http://maintainorbit.com Maintain Orbit - Chris Koch music site Fri, 14 May 2010 14:15:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://maintainorbit.com/musings/colossal-conspiracy/ http://maintainorbit.com/musings/colossal-conspiracy/#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 14:15:27 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=355 COLOSSAL CONSPIRACY
by Christopher Koch

BACKGROUND

I often wish that I had chosen to study Biology. I loved it in high school, performed well in the class and received an excellent grade on the Biology Achievement Test given at the University. I suppose I just wasn’t tuned-in to my inner voice and ventured elsewhere.

That voice vibrated at a frequency that I had to cancel out when I eventually decided to attempt to live a Biblical lifestyle. Faith, not scientific skepticism, was what I was attempting to develop then — how to believe in things that seemingly failed to exist within the realm of scientific observation. But even throughout my faith-experiment I never lost my love of Science so that when I finally decided that faith was not the method of navigating through Life that worked for me, I had a familiar and trustworthy old friend to rely on.

I needed such a friend as I began to sort out what my new secular life might be like, and there was plenty to sort through. I had gone from being “faithful” as a child (meaning that I mimed the faith of my parents) to being a rebellious heathen as a young adult, to feverishly pursuing a personal faith in God as a man. I wanted to avoid such pendulum swings in the future and determined to do the work necessary to land as solidly as a mere mortal can on questions regarding the supernatural realm. So I went back to Biology — back to the scientific language that I understood better than any other. Naturally, I found myself spending time at Darwin’s feet.

I know I must have learned about Natural Selection in my high school Biology class. It was probably a section in the textbook for which I received an admirable test score, which is merely to say that I committed a number of its factual elements to memory so that I could sufficiently recite them when it counted most. But in spite of a decent grade, “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” was not an aspect of Biology that had impacted me in any significant way.

Years later, with a fresh mind recently let loose and focused on mining for understanding, it hit me profoundly that Natural Selection is a mindless, heartless sorter of what works and what doesn’t.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Around the same time an earthier question, challenging in its own right, began to gnaw at me. I had removed the rose-colored glasses and now saw troubling and complex problems everywhere I looked. Though perhaps naïve, I just didn’t see why Life should have become so damned complicated. I wanted to know why. Where did we go wrong? How did this one species, my species, take the pure simplicity of a balanced and harmonious life and entangle it in confounding political, sociological and economic complexities of its own conjuring?

The most satisfying explanation I found was that we, through a series of conscious and unconscious turns in our civilized history, have lost nearly all conscious connection to the biosphere in which we evolved. This is a phenomenon that author Daniel Quinn calls, “The Great Forgetting” .

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

Like every other living thing, early hominids were pounded into shape by the hammer of Natural Selection on the anvil of their local environments. They responded and adjusted to the advancements other life forms made while living in a dynamic world and the other life forms responded and adjusted in turn. If these adjustments and adaptations served a species well it was rewarded with continuation, and its special traits would be passed on to give descendants a competitive edge.

And like every other living thing, early hominids were in balance with the biosphere during this time of refinement. As hunter-gatherers, a local population could not overstep the caloric production of the region in which it lived; to do so would result in communal suffering, possibly jeopardizing the health and continuation of the tribe. We were intricately connected to everything around us. We couldn’t possibly have been otherwise.

A LEFT TURN?

It is a personal struggle of mine to definitively decide how I feel about the Agricultural Revolution. On a personal level, I owe my very existence to it — I certainly wouldn’t be here to question it had it never happened. And, I do appreciate what it has accomplished. When we became producers of our own food we no longer had to limit ourselves to the natural carrying capacity of our immediate environment. We could sequester land and cultivate it to produce only our favorite foods. We could settle and develop societies and we did so with many positive results. Division of labor, improved sanitation, advancements in science and health, and some of my favorite aspects of “civilized” life — art, music and literature — were all given time and space in which to evolve.

