René Magritte, "Clear Ideas" (1958)

"Leap into the Great Dark" (1995)

Description: René Magritte's surreal painting "Clear Ideas" (1958) is one of my favorite paintings. I like the idea and image of the rock suspended in space between the cumulus cloud and the sea. The solid rock should sink into the waters. But here it is magically uplifted in the air. In her first Stanford Poetry Workshop (1-27-2010), Poet Laureate Kay Ryan asked the students to introduce themselves. When I told her to call me "Peter Rabbit", she said "You're Peter the Rock". I'm trying to live up to that noble calling (Matthew 16:18-19) and am using it as the title of this web page. In May 1995's Adobe Photoshop 3.0 class, we were told to make a montage from 5 images. Took a photo of myself meditating on top of Mt. Lao in Italy, cropped my image and poured a wall of rocks into me. Placed the Orion Horse Nebula in my hand, and the winged horse Pegasus (symbol of poetry) leaping across the galaxy. Gave the title "Leaping into the Great Dark" to symbolize the mystery of creation and the adventure of exploration.

Video on a Hobby (Enlightenment): Bill Moyer's interviews with Joseph Campbell: BILL MOYERS: Slay that dragon in me? What's the journey I have to make, you have to make, each of us has to make? You talk about something called the soul's high adventure. JOSEPH CAMPBELL: My general formula for my students is, follow your bliss, I mean, find where it is, and don't be afraid to follow it. BILL MOYERS: Can my bliss be my life's love, or my life's work? JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Well, it will be your life.

Video: Swami Chinmayananda on Awakening: Hubert Jessup: WCVB "New Heaven, New Earth" interviews Swamiji Chinmayananda (1974): Chinmayananda answers questions on God, Realisation, Meditation & Life. Realising God is rediscovering one's nature. Using example of a bud transforming into a flower and then to a fruit, he indicates the need to transcend the mind and intellect. Chinmayananda's message to students is "Shut up! and Get out!" Many will be offended, but Swami says "Shut up your noisy intellect in silent meditation. Get out of your little egocentric desires to experience your Higher Cosmic Self." I attended over 100 lectures by Chinmayananda on the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads in Boston. He told me Jessup's interview was the best he had.

Web Link to Favorite Site (Music): KDFC 104.9 FM: Classical Music: I wake up each day listening to KDFC Radio's Classical Music. Often I'll bookmark favorite pieces in my haikus (see below). If I miss the composer or player, their Playlist will supply the references, including link to CD to purchase the music. I like to link to YouTube listening to the music as well as watching other conductors and performers. There is not a nice recording of Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. He has been Director of Los Angeles Phiharmonic (since 2009) & talks about his performance at Hollywood Bowl. Links to four conductors of Beethoven's 5th Symphony below.

Poll (10-2-2020), 12,000 listeners voted for Top 250 Classical Music— 1. Beethoven: Symphony #9; 2. Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue; 3. Dvorak: Symphony #9; 4. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #2; 5. Beethoven: Symphony #6; 6. Beethoven: Symphony #7; 7. Beethoven: Piano Concerto #5; 8. Beethoven: Symphony #5; 9. Mozart: Requiem; 10. Ralph Vaughan Williams:       The Lark Ascending.

Sample Haiku after listening to KDFC music: Wednesday, January 8, 2020, 7:14-7:23 am KDFC: 104.9 FM: Gustavo Dudamel conducts Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela to Beethoven's Symphony #5 in c Op. 67 (1851); CD; (YouTube: Herbert Blomstedt, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Arturo Toscanini) After my dream of January 4— more urgent to listen to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony's "dun dun dun DUN!" to wake up! wake up!