li[f]e.

please, if you have a moment... watch me.

 well, what do you think? it's a man named sage francis (clearly), and his song "the best of times" (obviously!) from his new album li(f)e, which represents "life is just a lie, with an 'f' in it," a thought provoking lyric excerpt from his song "the cure" off the album hope, released by non-prophets (sage w/ joe beats) in 2003.

if you have never heard the words of sage francis, i highly suggest you set out to do so, and since you're here i thought i might help with a little introduction. as a solo artist, sage has but four studio albums, each of which is a near perfect exhibition of both the musical and personal evolution of a single, concerned and actively intelligent man, and his perception of the world around him. starting with his album personal journals (2002), featuring songs like "broken wings" and "crack pipes," sage shares intimate experiences with his listener, serenading the pain we all feel in life's tragedies with beautiful words and melodies that ease the discomfort of emotional, or physical trauma through the power of empathy.

sage then followed this debut masterpiece with, a healthy distrust (2005). on this second album, ripe with tracks like "sea lion," "escape artist" and "slow down gandhi," sage shifts away from the personal strife of existence, and takes aim at the ignorance, delusions and hypocrisy passed on to developing young minds from those expected to set examples, and shape the world.

before i continue, i would like to admit that sage's third studio album human the death dance (2007), is one i have heard very little from, and what i have listen to has only been in passing. however, if songs like "water line" and "civil obedience" are any indication, i would guess the entire composition is, at the very least, on par with sage's previous well crafted, well written and well intentioned works. and i'm sure, like the others, it follows the uncanny evolution of an individual's desire to create, contrasted by an understanding of impermanence.

and now we've reached sage's latest album, the one i wrote of in my first paragraph, li(f)e (2010). at the end of last month, i was finally fortunate enough to attend a show at the biltmore featuring sage (w/ free moral agents), and his hip-hop-poet counterpart, b. dolan. it was truly amazing and inspiring, and something i hope to experience again very soon. sage had never played vancouver before, so the audience was treated to a collection of songs ranging his entire career, finding a near perfect balance of fan-favourites and brand new material, which live audiences generally seem to disprove of. not on this occasion tho. by the end of the night i could see no faces of disappointment, no whispers of discontent, and no sign of disapproval. sage's words have always seemed to have a way of making everyone who hears them open, content and aware, but having witnessed the spectacle of his performance, i realize now that it is not simply the words, but the man behind them that accomplishes such collective unification.

environments.

recently one of my very dear friends informed me of her inspiration to create an independent zine, focused on the local scenes in and around the okanagan area of british columbia. having just relocated there to pursue an education in all things audio, she quickly recognized an absence of the local youth and/or counter-culture publications that one finds in a metropolis, which aim to connect, inform and showcase artists, musicians, writers, film makers and progressive thinkers, young and old. she also asked if i wouldn't mind her cherry-picking from my posts, which of course, i wouldn't. so if you happen to be reading this as you sip coffee on a park bench in kelowna, then she clearly has succeeded, and i can consider myself a published writer (...a man can dream). in addition to unfettered access to my blog, she wondered if i might type an article focused on the environment, hence the title. but this is a request to which my reply may not meet an acceptably "green" frame of reference. she knows this, and i don't plan to disappoint.


while i am all for sustainable energy, clean production and recycling, and generally better preservation of earth, a slight difference in interpretation of the word environmentalism, tends to set my perspective worlds apart from the modern planet-saver. the difference, for those of you unfamiliar with my previous online rants, is that while most of my peers strive to save our planet, i choose to acknowledge the very long term futility in this endeavour, hoping instead that our strange species continues to evolve and explore beyond our natal, terra firma. but to do so, we will need to reach a working understanding of the environments that allow us a continued existence; a harmony of all possible knowledge within the probable (and necessary) constructs of biological, chemical, physical, and possible dimensions in existence. suffice to say, this may take us awhile, and it's unlikely to ever happen if our current way of living is left to run its course. this ecosystem we rely on does not take "accidents" like oil spills that are allowed to bleed for sixty days, lightly. in fact, every horrendous act committed by civilized humans, has been an attack on the very ground that offers us sanctuary. don't be fooled though, earth has a way of shrugging that dirt off its shoulder. it also has a hell of a lot bigger things to worry about, roaming through a vast chaotic vacuum, hanging in the delicate balance of an orbit that depends on the stability and particular mass of our beloved star, in a galaxy whirling through an ever expansive, almost impossible spanning of space. to use more of jay-z's colourful lyricism, earth's got ninety-nine problems, but we ain't one. (hit me!)


but should the earth again become volatile, and possibly uninhabitable, we would most definitely have a problem. and so, we need to focus on and explore the wonderful elements that create environments which sustain life, and there is currently no other evidence of these miraculous circumstances, nowhere else we would better learn from. there is also nowhere else with resources we can obtain and utilize, and there is a limited amount of those on our humble home. obviously we need to be smart about this, and awareness is imperative to our situation. immediate changes need to made, changes to both our energy and fuel sources, as well as consumption. petroleum products have long since outlived their necessity, and the continued use of these detrimental resources, while proven alternatives such as solar, wind and wave remain grossly overlooked and brushed aside by an insane majority, illustrates how commonplace our unwillingness to demand the absolute best quality of life for ourselves and future generations, has become. we placidly accept bogus ideas like, "this is how life works," or "it's god's will," without stopping for a moment to think for ourselves and realize that all of this is truly what each of us makes it. from the individual's own day-to-day lifetime, to the entire history of our conscious and civilized species, nearly everything we consider integral and vital to our existence has been a direct result of human's overwhelmingly creative imagination. but the core to our desire of creation has been replaced by the lust for consumption, and a longing for complacent comfort, rendering our willpower ignored and essentially left for dead.


