This is the 'LINK' Center.

Wilderness Expressions, (P)1997 (C)1998 A. Alexander Volenski

Introduction Toward Wilderness Expressions

Ok, side two.

Ya, the water (wilderness-water) is clear, it's nice to drink that water; at
least I drink it.  I always like the fresh spring water that you get up here
in the mountains.  No chlorine taste to it, it's real...it seems like real-
water.

You know that bottled water you buy in the store is nice, it's better than
chlorine, but still, this stuff that comes out of the mountain here, to me
anyway, I really like it.  And I've never been sick from it, of course I'm
careful of how I dip my cup in the water.

I don't drink dirty water or anything like that, or riled up water or murky
water...(what I drink) it's always clean.  Ya, the coffee tastes good from
it, tastes different.

As I was saying looking out there into the 'west'...westward there is a
multitude...I mean there are millions and millions of stars up there!  It's
unbelievable.

I think we're missing out on a lot.  I was thinking about this the other day;
wouldn't it be nice to have a bedroom in your house upstairs with a hole in   
the roof, so when you went to bed at night you could look up and maybe see a
star here and there; if there isn't smog, who knows...

But there must be some clear nights.  I was thinking about that; everybody is
living in a room somewhere, they don't get to see any of this; it's all
blocked out.  I mean, how many sunrises do we get to see?  I was thinking
about that the other day, I'm getting a little bit older, and I was saying
to myself, "I only have so many sunrises and sunsets left in my life."

When I was 20yrs old I could care less about that thought, I mean it didn't
matter to me at all, because I was 20yrs old and knew I had my whole life-time
ahead of me, so I wasn't concerned about sunrises and sunsets.

The only thing I was concerned about was, you know, a good-looking woman walking
by, or something like that, and how much money I could make; and what am I
going to do Friday-night, what's going on...  Am I gonna go to the big city and
go to a nightclub, am I going to get some money together for that...I mean, I
spent money that way a lot of the time too.  So that's the way it was when I was
in my twenty's.

College was nice too, but what was the college bit?  Fraternity & Sorority Lane, 
you know, and that kind of stuff; party-time, a lot of party-time.

I think we're overly obsessed with parties.  But parties are fun, they're great!
I think our culture in the United States of America with all this luxury and
comfort that we have; the United States, the wealthiest comfort-zone in the world.

Fact is, it's the wealthiest comfort-zone in the history of the planet, at least
for 7000yrs.  I think we've out done the Roman's and the Greek's and all the
other's...Babylon we've probably...I don't know if we've outdone Babylon; I think
Babylon has some things that we're missing.

It would be nice to know about these ancient wealthy comfort-zones in our history;
humanities history on 'planet Earth'.  It would be nice to really get some of that,
some real documentation.

But the United States, the wealthiest comfort-zone in the world in this Century,
parties, luxuries; I think we're getting, we're missing out on something; I think
we're missing out on a whole bunch.

You see, it's nice to have a good time, it's nice to be out with somebody that you
really have some real-feelings for; it's nice to dance and to really get into that
kind of rhythm with a...at least it always was for me, with a woman, and that kind
of stuff, and have a few drinks and get high, and kind of...those kind of things.

That's kind of a paradox.  I think we've gotta be careful with some of that...I 
think we're missing a whole area of sensitivity between a man and woman.  I think
we're missing a lot of sensitivity that we could have because of the modern
technologies we have today; life is more comfortable and easy-living.  I think we
should look in this direction (of sensitivity).

You know, I left town today with my stuff in the back of my truck.  My tent, and
whatever I figure I'm going to need for a week, just in case.  So I came up here.
But it only took me an hour and a-half to get here, 40miles up in the back-country.

A hundred years ago, it would have taken two days on a horse!  And back then I
didn't (or wouldn't) have a chain-saw to cut up some firewood laying along the side
of the road.  On my way up here, there was a dead tree laying there, half-rotted
out, I cut it up with my chain-saw, it only took about 10min., threw it in back of
the truck and kept right on going.  So I have firewood for tonight and tomorrow.
I probably will get some more tomorrow too.

But what I'm saying is, "life is a lot easier," we can do more.  And, I can get
this firewood together, I can get here in one day and I can take a lot of comfort
with me.  A stove to cook with, some food already made up, a cooler, I've got
some camp chairs I can sit in, they're comfortable...  See what I mean?

I've got any kind of food I want to have; I mean, I'm not stuck to just one kind
of diet, whatever might be or been available a hundred-years ago, or 500yrs ago, or
2300yrs ago; (then) you more or less had to do with what was...