But The Agricultural Revolution also launched our current trajectory, which is beginning to feel like some kind of terrible mistake. Our improvements in the area of food production powered an ongoing explosive increase in human population that continues to decrease the populations of other mid-to-large sized complex organisms (since any biosphere can only sustain so much biomass), and the ever-increasing consumption of resources and subsequent toxification of the environment does not paint an attractive picture of life in the years to come.

It might also be argued that the Agricultural Revolution laid the groundwork for The Great Forgetting. Whereas individuals of every other species are responsible for their own acquisition of calories, we have placed food production and preparation in the hands of others. As a result, there is an intellectual disconnect – a missing link — between us and our energy sources . We scarcely see our food as once-living members of the plant or animal kingdom but much more so as something that comes in a box from a store down the street. We have, in essence, lost a tangible understanding of the flow of energy in our solar system and a connection to what we now call (in a rather incriminating term) “The Natural World”. The fact that we apply this label to all aspects of life beyond the pavement belies our strange belief that we are no longer part of it — as if that were even possible.

Whereas early hominids were “mindlessly aware” of their connection to the biosphere simply by virtue of the way they made a living, modern man has to actively, determinedly reconstruct the knowledge of that connection. Our modern ways and means, with their manifold layers of abstraction, have obfuscated the simple truths of how Life works.

FACSIMILE COMPETITION

But even though humans are controlling larger and larger portions of “The Natural World” all of the time, Natural Selection has in no way diminished its role as the mindless, heartless sorter of what works and what doesn’t. It is patient and it is thorough, and it will surely make a stop in your town on its World Tour.

Right now we may be living comfortably under the impression that we are on top of the heap and never to be dethroned, but the ultimate decision is only partially ours to make. For a long time gigantic reptiles ruled but when conditions changed, Natural Selection decided that large, cold-blooded animals did not work. Had the environment not suddenly and dramatically changed, it is possible that the dinosaur would have remained in its eminent position and mammalian life forms would not have received an opportunity to succeed. Perhaps man might not have had the opportunity to evolve and refine as a species. But the environment did change, and Natural Selection decided that warm-blooded animals were more flexible and better suited for a dynamic world.

Since the beginning, inter- and intra- species competition has ultimately been for Natural Selection’s favor — her highly coveted kiss on the cheek that grants a long line of descendants. But for modern humans, competition takes place in stadiums of our own design and on our terms. The primary contemporary arena of battle seems to be the economic one, but it also takes place at the national, regional, ideological, corporate and street-gang levels, right on down to keeping up with those impossibly fashionable Jones’. Within these manmade arenas we compete not for something so precious or noble as the continuation Life, but for something more like self-satisfaction. We determine the winners of such competitions by a number of arbitrary measurements and the prize is a short-lived emotional one that requires near immediate replacement.

MORAL IMAGINEERING

What if we woke up from our Great Forgetting and began to evaluate all of our actions and even our very existence based on the simple, single criteria of whether or not it works? In other words, what if we evaluated ourselves according to the same criteria that we will certainly, ultimately be evaluated by? Does our way of life work in a sustainable, evolutionarily advantageous way, not only for the individual, but also for the whole?

Currently, what works is a highly subjective matter. An arrangement that allows for amassing unlimited wealth works for the rich, but obviously does not work for the poor. To a large manufacturing company, a relaxation of environmental regulations works to save large sums of money that would otherwise have to be spent on proper pollution control measures, but this obviously does not work for other organisms in the local environment. In the course of geological time, however, “what works” is not at all subjective.

The implications of our amnesia, forgetting that we are part of a co-evolving whole, may be that we have become incapable of making objective judgments about whether our way of life is working — whether or not it is evolutionarily stable — whether or not Natural Selection will reward or punish us for our conduct.

It seems to me that this has moral implications as well, because if our fantasy separation from the “Natural World” allows us to assume a superior position above all other life forms, then it is a small step to extend that sense of superiority toward others of our own species. And it is no news to anyone that we have mastered the ability to take that step with hardly a detectable quiver of conscience.

