Opening Life Podcast

Nexus

The Opening Life Podcast is a conversation between jazz musician J Kyle Gregory, spoken word poet Brittany Williams, and special guests from around the world, exploring what wondrous stories, poems, songs and sights of today and yesterday say to our lives. In 2024, our new Season 3 episodes will drop on the first Friday of every month, from March to December.

  1. 05/08/2024

    The Meaning in Metal

    Opening Life Season 3, Episode 3 The Meaning in Metal Dear friends, we hope this conversation between Kyle, Brittany and musician Tim Yearsley opens new avenues of understanding for you. In Nexus we believe every human story expands and deepens our sense of reality. The music you’ll hear says what is has to say with enormous conviction and feeling, and we think that’s a good thing!  As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts about our conversation, and what it stirred inside of you.  JKG The Beyond Grace website is at: https://www.beyond-grace.co.uk/ Beyond Grace is: Andy Walmsley - vocals/bass Tim Yearsley - guitar/vocals Chris Morley - guitar Ed Gorrod - drums ***** The Burning Season (words and music by Beyond Grace) On YouTube: https://youtu.be/-4QvLXFIDWU?si=Th8ip-i8B4YMCzO6 Lyrics: Welcome to the new dark ages! Where cowards live like kings, while children rot in cages Condemned to suffer for the crime of being born And politicians preach, that only they can save us From their mistakes and all the consequences of their failures Wielding words like weapons in an endless culture war Every accusation a confession of their true intentions Banning books and burning pages A little knowledge is a dangerous thing Something to be feared, and something to be hated This is how the new dark age begins And when the lights go out, we shall not see them lit again A new age of darkness has now descended on us Like a swarm of locusts, bringing famine and disease A vicious cycle we seem doomed to repeat Banning books and burning pages A little knowledge is a dangerous thing Something to be feared, and something to be hated This is how the new dark age begins And in our darkest hour, we'll turn against each other We'd rather set the world on fire, than ever face the truth So beware the death of reason Herald of the burning season Banning books and burning pages A little knowledge is a dangerous thing Something to be feared, and something to be hated This is how the new dark age begins ***** Here Comes the Flood (words and music by Peter Gabriel) On YouTube: https://youtu.be/W7D4kinS_p8?si=gGUG_D0sa4aZvsWj Lyrics: When the night shows The signals grow on radios All the strange things They come and go as early warnings Stranded starfish have no place to hide Still waiting for the swollen Easter tide There's no point in direction We cannot even choose a side I took the old track The hollow shoulder across the waters On the tall cliffs They were getting older, sons and daughters The jaded underworld was riding high Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky And as the nail sunk in the cloud The rain was warm and soaked the crowd Lord, here comes the flood We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood If again the seas are silent, in any still alive It'll be those who gave their island to survive Drink up, dreamers, you’re running dry When the flood calls You have no home, you have no walls In the thunder crash You’re a thousand miles within a flash Don't be afraid to cry at what you see The actors gone, there’s only you and me And if we break before the dawn They'll use up what we used to be Lord, here comes the flood We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood If again the seas are silent, in any still alive It'll be those who gave their island to survive Drink up dreamers, you’re running dry Lord, here comes the flood We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood If again the seas are silent, in any still alive It'll be those who gave their island to survive Drink up dreamers, you’re running dry Drink up dreamers, you’re running dry ***** Another helpful resource for understanding the meaning of metal, mentioned by Tim in our conversation: Metal: A Headbangers Journey On YouTube: https://youtu.be/chIeyxbVf_4?si=b8HzFX5XO_5MDswJ Peace!

  2. 04/07/2024

    Pathmaking

    Season 3, Episode 2 - Pathmaking In today’s conversation, Brittany, Kyle, and Nexus co-conspirators Craig and Mary Charnley explore what really happens in life as we search for our path forward, inspired by Spanish poet Antonio Machado’s paradigm-shifting poem, Caminante, No Hay Cammino (Pathmaker, There Is No Path). The Spanish poem in it’s entirety (followed by an english translation): Caminante, son tus huellasel camino y nada más;Caminante, no hay camino,se hace camino al andar.Al andar se hace el camino,y al volver la vista atrásse ve la senda que nuncase ha de volver a pisar.Caminante, no hay caminosino estelas en la mar. Traveler, your footprintsare the only road, nothing else.Traveler, there is no road;you make your own path as you walk.As you walk, you make your own road,and when you look backyou see the pathyou will never travel again.Traveler, there is no road;only a ship's wake on the sea. Antonio Machado  Legendary Spanish singer Joan Manuel Serrat created his own song from Machado’s poem, and through it shaped the perspective of entire generation of Spanish listeners.  We open and close the episode with Serrat’s song, beginning with the  original 1969 recording and closing with a live concert version recorded 50 years later in collaboration with Joaquin Sabina, joined by an enthusiastic crowd celebrating the poem and life with their singing.  Serrat’s 1969 version is here: https://youtu.be/8tHLw8FHlCE?si=HfYD2oMT81k8qlKl A video of the 2019 performance is here: https://youtu.be/7dT5ojKvcZk?si=_mc0f_5xuybq0cIy You can find other life opening articles, on our website at: https://nexusonline.org Peace!

  3. 11/27/2022

    A Seeming Stillness

    Poetry Bob joins Kyle and Brittany to explore David Whyte's foundational poem, A Seeming Stillness. Once again we open the question of how we want to be in this world, with ourselves, and with everyone and everything else. Why do we seem so determined to deny our own vulnerability? We don't have all the answers, but we hope you are helped by our questions.  A Seeming Stillness - by David Whyte We love the movement in a seeming stillness,  the breath in the body of the loved one sleeping, the highest leaves in the silent wood,  a great migration in the sky above: the waters of the earth,  the blood in the body, the first, soft, stir in the silence beneath a strident voice,  the internal hands of our mind, always searching for touch, thoughts seeking other thoughts,  seeking other minds, the great arrival of form through all our hidden themes. And this breath, in this body, able just for a moment to give and to take,  to ask and be told, to find and be found,  to bless and be blessed, to hold and be held. We are all a sun-lit moment come from a long darkness,  what moves us always comes from what is hidden,  what seems to be said so suddenly has lived in the body for a long, long time. Our life like a breath, then, a give and a take, a bridge, a central movement,  between singing a separate self and learning to be selfless. Breathe then, as if breathing for the first time,  as if remembering with what difficulty you came into the world,  what strength it took to make that first impossible in-breath,  into a cry to be heard by the world. Your essence has always been that first vulnerability of being found,  of being heard and of being seen, and from the beginning the one who has always needed,  and been given, so much invisible help. This is how you were when you first came into the world,  this is how you were when you took your first breath in that world,  this is how you are now,  all unawares, in your new body and your new life,  this is the raw vulnerability of your every day,  and this is how you will want to be, and be remembered,  when you leave the world.

    A Seeming Stillness

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About

The Opening Life Podcast is a conversation between jazz musician J Kyle Gregory, spoken word poet Brittany Williams, and special guests from around the world, exploring what wondrous stories, poems, songs and sights of today and yesterday say to our lives. In 2024, our new Season 3 episodes will drop on the first Friday of every month, from March to December.