Don Henley once said in a song: ‘Learn to be Still.’
For most of us that’s easier said than done.
With so much happening in the world right now, it’s hard to keep up with writing.
All this short form content we are being bombarded with, really takes the wind out of the sails of a’ long term thought’, out of the art of ’seeing.’
Putting all the music and story/video pieces together is like an insurmountable obstacle that is in the way, blocking my thoughts, rather than being enjoyable as a creative process. So, just climb that mountain already, don’t keep your audience waiting!
The only solace I can find is in the awareness that everything has its due course and time. Having said that, I made it a habit to keep a spreadsheet where I can monitor the progress over time, analyzing the songs that have been written and are awaiting their completion. As well as those that are still swirling in my mind and need to fall out of the sky to complete the project.
I’ve been around the block a few times and I appreciate the solitude and silence that I can find in nature. Humans can be noisy, insecure and egocentric.
I am lucky that I live in an area of the world, where I can be with the ocean, the sand, the trees, the animals. Without the constant presence of my fellow humans. I draw energy from that. Enough to keep me going forward, keep my inner demons at bay and release the tensions in my body and mind.
While I am on these long walks, a whisper keeps going through my mind: The Book of Light to me is: ‘Soul Work.’
The holy trinity exists in every human being. Therefore we have to heed the balance of spiritual energy, the force that runs through us.
In order to work on the ‘Book of Light’, I have to understand this more deeply. Body, Mind and Spirit.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not an avid church-goer, or for that matter a true Christian, but I consider myself a spiritual being, just like any other human on the face of this earth.
Those who know, know.
In the last couple of months I have been working with AI tools. I am amazed at the results, specifically in the world of audio. Cloning human voice imprints, the synthesis of speech, the music generation out of patterns and grooves. It is truly remarkable what can be achieved nowadays. I consider AI an assistant to my daily workflows in my professional work. It is a ‘mini me’ that can process dull tasks much more efficiently and much faster than any human being could.
One day, while working on tasks with AI, I started to become really depressed and saddened all at the same time.
I quit what was I was doing and stared into empty space for a while. Then I asked myself: ‘What if this is the end of human creativity? What if we are creating our own replacements?’ Then I thought it through: ‘What if AI had a reason to deeper understand the human condition?’
What have we done?
Then, a brand new idea came to me. Controversial for sure. Ethical? Everyone’s talking about that now. Fact is, we don’t know.
I won’t disclose that just yet, my dear audience. I’ll keep that as an opening chapter to the story of the ’Book of Light.’
One thing I know is, that it will hit you to think outside the box, just as it hit me.
But I digress.
Back to the project.
Below is a screenshot of production notes and sequences, I have kept in the above mentioned good old spreadsheet.
Here’s a sneak peek at the ‘work flow of compositions’, a song and track/story guideline to what is to become the ‘Book of Light.’
Thanks for being there and readying these mental outbursts, these fragments of minor creativity, these insights into my spiritual and physical world.
More soon, I promise.
Martin Cole.
