate the world of art as an artist or creator rather than as a follower or viewer.  Several years ago, I took an art class.  I wanted to see if I had the talent to be an artist.  The class taught how to paint miniatures.  I did several paintings which turned out quite well.  The class also showed me the hard work and discipline that was required to be an artist.  I wisely chose to make my fortunes in the business world rather than in the more challenging world of art. 

Whatever you decide, I hope that you can let the world of art color your days like a rainbow that never dims or goes out.  The world will be a happier place when we can all learn to appreciate art.

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The Seven Greatest Appreciations of Life: Music

10 Feb 2021 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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What would life be without the things that help us to appreciate it?  I listen to a superb singer and think how fantastic it is to be able to have this kind of talent in the world.  I visit an art gallery and look at the magnificent paintings and think about all the people that have created works of art which beautify my life.  I journey to a library to find a good book to read and I am inundated with literature that will open vast new horizons for me intellectually and emotionally.  I am sometimes ashamed that I am not grateful enough for the many appreciations that life gives me.

I started thinking a few days ago that the issue of appreciation would make a good subject for a blog.  I soon realized that the subject would be good for several blogs.  Thus, I have decided to write about the greatest appreciations in my life.  Of course, life itself is a given as the greatest appreciation of all, so I will skip it for now.  There are hundreds of things that I can appreciate.  I will limit my list to the top seven things that I am grateful for or that I appreciate on an almost daily basis.  I will try cover each of these in my next blogs.

  1. Music
  2. Art
  3. Literature
  4. Travel/Food
  5. Friends/Family
  6. Health/Fitness
  7. Peace

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Music:  Something to Appreciate

This week I will discuss the joys and happiness that I find in music.  Karen, my wife is a musician.  I am unfortunately not among the musically gifted.  I am left to be the audience for Karen and other people with the talent to perform.  I have hundreds of artists all over the world that I admire and listen to.  Many people have a steady diet of music from a particular genre.  I consider myself fortunate to have quite catholic tastes when it comes to music.

I love opera, country, blue grass, gospel, classical, rock, pop, blues, jazz, folk, as well as music from almost every country in the world.  Have you ever listened to Enka music from Japan or Fado music from Portugal?  There are hundreds of styles of music all over the world.  Increasingly I find what might be called fusion music that blends a multitude of styles.

the hu

One currently popular group is called the Hu.  They are a rock band from Mongolia.  They use traditional Mongolian instrumentation, including the Morin khuur, Tovshuur and Mongolian throat singing with a rock beat.  They say that they are inspired by the Hunnu, an ancient Turkic/Mongol empire.  I discovered them on YouTube and liked them so much I purchased one of their albums.  I listened to it every day for a few weeks.  I had never heard anything like it before.

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Yesterday on NPR they had a music session with the noted African American operatic baritone Will Liverman.   It was an interesting conversation.   There has been a systematic exclusion of information concerning Black singers and composers in the realm of classical music.  Mr.  Liverman talked about his upbringing and how surprised his parents were that he became interested in opera and classical music.  He pursued his interests and has become one of the great operatic singers of our time.  Will observed that many great Black composers were virtually unknown to the public and even in the music world.  He decided to remedy this with an album of songs by Black composers.  You can find his album on Amazon and many of Mr. Liverman’s songs on YouTube.

The music world is full of variety, mysteries, contradictions, challenges, and respite from a world all too often full of dreary news and mayhem.  I have briefly touched on some of the variety in the music world, but what are the mysteries?  Well consider the talent that it takes to become a good musician.  Many people think that musicians are simply born with the talent.  A little knowledge of musicians will soon show you that music is a combination of talent and hard work.  Few of us will ever know if we could have been a great musician because most of us do not have the discipline to put the effort into music.  This includes me as well.  I am amazed at the practicing that Karen does each week.

Karen performing with the Tucson Dulcimer Ensemble

Tucson Dulcimer Ensemble Visits The Fountains – The Fountains at La Cholla in Tucson, AZ

Karen has taken dozens of classes to help develop her skills.  There never seems to be a time when she will simply quit and say, “I have become good enough.”  She is always working and striving to become better.  Every year she develops more skills and then challenges herself with more difficult pieces, not to mention adding more instruments to her repertoire.  And here is the mystery.  Where do these people get the energy and courage to keep on challenging themselves?  Most of us would rather listen to music.  We marvel at the fantastic talent that is in the music world, but we seldom understand the practice, discipline and hard work that is involved.  I gasp in amazement at a man like Jake Shimabukuro whose fingers move over the ukulele faster than I can see.  I cannot comprehend pianists that can play an entire Beethoven symphony without looking at a music sheet.  These are all mysteries to me.

What of contradictions?  The music world is full of contradictions.  Talented players and singers who never seem to achieve the stardom they deserve.  One-hit-wonders who can create a dynamic song that tops the charts but are never heard from again.  Five-year-old wunderkinds who display abilities that defy logic.  Singers who develop followers that worship the ground they walk on.  Performers who last a few years, disappear for many years, and then make startling comebacks.  Singers who are still in the music business in their eighties.  Artists who seem to have little talent but make tons of money.  The music world is full of contradictions.

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What of the challenges I refer to?  For a musician, the world is one giant challenge.  Can you imagine getting up in front of 100,000 people or more to sing the national anthem?   Can you imagine facing the expectations of an audience that has paid a minimum of 100 dollars a seat to hear you perform and some may have paid thousands to hear you perform?  Could you handle the pressure?  Can you imagine a road tour?  Leaving your home for a year to travel the world and play in dozens of different venues in front of many different audiences.  I get anxious not sleeping in my own bed for one night.  I think the challenges also show up in the chaotic drug filled life that we often see in some musicians.  Stars like Elvis, Michael Jackson, Prince, and hundreds of other great musicians who met an early and untimely death.  Is it any wonder?  The challenges may be too much for anyone.

Finally for me, the respite that music brings to my life could not be purchased for a million dollars.  It is said that “Music soothes the savage beast.”  Music takes the stress out of my life.  Music is like meditating.  It is often better than eating or sleeping.  I can watch an Andrea Bocelli performance, and everything is okay with the world.  Music helps me to forget the vicious daily news, the angry divisive politicians insulting each other, the legal eagles trying to entice me to sue someone, the maniacs on the road in a hurry to go nowhere.  I can forget the dreams I had that never materialized as I listen to Rhiannon Giddens sing, “Wayfaring Stranger” or Miley Cyrus sing, “A Man of Constant Sorrow” or Bob Dylan sing, “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.”

I fear I have not even begun to explain the joys, beauty and wonders that music can bring into our lives.  The subject is so deep and wide, that my short missive here does not even begin to do it justice.  My goal is to inspire and entice you to find more time for music in your life.  It is truly one of the great appreciations that life brings us.  Sean Combs said that “A life without passion is unforgivable.”  It is even truer that a “life without music is a terrible shame.’

Next week I will talk about Art and what it can do to help us appreciate life more.