Welcome to an exploration of an integral life. Frozen Truth is written by Apollo Lemmon and is focused on discovering what it means to live a life rooted in integral consciousness. Spirituality, art, community, technology, fitness and other aspects of a fully engaged life are explored here.
I am now a mad hatter goth scarecrow! This week I received the first hat that I actually enjoy wearing; It’s a black paper panama made with Japanese toyo paper. As you can see, it’s so very perfect for my look. I enjoy wearing it around for the black scarecrow look and it’s also rather practical for keeping rain and sun out of my eyes. With my favourite glasses now in pieces that’s important.
Tuesday night April and I hosted a roaring success of a murder mystery night. Nathan, Andrew, Allison, Sara, Jana, Gwen and Robin all showed up in fancy dress and ready to play some rather amusing characters. I was playing an oil baron from Texas, which was quite a stretch. After the case was solved, we dove into food, continued with drink and began a truth or dare session that involved me locking lips with Gwen (was rather nice, actually), Nathan kissing my chin and Sara mooning my poor, unaware neighbours. It was good times, for sure. We’re hoping to make it a regular gathering, something I’m looking forward to.
It looks like K-Os will be co-headlining Evolve this year. I’m tempted to head on out to Antigonish just for that performance alone. Turns out K-Os is a vegetarian as well.
I’m wrapping up the last few hours before three days off from work. I’m looking forward to some time spent on the site redesign and a fancy dress board game party. It may involve corsets, so that’s especially exciting. Can’t you imagine how great I’ll look in one? Guests are still up in the air, so let me know if you’re available for either Monday or Tuesday.
Yesterday I got together with Sara, Jana, her friend Gwen and April at the mall near my home. It was nice to get out, eat candy and be social before work, especially with such a fine group. I swear I’ve been more social this past month than any in the past year. It’s a nice change from my hermit-like old ways.
What is the sound
of one hand slapping
your face
before your parents were born?
This week I received my copy of Stuart Davis‘ new album, ?What and haven’t been able to stop listening to it. Stuart is one of the finest song-writers out there, and incredibly fun to listen to, so I expected to be knocked off my feet. I was, and my head still rings from hitting the wall. I love this album, just as I love Bell, his previous release, because of his songcraft, wit, humour and overall presentation. An attack on rotten things like mythic silliness (“I am an antidote to New Age philosophy; I am epicac to this mythic caprophogy” in “Easter”), martyrdom, suicide, humourlessness, and division from divinity now and then add to the draw it has. Saul Williams’ contributions of a poem and backing on “Easter” are also highlights. Stuart is fantastic, a punk monk out to get people climbing up the spiral with some Dharma Pop.
I’ve been using April’s Nintendo DS and Brain Age. I’ve enjoyed both quite a lot and am looking forward to picking up a DSLite and the new Opera web browser for it. You’ll see me blogging everywhere then. Or at least playing some Metroid on the bus. Nintendo is impressing me tremendously and is bringing me back to being interested in owning a gaming system for the first time since I was a kid. Oh, and my brain age is now down to 33 and is undergoing a steady decline.
P.S. “Easter” may very well be my favourite song. Lyrical brilliance!
Somebody slap me
I can’t stop laughing
Suicide is back in fashion
All ascenders end up sinking
makes Love wonder
what fear’s thinking
Two crows
sit at your window
keeping a vigil over your widow
Two coins
drop in a casket
over your sockets
(bury that bastard)
As I’m waiting for my three cheese, tomato and red pepper pasta to be ready to eat, I suppose I should take the time to make an update. Just so you know, the pasta is smelling delicious. Tomato and red pepper soup adds punch to everything I’ve tried it with. Perogies were delicious with it as a sauce.
Speaking of good foods, I had a wonderful Indian meal at Multifest this past weekend. Multifest is Nova Scotia’s premiere multicultural festival and is held at Alderney Landing on the Dartmouth waterfront, meaning I had to take the ferry across the harbour for the first time in years, an overall pleasant experience.
