Times Like These (part I)

It would seem to be the general consensus that the conditions we live in presently are the result of thousands of years of progress. Futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil's espousal of the coming singularity and transhumanism (the ultimate unity of humans and machines)would represent the hyper-digital culmination of this deep-seated belief that we are currently living near the top step of the historical and materialistic stairway to heaven that began with Clark and Kubrik's bone smashing hominids.

In the realm of music we tend to view things in a parallel manner. Rock 'n' Roll began with Elvis, was enhanced, albeit in different ways, by the Beatles and amateur ethno-musicologists like the Rolling Stones, super-charged by the counter culture in the late '60s and now lives with its constantly developing glory in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and as a file in someone's iPod.

Classical music has the luxury of 1500 years of post-Roman Empire European progress without which there would be no Andre Rieu. Jazz only had perhaps a century and a half to progress from so-called field hollers to folks like Wynton Marsalis who have attempted to inject formaldehyde into the still-living corpus of Jazz and improvised music.

Certain philosophers would disagree with our dearly held notion of linear temporal progress as it relates to culture in particular but also our lives in general.

Georges Gurdjieff, especially in his Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson, suggests just the opposite of the idea of progress. In fact he indicates that we are actually at the point of deterioration, though perhaps through a series of waves, from truly great pre-deluvian civilizations. The ancients felt the same way - think Kali Yuga.

We will look into how this has meaning for those of us who often have a guitar in our laps when we return to post more here.