Erica Trudelle wrote: > > My husband and I are "co-reading" this book right now (The Dancing Wu Li > Masters).....we just came across a section about the wondrously > inconceivable narure of the universe, ... > "No one knows, They can never get that close..Guesses as most." > I know that "Sweetbird" has been analyzed many many times but I just have to > add my 2 cents. This line has been ringing in my head for DAYS now. I was > just wondering if anyone else has read this book?
Yes, it was one of my favorites back in college, 25 years ago, along with Carlos Castenada's books and "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". They were very popular books at the time and I think they all had an influence on Joni. What I recall mostly about the Dancing Wu Li Masters and its description of then-current discoveries in physics is that there's no such thing as pure objectivity, that the outcome of any experiment depends on the observer. Different observer, possibly different outcome, even in controlled experiments. That realization had repercussions throughout society, as scientific discoveries usually do. Joni's lyrics often mention not truly knowing anything unless it's part of one's own experience, otherwise it's just guessing. Such "personal-ness" seems obvious to us now, but thinking back to songs of the 50s and earlier, I don't think those writers, or people in general, had such an awareness. Debra Shea NP: Sloan Wainwright, Unseen Guide
