Sentinel_NZ
Group: Members
Posts: 168
Joined: June 2021 |
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Posted: Aug. 10 2023, 00:00 |
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| Quote (qjamesfloyd @ Aug. 08 2023, 04:08) | | I agree, he may have had times, years even, where had was in control of his issues, but, I think they never truly went away, perhaps they are fully back for some reason, after all, there has not been any real reason why he stopped going forward with Tubular Bells 4 |
Big changes happened in the world in 2017. It was the year for example that the "flat earth" & "fake space" revelations really went mainstream. As a person who has always been very up to date with cutting edge goings on, Mike would definitely have become aware of these things. These developments affected a lot of the "boomer" generation more than younger folk, for obvious reasons. With Mike's music having been heavily involved in the whole "space" industry, with his music used in the phony 1980 "Space Movie" about the Apollo Moon landing hoaxes, and his connection with Richard Branson, and The Songs of Distant Earth and his passing friendship with Arthur C. Clarke and so on - even the general philosophy behind the conception of "Music of the Spheres" - paired with a predisposition to despondency, and an obvious lifelong existential struggle in large part informed by an apparently awkward, somewhat unconsummated attraction toward Christian & Eastern spirituality (for the latter, see for example the lyrics to "Shiva";for the former, I submit "Closer" - an instrumental rendering of the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee"; his original nativity/Christmas carol "Peace on Earth"; "Our Father"; "Thou Art in Heaven'; and his solo guitar recording of "Silent Night"), somewhat at odds with the more expected allegiance to the New Age/paganism, Gaelic druidism, North American shamanism, and tribal "world music" of Ommadawn, Incantations, Celt, Celtic Rain, Voyager, Women of Ireland, Orabidoo, Amarok, Tattoo, or even the cover art of Return to Ommadawn, etc., which would probably have been more popular amongst a lot of his peers, supporters & immediate family such as Terry and Sally, especially in the early days - all in all, it's perfectly reasonable to think that these things could have affected him quite deeply and thrown him "off his stroke" so to speak (along with millions of others).
Perhaps at that juncture, being advanced in years, it seemed more urgent and relevant for him to concentrate on the spiritual/religious, rather than musical/worldly side of things.
As for his relationship with his offspring, in the Gospel of Luke it says that in the "end times" - which we are assuredly living in today - that
"They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
(Luke 12:53)
It is not uncommon at all at the best of times for parent-adult child relationships to break down . That is after all the premise of the song "The Living Years":
Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door
I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years
Oh, crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got
You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence...
...So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts...
...I wasn't there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say...
If Mike and his children don't get on, there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in that.
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