* mating ritual (7/1/2008)

In a prior essay, I wrote that I thought Sun Ra had it all figured
out.  People asked him why he made such crazy music, and to answer he
pointed at the birds.  I still think there is some truth to his
answer, but it is a subtle thing.  Birds sing primarily to attract a
mate, and also to warn of danger, to organize their hunts, and to find
their children.

The Differences

Sometimes in the amazing ignorance
I hear things and see things
I never knew I saw and heard before
Sometimes in the ignorance
I feel the meaning
Invincible invisible wisdom,
And I commune with intuitive instinct
With the force that made life be
And since it made life be
It is greater than life
And since it let extinction be
It is greater than extinction.
I commune with feelings more than prayer
For there is nothing else to ask for
That companionship is
And it is superior to any other is.
Sometimes in my amazing ignorance
Others see me only as they care to see
I am to them as they think
According the standard I should not be
And that is the difference between I and them
Because I see them as they are to is
And not the seeming isness of the was.

-- Sun Ra