Picture this. You’ve gone to Nepal in search of wisdom (not sure why we think it’s there), and you approach the guy sitting on a rock high in the Himalayas. He looks familiar, but you figure there are so many people in the world, somebody has to look like somebody else. You approach reverently, and ask, “What is the state of the world?”
He looks at you as you kneel before him and the rock on which he sits, and he says, in a not-quite-clear voice, “Crazy, but that’s how it goes. Millions of people living as foes. Maybe it’s not too late to learn how to love and forget to hate.”
“Oh, wise one,” you say, “where can I go for consolation, for peace, for stability. Where can I go to heal my mental wounds?”
He says, “Look, I’ve searched like you for peace; I’ve searched to understand ‘who and what’s to blame.’ Also, ‘I’ve listened to preachers; I’ve listened to fools; I’ve watched all the dropouts who make their own rules.’ It’s as though I was riding on a train filled with crazies. Whatever the media sold, I bought. I played the role I was tricked into playing. ‘Crazy, I just cannot bear I’m living with something that just isn’t fair.’ And then I found the mountain and this rock.”
“Hey! Wait a minute. I know I’ve seen you before. Oz…You’re Ozzy Osbourne, right?”
“You got me. Yes.”
“And some of those words of wisdom, they’re from one of your songs, right?”
“Sure.”
“Is there any way to get off the crazy train you say we’re on? Is there any way to escape the influence of peers, priests, and patrons?”
“You could move to Nepal, find a rock, and think.”
“What? That’s it?”
“Pretty much, I’d say. Look, I was in the midst of all the turmoil; much of my music is frenetic turmoil. But here I am, sitting peacefully, far from the madding crowd, if I can borrow a phrase from Thomas Hardy and Thomas Gray. But I guess you don’t have to move to Nepal. This is a rocky planet, so I guess there are rocks everywhere.”
“Sorry, I’m still having difficulty getting over who you are. Did you know that there are pictures of people on Facebook that have detailed tattoos of your face? I mean, really detailed tattoos, artworks, even.”
“Yes. I guess I do know. But that’s the world for you. That’s the level of influence I seem to have had. I guess I’m just like those ‘media’ that have gotten us to play roles.”
“Okay, Ozzy. I do like your music, but I would never get a tattoo of you.”
“See, that’s why others need to come to the mountain for wisdom. I agree. I actually think it’s strange that people idolize other people, but I also know that I made big bucks because I had so many fans. People do what they want to do. Who knows what catches their fancy? People worship what or whom they want to worship or idolize. Think of Comic-Con. But, then, maybe some of my lyrics express undeniable truths.
“Like you, I do think, ‘What happened to getting the word Mom tattooed on an arm? You would think someone’s mother would take precedence over a rock star, even a great one like me.”
“Do you, Great Oz, think there is a connection between someone’s wanting to get a tattoo of a rock star and the state of the world?”
“Let me think…Yes, I do. If people get a tattoo of me, I must have some influence over them. That influence derives from my projected persona and from the venues in which I appear. It also derives from my music and lyrics. And I can’t discount my delivery, by style. Now, what makes people susceptible to projected persona, places, music, lyrics, and style? Do they lack their own? And if they lack, for example, an individual persona, what does that say about how they view themselves? You know, sitting on this rock has made me realize that there is something within me that is the true OZ, not just the projected Ozzy. Maybe all those who bear tattoos of me need to realize that they, too, are an OZ unto themselves. Maybe if people learn to turn inward, they will be able to leave the Crazy Train.”
“But, Noble Oz, Great and Powerful and now Great and Insightful, it’s very difficult to get off a train that one boards before one has the wisdom to know the ticket was bought by society itself, that the nature of society is to group us and then ‘sub-group’ us. That grouping and sub-grouping starts early and influences us to be influenced. Then, constant exposure to the group locks the train doors and keeps it on a single track with no stops.”
“Because it’s easy to stay on the train, regardless of its detrimental destination.”
“Detrimental?”
“Yes, competing trains. Foes. Put any two trains on a single track, and you’re going to have collisions. But up here on my rock, I don’t have to roll on a single track, music or train.”
“What am I supposed to do with this ‘wisdom’?”
“I can only offer what I sang in my song ‘Time’:
The time has come for you to
Make up your own mind
Stop looking for the answers that
You’ll never find
Save all your tears for when you
Really need to cry
Don’t wish your life away to
Spread your wings and fly.