I think we're missing out on a lot of things that we should be thinking about.
The fact that we've got all this luxury and comfort, let's don't just use it all up
on a Friday night in a bar somewhere.

There's a whole bunch about ourselves we have to learn about and what we're a part
of; each human being is part of this planet in some way.

They might not be a part of it as far as...their individuality is probably vaster
then the planet itself, but this planet is designed in such a way to help us with
that vastness of ourselves; and it's free.  You don't have to pay for it, and it's 
not manufactured, it can't be manufactured you see.  They're trying to manufacture
cloning and all that stuff.

But, I've always liked the 'natural' myself, I like to go natural, I always have.
I think a lot of other people...I don't think I'm a rare bird in that department
at all.  I think most people would rather, prefer to go natural.

You know, you can come out to a place like this and tap into some of that natural
part of yourself, and you can share it with somebody who you really care about and
feel close with.  I think a lot of women would like to share some of this with
somebody close also.

I'm just bringing these points up as I look up into the 'Universe', I've got a nice
long extension on this microphone, and so I can stand and walk around and look at
different area's of the night-sky.  It's real nice, real beautiful...

It's a good break (being here) away from the routine of metropolitan life,
city life.

I live in a small town, I think our population of Port Angeles, Washington, is about
20-thousand, and the city itself is probably about 1 or 2 square miles, something
like that; probably not much bigger than that; it's a small little place sitting out
here in the Northwest Peninsula, the Northwest corner of the United States.
Seattle's about 2hrs away, the big city if you want that; but even in this small
town area of Port Angeles, you know, I step outside at night to see what's
happening, just to look up into the sky maybe, or to just sort of breathe a little
air, and I hear the traffic going by or the police sirens or whatever; it's
unbelievable, and it goes on and on.

And I think we're getting filled up with that kind of thing.  ...This is what I'm
saying, if you've got a chance to get away some how, and hit the back country, don't
worry about the weather, you can always purchase things to be out here in any kind
of weather.  But, get out here, find somebody you really care about, and if you have
a family bring your kids, kids love it!

You bring the kids out into this, they go crazy, I think they enjoy it more in many
ways than most of us adults realize.  And that's another point you know, the new
generation coming up, what's happening to them?

They've go TV 24hrs a day, I mean, I was wondering about this thing, this TV thing.
Television is great, it's good, it's nice to have it, there is a lot that can be
learned on it, there's a lot of enjoyment there; if a person feels bored in some way
they can turn the TV on and sort of fall into the televison network, whatever is
happening, who's ever on...

And they can just sort of forget about their problems and whatever.  But is that
really the solution to what ever is going on?  Is that really the solution?  Are
we getting from our television what we could be getting from it?  Or are we just
getting the same old thing?

The same old thing?  What I mean by that is that somebody wrote an article in
one of the magazines a couple months ago, and they were saying that the format
of television hasn't changed in 50yrs; it's  the same, same as it was in the
Fifties.  You don't have 'I Love Lucy' anymore, but you have something just
exactly like it.  I remember 'I Love Lucy,' it was funny, it was a down to
earth type of humor, everyday activities; it was enjoyable.

I liked to watch baseball, sports, when I was a kid; I use to sit by the hour
watching it; of course I also got to watch 'Victory at Sea,' all black/white of
course; that was back in the 50's.

Life was very innocent back then in the fifties, the networking broadcasting;
Ed Sullivan Show and all that stuff, Elvis Presley.  I remember Elvis, I saw Elvis
when he first came on.  I mean, it was unbelievable!  He really got up there and
let it happen you know.  'Don't Step on my Blue Suede Shoes,' and 'Heartbreak
Hotel,' and a lot of other songs.

The girls in the audience went wild; I mean they went crazy when he (Elvis)
started shaking a little bit.  And, there was back then a big-deal about...(that)
his display was wrong, but the women loved it.  The teenagers, women went wild,
he turned them on.

But that was back in the fifties.  And of course we see what happened to Elvis,
he was consumed by the system basically.

Quite a nice man (Elvis), he had a hard life in the sense when he grew up, from
what I understand, he came from a poor family; 'a messenger'.

"He was a man with a guitar with a message."  And that's basically it.

And look what the system did to him.  I don't know if it's the system...what
happened to him, you know it's to bad, it's really to bad the end of his life,
what happened.

And I think a lot of new entertainers...look what's happened to the entertainers
in the last 10yrs...look what happened to Hendrix, a messenger, another messenger
with music, and Cobain.

