A Dharma friend, Klaus in Germany, kindly wrote a comment to my blog on The Outsider by Albert Camus. He sent me a link to a song written by Warren Zevon (1947-2003), an American singer-songwriter, who died from cancer.
In the final paragraph of The Outsider, Meursault, the central character in the novel, says just before his execution: ‘I looked up at the mass of signs and starts in the night sky and laid myself open for the first time to the benign indifference of the world.’
Klaus wrote:
“Today (13 May 2022), I was sitting outside a coffee shop having a cup of coffee.
While reading your above article with eyes open, I fell into a total silence and equanimity. Looking around was just seeing. Not anything interfering.
So relieved. So at ease. Nothing to do. Nowhere to run to.
After a while these lyrics of a song (The Indifference of Heaven, written by Warren Zevon) came to mind:
”….A gentle rain falls on me
And all life folds back into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of Heaven
The vast indifference of Heaven.”
by Warren Zevon.
Performed here live by David Lindley, a fine voice and brilliant musician with string instruments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxrHqKFFqc
There is poetic poignancy to the lyrics, with its transcendental depths, beautifully sung by David Lindley.
Revealing the wisdom of a Buddha, the song exposes the relative truth, time, money (hands in the till), rain, memories, same old story, impermanence. Then the song interrupts the relative to remind us to remember to contemplate eternity.
Here are the full lyrics. Watch on YouTube with lyrics in front of you. Performance in Copenhagen in 2012.
THE INDIFFERENCE OF HEAVEN
Time stands still
Time on my hands
Time to kill
Blood on my hands
And my hands in the till
Down at the 7-11
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven
I’ve got memories to last me
When the sky is grey
Like it is today
I remember the times when I was happy
It’s the same old moon
It’s the same old story
It’s the same old tune
They all say
Someday soon
My sins will all be forgiven
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven
They say, “Better days are near.”
They tell us, “These are the good times.”
But they don’t live around here
Billy and Christie don’t
And Bruce and Patti don’t
They don’t live around here
Now she’s gone
She left town
The town burned down
Nothing left
But the sound
Of the front door closing forever
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven.
Ah, David Lindley sadly died last Friday, 3rd March 2023 at age 78.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-03-03/david-lindley-guitarist-jackson-browne-dies-79
One of my musical heroes.