~The Catch-All Drawer~
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
A mirror into your musical taste
Well, I found a music site that is like that mirror: Pandora.com. It is based on the Music Genome project whatever that is. It categorizes music "out there" by content elements, however subtle, and knows what is similar to your preference. It creates for you personalized musical "mirrors" automatically. Pandora asks you for an example of music you like, and it creates radio stations that play songs that match your listening style. It seems to work!
Tossed in by: R.G.B.
. . . Wednesday, December 07, 20052 Comments:
I have been enjoying Pandora, too! One benefit is that if you start a station with "classic" performers like Rosemary Clooney, say, before long you are being introduced to lots of great new singers!
Commentary on Harry Potter and the Mirror of Erised
The story is set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is searching the castle one night and comes across a full-length, standing mirror. When he looks into the mirror he sees behind him his mother and father, and all of his relatives waving to him. This is especially poignant because he was orphaned at a young age and never knew his parents. When he turns around, his family is not there: he can see them only when he looks in the mirror. The next day he tells his friend, Ron Weasly, and Ron says he would like to go along to meet Harry’s family. When Ron looks into the mirror, he cannot see Harry’s family. Instead, he sees himself as “head boy,” leader of his class and captain of the Quidditch sports team. The third night, Harry goes back to the mirror alone and finds the headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, waiting for him.
The master explains the “Mirror of Erised” to Harry: “It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never seen your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.”
If you stood in front of a “Mirror of Erised,” what would you see? What is your most desperate desire? What are you convinced you must have in order to be happy? What is it you think you lack, and how do you believe someone or something would satisfy it? To the extent that looking in such a mirror better reveals what the “self-centered dream” is for each of us, it is indeed helpful. In one sense, we look into the mirror by observing our thoughts in zazen. When we “turn around,” that is, when we observe our thoughts and then return to the moment -- the sound of traffic or a sore knee -- the dreams are no longer there. This kind of looking into the mirror will reveal the truth.
Ron asked Harry to play chess and he refused. He asked Harry to go visit Hagrid and he was not interested. Rowling explains, “Harry only had one thought in his head, which was to get back in front of the mirror, and Ron wasn’t going to stop him.” When Harry got to the mirror, he planned to stay all night and enjoy his “family.” I think we all know what Harry is doing. He would rather spend his time absorbed in internal dialogue and his personal drama than turn his full attention to the task at hand. This kind of looking into the mirror is “nursing our delusions.” We may not see as clearly how being “caught in the self-centered dream” interferes with our daily life and saps our ability to be present. Dumbledore says simply, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
We think that “life as it is” will come up short, will not be able to compete with the images in the mirror. Dumbledore says, “The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is.” It is interesting to note “eris” in Latin is the future tense of “I am” and it translates as, “You will be.” We answer the question “Who am I?” moment-to-moment in each action as we see the nature of the images behind us.
Harry, engaging in dharma combat, probes Dumbledore about what he sees when he looks into the mirror. Dumbledore replies, “I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks…one can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.” Later Harry suspects that Dumbledore might not have been entirely truthful, but he also realizes, “After all, it was a very personal question.”
Consulting with Dumbledore, understanding about the mirror and having it removed from the castle will not work for us as well as it worked for Harry. We must practice in meditation and in life with great care and perseverance, for many years, if we are not to waste our lives in front of our “Mirror of Erised.”
The story is set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is searching the castle one night and comes across a full-length, standing mirror. When he looks into the mirror he sees behind him his mother and father, and all of his relatives waving to him. This is especially poignant because he was orphaned at a young age and never knew his parents. When he turns around, his family is not there: he can see them only when he looks in the mirror. The next day he tells his friend, Ron Weasly, and Ron says he would like to go along to meet Harry’s family. When Ron looks into the mirror, he cannot see Harry’s family. Instead, he sees himself as “head boy,” leader of his class and captain of the Quidditch sports team. The third night, Harry goes back to the mirror alone and finds the headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, waiting for him.
The master explains the “Mirror of Erised” to Harry: “It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never seen your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.”
If you stood in front of a “Mirror of Erised,” what would you see? What is your most desperate desire? What are you convinced you must have in order to be happy? What is it you think you lack, and how do you believe someone or something would satisfy it? To the extent that looking in such a mirror better reveals what the “self-centered dream” is for each of us, it is indeed helpful. In one sense, we look into the mirror by observing our thoughts in zazen. When we “turn around,” that is, when we observe our thoughts and then return to the moment -- the sound of traffic or a sore knee -- the dreams are no longer there. This kind of looking into the mirror will reveal the truth.
Ron asked Harry to play chess and he refused. He asked Harry to go visit Hagrid and he was not interested. Rowling explains, “Harry only had one thought in his head, which was to get back in front of the mirror, and Ron wasn’t going to stop him.” When Harry got to the mirror, he planned to stay all night and enjoy his “family.” I think we all know what Harry is doing. He would rather spend his time absorbed in internal dialogue and his personal drama than turn his full attention to the task at hand. This kind of looking into the mirror is “nursing our delusions.” We may not see as clearly how being “caught in the self-centered dream” interferes with our daily life and saps our ability to be present. Dumbledore says simply, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
We think that “life as it is” will come up short, will not be able to compete with the images in the mirror. Dumbledore says, “The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is.” It is interesting to note “eris” in Latin is the future tense of “I am” and it translates as, “You will be.” We answer the question “Who am I?” moment-to-moment in each action as we see the nature of the images behind us.
Harry, engaging in dharma combat, probes Dumbledore about what he sees when he looks into the mirror. Dumbledore replies, “I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks…one can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.” Later Harry suspects that Dumbledore might not have been entirely truthful, but he also realizes, “After all, it was a very personal question.”
Consulting with Dumbledore, understanding about the mirror and having it removed from the castle will not work for us as well as it worked for Harry. We must practice in meditation and in life with great care and perseverance, for many years, if we are not to waste our lives in front of our “Mirror of Erised.”