every generation of the modern era has faced a reoccurring dilemma in making healthy, sustainable choices, and for the most part they've consistently failed to do so. it's each of our individual responsibilities to raise progressive, sustainable efforts that benefit both the present and future, while honoring the past with the consideration it deserves. for those who toss this forward type of thinking away, and worry only of the material world that's been created to occupy our lifelong thirst for information, let me put it to you like this: there's far more to gain from an assuredly promising future, than there is if no one's around to appreciate the value of it. the time has come to expect more out of the possibilities before us all, and to demand such from ourselves and everyone else, while not letting sympathetic addictions (bleeding hearts), greedy ignorance (corporate america), or even mass delusions (religious fanatics) guide our minds' awareness and perception. we do not need prophets, leaders, celebrities, idols and heroes, we need to do this ourselves and together. otherwise, any possible great-great-great descendants of ours are going to be debating and mulling over very similar problems to those we face today, the only difference being that they'll have less time to fix them. i sincerely hope that things progress for the better, as much as i hope to see this in print... on recycled paper, of course.

atheism.

many people interpret the title idea, an idea very near and dear to my heart, with hesitation or worse, misrepresentation. i hope to set the record straight on much of the ignorance ingrained by atheism's misconceptions. true, these opinions of mine will be just that, opinion, but the very essence and reason behind freewill is not to simply realize for oneself the outdated (yet classic) meaning of right versus wrong, it is to go beyond such childish extremes and find meaning to all the in between of the probable, the possible and the impossible. to put it a little more succinctly, we need to collectively discover and decide on the best logical information available in our existence, and truly believe in it. this is improbable when most of our current rudimentary truths are allowed to be filed as an opinion.

...and most aren't very popular opinions, making them difficult to sell to a consumer population, who believe themselves to live through an insignificant, temporary existence, which holds no influence or connection to a seemingly imaginary past, present and future. this allows followers of the economy to convince each other that leading any form of "large" individual life, is time spent sufficiently enough. but a lot of people "give back," right? ...sure, but most fail to make a real, forceful, collective contribution to true, future-forward progress. this is due to the fact that today's vast majority of "influential" citizens are less equipped with knowledge and rationale than the folks who follow them. it's the deaf leading the blind... but that's another topic.

the other major populous of vehement opinion holders are those who subscribe to any form of organized religion, or earthbound faith. i will not debate the existence of god(s), the fact that i am an atheist clearly proves that i am not convinced by the arguments or evidence, and never will be. atheism does not need to disprove religious ideology, that is the task of science, truth and reality. atheism is simply the collective of scattered individuals, who have overcome civilization's willful ignorance, and our childish fear of life without a conscious, omnipotent creator that rewards and punishes.

but atheism is not anarchism, nihilism, despotism or satanism either. of all the isms contrived by a human mind, atheism is the only idea with no individual agenda, and no specific qualification requirements... other than realizing our true, unified reality. i do not direct this sentiment solely at the religious folk, but everyone who has yet to see the real, my fellow atheists included. the only difference between believers and non, should be just that. when you stop believing in god, it is not an allowance to become a self-serving, doomsday disciple who runs their mouth about the triviality of existence, and the death of meaning. our existence has no less importance with the absence of a creator, on the contrary, the movement beyond such archaic beliefs is yet another pivotal moment of mankind's brief, but rapid evolutionary gamut.

to be honest, atheism is not designed to be a "belief" system. the absence of god is not an idea to rally behind, but an obvious truth that simply needs to be realized. this leaves out an area of the human condition known as faith, and faith (not god) is truly what has kept our people alive and thriving on this lone planet. unfortunately, faith is almost always misinterpreted, misrepresented or misunderstood, and has been since our ancient ancestors decided to give names to the complex emotional, mental and physical genetic desires that linger, to some degree, in every living entity. i will not get into the myriad ways we have managed to misconstrue these understandably confusing growing pangs, or our incredibly imaginative, but detrimental ways of expressing such fables, instead it is my hope you will realize these fallacies yourself. i will say, however, that this idea of faith, or sense of hope that most of us share is not futile and is not some sort of evolutionary mistake, it is simply the result of life being conscious enough to realize the contradiction that arises when intelligence seeks everlasting harmony in a mortal form, on a temporary plane of existence. like all our other extraordinary traits, our faith is something we must utilize properly, another perspective we must learn to focus.

so what, you ask, is worth our faith? we are. life is. existence. our future generations and theirs. life has molded a near perfect form of all it's abilities, but it is up to us to decide to recognize and use them correctly. every day should be lived in wonder, respect, understanding and faith for our past, present and future, and all of our hope should be placed in finding sustainable harmony in our existence and evolution. whether it be on this planet, another or voyaging through space, we all need to have faith in biological survival. currently, the only suitable ism we should wholeheartedly embrace (on a global scale) is humanism... but, that too, is another post.