This is my narration of my ‘a calm presence’ Substack posting ‘my arcanum’. You can also listen to it on conscient podcast.
You’ll hear that I’ve added some keyboard music here and there generated on a Yamaha e353 keyboard which I bought to help me learn my tenor 2 parts for the Canadian Centennial Choir here in Ottawa but as I recorded the narration I started playing a muted banjo patch in chuck boom boom style and it reminded of listening to radio artist Joe Frank in the 1980s who often had this kind of marimba sound in his radio plays and it always mesmerized me and so I had some fun adding the different sounds of this synthesizer, integrating it with the narration and I think what I was trying to is to lighten up a bit as I narrate these rather dark thoughts.
Excerpt from the beginning of the posting:
It was inspired by tea with artist and family friend Barbara Cuerden on September 27th, 2025.
While chatting, Barbara mentioned Saul Bellow’s 1987 novel More Die of Heartbreak, notably this excerpt from page 27 :
* An arcanum is more than a mere secret; it’s what you have to know in order to be fertile in a creative pursuit, to make discoveries, to prepare for the communication of a spiritual mystery.
Ah-ha.
I told Barbara and my wife Sabrina, quite spontaneously, and perhaps foolishly :
* I think my own arcanum is full. I don’t think I need to know anything more at this point…
I didn’t mean to say that I know everything, not by any means, but rather that I have heard and produced so many podcasts, read so many books, seen so many films, read and written so many essays, organized and attended so many webinars and workshops, had so many conversations etc. so that I don’t think, at this point, more knowledge will help.
My learning and unlearning journey with conscient podcast and balado conscient has come full circle and it was time to let all that knowing settle, consolidate and metabolize.
However, one topic in particular continues to haunt me:
* How to be an activist in the context of societal collapse?
* How to genuinely stay positive and hopeful?
* How to behave normally knowing that our species is in freefall?
I hope these words are helpful to you. Maybe some of them resonate.
Feel free to share any comments in this forum or to me directly: claude@conscient.ca
Warm thanks to Kamea Chayne, Lyla June Johnston, Vanessa Andreotti, Shaun Chamberlin, Indy Johar, Clara Schryer and Riel Schryer for using their words with special thanks to Barbara Cuerden for telling me about arcana.