The absence of holism results in a negligent failure to consider one’s neighbors or the Earth’s future inhabitants. Further, as the immediate competition for resources becomes greater (as it surely and directly will), the less able we will be to acknowledge that we are squandering the endowment intended for future generations.

As part of the animal kingdom, there is certainly a natural instinct for us to be concerned about self-preservation and the preservation of our immediate families and tribes . But as humans, with our advanced cognitive powers, we are uniquely capable of understanding systems and concepts that are far outside of our local sphere of concern. A colony of yeast will consume sugar with no restraint until there is nothing left but a level of self-produced toxicity that it cannot withstand. But we are able to understand the laws of ecology, the way that energy is transferred between organisms and precisely what by-products result from the process. We are able to project and anticipate the consequences of our actions through time and space.

Other animals (regardless of whether they possess such processing power) are not required to think about such systems and concepts because they are not capable of usurping the laws of nature. They can only remain in balance with their environment according to its carrying capacity, regardless of how severely humankind has diminished it.

But because humans have mastered food production they can create an unnaturally robust carrying capacity that results in unnatural population growth and an unhealthy imbalance. Our advanced brainpower allows us to take on the extraordinary and unique role of food producers. Dare I suggest that the self-same brainpower might allow us to take moral responsibility for the ramifications of our way of life?

Although I live in fear that a near impossible amount of energy and force will be required to slow or shift the current momentum away from the individual and towards the entire system — to shift focus away from the granular and onto the whole — I can’t help imagining what would happen if we did so.

Imagine if a trend toward reconnection reached its tipping point — if we promoted a Great Remembering that allowed us to align ourselves with the entire planetary system and evaluate our actions not merely according to whether they work for us as individuals or even for us as a species, but according to whether they work for the whole… the whole biosphere. If it works let it continue and if it doesn’t, find away to discontinue it.

I know, I know — it would take a conspiracy of unprecedented, colossal complexity to usurp the genetic selfishness that fuels the success of all organisms.

But imagine what it would be like if we mimed the simple sensibility of Natural Selection, the way that children simply mime the religion of their parents.

]]> http://maintainorbit.com/musings/colossal-conspiracy/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/homepage-bulletin-board/24-apr-2010-house-concert-north-caldwell/ http://maintainorbit.com/homepage-bulletin-board/24-apr-2010-house-concert-north-caldwell/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:46:09 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=348 24-Apr-2010 House Concert

The Chris Koch Band will be performing
along with Singer/Songwriter Nick Barry of Dots Will Echo

Date: Saturday, April 24, 2010
Time: 7:00pm – 11:00pm
Location: 310 Mountain Avenue, North Caldwell, NJ
Cover: $15
RSVP REQUIRED, PLEASE, to: mvr2000@aol.com]]> http://maintainorbit.com/homepage-bulletin-board/24-apr-2010-house-concert-north-caldwell/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/uzbekistan/ http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/uzbekistan/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:05:44 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=345 UZBEKISTAN
by Chris Koch

Had my fill of an empty life
And the constant grind that takes the edge off my knife
Well I’ve had me some time to think it all through
And I know exactly what I’m gonna do

Yes indeedy, I’ve got me a plan
I’m going back to Uzbekistan

Momma said to be careful of this:
Girls that know nothin’, only ‘cept how to kiss
I’ve walked many hard miles, ‘fore walkin’ into the light
And I took every chance I could, just to prove her right

I’m comin’ home Momma, I’m your number one fan
I’m going back to Uzbekistan

Two thousand tears in a tin can
I’m tired of traveling this tattered land
I’m gonna trade all the tools of the trade in man
And I’m taking my time just as fast as I can
I’m going back… yeah… I’m going back

Forward and backwards and forward once more
Your heart turns up on a distant shore
Sooner or later, ya know, know and then
Ya gotta get up and go and go get it back again

