Join Quinn on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at 1000 MST on Stream Yard or YouTube for another discussion about creativity and mortality. This week Quinn is going to address a Francis Bacon quote, "The quality of mortality." How artists struggle within cultures that don't provide sufficient illusions to buffer their existential dread.
Stream Yard (LIVE): https://streamyard.com/rgj2b62es2
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/GDVcCBPu5Fo?si=npOlCTjB1hUZlKJM
Join me on Saturday, July 20, 2024, at 1000 MST for part two of an ongoing examination of the role that mortality plays in creativity.
Stream Yard (live feed): https://streamyard.com/hdccnpxqmj
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/WuIqkBuuggA?si=je73XTzh5ipZN0Kc
This week, Quinn will continue the series on The Creative Mind and Mortality, Part 2." This will address artist's unique perspectives on why they create art and the struggles they face in light of existential dread or mortality. What does it mean to have a "creative practice"? How does creating art help with the fear of death? Do creative people process existential terror differently? If so, how? Ernest Becker's "The Denial of Death" and Otto Rank's book "Art and Artist."
“Big Changes,” 3.75” x 5” acrylic, charcoal, newsprint (mixed media).
This is a book by Dr. James Rowe that I would recommend reading if you want to understand what I’m trying to address through my artwork and my life in general (my interests). He is addressing Ernest Becker’s theories and terror management directly. I’ve never seen anyone write about the results of death anxiety applied to politics and modern and historical problems directly. My book will address these theories in detail, but I’ve made it personal. I’ve explained how the theories have driven me both creatively and psychologically.
Radical Mindfulness examines the root causes of injustice, asking why inequalities along the lines of race, class, gender, and species continue to exist. Specifically, Dr. James K. Rowe examines fear of death as a root cause of systemic inequalities and proposes a more embodied approach to social change as a solution.
Collecting insights from powerful thinkers across multiple traditions—including black radicals, Indigenous resurgence theorists, terror management theorists, and Buddhist feminists—Rowe argues for the political importance of seemingly apolitical practices such as meditation and ritual. These tactics are insufficient on their own, but when included in social movements fighting structural injustices, mind-body practices can start to transform the embodied fears that give supremacist ideologies endless fuel while remaining unaffected by most political actors.
Radical Mindfulness is for academics, activists, and individuals who want to overcome supremacy of all kinds but are struggling to understand and develop methods for attacking it at its roots.
“Ponderosa Pine in a Bed of Granite”: Native Americans used ponderosa pine in a variety of ways: for medicine, food, fiber, a blue dye, and firewood. Pitch and gum concoctions were used for sore eyes, aching backs and as an underarm deodorant. Seeds and inner bark were eaten. The cambium layer can be eaten raw or cooked, and it is best harvested in the spring. It is more often dried, ground into a powder, and either used as a thickener in soups or mixed with flour for making bread, etc. Needles were used in basketry, and wood was used for timber and building materials.
It’s really exciting for me to be able to find connections between psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and my work. I dig deep for them, but when I find them, it’s like a big, bright light illuminating my way. To blend the social sciences and art seems like a stretch, but you’d be surprised how related and relevant it is. It fits well together in the right context.
Reading, writing, and research are what I’m mostly doing over the winter. I will make a few images, but I live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and at almost 9,000 feet above sea level, it gets cold and snowy here. However, we do have some really nice sunny days in between the storms. I’ll try to take advantage of those when I can.
Most of my day is spent writing the text for my book and laying out the chapters for it. I can see it’s going to be a big job organizing the writing. Right now, I have a rough draft of what the direction will be, and I have most of the introduction written. I continue to edit and rewrite my artist’s statement, too. As the project evolves and becomes clearer, I can articulate the main points better. I have a lot of the psychology and philosophical anthropology written. The organization of that will be the big challenge. I don’t want the book to be a non-pharmacological intervention for insomnia. I want it to be easily consumed and understood. A big challenge for sure, but I’m up to it and very excited to do it.
The book, right now, looks like this:
Foreword
Chapter 1: Artist’s Statement
Chapter 2: Introduction
Chapter 3: Death Anxiety
Chapter 4: Terror Management Theory
Chapter 5: The Photographs
Chapter 6: Essays
Afterword
I’m reading and re-reading these books over the winter. These books have taught me so much about psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. They make up the vast majority of references for my book. I highly recommend reading them if you haven’t.
