Redtree Times

The Long View– At the Principle Gallery

I have lived in the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken.

-Bertrand Russell, The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell

Today’s triad combines a painting titled The Long View with a passage from the autobiography of Bertrand Russell outlining the elevated vision that was his life’s pursuit and an interesting cover of the classic A Day in the Life from the Beatles.

I guess the connecting thread between the three might be the manner in which we choose to navigate our lives. The idea behind the painting has to do with living one’s life as a quest for something more, mainly wisdom and self-knowledge. Russell expressed much the same, choosing to pursue goodness over evil. And the song is about that mixture of mundaneness and tragedy that takes place around us each and every day.

You might see other connections or may not see any. So be it.

This version of A Day in the Life is from a cover jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery recorded in 1967. It’s an interesting instrumental performance in that it begins as a simple jazz combo and builds to include an orchestral backing. The song is practically unrecognizable until later in the song. Though I take it with a grain of salt, I have read that this was because Montgomery had never heard the original song from the Beatles until after he had recorded this. This was his take on the sheet music.

It might well fall within Russell’s criteria for his vision. Anyway, it’s worth a listen on an August Sunday morning.