Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp's Diary

Wednesday 11 July 2001

From time to time as

10.55
From time to time, as different cycles move towards their endings - conclusions, finishings & completions - there are different possible outcomes. Therefore, different possible futures. Therefore, choices to be considered and, therefore, decisions to be taken. Those decisions will directly affect the unfolding of a larger cycle that contains the smaller and, depending upon the scale & magnitude of the cycle under consideration, these decisions will impact upon the larger world in ways we shall never know.

Decision is a property of will. What on earth does that mean? For years I have reflected on this strange word - " will" - as in, "I will". If I really will, no power on earth can stop me. So, better that my decision is well based. But what if my decision is contrary to the decision of another will? This is when life becomes interesting.

What if the contrary decision is made by a "strong will" whose decision is based in poor judgement? Then, we have an ethical dimension: "poor" is a value judgement, after all. One of the strongest wills I have ever stood against is that of my former manager, S.G Alder Esq. (p'tah). My conflict with him was, primarily, over this Guitar Craft principle:

We pay our own tab.

That is, we accept the consequences and repercussions of our own actions that necessarily & inevitably flow from the decisions we have taken, and the choices we have made. It is improper to impose those repercussions on others, particularly where we have responsibilities to represent the best interests of those others. So, this was an ethical conflict, and provides an example of where the opposition of wills lead to warfare.

In my view, any action of "the will" assumes a spiritual dimension (and this is a much larger discussion). Even, that any action of the "will" has a "spiritual" dimension. Then, there is the question of how acts of will take place in different "worlds". Clear? I recall being at a "Work Weekend" in the Claymont Barn when the theme for the weekend was "Will". A visitor asked the man in charge (a more experienced Claymont student) "What is will?". He considered this for a little while before answering: "I don't know". An honest man, then.

But, dealing with differing decisions reflecting different judgements by different individualities, conducted in the spirit of goodwill, is an education. Actually, a real education. Acknowledging no judgement, no blame, varying understandings of approaching what is true, and the degree to which there may be utterly different & seemingly contradictory ways of finding & embracing what is true - ah! this is when living comes alive. This is for real.

Enough already for today's Diary? Perhaps too many mind seeds blowing through The Basement? Has too much jetlag resulted in major cortical dislocation of the dribbling Venal Heartless Mindless Raging Leader? Or is it just another day in King Crimson?

From time to time I recognise that it falls to me to make the call, whether I want to make that call or not. This facility, to recognise the moment when a decision needs to be made, is mysterious. The facility to recognise that the decision falls upon yourself is also mysterious.

Now, to get concrete: this morning I am reading drafts of the Tool Gets Fripped / Fripp Gets Tooled interview from Copenhagen, Denmark (acknowledging that Copenhagen was the capital of Sweden only for a very short amount of time). Laura at DGM World Central worked long & hard to get this transcribed from the nearly 3 hours of DAT tapes. I am also reading the draft final chapter of Sidney Smith's The Grief Continues: In The Cant Of The Crimson Kings. This one features, inter alia, the dissenting viewpoints of Billy B & Fripp the Tyrannical. Plus e- & telephonic flurries of a critical nature, and a few good practical ideas for resolving unresolved arisings.

Humour is not permitted. This is hard for me to read without smiling: surely, this is a joke?

16.29
The sky has opened upon Mount Juliet.

17.48
The sun is shining on Mount Juliet.

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