I headed over with April, Sara and a couple of Sara’s friends I hadn’t met before. The fest was crowded and a bit overwhelming. Orange-robed Buddhist monks mingled in the crowd while a wide assortment of musical acts graced us with aural treats. Tents dedicated to a world of foods and cultural experiences dazled us with an impressive array of the world’s delights. It was a genuinely heartwarming, stomach-pleasing, ear-soothing, eye-catching affair. How have I been missing this most years? No more.
One amusing moment was Sara and I trying on Jamaican headdresses, as you can see in the image with this entry. The poor girl looking after that display must have thought us all insane, but it was good fun. Are we badass and totally hot? Absoluely.
My Threadless shirt arrived today and I had to show it off, of course. The design is just as sharp in the thread as on the site and I’m once again a happy customer.
A long while ago I submitted a entry to 25 Peeps, a site featuring photos of 25 bloggers at a time. Photos remain if they generate enough traffic to not fall to the bottom of the ranking. If you could do me the favour of clicking for me, I’d very much appreciate it (I’m the fellow with a blue hat and long red hair).
Thugs make me laugh, even as they posture and threaten me. Egocentrism combined with slow wits makes for laughs all around. Today I was downtown and crossing at a clearly marked crosswalk as I went from the library to a magazine shop to buy the new issue of What Is Enlightenment? (get the irony?) when a car squeeled to a stop. A would-be gangster yelled, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
I laughed loudly at the fellow and continued to cross as I should. “What you laughing at hippie?” came the angry yell. April and I walked on and the raging kid tried to get out of his car, only to have locked himself in. “You think this is funny, boy?” he boomed as I continued to walk on and chuckle.
“It’s a cross walk!” I called back, noticing he had finally figured out how to leave his car, which was parked in the middle of a busy street, holding up traffic. He was soon lost behind, but the laughs at his expense continued.
I can’t help but feel compassion for him, as angry and unhealthy as he was. I may not remember what it was like to be at that stage of development, but we were all there at one time and that’s important to remember. Did my laughter help, hinder or have no impact at all on him? I can’t rightly say, but I imagine it’s a better reaction than most others I could have chosen.
Last night I watched Lord Love a Duck with April. I have to admit that I’m still smitten with Tuesday Weld.
“I <3 Integral,” as the netspeaking kids would type. At least those kids into Integral would.
I’m happy to now be a sponsor member of Integral Institute, the organization doing the most to unfold integral consciousness and unleash “a force for greater wholeness, excellence, beauty, brilliance, and compassion in the world.” I’ve been consistantly impressed by the work I-I does to promote integral and benefit the world. I am overjoyed to lend whatever resources I can to that work. The subscriptions to Integral Naked and Integral Spiritual Center and an I-I sticker to cover a glaring scratch on my laptop are wonderful bonuses to supporting the avant garde of our evolution.
The integral vision has become a key factor in all aspects of my life, as those of you who have witnessed me since I first discovered Ken’s writings have surely noticed. At the very least some of you have suffered through ramblings on the integral framework. I can’t recommend becoming immersed in integral enough; Doing so has sparked the most powerful transformations I can recall experiencing.
I’ve been lax in my ILP (Integral Life Practice) lately, something I very much want to change. One vital aspect of an ILP is shadow work, integration of hidden aspects of ourselves and I’ve been moved recently to make attention to that a priority. What reminded me of the importance of shadow work is Ken Wilber’s recent “Shadow Series” blogging. He has issued a challenge to us all to begin exploring and embracing our shadows so that our work, interactions and overall living can be more authentic and healthy.
I intend to make my blogging a genuine part of my ILP from now on. My delayed relaunch will be a symbolic step toward that, I feel. Another small death in a long string of them. I’ll be doing some diving in the shadows for starters. I know I have need of addressing them. ~C4Chaos is one beacon of integral blogging that I’ve been enjoying keeping up with. His “Blogging with Passion and Compassion” is a succinct expression of what blogging from an intergral level can be.
