{"id":169,"date":"2014-06-11T15:44:14","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T20:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/visions-of-vocation\/?p=169"},"modified":"2014-08-14T08:53:31","modified_gmt":"2014-08-14T13:53:31","slug":"charlie-peacock-and-his-muses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/visions-of-vocation\/2014\/06\/charlie-peacock-and-his-muses\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Peacock and his muses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>(Originally posted January 2014)<\/em><\/p>\n

Even Charlie Peacock needs a muse, the artist\u2019s artist that he is.<\/p>\n

But what is it, a muse? How is it different than that other strangely similar word, amuse?<\/p>\n

The difference makes a difference. The one is an old word from the 14th-century, meaning \u201cto dream, to ponder,\u201d or as a noun, \u201can inspiring goddess to a particular poet.\u201d The other is \u201cto not dream, to not ponder, to not imagine, to not think.\u201d<\/p>\n

To \u201camuse\u201d then is problematic. And if that is true, then amusement and amusing have their own problems, which were playfully and painfully, definitively and insightfully examined by Neil Postman in his remarkable book, \u201cAmusing Ourselves to Death.\u201d To put it in other terms, to be amused is to be distracted, and therefore to become disoriented. We begin to lose our way in the world.<\/p>\n

One of our best writers and clearest thinkers wrote a book on this, and simply called it, \u201cLost in the Cosmos.\u201d Knowing me as some of you do, you will know of my intellectual apprenticeship to Walker Percy, who has taught us to see. Someone else who has done that is Peter Berger, long a professor of sociology, and an astute observer of the world too; among many books, one was called, \u201cThe Homeless Mind.\u201d Some years ago I wrote a book too, and in it I reflected on what I had learned from Percy and Berger about who we are and the world in which we live.<\/p>\n

One day I got a letter from\u00a0Charlie Peacock<\/a>, very out-of-the-blue, telling me that he had read my book, and wanted to talk, if that was ever possible. A month later I was flying to Tennessee, and so we had lunch together then, him and his wife\u00a0Andi Ashworth<\/a>\u00a0at their home, the Art House, outside of Nashville.<\/p>\n

When I walked in, he gave me a cd with new music he had been working on, and one tune was titled, \u201cHomeless in the Cosmos,\u201d remembering both Percy and Berger. I smiled, pondering the possibility that the two had been muses for Charlie, inspiring the brilliantly creative poet\/musician he is\u2013 and we sat down for a memorable meal that must have lasted four hours. Over the years they have become people I like very much, and I am always wishing I could see more of them.<\/p>\n

Last night I was surprised by joy when I Charlie told me that his new album, \u201cLemonade,\u201d has that tune on it, and many more. I hope you listen, and listen again.<\/p>\n

(And at least for today, Charlie\u2019s album is the top of the charts on iTunes, jazz albums.)<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.prweb.com\/releases\/2013\/12\/prweb11451964.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Originally posted January 2014) Even Charlie Peacock needs a muse, the artist\u2019s artist that he is. But what is it, a muse? How is it different than that other strangely similar word, amuse? The difference makes a difference. The one is an old word from the 14th-century, meaning \u201cto dream, to ponder,\u201d or as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[30,33],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-community-2","tag-discernment"],"yoast_head":"\nCharlie Peacock and his muses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(Originally posted January 2014) Even Charlie Peacock needs a muse, the artist\u2019s artist that he is. But what is it, a muse? 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