The Book of Shadow: The Futile But Surprising Satisfaction of Pathetic Pocket Guitar Riffs In Light of the Fall

The lemurs tend to obsess alot about electric guitar riffs. Alot. At full volume, on repeat - not on the merits of the song in its entirety but just to listen again and again and again to those riffs. The first bit of the opening riff of Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child of Mine is a prime example.

Thanks to the Great Leveller (second only to Death?!), the iPhone, have managed to exorcise this in some measure with the Pocket Guitar purchased today. We peasants make do with S$0.99 apps for "gullible dummies".

etc etc

No, this pathetic attempt (ie. the first, erm, 7 seconds) will not improve with practice, but we can do no better than milk satisfaction from whatever dry wrinkled cow of talent has been bestowed upon us.

Much has already been made about the realistic observations in Ecclesiastes of the seeming temporality, meaninglessness, valuelessness, lack of significance of our lives and how ultimate meaning, value and significance and permanence is found only in relationship with God. But it only really hit home when we were reading Deuteronomy 28 that all the futility of life is truly both a "natural" consequence of our decision to rebel against God and his created order and also a curse from God for our refusal to acknowledge him as God.

Life as described in Ecclesiastes and as we experience it, is not that far off from the curses Moses warned would befall Israel if they disobeyed their loving and already patient God, eg:

...if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you... The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labours, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see...

...The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground...

Perhaps our surprise at the injustice, oppression and lack of satisfaction in the world is uncalled for. Rather we should be flabbergasted that even though we rebelled (and continue to rebel) against God, he has continued to allow us to enjoy so many good things in the short spell of our wretched existence - relationships, food, drink, work!, music...

(Hmm. The solo outro for November Rain's next perhaps, so we can have some peace and quiet around here. Though "nothing lasts forever in the cold November rain.")

P.S. The Rend Collective Experiment makes far better and competent use of those .99 apps (HT: Alto):