“The Wounded and the Fallen"—Fremont County, Colorado-home of the Tabeguache-Ute people. Whole Plate Palladiotype from a calotype (paper negative).
People wonder why terrible things happen in the world. I’ve had a preoccupation with this question for decades. It’s what made me pick up a camera all those years ago. Why do certain people or certain groups fall victim to horrible events? If you follow what's happening in Ukraine today and in many other parts of the world, you know what I mean. It’s heart-wrenching.
These events can be very personal, or they can be global. They usually deal with the same thing; genocide, ethnocide, loss, tragedy, and injustice. And most of the time, they are about "us" and "them." I would suggest that because we fear death, it is in our nature to always find "the other" to blame, use as a scapegoat, humiliate, demean, and ultimately kill.
And I would argue that “the other" challenges our psychological buffers against existential anxiety; we are left defenseless. This is why we can’t get along with people who are different from us. This is the definition of death anxiety. It’s our inability to psychologically deal with the instinct to stay alive and the knowledge that we’re going to die.
One of the biggest problems is a lack of self-awareness. For most people, death is a vague abstraction that doesn’t pertain to them. William James said, “There’s a panic rumbling beneath the surface of consciousness.” I can see that statement clearly when I look at the history of the world and even current events. I can see it in people and they don’t even recognize it.
Ernest Becker said in his book, Escape from Evil, "In this view, man is an energy-converting organism who must exert his manipulative powers, who must damage his world in some ways, who must make it uncomfortable for others, etc., by his own nature as an active being. He seeks self-expansion from a very uncertain power base. Even if man hurts others, it is because he is weak and afraid, not because he is confident and cruel. Rousseau summed up this point of view with the idea that only the strong person can be ethical, not the weak one."
My photographs are a way of communicating these ideas in more poetic and lyrical ways than words can. They are about ideas and emotions surrounding death anxiety and terror management theory—subtle visual cues that are difficult to describe in words.
This work is about the Tabeguache-Ute people and many other groups throughout history that have been victims of the paradoxical human condition. It’s about their land, their plants and animals, and some of the symbolism and objects they used here. At least, that’s what the images are about on the surface. In reality, they are about the "residue," or what’s left here, visually representing the psychology of the land and objects. Moreover, it's about why it happened. It attempts to answer the big questions surrounding human behavior and "the other." This work is as much about psychology as it is about photography.
The pictures are not a romanticized version of indigenous people. There are no images of people at all in this work. I’ve made a conscious decision not to photograph people. I’m not interested in promoting the white, Eurocentric view of Native Americans. I’m not interested in trying to show their "Indianness." I see this as another way of keeping them victims of the colonial gaze. It’s almost a form of continued ethnic cleansing. There is so much baggage there to unpack, and most people don’t have the skills or knowledge to do it. These kinds of images carry that weight, whether the creator or viewer are aware of it or not.
“When the angel of death sounds his trumpet, the pretenses of civilization are blown from men’s heads into the mud like hats in a gust of wind.” – George Bernard Shaw
“A River of Wood" whole plate (cropped) palladiotype from a wet collodion negative. August, 2022
“If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst.” Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) was a British novelist.
"We discovered that subtle, and even subliminal, reminders of death increase devotion to one’s cultural scheme of things, support for charismatic leaders, confidence in the existence of God, and belief in the efficacy of prayer. They amplify our disdain toward people who do not share our beliefs, even to the point of taking solace in their demise. They drive us to compulsively smoke, drink, eat, and shop. They make us uncomfortable with our bodies and our sexuality. They impel us to drive recklessly and fry ourselves in tanning booths to bolster our self-esteem. They magnify our phobias, obsessions, and social anxieties."
The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life
Terror Management Theory (TMT) was developed in 1986 by social psychologists Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, and Sheldon Solomon based on Ernest Becker’s ideas. They wrote the book, “The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life.” William James wrote in The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) that awareness of our inevitable, unavoidable deaths is the “worm at the core” of human existence and consciousness. Hence the desperate imperative to avoid that awareness – to deny it and to live as if somehow we might be immortal. (Ernest Becker Foundation)
The Terror Management Theory (TMT) is such good empirical evidence for Becker’s theories. It’s solid and repeatable. It answers so many questions about human behavior.