It's hard to understand in one way, how those things take place, how come?
They're tragedies to me, they're tragedies, they are a reflection of a tragedy
of some sort.  But there's more to it than that, much more to it.

They're overwhelmed, those individuals, highly sensitive trying to communicate a
very high message with what tool's they are given and allowed to use.  And they're
walking a tight-rope, a very thin line to hang on to their spirituality and
their awareness and sensitivity of what they know about, and communicate it in
a way that the people will understand.

And then when they realize they're getting to the point where they're burned-out,
they need to get away, they need to re-get-intouch with themselves.  And they ask
to do it, and the system says, "no, you can't go, you gotta think about your
career, the wealth, the money."

And what happens, the individual...they should let them go, they should say,
"look-it, it's been a nice decade, ok."  I mean, there's thousands of new people
coming up, you don't have to hang on to the same individuals, the same entertainer
on and on and on.

You wear them down to nothing, and eventually they expire.  Elvis expired,
Hendrix did, Cobain...

You see what I'm talking about, this has happened over and over, and I think the
people that control the entertainment part of our culture, should have some mercy,
you know, think about a little mercy.

In the Fifties, it was unbelievable, there weren't all these restrictions about
music so much, you could get...some guy's could get together in a garage somewhere
and make a recording, and take it down...and it would be put on the radio, "here's
something new."

And it would be heard somewhere, and some agent would come along and say, "you know
that group has really go a little...really got something there."  And they'd go to
or call the radio station and say, "where do these guy's live?"  And they'd tell
him, and they'd go over there and say, "hey, we want to cut some plastic for you."

And that's what happened, the 50's & 60's it was like that; the top-ten was really
something to hear, because you never knew what was coming and there were all these
new entertainers coming up.  A lot of them faded away, only lasted a short time,
they made a little bit of money and some popularity and all that; but still it
was pretty neat.

But today that kind of thing isn't allowed.  At least I don't think it is.
Everything is syndicated.  And that's really a shame, because we're missing out on
something in our culture here that is terrific; it is unbelievable...I mean, we've
got something here that we could tap if the controls would be taken off.

It would be nice if Hendrix, Cobain, and  Elvis, were still around in retirement,
now what I mean?  It would be nice to see them around, I mean, who wants to be
on the front stage all the time, I don't think any entertainer really does...

...there goes another 'shooting star!', that ones going north, just a short flash.

...I don't know a lot about what's happening in Hollywood, but, I know back in the
fifties the movies I went to and watched, those actor's were personalities in 
themselves.  I don't know it we're getting that same kind of thing anymore,
that same kind of uniqueness.

...When you look at the old movie-stars, each one of them was a personality
in themselves, it was really something.  They not only were doing the script,
and whatever the movie was about, it could be such a simple movie, but when
you saw them, you knew they were...what they were doing, they were following
this dialogue and they were playing a part.  But still you could see the personality
of the individual there, it wasn't all covered over, it wasn't all masked with
all kinds of other kinds of glitter.  It was really kind of neat and cool, and
you could really get into that individual; into their personality.

...And somebody was saying to me the other day, "this Hollywood thing isn't
like that anymore."

How come?  God you'd think it would be better than it was then?  I mean, with
all the new modern technology they have to make movies.  What I'm saying is
that, "I think we're missing it, I think we're missing the boat America-USA,
we're missing it."

We're falling into a totally artificial realm, the human quality, the uniqueness,
the human personality, and all the compassion's and emotions that can be
expressed...just from (a) that individual.  It's all being taken...it's being
set aside.  I think we're missing out on something here that we could really
have, and really be...probably there wouldn't be any need to spend $60Million
or $100Million to make a movie, I mean, there's so much natural stuff that 
we could make movies about that wouldn't cost all that much...and leave the
natural human element right in it...I think the people would really go for 
that, they'd really dig it!  They'd say, "ya, I really want to go and see
that one (movie)."

Things have gone off into this other area (artificial) and we're missing
it.  The same thing is true in the entertainment-music area also.  We're
missing that part of it that we use to have back in the 60's when Rock&Roll
just started, you know, "BlueBerry Hill,' and all that stuff too...

It's an era that's already passed, and it's gone, and we're into a different
era of course, but still there was the basic common...common sense type of thing,
it was there, it was real easy to see and identify.

