What are you listening to?

Okay, so I don’t know how many Rush fans are here, but bear with me for a minute. One of my favorite albums is Hemispheres. The title track(s) consist of a suite built around a metaphor for the two sides of the human brain, in this case represented as Apollo and Dionysus, and their separation, ensuing battle, and finally finding balance. The reason I’m sharing this here is that, having not listened to it for many years, I never considered it in the context of The Wave, particularly the chapter of Dorothy and Oz. How we became separated, the ridge on our skulls, opening the box, through the looking glass, etc. So when thinking about receivership, antennae, DNA, the information field, etc, I looked at the lyrics from a new perspective. So I’ve decided to post them here so anyone interested might read them and maybe see where I’m going with this.😄 Maybe share your thoughts as well.

Hemispheres by Neil Peart

I. Prelude
When our weary world was young
The struggle of the ancients first began.
The gods of Love and Reason
Sought alone to rule the fate of Man.
They battled through the ages,
But still neither force would yield.
The people were divided,
Every soul a battlefield.

II. Apollo Bringer of Wisdom
"I bring truth and understanding,
I bring wit and wisdom fair,
Precious gifts beyond compare.
We can build a world of wonder,
I can make you all aware.
I will find you food and shelter,
Show you fire to keep you warm
Through the endless winter storm.
You can live in grace and comfort
In the world that you transform."
The people were delighted
Coming forth to claim their prize
They ran to build their cities
And converse among the wise.
But one day the streets fell silent,
Yet they knew not what was wrong.
The urge to build these fine things
Seemed not to be so strong.
The wise men were consulted,
And the Bridge of Death was crossed
In quest of Dionysus,
To find out what they had lost.

III. Dionysus Bringer of Love
"I bring love to give you solace
In the darkness of the night,
In the Heart's eternal light.
You need only trust your feelings;
Only love can steer you right.
I bring laughter, I bring music,
I bring joy and I bring tears.
I will soothe your primal fears.
Throw off those chains of reason
And your prison disappears."
The cities were abandoned,
And the forests echoed song.
They danced and lived as brothers;
They knew love could not be wrong.
Food and wine they had aplenty
And they slept beneath the stars.
The people were contented
And the Gods watched from afar.
But the winter fell upon them
And it caught them unprepared,
Bringing wolves and cold starvation,
And the hearts of men despaired.

IV. Armageddon The Battle of Heart and Mind
The Universe divided
As the Heart and Mind collided,
With the people left unguided
For so many troubled years.
In a cloud of doubts and fears,
Their world was torn asunder into hollow Hemispheres.
Some fought themselves, some fought each other.
Most just followed one another,
Lost and aimless like their brothers,
For their hearts were so unclear,
And the truth could not appear.
Their spirits were divided into blinded Hemispheres.
Some who did not fight
Brought tales of old to light.
My Rocinante' sailed by night
On her final flight.
To the heart of Cygnus' fearsome force
We set our course.
Spiralled through that timeless space
To this immortal place.

V. Cygnus Bringer of Balance
I have memory and awareness,
But I have no shape or form.
As a disembodied spirit,
I am dead and yet unborn.
I have passed into Olympus
As was told in tales of old,
To the city of Immortals,
Marble white and purest gold.
I see the gods in battle rage on high
Thunderbolts across the sky.
I cannot move, I cannot hide,
I feel a silent scream begin inside.
Then all at once the chaos ceased.
A stillness fell, a sudden peace.
The warriors felt my silent cry
And stayed their struggle, mystified.
Apollo was atonished;
Dionysus thought me mad.
But they heard my story further,
And they wondered, and were sad.
Looking down from Olympus
On a world of doubt and fear,
Its surface splintered
Into sorry Hemispheres.
They sat a while in silence,
Then they turned at last to me.
"We will call you Cygnus,
The god of Balance you shall be."

VI. The Sphere A Kind of Dream
We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same.
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim.
Let the truth of love be lighted,
Let the love of truth shine clear.
Sensibility, armed with sense and liberty,
With the Heart and Mind united in a single perfect Sphere.

 
I should’ve added to the above that the “bringer of balance” is called Cygnus, which is (depending on the mythology) both Zeus as Leda the Swan, also Neptune, but also a callback to Rush’s previous album which has a song called Cygnus X-1, which is about being drawn into a black hole. So you have annihilation in a singularity. Also in Hindu mythology Cygnus is Brahmamuhurta, “the moment of the universe.” And what is at the center of a nuclear explosion? So you have Armageddon and the moment of creation as the point of unification of the two spheres of the brain. It’s entirely possible (if not likely) that I’ve confabulated a giant mess out of poorly connected dots, but that’s what has come out the other end. Make of it what you will, or dismantle it entirely. Be my guest!😄
 
Mahavishnu Orchestra, Vital Transformation. Really tight funky jazz rock. The keyboardist Jan Hammer gave a lot to this band in subtle ways, but the band was essentially a vehicle for guitarist John McLaughlin's creative aspirations. The drumming too, Billy Cobham is just insanely good. It took me till my 30s to appreciate music like this.

 
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