At the Lion's door

I saw the JazzLion today for the first time in too long. He shares a big old house in Guelph with other young people; young people of the finest kind, I sense; those with spiritual and creative vision.

I sensed that his trademark plenitude of nervous energy, so vital to one who’s mind always bursts with new ideas, has been dialled back a bit as he has slipped into his later twenties, but also that his mind has migrated in sync, prone now to deeper contemplation.

We talked about music keyboards/synthesizers which we both now possess. We talked about music in general from the broadest sense, such as it’s capacity for communicating experience, to technical details such as the tuning of frequency in drum set pieces as well as their significance and usefulness, or lack thereof.

He listened to some of my little tunes on Youtube and was very supportive and complimentary.

We talked a long time about Terence McKenna and the psychedelic experience; a matter particularly dear to me currently. The apparent compatibilities between the psychedelic and poetic processes are of serious fascination. From JazzLion’s vast experience he taught me about acid, shrooms, DMT and the ultimate process: Ayawasca.

He talked about marijuana as a sacrament; a celebration of the spirit and the four elements, and plugged hemp as the greatest of earth’s gifts since water and air for its long list of noble uses.

We talked about the shared perceptions stemming from our respective escapes from the illusions of society: The great necessity of the evolution of consciousness and the terrible hurdles therein. We talked about the relationships between discipline, repetition, focus, awareness and capacity for learning in the musician, the poet and the legendary alchemist.

We talked about meditation, contemplation, symbolism, motivation and the pioneer spirit, and empathy of course.

We talked about the usefulness and wisdom in ancient texts hijacked and misused by absurdly over-simplified religious programme.

We talked about Neo and other fascinating people we know.

We parted with promises to visit more often. And I’m confident we will. For now, I go forth inspired.