Before Eno, there was John Cage.
And in 1993 a couple of things happened. Exact Change brought out a new edition of 'Composition In Retrospect', and I started Uni at Portsmouth.
'Composition In Retrospect' is a fabulous tour of John Cage's ideas and methodology. The book is written as a series of poems based on mesostics, but the key part for me was the introduction to the second section, 'Themes And Variations', where Cage lists one hundred and ten ideas laid out in some of his other books - 'Silence'; 'M'; 'Empty Words'; 'A Year From Monday'; and 'Virgil Thomson'.
These hundred and ten ideas were the spark that set my motor running. Not just the ideas, but the format. The simple, minimalist lay out, with no explication. Just let them stand on their own merits and explain themselves for themselves - and if they don't, or require some unpacking, then that is work for the reader to do. I love that. So I began to formulate a bank of such ideas for myself.
Many of these stock statements I've come back to repeatedly. Some have bubbled up to the top, burst and sunk or evaporated, others have solidified into foundation strata that underpin parts of my output over the years. The rest make up the mountains, rivers, flora andd fauna of 'Dave World'. The landscape that I live in is largely made up of statements like these - in no particular order then, this is the Los Dave Matrix.
____________________________
Continuity and Change
The surface of the image is your cage
Be the pebble in the flip-flop of consciousness
Liberate our minds by any means necessary
Liberation does not always lead to Liberty
Everything - in moderation
Stand back and squint
Learn to listen
Listen to learn
Talk big; act small
There but by the grace of good fortune, go I
De-commodify the populist conception of 'creativity' in favour of the biological foundation of the urge to decorate
Simplify, codify, unify
Arrogance and ignorance, or innocence and unsophistication?
Capitalism embraces and legitimises H. Sapiens' natural tendency to corruption
Everything is Not fair game
Some things are important, some things just ain't
All of this will have soon all turned to dust
Other timescales exist
Schemes and dreams, promises, platitudes and propaganda
Anti-propaganda is still propaganda
Conform to your own codes
Repels in a slightly attractive way, attracts in a slightly repulsive way
Live vicariously, live precariously
Choice is a privilege, not a right
One man's freedom is another man's cage
One man's freedom is freedom for all
Freedom by proxy is not freedom at all
The system of lies and hate? It's taught me what truth and honesty are
People come in two flavours; sweet and unsavoury
Even food poisoning has its benefits
Sometimes enlightenment is found in the darkest, furthest corners from the sun
The triumph of the irrational over the implausible
Learn to live
Live to learn
Just 'cos it ain't true, don't mean it's a lie
Not my camels, not my train
It's not just ok to not know, it's ok to admit you don't know
Learn the difference
If you want to know the answer, ask the question
Fewer statements, more questions
This cracked and fissured landscape
As far as possible do no harm
Not all of the days are equal
Truth don't give a shit about your dumbass opinion
Collaborate and compete
Don't be afraid to say no
Not my sax solo, not my jazz
Impossibility of knowing the unthinkable
None of this is important, none of this is permanent
True things are true irrespective of you
There's two kinds of opinions - informed and uninformed
Value is as value does
Buried amid a storm of words
Compliance is conformity
Conformity is complicity
Complicity is corruption
Anger is an energy
Grasses and saplings still stand when the wind has broken many great oaks
Knowing what questions to ask
Not my cherries, not my pie
Caught in the undertow
You are in high speed wobble. Hold on tight and enjoy the ride
All the words in the world won't save you
It all cuts both ways
A spear without a point is just a stick
It is, until it ain't
What's next?
You say the words without digesting their meaning
Think about it. Don't over-think it.
There are more ways to get answers than just asking questions
Why do you need to know?
Just pick it up and play it
Ritual and circumstance
Identify as, identify with, not indentified by
Rebel and conform
The establishment wins by subsuming the rebellion
Simply shouting down your opponent is not the same as winning the argument
Commodify the spontaneous
It does, until it don't
Minimalism is refinement by distillation, not a hatchet job
Context is everything, except when it ain't
Everything is a commodity
Context is a commodity
Humility and humanity
What matters?
Mindful mindlessness
Last night it did not seem as if today it would be raining
Once there were no borders, no boundaries
The unwavering path crosses the river many times
The alternative is unthinkable
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