If you pay attention, especially this time of year, you’ll see droves of people with high death anxiety acting out, trying to quell their terror. Death reminders are everywhere. They’re all around us every day. The pandemic alone created daily death reminders. They happen when you see an ambulance or an accident when you're watching the news, or even when you're driving by a funeral home (usually subconsciously). These death reminders have consequences, and most people are unaware of what they’re even doing when they’re buffering their death anxiety. In Kirkegaard’s words, "they tranquilize with the trivial."
How do you communicate these ideas? It’s very difficult. Most people will shrug them off and justify what they’re doing in any way they can, or they’ll deny them completely. Moreover, most couldn’t care less about these theories. Sometimes, I feel like I’m the crazy religious guy standing on the street corner preaching doom and gloom. I’m hoping that my book will change some minds and at least open the door to being interested in what this is all about.
Psychology has persuaded me to think differently about human behavior and the reasons we do what we do. As I go through the process of deconstructing these theories, I find myself less inclined to follow the masses and less interested in activities that are blatantly in place to buffer the terror of death. The life illusions and all of the "vital lies."
As I learn more about human behavior and Becker’s theories, it makes me more compelled to offer these ideas to those who are curious about why they do what they do. These ideas are life-changing. They’ll engage your mind and, eventually, change your behavior. Moreover, you'll start to discover what's really meaningful and what you're truly grateful for.
Being conscious and fully aware of your own death anxiety and the buffers you use will give you a more authentic life. I'm not saying you'll be enlightened or reach Nirvana, but you will reveal your real self to yourself. Socrates said that the true philosopher does nothing but practice dying and being dead. “So, that’s what philosophy is: a practice for death." That brings peace, appreciation for life, gratitude, and humility—things we all need more of in these precarious times.
“Deer Antlers” - Whole Plate Palladiotype from a wet collodion negative. August 3, 2022.
"The tragedy of a species becoming unfit for life by over-evolving one ability is not confined to humankind. Thus it is thought, for instance, that certain deer in paleontological times succumbed as they acquired overly-heavy horns. The mutations must be considered blind, they work, are thrown forth, without any contact of interest with their environment. In depressive states, the mind may be seen in the image of such an antler, in all its fantastic splendour pinning its bearer to the ground.”
This is from Peter Zapffe's famous essay, "The Last Messiah." He argues, as do Becker and others, that the evolution of consciousness created a huge psychological problem for human beings: the knowledge that we're going to die.
In his essay, he argues that the Irish elk deer of the Pleistocene era evolved with antlers that were too big. He equates it to the human brain evolving consciousness and becoming aware that we exist and that we're going to die. He makes the point that these were evolutionary mistakes.
Zapffe was a Norwegian philosopher. He was born in 1899 and died in 1990. His doctoral dissertation was never translated into English but is said to be a great piece of writing on pessimistic philosophy.
The species of deer that Zapffe is referring to is the Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus), which thrived throughout Eurasia during the ecological epoch known as the Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago). The Irish elk had the largest antlers of any known deer, with a maximum span of 3.65 meters (12 feet). Historically, the explanation given for the extinction of the Irish elk was that its antlers grew too large: the animals could no longer hold up their heads or feed properly, and their antlers, according to this explanation, would also get entangled in trees when trying to flee human hunters through forests.
However, according to some researchers, the large antlers of the Irish elk may have had little to do with the extinction of the species. The Irish elk’s antlers did indeed weigh these creatures down, and Zapffe’s analogy is still illuminating in its own right.
A surplus of consciousness and intellect is the default state of affairs for the human species. Unlike the case of the deer that Zapffe alludes to, we have been able to save ourselves from going extinct. Zapffe posits that humans have come to cope and survive by repressing this surplus of consciousness. Without restricting our consciousness, Zapffe believed the human being would fall into "a state of relentless panic" or a ‘feeling of cosmic panic’, as he puts it. This follows a person’s realization that "he is the universe’s helpless captive"; it comes from truly understanding the human predicament. In the 1990 documentary To Be a Human Being, he stated:
"Man is a tragic animal, not because of his smallness, but because he is too well endowed. Man has longings and spiritual demands that reality cannot fulfill. We have expectations of a just and moral world. Man requires meaning in a meaningless world." (Sam Woolfe)
This surplus of consciousness is, in fact, a psychological kick in the groin, no doubt. However, like Becker’s theory shows, and Zapffe alludes to, we repress it; we bury it deep in our subconscious. And we use our illusions (cultural worldviews) to keep it there and make day-to-day life bearable.