“That’s all I have to offer.”
He looks at you as you kneel before him and the rock on which he sits, and he says, in a not-quite-clear voice, “Crazy, but that’s how it goes. Millions of people living as foes. Maybe it’s not too late to learn how to love and forget to hate.”
“Oh, wise one,” you say, “where can I go for consolation, for peace, for stability. Where can I go to heal my mental wounds?”
He says, “Look, I’ve searched like you for peace; I’ve searched to understand ‘who and what’s to blame.’ Also, ‘I’ve listened to preachers; I’ve listened to fools; I’ve watched all the dropouts who make their own rules.’ It’s as though I was riding on a train filled with crazies. Whatever the media sold, I bought. I played the role I was tricked into playing. ‘Crazy, I just cannot bear I’m living with something that just isn’t fair.’ And then I found the mountain and this rock.”
“Hey! Wait a minute. I know I’ve seen you before. Oz…You’re Ozzy Osbourne, right?”
“You got me. Yes.”
“And some of those words of wisdom, they’re from one of your songs, right?”
“Sure.”
“Is there any way to get off the crazy train you say we’re on? Is there any way to escape the influence of peers, priests, and patrons?”
“You could move to Nepal, find a rock, and think.”
“What? That’s it?”
“Pretty much, I’d say. Look, I was in the midst of all the turmoil; much of my music is frenetic turmoil. But here I am, sitting peacefully, far from the madding crowd, if I can borrow a phrase from Thomas Hardy and Thomas Gray. But I guess you don’t have to move to Nepal. This is a rocky planet, so I guess there are rocks everywhere.”
“Sorry, I’m still having difficulty getting over who you are. Did you know that there are pictures of people on Facebook that have detailed tattoos of your face? I mean, really detailed tattoos, artworks, even.”
“Yes. I guess I do know. But that’s the world for you. That’s the level of influence I seem to have had. I guess I’m just like those ‘media’ that have gotten us to play roles.”
“Okay, Ozzy. I do like your music, but I would never get a tattoo of you.”
“See, that’s why others need to come to the mountain for wisdom. I agree. I actually think it’s strange that people idolize other people, but I also know that I made big bucks because I had so many fans. People do what they want to do. Who knows what catches their fancy? People worship what or whom they want to worship or idolize. Think of Comic-Con. But, then, maybe some of my lyrics express undeniable truths.
“Like you, I do think, ‘What happened to getting the word Mom tattooed on an arm? You would think someone’s mother would take precedence over a rock star, even a great one like me.”
“Do you, Great Oz, think there is a connection between someone’s wanting to get a tattoo of a rock star and the state of the world?”
“Let me think…Yes, I do. If people get a tattoo of me, I must have some influence over them. That influence derives from my projected persona and from the venues in which I appear. It also derives from my music and lyrics. And I can’t discount my delivery, by style. Now, what makes people susceptible to projected persona, places, music, lyrics, and style? Do they lack their own? And if they lack, for example, an individual persona, what does that say about how they view themselves? You know, sitting on this rock has made me realize that there is something within me that is the true OZ, not just the projected Ozzy. Maybe all those who bear tattoos of me need to realize that they, too, are an OZ unto themselves. Maybe if people learn to turn inward, they will be able to leave the Crazy Train.”
“But, Noble Oz, Great and Powerful and now Great and Insightful, it’s very difficult to get off a train that one boards before one has the wisdom to know the ticket was bought by society itself, that the nature of society is to group us and then ‘sub-group’ us. That grouping and sub-grouping starts early and influences us to be influenced. Then, constant exposure to the group locks the train doors and keeps it on a single track with no stops.”
“Because it’s easy to stay on the train, regardless of its detrimental destination.”
“Detrimental?”
“Yes, competing trains. Foes. Put any two trains on a single track, and you’re going to have collisions. But up here on my rock, I don’t have to roll on a single track, music or train.”
“What am I supposed to do with this ‘wisdom’?”
“I can only offer what I sang in my song ‘Time’:
The time has come for you to
Make up your own mind
Stop looking for the answers that
You’ll never find
Save all your tears for when you
Really need to cry
Don’t wish your life away to
Spread your wings and fly.
“That’s all I have to offer.”
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