...I don't see anything wrong with being big, but, they're not diversifying
themselves.  They're not stream-lining things.  That sets up all kinds of
problems, not only for the large Corporations, but also it sets up all kinds
of problems for the world, because the (Corp.) represent a communication area.
A communication network that has to do with entertainment, and that's extremely
important in how that helps the culture of a Nation develop itself.  It appears
things are going into a totally artificial area, and what I think we are going
to end up with is a culture that's artificial.

The natural-element I think is in jeopardy, really in jeopardy, more so than
it's ever been in the history of the planet.

I think a thousand years ago it was very hard for anybody to be a writer.  If
you weren't born into an aristocratic type of family, you weren't even taught
to read and write.  I think there were a lot of limitations there and things
that were missed.  I think a lot of individuals who were born into just the
common poor family, had a lot of things to say, a lot of messages to pass into
the next generation; but they were never heard, it was never recorded; you
know, it just didn't happen...

And in this day and age we can get that, we can have that element, and really
I think it's a necessary element to help our culture of the United States of
America, and all the Nations of the world, not just America, but everywhere.

But here in America, you know, we're the leaders of it all because we have the
wealth, and the technology is here...  So I think it's important, this is an
important area to look into...

When you look at the religious element...there were some articles, I forgot
whether it was the New Yorker or what, they had a large article a few months
ago on the Catholic Church and the problems that they're having.  You know the
Catholic Church, the wealthiest church on the face of the planet, and the most
powerful, having problems.  They're having spiritual problems.  In other words
what they were saying in that article, at least what I got out of it, I didn't
read the whole thing, just scanned most of it here and there...but the impression
I got was, they're indicating that there is a problem.

That they see a problem on the horizon coming, and they don't know what to do.
And I think one of the things that can be done is to get away from the artificial
part, and bring up some of this 'natural'.

...The 'natural' has a spirituality factor to it that can't be duplicated, it's
just there.  It would be nice to have...instead of...

Just using this music thing from back in the 60's, a lot of these entertainers, 
they made a tape in their basement or garage or wherever, and that was sent off
and cut into a 45, sent out and played on the radio somewhere.  And what happened
was...that was a natural kind of thing, it wasn't so much in the studio.  They
went to the studio for the next recording perhaps, whatever, what I'm saying is,
we're missing this...

I think the people would like to have...wouldn't it be nice...there's hundreds of
thousands of young people that are really into Rock&Roll, and into that kind of
thing, and they'd like to get their sounds out, all kinds of neat electronic types
of things...and there's a lot of individuals who are still terrifically
communicative without electronic/electrical guitar.  But we're not hearing 
those people.  And I think this is an extremely valuable area that could/should
be opened up; I think there's a lot of money there that is being missed, a
tremendous amount!

It would be nice to have a system set up that would say, "hey folks, here's this
group," from this area somewhere, who knows where in the country, "this is
their...something they just put together, this stuff, this recording, it's them,
it hasn't been done in a studio, it's their own studio, they put their own
little thing together...what do you think of it?"

And let that kind of stuff get out, play it across the country, and get that
kind of a Top-Ten going.  I mean, I think what your going to find there, people
are going to go in that direction before they're going to go in the controlled
direction.

I'm not saying the controlled direction of the music entertainment world is bad,
I'm just saying, "hey, you guys have it locked up, fine," I mean it took a lot
to do that, "but your missing a whole area here that's about a 100times or a
1000times bigger than what you already got...your not getting it."

By doing it, you'll not only make a lot of money by setting up that kind of a
system, and let it run itself, but you'll also help the Nation raise its own
emotional maturity levels and spiritual levels, because there are a lot of 
messages in that kind of stuff.

...What I'm saying is that, I think the church is saying that too...that article
I read in the New Yorker, I think that's what their talking about.  They're saying,
"all of a sudden we've got a big gap here, and we don't understand how come, why?"

What I see as the reason why, is because we're not getting this uncensored, unedited,
type of expression, it's not being transmitted anywhere.  And what's happening is
that the whole country is falling in upon itself, because it hasnt' got anything
'new' to hang-on too.  It's just sort of falling in on itself, it's turning in
on itself, and that's dangerous.  That could bring our whole country down, and
turn it into something that it's not; I mean it could change everything around.

You know, it's like we need something new.

I was on the Internet a year ago, I remember this, some guy came up, I got into a
forum on CompuServe; I was a member of CompuServe a long time and uploaded things,
and also downloaded a lot of things there, and met some very good friends on the
Internet, and exchanged a lot of communications back and forth, letters, it's a
terrific thing.  But somebody on there was saying, "gee, it would be nice to see
somebody come up with an article or write something that hasn't already been written
about, something new!"