And you’ve gotta keep trying, ’cause you’ve gotta understand
I’m goin’ back to Uzbekistan

Lord have mercy on this down and out man
Take me on back to Uzbekistan
]]> http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/uzbekistan/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/bigger/ http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/bigger/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:57:18 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=342 BIGGER
by Chris Koch and Ian Smit

When they built these walls
There’d never yet been a storm like this
They built them strong and tall
But they’d never seen a storm like this

And I’ll fortify and fight
Cause I’ve been told it’s right
But I’m starting to think
It’s bigger than me

Been here all this time
Never been through a thing like this
Stood the test of time
Never had to stand a test like this

And I’ll fortify and fight
Because I think it’s right
But I’m starting to see
It’s bigger than me

Sometimes
All you got just ain’t enough
Sometimes
Doing everything you can just ain’t enough

And you’ll fortify and fight
From the dawn to the dark of night
But you’ll soon have to face
That it’s bigger than you

But you’ll soon have to face
It’s bigger than you
]]> http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/bigger/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/divine-confession-2/ http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/divine-confession-2/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:50:45 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=340 DIVINE CONFESSION
by Chris Koch and Ian Smit

God stole my money
And He bought a stiletto
With intricate inlays of a grim reaper motif
In a handle of bone

The blade is near perfect
Forged by a master
Edge like a razor, hard like a diamond
A pleasure to hone

In my life
I had hoped to learn
To see through walls

With what was left over
He went to His dealer
And copped something heavy

Something to help him
Hold to His promise
And forget all the pain

And under its influence
He was filled with the power
Of profound false bravado

He found the determination
And required detachment
To finally explain

In my life
I had hoped to learn
To see through walls
To see through walls

CHORUS
The wildest dream never ended like this
The wildest dream never ended like this

He cuts like a surgeon
With exacting precision
You don’t really feel it or even know that you’re injured
Until sometime the next week

He carved a confession in the side of my neck
In intimate detail, disturbingly frank
A last declaration that divulged His true nature
All He would tell us if He could only speak

In my life
I had hoped to learn
To see through walls
To see through walls

CHORUS
]]> http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/divine-confession-2/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/not-going-to-work/ http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/not-going-to-work/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:44:21 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=337 NOT GOING TO WORK
by Chris Koch

Understand me, I’m trying
Trying so hard to explain
To alchemize feelings
Into words, pure and plain

Understand what I’m saying
I’m fighting like hell to express
Against an army of exquisite visions
And an ache from this hole in my chest

And Oh! Sometimes the truth cannot wait
Sometimes it’s not wise to attempt to tempt fate
And sometimes your heart will try
To throw you into harms way

With regret that may never show mercy
It’s probably just best to say
This is not going to work

Understand that I’ve fallen
For a dream made of whipsers and mist
That has no earthly business imposing itself
On a fool just because he’s been kissed

Under that I’m frightened
This may end in a world full of pain
Then again, I am so frightened
Such a chance may come never again

And Oh! Sometimes a dream can have claws
Sometimes you need more then a just because
And sometimes grave danger lurks
In the softest night

At risk of burning a bridge to the stars
And no guarantee that I’m right
This is not going to work

And Oh! Though I’ve prayed for so long for just this
Sailed seven seas with no sign of a kiss
Sometimes the thing you crave
Turns out to be lethally laced

Though crippled and ravaged by hunger
I decline without even a taste
This is not going to work

]]> http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/not-going-to-work/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/in-the-bag/ http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/in-the-bag/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:28:22 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=335 Also Ran
by Chris Koch

You’ve got a fine reputation
For running too fast for your mind
Prior to knowing which way you’re going
Or what it is you hope to find

You’ve got a fine reputation
For letting your mind run too fast
An honorable mention
For fighting the slightest suggestion of finishing last

There’s plenty more where that came from
Plenty of hard times in store
Let me remind you I’m right here behind you
If you need a little bit more

