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Zen of Dylan lecture left audience
blowin' in the wind
By
Jen Beasley
November 12, 2007 | I was raised on music not designed
for my generation: my Dad's classic country, my brother's
classic rock, and chiefly, my mother's oldies. I used
to hate Riders on the Storm by the Doors because
it's what we would clean to; I had similar feelings
about Crosby, Stills and Nash's Teach Your Children.
But overall, my upbringing gave me an appreciation
for the true classics (sorry, Beethoven) that could
also be classified as a bit of a modern rut, and my
CD collection probably resembles that of most of my
professors more than that of most of my peers. So when
I heard about a lecture being given on campus entitled
"Bargainin' for Salvation: Bob Dylan a Zen Master?"
I took it as a chance to rub elbows with other similarly
warped young people, and perhaps learn more about my
favorite folk rocker.
One out of two ain't bad, I suppose.
It turns out Steven Heine, the supposed aficionado
of all things Zen and Dylan combined, has simply fashioned
himself a speaking tour using nothing but a bland PowerPoint
presentation, a few very choice Bob Dylan lyrics, and
a lot of assumptions.
Nothing about his argument -- the handful of Dylan
excerpts that either mention Buddha or supposedly non-dualistic
(read: Zenlike) thought patterns -- was convincing.
Maybe Heine was out of tune. Maybe he'd had a rough
night with his groupies of academe the night before.
But I think he just wanted to prove Dylan was a Zen
thinker because that would be groovy, and found what
he was looking for simply because Dylan has such an
extensive lyrical repertoire.
It is my opinion that if one looked hard enough, one
could extract a dozen lyrics from Dylan's collection
of work to make him a Ku Klux Klansman, a homosexual,
a Republican, or yea, a Zen Buddhist thinker. I do not
believe that simply because one can, one should.
Heine made his basic arguments -- the simplicity and
enigma of Dylan's work, his association with the Beats
who associated with Buddhism, his travels to Japan --
well enough for comprehension but without convincing.
Many people, equally underwhelmed and more ballsy than
I, left in the middle.
At one point Heine said because Dylan answered questions
like what his songs were about by discussing their length
in terms of "about five minutes," and because he made
a smart remark about the big light bulb he whimsically
carried around for a period telling kids to "keep a
good head and always carry a lightbulb," he was giving
Zen-like answers. But where Heine finds Zen, I find
smart-assery. I hate to think next time I'm a smart-ass
somebody concludes instead that I'm a Zen master, for
both my sake and that of true Zen masters. But then
again, where Heine seeks Zen, I seek smart-assery.
And therein lies the problem. Seek and ye shall find,
Heine.
Seemingly aware of the weakness of his argument, Heine
hedges every bet he makes with acknowledgment that Dylan
has never professed to be a Zen master, that he went
through a number of extreme philosophical fluctuations,
and that the well-placed punctuation at the end of the
speech title is essential. I didn't know you could get
speaking fees that way. It's a neat trick.
Meanwhile, what divergent paths will the ears graced
by Heine's insights travel? Just a glance at the titles
on a single Dylan record, Blonde on Blonde,
and I find answers to that question: Some will have
gotten food for thought to chew on as in One of
Us Must Know (Sooner or Later). Some will disagree
as in Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go
Mine. Some will be convinced for a time and then
stray, as in Temporary Like Achilles. And some
will be with Heine through and through: Obviously
5 Believers. And I'm not even looking at lyrics.
It's a scary thought how much is out there to interpret.
But if you leave the answer Blowin' in the Wind
like Heine did -- to use one of his own favorite
lyrics -- "Nothing is revealed."
NW
MS |
