Ginsberg: the Materialism of Spirituality

GINSBERG: The Materialism of Spirituality

For those who step out ahead, who take the wheel and drive rather than being driven, and who, through their actions, affect a whole culture. Certainly Allen Ginsberg is such a front-runner. For 25 years now Ginsberg has been affecting the culture – each change in his life has been reflected by a change in our culture. It could even be said, although I am sure that Ginsberg would pall at the mention of it, that Allen Ginsberg is a father of the alternative culture.

It was with a great deal of anticipation, therefore, that I went to Hill Auditorium on April 12, to see Allen Ginsberg “in concert” with Bhagavan Das, to take part in the preview of the Festival of Life that occurred here that weekend. Ginsberg was brought to Ann Arbor by the Gay Liberation Front to do a benefit to help Ann Arbor Gay people get a new publication and community center off the ground. I did not know what to expect at the concert, but I certainly was not really ready for what happened.

Ginsberg and Bhagavan Das are both deep and serious Buddhists, that is, they are both dedicated to meditation as not only a way of life, but as the way of life. Bhagavan Das is an American who spent many years in India learning from various gurus, attaining a clarity of vision through meditation. He and Ginsberg met in India many years ago, and again at an American Buddhist camp where they were roommates last year, and out of that experience grew the idea to do a tour together. Bhagavan Das is a singer in the traditional Indian way – he chants simple phrases (call them mantras) while strumming a sitar-like instrument. The effect is spellbinding for those who can let themselves into the soothing aspects of these meditational ragas.

Both Ginsberg and Bhagavan Das use the same meditation method – like most forms of meditation it has to do with breathing. As Ginsberg described it the idea is to pay attention to the breath coming in through your nose, and then to feel it returning to space as you exhale (always through the nose) and to slowly become the space into which you breath. Although Ginsberg himself does not use a mantra in his meditation he recommends for Americans the syllable AH as a very effective one, especially for larger groups of people.

Ginsberg has been very political all of his life. His poem HOWL was an elegy to America, an America which he saw as dying, and worse, killing off the best people. It was an important poem because it raised the consciousness of many Americans during the fifties, and made them accept the fact that all was not apple pie as Ike would have had it in those days. It was also the source of a long obscenity trial which Ginsberg won, but which also added to the fame of the poem and the poet. Throughout the 60’s Ginsberg was always on the scene any time that there was an important cultural/political event taking place. While we all remember him from the trial of the Chicago 7, sitting at the witness stand chanting OM, it is also important to note that he was active in the anti-war movement, the gay liberation movement, for uncovering CIA involvement in heroin traffic, for that matter, the movement in general. Thus it seemed a bit of a contradiction to me that he should now take the quiet Buddhist meditational life as the way to live.

But Ginsberg denies the contradiction. He claims that what he does today is just as political as before. By going out and teaching his ideas and exercises to great numbers of people he feels that he contributes to the clarity of mind and purpose of people, and that this is just as political as any other move he has ever made. The point, he feels, is that any gesture that is taken in anxiety just produces more anxiety, or any gesture taken simply in anger produces more anger – that is, what you give out comes back to you. Thus the idea is that meditation is a way to prepare selves to take more effective – political action. The movement inward (as he calls it) which is taking place throughout the world is not an end to political activity because it is a method of clarification, and any gesture taken out of clarity obviously produces greater clarity. Clarity is Ginsberg’s greatest aim now, clarity is a prerequisite for changing today’s world.

Thus the idea of the concert itself. By going out and turning more and more people on to the idea of meditation Ginsberg hopes to help bring clarity into what he sees as a desperate situation. He is a pessimist about things in general; as far as he is concerned it may be hopeless in the end. The police state is growing, and except for valiant efforts on the part of individuals it will be very hard to stop. But that does not mean that we don’t try. He mentioned John Sinclair as a person who took on the whole wiretap apparatus of the police state and won.

The concert itself, however, was not solely one of meditation and singing. As it was a Gay lib sponsored event Ginsberg announced that he would read all (or as many as possible) of his gay poems. Personally I felt that most of these poems were very male-oriented and overly concerned with the physical aspects of being gay, but Ginsberg is one of the few poets around who even attempts to get to the gay experience, to put it out so that people can feel what it’s all about.

Ginsberg took about half the evening for reading which included not just poems, but also songs, or blues as Ginsberg would have it, which is his particular interest today. The other half of the concert was taken up with songs by Bhagavan Das, songs by the two of them, quiet moments of meditation, and moments of crowd participation. During one of Bhagavan Das’ longer chants (most all of which are in Sanskrit) the whole stage at Hill was covered by people from the audience who wished to actually participate in the event, rather than merely watching it. All of Hill was filled with a sweet-smelling incense, and the whole audience seemed calmed for the evening. Some people tried to do what was suggested (that is, to attain clarity through breathing) while others sang and hummed along with Bhagavan. It was a quiet and unusual concert.

--LEJ

Note: A full interview with Allen will appear in the next SUN, out May 3.

Festival of Life

photo credit: David Knapp

photo credit: Barbara Weinberg