We’ve made some dicey decisions
We’ve made our share of mistakes
But jumping and stretching we somehow land catching
The cradle just as the bough breaks

The sun, moon and twinklin’ little stars
Try to swim but just drown in your light
I’m told it’s pointless to hold
A candle to something so bright
Something so bright

I know you’ll raise the roof when your ready
You’ve already raised the Red Flag
A thing you should know wherever you go
You got my heart in the bag
In the bag
You got my heart in the bag

Just in case I check out early And goodbye’s can be such a drag Forget this never, now and forever You’ve got my heart in the bag. ]]> http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/in-the-bag/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/also-ran/ http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/also-ran/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:26:25 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=333 Also Ran
by Chris Koch

Soon as the starting shot was fired
This epiphany transpired
Decided that the whole affair
Was worthless, vain and tired

To the ladders, up you go!
Some will win, some place, some show
Defiant, I determined am
To be an Also Ran

Some may feel the need to take the lead
No threat do they present
It’s no sin if I don’t win
I remain content
To be an Also Ran

Though I’ve struggled to impress
I have failed to find success
My product may not market well
But it’s value is no less

Records set and records shattered
Can’t you see it doesn’t matter
Chasing after each desire
Running faster, climbing higher
Stepping on the heads below you
Turn your back on those who know you
Piling up the ammunition
To terminate the competition
Living like there’s no tomorrow
Let the others steal an borrow

I opt out

The pack is years ahead by now
While back here I tend my vow
I will do all that I can
To be an Also Ran
A devoted Also Ran
A determined Also Ran
Gonna be an Also Ran

Good luck, farewell and rot in hell
From an Also Ran

]]> http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/also-ran/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/peace-for-you/ http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/peace-for-you/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:21:46 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=331 Peace For You
by Chris Koch

If I could point out all your favorite stars
Command them to descend
Pour out perfect pearls to fill your eyes so deep and blue

If I could send you rolling ripples
Lasting hours upon end
It wouldn’t even matter ’cause I just want peace for you

If I could show the world you’re worthy
Of recognition and acclaim
If I could make sure every time you speak
You’re being listened to

If I could guarantee your victories
Your success and your fame
I’d just trade it all in, ’cause I just want peace for you

I would scatter all your demons
Drive your dark of doubt away
I would buy for you a decade
Where every day is a lovely day

I would have you clear and brite
And spending hours in reverie
And larger than your trials
Like I knew you once to be

Like I knew you once to be
There’s only one dream left
That I can call my own
But it’s not for myself
Oh, no.

Want to sail you to an island
That doesn’t have a name
Hold you in the sunshine
Listen to the waves for a year or two

Then we’ll search for buried innocence
Which we’ll joyfully reclaim
But all I’m trying to say darlin’ is I just want peace for you
I want nothing for my self sugar I just want peace for you
I want peace for you sweetness, wanna chase your clouds away
]]> http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/peace-for-you/feed/ 0 http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/haunted/ http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/haunted/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:18:29 +0000 admin http://maintainorbit.com/?p=329 HAUNTED
by Chris Koch


CHORUS
The ones that want me I don’t want
The ones I want don’t want me
But every one is here tonight
They’ve all joined forces to haunt me

Wouldn’t you know it
I just started dropping off
Into a dream of travel and friends

Then like a recurring nightmare
Or nagging cough
All of the sudden they’re here again

What in the world do you want from me?
You’ve made your point, now leave me be!

Wouldn’t you know it
Just when I thought that I’d
Figured it out and ripped it apart

Just when I thought I’d
Found me a place to hide
All of them jump out from inside my heart

Why in the world won’t you leave me alone?
You’ve had your fun, now please go home!

CHORUS

I’m just a little boy
And all I want is someone to take care of me
Until I’m big enough
To take care of myself

CHORUS
]]> http://maintainorbit.com/lyrics/haunted/feed/ 0