What A Wonderful World!

Dear Reader,

Who remembers Mantovani, Frank Sinatra, Matt Munro, Doris Day, Kenny Ball, Cat Stevens or even Sounds Orchestral or Dana? And who remembers "What A Wonderful World" as sung by the throaty Louis Armstrong? More particularly, firstly listen to his intro.

Once upon a time, popular music contained a great variety of different forms (genres) of music, including many ballads, folk music and light jazz, as well as beat music in general. I can remember the occasional piano recital or even an orchestral 'hit' in the 'charts', but that occurs no more. Once upon a time, you could usually understand what a singer was singing about! And the change has all happened in the last 30 years.

Increasingly over that time, noise and gadgets and the drive towards an improved national economy, 'getting on in life' and ownership of 'things' have taken over the lives of many people. And to the extent that the need for the ability to sit quietly and contemplate has been 'lost' on many people. But when we go on holiday to some pleasant place, or visit the countryside (if we can find any nearby), the change reminds us that there is a very different world to enjoy than the normal 'grind'. A good holiday can inspire us.

It was until less than 30 years ago that Sundays used to be set aside in the UK as a quiet day, and though a little of that tradition survives, shopping malls, places of entertainment and just 'noise' have increasingly taken over. 

Once people used to maintain their own gardens, inviting insects and, in turn, birdlife. Now, the front gardens are usually paved over to accommodate cars instead. And the rear garden is not often that much better maintained. But what happened to the much greater numbers of wildlife that once existed?

You may say it's just that times have changed, that it's just a change in fashion. But does that really account for what's happened? Or - more particularly - does the current shift inspire us towards a more civilised future? Especially as we now also have the threat of constant epidemics and wars and, particularly, climate change. All made more real by the media facilities that we utilise (I will not say 'enjoy').

This question just has to be asked: what is to be the future quality of life going to contain for the younger generations  - and also their children?

I am not going to say that I have a personal sure and ready answer to that question, but what I do know is that our mode of thinking must surely need to change in order to rediscover that which Louis Armstrong referred to when he sang "What A Wonderful World!" And more, in fact, because there is far more to discover that is worthwhile.

Let's contemplate on William Blake for a moment:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.

Of course, Blake wrote at a time when the Industrial Revolution was in its early stages and time stood still then. The clocks of different parts of the UK read different times according to the true reading of the local time. A national standard time was not devised until much later with the coming of the railways and faster trains.

But thank goodness we do have the likes of Blake and many other poets of the time that contemplated on the vast natural world that then existed and caused us, in turn, to contemplate on that phenomena. 

At the same time, life for the ordinary land worker was usually pretty grim in those days, and it could be said that the Industrial Revolution helped to lift many out of poverty. But that improvement did not more fully take place for 150 years and the passing of many lives in grimy and ramshackled houses that existed in the towns where the streets were supposed to be paved with gold. Even in the industrial world, there was much slavery of a kind. 

Today we have a modern form of slavery, as man has not really found out how to be free. Slavery seems to be so ingrained in the human psyche that it cannot be recognised as such! Perhaps we prefer the haste and noise and dependence on others that has evolved to prevent us from thinking about freedom, and perhaps the real purpose of life.

In my life since retirement, I have made both philosophy and history my subjects of study, but I try to look at both with a sense of vision. I try to see those subjects in their living form, not as pages of dry rhetoric.

As such an amateur historian, and having lived half of my long life (in two periods) in Birmingham, I am aware of much of Birmingham's rich history that preceded the 20th century, and the subject of Dr. Joseph Priestley is one who is of specific interest to me. For more about him, and much more, please purchase my inexpensive e-publication 'Birmingham Heroes' at this link.

Dr Priestley was an original thinker who spent more than a decade living and working in Birmingham until 1791. During that time he gained many friends - but also enemies, because Dr. Priestley's thoughts were 'out of the box' (not in agreement with some thinking of the time) and he did not hide them. Further, as an academic, he had invented the subject of informatics and had also identified the oxygen gas.

First, Priestley was a Unitarian by religious persuasion (and a minister of that church), which meant that though he was essentially a Christian, he was a non-conformist (to the established church) and he also had a concept of freedom that was alien to many of the ordinary Birmingham population. This came to a head in such a way that his views (though exaggerated by malicious people) triggered a major riot in 1791, and not only he but other 'gentlemen' suffered by way of their homes being pillaged and burned down.

Priestley had no choice but to flee from Birmingham and, via a short period in London, was helped on his way by influential friends in America to migrate to Pennsylvania. There he engaged in much philosophical study and writing, and produced a book in which he compared Christianity to eastern spiritual philosophies, including those of the Hindus.

It was a few years after Priestley's death (in 1804) that one of America's early presidents - John Adams - came across that comparative religion book by Priestley, and though he did not take on board all of what Priestley wrote about the Hindus, there were certain things that were written that inspired him to research the subject himself. What Adams arrived at after several years of study was a close understanding of Vedanta, which is the root philosophy of the Hindu people.

By the middle of the 19th century a whole host of the best intellects in America had come to know about Vedanta and greatly respected and admired its philosophy. One of the greatest intellects to emerge who was enthralled by Vedanta was another Unitarian minister, the celebrated Ralph Waldo Emerson. One can also add the author Mark Twain amongst the American admirers of Vedanta. These admirers saw Vedanta as a kind of transcendental Christianity.

When Swami Vivekananda visited America in 1893, other Americans became taken up by Vedanta, including the now celebrated Nikola Tesla, of electricity fame. And Vedanta has continued its work of influence though it now seems to have been submerged by the vast army that is called the media and the growth of modern education. At least, that is how it might appear!

However, as I have tried to make it clear in earlier postings, Vedanta is a universal topic to suit all peoples and all times. There is no 'fashion' about it in the least and therefore it can never grow too old. It's ancient enough already!

It is the principles of Vedanta that will be the basis of a new civilisation that will bring about happiness for future generations of mankind and all creation. Its wisdom will solve the climate change issue and all other major issues that seem to threaten man's survival.

Vedanta was, in fact, the main basis of the teachings of Jesus, so Christians already have a starting point. Islam, too, recognises Jesus and his teachings.

Thank you for reading this.


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