“Rocky Mountain Cotton Grass"—a bleached cyanotype on waxed vellum paper.
Ernest Becker said, “The last thing a man can admit to himself is that his life-ways are arbitrary: This is one of the reasons that people often show derisive glee and scorn over the strange customs of other lands—it is a defense against the awareness that his own way of life may be just as fundamentally contrived as any other. One culture is always a potential menace to another because it is a living example that life can go on heroically with a value framework totally alien to one’s own.” (The Denial of Death)
What is Becker saying? I would sum it up like this: We have our own cultural worldviews, things we collectively believe in that sustain us and stave off death anxiety. When we see “the other"—other cultures or ways of being—it threatens our own. That threat creates doubt, and that doubt awakens death anxiety.
That’s why it’s so important to recognize the aggression you feel toward people who are different. This is the birthplace of those emotions. When I talk about these theories being critical, this is one that is at the top, or near the top, of the list. It’s vital to be conscious of our death anxiety and how we manage it.
“Uprooted-Colorado Fern”—a whole plate, palladium-toned, photogenic drawing on waxed vellum paper.
I recently watched a documentary on Yayoi Kusama. It’s called “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity.” She’s a Japanese artist. She’s a painter, sculptor, and multimedia artist.
She was flying over the ocean and looking out of the window at the light hitting the water. That really inspired her, and she started making paintings that reflected that (no pun intended). She was addressing the idea of “infinity.” I mentioned Turtles All The Way Down a few days ago; it’s about infinite regress or infinity too. This is a wonderful theme to work with and think about.
The real message of the film was about discrimination and othering. She was female and Japanese in the 1960s and 70s, and the (white) American art world basically rejected her. Well-known artists stole her ideas and used them. They were recognized while she was ignored. She struggled with mental illness too—some parts of her life seemed very difficult. It was a moving piece of work. Another case of belittling and denigrating “the other” because of death anxiety.
I mention this film because I see the same pattern in these waxed vellum photogenic drawings as she painted. The background of these prints reflects light the same way water does. I think it’s beautiful. And I love the idea of infinity. Look at her early paintings (from the 1960s) and you’ll see what I mean.
"An essential element of any art is risk. If you don't take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful that hasn't been seen before?"- Francis Ford Coppola, interview in 99u, 2011
ERNEST BECKER: ESCAPE FROM EVIL
Immortality and the pursuit of a perfect world. According to Becker, the majority of the bad things that people do—to both other people and the earth—are motivated by these aspirations. Starting with hunter-gatherer man, Becker illustrates how the notions of sacrifice and scapegoating were utilized in pre-civilized civilizations to try to please the gods. These were the first attempts by man to manipulate nature and force it to perform what man desired. Some would eventually assume the position of chief or shaman and serve as the intermediary for the people to seek the god's favor.
From ancient shamans and chiefs; kingship, religious states, and eventually money, all took turns in being in the service of man's attempts to fend off death. Becker looks at genocide as the technological amplification of ancient scapegoating--sacrificing the lives of some to appease the gods. He elaborates on how modern society still clings to those who they see as heroes to save them from their fears and the threats of death.
In the leading paragraph of his conclusion, Becker summarizes his points most succinctly.
"If I wanted to give in weakly to the most utopian fantasy I know, it would be one that pictures a world-scientific body composed of leading minds in all fields, working under an agreed general theory of human unhappiness. They would reveal to mankind the reasons for its self-created unhappiness and self-induced defeat; they would explain how each society is a hero system that embodies in itself a dramatization of power and expiation; how this is at once its peculiar beauty and its destructive demonism; how men defeat themselves by trying to bring absolute purity and goodness into the world. They would argue and propagandize for the nonabsoluteness of the many different hero systems in the family of nations and make public a continuing assessment of the costs of mankind's impossible aims and paradoxes: how a given society is trying too hard to get rid of guilt and the terror of death by laying its trip on a neighbor. Then men might struggle, even in anguish, to come to terms with themselves and their world."
When Becker speaks of expiation, he is speaking of the guilt that he believes many feel for the very act of existence. He argues throughout the book that people have sought to alleviate this guilt in many ways, through blood sacrifices, scapegoating, and projection. Becker argues that men do not kill out of hate, but out of heroic bloodlust. It is because men kill with lust that he believes the evil that men do is less likely to be corrected.
