Mark,
Very well put. So many things to comment on.

I truely believe that we are all a little bit of God
or, rather, God is in all of us. What we call "God" is
really a collective human consciousness.

To me, "secular spirituality" means spirituality that
is outside of organized religion; a sort of gnostiscm.
And I am sure the right-wing religious fanatics would
lump that all into what they derogatorily call secular
humanism.

I agree about the balance and complementary nature of
Chris and Jon's collaboration. They are together
greater than the sum of their parts. Their solos
efforts are not as great as their best Yes creations
by far. What do you think of Conspiracy? I find it
bland and uninteresting with little to say musically
or lyrically.

For me, the line "we're standing on sacred ground"
means that it is ALL sacred ground. It is sacred
because WE are standing on it. We are sacred,
therefore the ground on which we stand is sacred.
Magnification came to sound very prophetic with 9/11.
I was living in Barclona on 9/11/01. I watched it
unfold on TV there. It was a holiday and we were at
lunch at some friend's house. Magnification was
released in Europe on...9/11/01.

Keep up the good work; spreading the gospel according
to YES!

Guy

--- Mark Smith <dimension05@...> wrote:

> Human/Gods? Gods/Humans? We grow. We learn. We
> mature. Our Yes-Gods turn out to be human beings
> after all. It causes me to wonder
> sometimes...perhaps they ARE gods...within their
> humanness? If that is true, then perhaps we too are
> gods in our humanness?
>
> That is the core of a talk/presentation I've given
> that speaks of a secular spirituality. I could
> explain that phrase if you want, but if one sits
> with it for a while, perhaps it becomes pretty
> obvious what it means?
>
> ONE of the most human/divine pieces of Yes music to
> me is "I Get Up, I Get Down." The humanness blended
> with the divinity of it is - to me - beyond
> masterful, beyond... In this talk, after I play
> for my audience this piece of music I say, "Can it
> be possible that in blending and balancing the
> opposites of good and bad in our own human nature, a
> divine nature can then float to the surface?"
>
> THIS is a big reason why I am on fire with gratitude
> for the existence of Yes music, because when the
> music gets into your pores, you can hear - no FEEL -
> that the music has succeeded in expressing this
> human/divine nature. Not only expressing it, but
> offering hope that it CAN be a possibility! At this
> point, one can ONLY want to celebrate!
>
> Most places I've only seen a hopeLESSness regarding
> our humanness (and within my own life as well). In
> the end, many, many ideologies (that I've seen)
> equate humanness and despair.
>
> A wonderful quality that the BAND Yes contains is
> that in Thomas Mosbo's book "YES - But What Does It
> Mean?" he clarifies that Chris is the (practical)
> humanist, and Jon is the (dreamy) spiritualist. And
> that it is the balance between these two personality
> forces that has been a strong factor in their
> success and longevity. Perhaps this sort of artistic
> union exists in other places, but I myself have not
> seen it.
>
> I conclude my presentation ("Secular Spirituality as
> expressed by the musical group Yes") with what I
> call Sacred Ground (Turn Around And Remember" - the
> finale to "In The Presence Of"). For me, it's easy
> to see the Phoenix rising from the ashes of human
> despair into a kind of natural divinity. I say "Like
> a sprout pushing up through the concrete, YOU are
> standing on sacred ground! WE are standing on sacred
> ground!"
>
> So, yea, I guess you could say I like Magnification!
> :) Love the DVD from Amsterdam!
>
> Mark
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Guy DeRome
> To: WeHaveHeaven@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 10:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [WeHaveHeaven] Re: I love Yes music
> because ...
>
>
> Mark,
> Very well put. I think, to sum it all up: Yes is
> human. Back in 1974 I might have argued that they
> were
> gods, but age (mine and theirs) has tempered that
> feeling. Yes is responsible for putting out some
> of
> the most positive vibes of ANY group in the past
> 30
> years.
>
> I don't like Talk either. As you can tell, I don't
> like any of the Rabin era CDs and I could go into
> all
> the reasons why, but 1) This is not the place, and
> 2)
> It has been done to death elsewhere.
>
> On a positive note, I will say that the song
> Homeworld
> is their best, and most positive, song of the
> post-Rabin years IMHO. The Magnification album
> certainly ranks up there, too. What say you?
>
> Guy
>
> --- Mark Smith <dimension05@...> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for letting me fine-tune my words Guy. I
> see
> > now how my words may come off a bit Polyannaish.
> By
> > all means, I too mean MOST of Yes's music. Talk
> is
> > definitely not one of my favorites for ex. Many
> of
> > their later stuff is not as inspired compared to
> > their '70s material.
> >
> > I do not wish to come off "positive" for
> positive's
> > sake. Nor do I wish to be "spiritual" for
> > spirituality's sake. I am simply expressing the
> > gratitude I feel for the very existence of Yes's
> > music in my life (which includes a lot of their
> > music, but of course not all).
> >
> > That said, I'm gonna playfully disagree with you
> > about - "I know we don't usually get into
> discussing
> > negatives here" - To me, Guy, spirituality is
> not
> > about either positives or negatives. It's bigger
> > than that. Broader. Higher, if you will. Beyond
> > words. I feel it contains +'s & -'s within it,
> yet
> > much more as well.
> >
> > Therefore, Yes's music too contains both
> positives
> > and negatives. As do the Partridge Family, the
> > Smithereens, the Who, etc., etc. (You get the
> idea)
> > So, for me, a feeling of gratitude, thankfully,
> > rises above either pos's or neg's.
> > Discussing negatives with a feeling of gratitude
> > (when I can) is cool. Said another way,
> discussing
> > negatives is not taboo in this group (or at
> least I
> > hope not).
> >
> > In appreciation,
> > Mark
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: guy_95037
> > To: WeHaveHeaven@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 12:02 PM
> > Subject: [WeHaveHeaven] Re: I love Yes music
> > because ...
> >
> >
> > Mark,
> > While I appreciate your overall positive
> outlook
> > regarding Yes
> > music, I tend to take a more critical,
> practical
> > approach. MOST of
> > Yes music I love. It is some of the best on
> the
> > planet, past or
> > present. But there have been some times when I
> > think their music was
> > not up to par and they got lost or derailed.
> I am
> > thinking mostly
> > of the 80s/Rabin era. This era was overlly
> > commercial and their
> > sound did change quite a bit. I feel the
> > positive, soul-searching
> > sounds and words of albums like TFTO and CttE
> took
> > a serious wrong
> > turn in the 80s. [I know some say that there
> > wouldn't be a Yes today
> > if it weren't for the 80s Yes revival, but
> that is
> > a different
> > topic.]
> >
> > I know a lot of people like 90125 and came to
> > discover Yes in that
> > era, but I can't stand that guitar shredder
> sound.
> > It sounds like
> > Journey or one of their clones to me. I think
> Big
> > Generator is a
> > particular low point too. Listen to the
> words:
> > "move to the left,
> > move to the right..." Sounds like the Hokey
> Pokey
> > to me.
> >
> > Anyway, I know we don't usually get into
> > discussing negatives here,
> > but I thought some temperance was in order.
> >
> > Guy
> >
> > --- In WeHaveHeaven@yahoogroups.com, "Mark
> Smith"
>
=== message truncated ===


Guy DeRome
guyderome@...

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