That's what one guy said, because I was in on that forum and was saying that I'm a 
writer and have written a few things, and he says, "well that's great, wonderful,
I'm glad to hear it, write something that nobody else has written about, talk about
something no-one-else has done," he said, "that's what I'm looking for."

You know, that was probably an individual that was pretty well read, I mean, he's
bored with reading.  What I'm saying here is: "if you do come up with something new,
how can you even get it out there," I mean, you can put the stuff together and send
it off...

I had a friend in Europe, a writer over there struggling, trying to get published,
and he wrote me a letter because I'm not on the Internet anymore, my computers down,
anyway so he sent me 'snail-mail' the slow way.

So I get a letter from Europe, and he says in there, "Alex, some of my stuff's been
published in a magazine here and there, and one of my books I just finished, I sent
it off to a publisher to look at," and they said, "hey! this is really great stuff,
your really a courageous writer," and all that...and then there's silence, nothing.

They get to look over my stuff, but he said, that's as fas as it goes; nobody
else gets to read it--they (the publisher's) get to read it, some editor somewhere
in Europe gets to read it, and that's as far as it gets.

And what I'm saying is, hey, there's a whole market there for this kind of thing,
and with the technology we have today, we can handle it.

A couple of years ago I did a little research to see how many writers there were
in the world, active writers, men and women of all different age groups that were
not working in journalism or university or something like that; but were active
poet's, and also people who weren't poets, who just wrote literature.  It's
surprising, they said in England alone there was 250,000 writers that weren't
part of the writer's system, you know, they weren't making a living at it; but
they were writing, they were putting all kinds of things together.

But where do those things go?

They end up on a shelf somewhere in someone's home, put away somewhere.  Those were
sincere efforts to write something down, some kind of a message that was important
to the individual at the time.  And I'm sure that if it was important to that
individual at that time, it's a message that's important to a multitude of
individuals also who would enjoy reading it, but there's no way to get it to them;
because there isn't a system set up to do it.

And it's the same thing in the music world, and the same thing in the entertainment
world persay, and in the movie industry.  A lot of people could put together a lot
of neat films, they don't have to be 2hrs long, or a hour and a half long, they
could be short little ones, 25min., or whatever.  Maybe they'd only be seen a few
times and that's it, but every now and then there'd be a bunch of them (movies)
that would really be neat; momentary things.

Through that kind of exposure to the masses, it would help strengthen the spiritual
foundation of this Nation; because I know it's in a lot of trouble.  I mean, it's
not just me saying it...

"We're in a lot of trouble, we're in big trouble, big-time...big time."

I don't ah...on these tapes, one has to realize, I don't really like to debate
anything with anybody, I'm not a debater, I never have been.  I don't like to
get into that kind of thing.  And I'm not much into politics, and I don't like
to talk a lot about religion, but I'm into all those things.

I hear people debate different things and I think about it, and at the same time
I am concerned about the political structure of my country.  The United States of
America, a very beautiful country with a Constitution that's one of the most
outstanding Constitutions in the history of any Nation.

I believe in God, I believe in spiritual beings of the Universe, and I'm in
touch with those things.

The reason I don't like to get into those things (politics & religion), is
because I like to make analogies, I like to ask questions, I like to...

I was talking to a young woman last week over a cup of espresso, an extremely
intelligent young woman, and she was having some problems with her boy friend,
and I was saying to her, "look it, I'm not going...don't feel like your the
only one that's ever had that kind of problem, they happen all the time, don't
worry, you'll get over it, it will be just one of those things and there will
be nothing to it; everything will work out fine."

I tried to give her some positive energy.  But I said to her that there were
some things I could say to her that would help, but I was kind of hesitant,
and she says, "why, how come?"

Well, I said, because I don't want to stand in the way of your free will, your
independence as a woman, as an individual, as a human being, I don't want to
block off your independent free will, and so I'll try and say a few things that
might help, but I'm not going to say them in such a way as 'you should do this
or that,' I'll leave that up to you.  Because I respect you as a woman, and I
respect your independence, and I respect your individuality.

This is basically what I try to hang on too, and that's why I don't like to
get into discussions to much about religion or politics, because I understand
them for what they are, but I also realize that they're only what they are,
because of their own independence...

[here ends side-2 of tape-1, Wilderness Expressions]

~

[Next, tape-2, Business Leaders, National Leaders, World Peace;
note: text is yet to be proof read]

                                      This page created June98
                                          members.tripod.com