Blogging is a super-power more powerful than a speeding bullet. Healthy bloggers understand the powers and responsibilities that come with blogging. This makes “collective blogging” a “force” to reckon with. Collective blogging shakes institutions, businesses, governments, religions, and traditional media.
Healthy bloggers are not confined to cyberspace; linking also occurs in meatspace. Bloggers who share the same passions and concerns schedule group activities, conferences, and implement their ideas in the “real” world. They understand that cyberspace, no matter how cool, fluid, and timeless, is just another domain of existence. Until technology enables our senses and consciousness to roam in cyberspace, flesh and blood is still the way to go.
…
Integrally-informed or not, healthy or not, with or without compassion, blogging touches all dimensions of the 4Q. My only hope is that bloggers do their blogging, with passion and compassion, so that in time, their egos would transcend and include even infinity itself. This is the essence of integral. The rest are just details.
This article is a reminder for me of the direction I want to take my work in and of the deepest hopes I have for the medium of blogging. At some point it became unconscionable to not use this tool responsibly and I have to work toward making that a reality. Thanks for the reminder ~C4Chaos!
Last year I wrote of Marion Raven’s solo album, and how much I had been anticipating the release of music from Marit Larsen, who had been the other half of the duo M2M (and who I must admit having a crush on for some time). I was blown away with this album, even though I had anticipated a leap. Under The Surface is one of the most surprising albums I’ve encountered this year, a vulnerable, joyful, beautiful and devious masterpiece. The overall feeling I had once I finished listening the first time and each listen after was that this is something terribly fresh and exciting in the pop landscape. The authenticity, skillfulness and pure joy of this album will be keeping it playing in my head for a long time to come.
This Friday I’ll have the honour of seeing Buck 65 et Le Film Noir with Matt Mays & El Torpedo at The Seahorse Tavern, a very small venue. It has been a long while since I last saw either artist, so I’m thrilled to have the chance to see them in a couple days.
On Sunday Buck 65 was honoured with the keys to his home community of Mt. Uniacke, a well-deserved recognition of the fine work he has done to give that community and all of Nova Scotia a gravelly voice in the world.
Family, friends and fans all turned out to meet the Paris-based performer and see him receive a ceremonial key to the community as well as the unveiling of a new road sign proclaiming Mount Uniacke as The Home of Buck 65.
It was certainly a flashback moment as members of the community remembered Mr. Terfry’s childhood years in Mount Uniacke and praised him for spreading the town’s name worldwide.
He even includes it on his concert tour merchandise, as noted by Warner Music Canada representative Wendy Salsman, sporting a baseball T-shirt.
“Kids in London, Paris and Berlin are wearing T-shirts that say Buck 65 on the back, but also Mount Uniacke on the front,” she said.
I’ve been a fan for years, so it’s a joy to see such deserved attention paid to Buck 65 and his music.
And speaking of Buck’s music, he recently released a beautifully scrappy album by the name of Strong Arm for free download on his website.
Strong Arm is a “mixtape” in the New York-style underground hip hop sense of the word… with a
twist. None of the instrumentals are from hip hop records. The music comes from the worlds of
punk, classical, folk, library music, everywhere else.
It reminds me of a melding of the quickness of Vertex (his first release) and the evolutionary bits we’ve seen on recent albums like Secret House Against the World. It’s free so you’d be wise to go listen. You don’t want to miss “What Grace Means” or “Fuck Off Satan”.
This entry is music focused, so I’ll see if I can mention some other gems that have been keeping my eardrums vibrating divinely. Susana introduced me to Ensamble Galileo recently and the album she sent has been playing often as I move around the city. I’ve been playing everything I have by David Usher and his former band Moist a lot these past couple weeks; he’s one artist I’ve overlooked far too often. I’m eagerly awaiting albums from Stuart Davis and Emilie Autumn to arrive in my mail box.
29.06.06 
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