EVIL IS A VICIOUS CIRCLE: RID THE WORLD OF EVIL WITH EVIL?
It's because humans cannot accept their animal nature, their insignificance, and oblivion after death that so much evil comes into the world. As he says, "man is not human." Examine the war on drugs, its desire to create a utopian society with no perceived weakness through reliance on substances, and its subsequent effects. It has left a wake of shattered lives, and no progress has been made at all.
Consider the appeal of Trump, a man who truly embodies the hero system Becker wrote about in his book. As the hero for the downtrodden in America, Trump represents a strongman who can vanquish evil from the land. With his demonization of outsiders and reckless promises, we see parallels to when Becker wrote about the need to "fetishize evil," to locate the threat to life in some special places where it can be placated and controlled. Trump believes evil is in the Mexicans, the Muslims, Hillary Clinton, and the media. Trump’s supporters feel that now evil can be located, named, and vanquished. And Trump is the hero to do it. Becker's book, written before his death in 1974, argues that it's this very process that results in most of the evil in the world.
"Men defeat themselves by trying to bring absolute purity and goodness into the world." This can be leveled as criticism of the left as well: their purity tests, thought policing, and other extreme measures are being used in the service of purity and goodness. The left has killed millions in the past to achieve these ideological aims, and no doubt they will again. No matter which side you look at, when people take violence into their hands "to make the world a better place," they will continue to perpetuate the evil they claim to be eliminating.” (from Ian Felton’s book review).
“Uprooted-Colorado Fern”—a whole plate, palladium-toned, photogenic drawing on waxed vellum paper.
“Uprooted-Colorado Fern”—a cyanotype photogram.
“Uprooted-Colorado Fern”—a cyanotype photogram.
Mockup idea #1.
“What you’re trying to create is a certain kind of indispensable presence, where your position in the narrative is not contingent on whether somebody likes you, or somebody knows you, or somebody’s a friend, or somebody’s being generous to you.”- Kerry James Marshall, NPR News, 2017
THE BOOK
I’ve decided to publish a book on this work. The title and subtitle will read, "In the Shadow of Sun Mountain – The Psychology of "Othering." That’s probably not a surprise to a lot of you, but I wanted to share the news.
This will be one way of putting the work out there. There will be other projects to accomplish this as well. Since most people will never see the work in person (an exhibition), and since the book will have more images than an exhibition, this is the most efficient way to get these images and ideas to the masses or the few that are interested in it. And there will be a substantial amount of writing that I could never get to communicate in a gallery setting. If people take the time to read it, they will really understand what I’m trying to do with the work.
I’m not sure when this will be published. It will probably be at the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024. It will be a hardcover and, so far, it looks to be about 200+ pages. Quite the tome for a “photobook.” It’s not really just a photobook, though. I want to transcend that a bit and give some in-depth reasoning, philosophy, and “behind-the-scenes” stories about the work. I’m leaning heavily on Becker and Solomon for this. It will be scholarly in that sense, for sure.
The book will concentrate on the history of "othering" but will also shed light on current events. Humans simply repeat history. The images are cradled in the lives of the Ute-Tabeguache of Colorado—my home. But the concept will go even beyond that. It will be broken down into four sections; the introduction and artist’s statement; landscapes, flora, and fauna; objects, and symbols. The book will have between 15 and 20 essays on various topics related to history, psychology, and my experience making the work. I’m repurposing some of the writing that I’ve published here. The essays will be edited and polished up a bit for the book.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF “OTHERING”
I’ve always had a preoccupation with the psychology of "othering." I’ve been talking about it and asking questions about marginalized communities and our treatment of them for over two decades, maybe even longer. I’ve made several bodies of photographic work on this topic too.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve wondered why people group up and make everything "us and them." They will argue and fight about anything and everything. And I mean everything; sports teams, geography, professions, politics, Facebook groups, religion, gender, etcetera.
I’m guilty of it too. I feel the feelings and think the thoughts like everyone else. I suppose the difference is that I realize when I’m doing it and I’ve never taken it to extremes—at least I hope I haven’t.
I've always been aware of my thoughts about differences. I believe that’s where my questions originated. I’m always willing to have a rational and reasonable discussion about them, whether they’re real or perceived. I don’t think we can ever not have these feelings and thoughts; we’re built this way. It’s baked into our death anxiety condition—and it’s a powerful buffer we cling to for security and self-esteem.
