Questioning
On being Human (C S Lewis)
Posted 11-11-2008 at 01:11 PM by itSFMe
When I'm listening to music behind my computer (which is all the time 
) I usually do that by use of youtube. I have more than a hundred playlists on my account, but usually I make a quicklist for the songs I feel like hearing that day - adding and deleting songs whenever I feel like it.
Sometimes I listen to the weirdest combinations - songs which seem to be thrown together but on further inspection show to be related by the "related video" section. That might sound a bit odd for the non-youtube users, but it means that while you play a song you can see what songs are related to that one. This can be in genre, in band or maybe only because a word in the title is similar
I'm a big fan of the last relation 
Ok, back to where I was going
I searched for the songs "Hungry" and "Pretty Vegas" by INXS. I added them to the quicklist and must have heard them 10 times or so today 
When I wanted to close my computer to go to diner, I (as often) lingered around on youtube a bit as I not only like to listen to the music but also enjoy to see the video clips. And as I clicked on this song:
I noticed the tattoos of the lead singer (J D Fortune). If you would have asked me if Mr Fortune had tattoos I would have given you a definite yes, but couldn't have told you what they looked like. But on the music video to Afterglow you see very clearly that he has "Human Being" tattooed on his arms. And it suddenly struck me as ... well, I'm not sure what words to use but I definitely like it 
It made me think about being human and what a human being is about and why you would need tattoos to remember that you're a human being and
Yes, my mind went into racing mode again 
And as the words "human being" where playing through my mind, I had the idea that there must be poems about such an important subject. And even if it is not that important, I still think there are poems about every subject you can imagine so
Well, you get the drift 
Here's the poem
Angelic minds, they say, by simple intelligence
Behold the Forms of nature. They discern
Unerringly the Archtypes, all the verities
Which mortals lack or indirectly learn.
Transparent in primordial truth, unvarying,
Pure Earthness and right Stonehood from their clear,
High eminence are seen; unveiled, the seminal
Huge Principles appear.
The Tree-ness of the tree they know-the meaning of
Arboreal life, how from earth's salty lap
The solar beam uplifts it; all the holiness
Enacted by leaves' fall and rising sap;
But never an angel knows the knife-edged severance
Of sun from shadow where the trees begin,
The blessed cool at every pore caressing us
- An angel has no skin.
They see the Form of Air; but mortals breathing it
Drink the whole summer down into the breast.
The lavish pinks, the field new-mown, the ravishing
Sea-smells, the wood-fire smoke that whispers Rest.
The tremor on the rippled pool of memory
That from each smell in widening circles goes,
The pleasure and the pang - can angels measure it?
An angel has no nose.
The nourishing of life, and how it flourishes
On death, and why, they utterly know; but not
The hill-born, earthy spring, the dark cold bilberries.
The ripe peach from the southern wall still hot
Full-bellied tankards foamy-topped, the delicate
Half-lyric lamb, a new loaf's billowy curves,
Nor porridge, nor the tingling taste of oranges.
- An angel has no nerves.
Far richer they! I know the senses' witchery
Guards us like air, from heavens too big to see;
Imminent death to man that barb'd sublimity
And dazzling edge of beauty unsheathed would be.
Yet here, within this tiny, charmed interior,
This parlour of the brain, their Maker shares
With living men some secrets in a privacy
Forever ours, not theirs.
It is not that bad to be a human
) I usually do that by use of youtube. I have more than a hundred playlists on my account, but usually I make a quicklist for the songs I feel like hearing that day - adding and deleting songs whenever I feel like it. Sometimes I listen to the weirdest combinations - songs which seem to be thrown together but on further inspection show to be related by the "related video" section. That might sound a bit odd for the non-youtube users, but it means that while you play a song you can see what songs are related to that one. This can be in genre, in band or maybe only because a word in the title is similar
I'm a big fan of the last relation Ok, back to where I was going
I searched for the songs "Hungry" and "Pretty Vegas" by INXS. I added them to the quicklist and must have heard them 10 times or so today When I wanted to close my computer to go to diner, I (as often) lingered around on youtube a bit as I not only like to listen to the music but also enjoy to see the video clips. And as I clicked on this song:Spoiler:
It made me think about being human and what a human being is about and why you would need tattoos to remember that you're a human being and
Yes, my mind went into racing mode again Spoiler:
The real lyrics read "dancer", not "denser". But to be honest, both make sense And as the words "human being" where playing through my mind, I had the idea that there must be poems about such an important subject. And even if it is not that important, I still think there are poems about every subject you can imagine so
Well, you get the drift Here's the poem Angelic minds, they say, by simple intelligence
Behold the Forms of nature. They discern
Unerringly the Archtypes, all the verities
Which mortals lack or indirectly learn.
Transparent in primordial truth, unvarying,
Pure Earthness and right Stonehood from their clear,
High eminence are seen; unveiled, the seminal
Huge Principles appear.
The Tree-ness of the tree they know-the meaning of
Arboreal life, how from earth's salty lap
The solar beam uplifts it; all the holiness
Enacted by leaves' fall and rising sap;
But never an angel knows the knife-edged severance
Of sun from shadow where the trees begin,
The blessed cool at every pore caressing us
- An angel has no skin.
They see the Form of Air; but mortals breathing it
Drink the whole summer down into the breast.
The lavish pinks, the field new-mown, the ravishing
Sea-smells, the wood-fire smoke that whispers Rest.
The tremor on the rippled pool of memory
That from each smell in widening circles goes,
The pleasure and the pang - can angels measure it?
An angel has no nose.
The nourishing of life, and how it flourishes
On death, and why, they utterly know; but not
The hill-born, earthy spring, the dark cold bilberries.
The ripe peach from the southern wall still hot
Full-bellied tankards foamy-topped, the delicate
Half-lyric lamb, a new loaf's billowy curves,
Nor porridge, nor the tingling taste of oranges.
- An angel has no nerves.
Far richer they! I know the senses' witchery
Guards us like air, from heavens too big to see;
Imminent death to man that barb'd sublimity
And dazzling edge of beauty unsheathed would be.
Yet here, within this tiny, charmed interior,
This parlour of the brain, their Maker shares
With living men some secrets in a privacy
Forever ours, not theirs.
It is not that bad to be a human
Total Comments 2
Comments
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I had a friend, years ago, who used to perform all over the area as a sort of one-man band, and his "stage" name was Bartholomew Bean.
He would start out by telling folks that he was just
"A bean, a bean, a human bean!"
All this reminded me of him, and his funny pun name.Posted 11-12-2008 at 03:58 PM by rbud57
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"An angel has no nose."
How does she smell?
Terrible!
hahaha, crass I know
I'll get a spank for it but hey... silver lining Posted 11-13-2008 at 02:28 AM by Jimborama
