I was not going to write a blog today since I have a mountain of business to attend to, but the passing of David Bowie has brought some thoughts to mind. I was not a fan of Bowie. I found his voice annoying and his music simple and somewhat boring. However, I have been fascinated by his persona, or lack there of.
As America left the 60s, it, along with much of the Western World, was in an awful state of flux. Forgetting the politics, the psychedelic experiments had changed everything. Even those who did not participate in those experiments were changed by the art, the ideas and the spiritual aura that the acid days cast on the world. If you say you were unaffected, you are kidding yourself, unless you were living in total isolation in the Okefenokee Swamp. The effects of that era still resonate strongly.
We came out of that period a bit unhinged. The psychedelics, among other things, open you to possibilities. You can be who you want. Your choice, if you have guts enough to deal with the fallout from the choice. But, while this can be liberating, it is fraught with danger. Anyone who becomes aware of this freedom had best be centered, or they will find themselves buffeted about by a vast array of spiritual forces, some quite unpleasant, and often find that they no longer exist, not as a discreet, intelligent entity. They become, in essence, a shape shifter, bending and changing forms without direction. And, when given media promotion done by master manipulators, they become a kind of Pied Piper, leading mindless followers down aimless paths.
Bowie changed persona the way some change underwear. He was a semi-folkie, a psychedelic balladeer, a musical ET, a bisexual drag queen, a Nazi loving- coke snorting royalist, a devotee of experimental electronic music, a soul singer, a rocker, and, in the end, nothing but a rich celebrity, His choices of spirituality show the lack of direction as he wavered between the bizarre teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, with its strong emphasis on dark magic, and Crowley style occultism, which is a confusing blend of silliness topped with a threatening black magic aura.
For contrast, look at Stewart Brand, former Merry Prankster and acid head, now highly respected futurist and environmentalist. Or, look even at his old buddy Ken Kesey. Kesey, while never abandoning his mental and spiritual explorations, lived out his life in a most traditional way, as a dairy farmer and devoted family man.
The difference? Bowie never seemed to find a center, a firm place to stand as he went through the world and that, combined with the pressures of an entertainment industry that always demands new product to keep the sales up, lead him to become a simple shape shifter, a being who becomes whatever seems appropriate or advantageous at the moment. At the core, a shape shifter is nothing, the whim of ever changing circumstance.
Brand, Kesey and countless others, found a center. That does not mean becoming static. Change is the constant factor in the Universe, and I love the idea of re-inventing yourself from time to time, it keeps you fresh and energized. But, the question is this: do you decide how you want to change? Do you initiate the changes while operating from a solid core, from a centered self. Or do you allow yourself to be the whimsy of business managers, and, worse still, the creations of unpleasant spiritual forces? Not all spiritual beings, contrary to New Age beliefs, are benevolent, and if you constantly shift in the psychic winds, you lose yourself, and it is damn hard to find your way home. What is much worse is the damage you usually do to others, friends and family, for sure, but in the case of such a popular performer, especially during an era when his followers were as lost as he, the toll in damages can be very steep.
Still, the man was vastly influential, both socially and musically. I am very sure that is not a good thing, especially when true artists like Tom Waits and David Bromberg, Maria Muldaur and Lucinda Williams, incredibly talented men and women, true artists, are largely ignored.
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