That’s why Ernest Becker’s writing is so potent for me. He was able to answer questions that I’d been struggling with for 30 years or longer. He clearly laid out the human condition, and there’s not much room for argument. His theories are solid. Sheldon Solomon and his crew put his theories to the test—the literal test. And they panned out. Read “The Worm At The Core: The Role Of Death In Life” it will make you a believer. It is what it is, whether we like it or not, understand it or not, or agree with it or not. That’s where we are.
His books have had such an influence on me; it’s really pushed my (photographic) work in a different direction. I’m primarily a portrait photographer and artist. I would normally have people in front of my camera. Not anymore. Based on his theories of the denial of death, Becker gave me insight into making work that was both abstract and impactful, sitting together with these ideas. If you look through the work and study it, you’ll find what I’m talking about. For me, it’s Becker’s theories visualized.
The big problems come when people rationalize their "othering"—they justify it and not only make it okay, they think it’s their "duty to stand up for what’s right." I’m sure you’ve seen examples of this recently. I could list several just in the past week alone, everything from mass shootings to anti-mask people freaking out at school board meetings and many more.
It’s beyond worrisome at this point. When I feel emotional about it, I simply refer to Becker’s words. I understand why it’s happening, and that seems to calm me down. Knowledge is power. Plato said, "The true lover of knowledge naturally strives for truth and is not content with common opinion, but soars with undimmed and unwearied passion till he grasps the essential nature of things." That’s always been my goal, especially now.
My book will be a story of "othering." A specific story about the Ute/Tabeguache that once lived where I live now. It will be an artistic and psychological trip into the “why.” It will explain, as best I can translate, Becker and Solomon's reasons behind the genocide of Indigenous peoples. I see the pictures as the residue, if you will, or reminders of the past. For me, they hold both the beauty and the tragedy of the people and the place. I hope they will evoke emotions and feelings in the viewer. And I hope the written portion gives some answers or explanations about all of it, past and present.
At the end of the day, my goal is to add to the long list of people who have tried to shed light on human behavior, to make people aware of the unconscious, and to plead for change—real personal change. One of Becker’s hopes was that everyone understood his theories. Just the fact of knowing about this can help bring about change—one person at a time. I know this is too much to ask. It's not realistic. But I can still hope.
I’ll close this essay with some positive words. And maybe, in some abstract way, some answers to the mortality salience problem—the death anxiety problem.
Every day, I try my best to do the following: Be grateful for everything. Be happy to be alive. Be in awe of life—of living and of nature. And try to be humble. Not in a self-deprecating way, but in a modest, unpretentious, unassuming way. Share the good things that you have to offer the world. And find meaning and significance in the things you love to do.
These are big asks in our world of social media (siloed lives), our drive for wealth and fame, and our desire to “stand out” and compete with the world. I’ve heard Sheldon Solomon recommend pursuing noble attributes (previous paragraph). They may bring some relief to your existential crisis, and your death anxiety.
Mockup idea #2
Mockup idea #3:
I’m thrilled with this picture (a photogenic drawing of pigweed). When I saw it after I pulled the plant from the paper, I was beside myself. It reminds me of this song I recently heard. It’s called “Turtles All The Way Down,” by Sturgill Simpson. I listen to a wide variety of music; no genre is off-limits to me. As far as country music goes, normally I would go for the older stuff like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Geoge Jones, Tammy Wynette, etc.
Lately, I’ve been listening to him (Sturgill Simpson), and I like a lot of his music. He’s a great storyteller. I couldn’t believe the lyrics when I first heard the song (“Turtles All The Way Down”). He talks about psychedelics and how they’ve changed him. And he comes down hard on organized religion. I’m familiar with the Bertrand Russell story of turtles all the way down and have read Stephen Hawking’s book, “A Brief History of Time,” where he tells that story as a rebuttal to the existence of God. It’s really about infinite regress. But I digress. I’ll write an essay about it. I think people might find it interesting. This image reminds me of these lyrics in the song:
“I've seen Jesus play with flames
In a lake of fire that I was standing in….
There's a gateway in our minds
That leads somewhere out there, far beyond this plane
Where reptile aliens made of light
Cut you open and pull out all your pain..,”