It lay buried here. It lay deep inside me
It's so deep I don't think that I can speak about it...
And it's not easy for me
To give away a secret
It's not safe...
It could take me all of my life
But it would only take a moment to
Tell you what I'm feeling...
It wouldn't take me long
To tell you how to find it...
'Our life is basically practically nothing but an infinite number of unfinished situations-incomplete gestalts.' writes Perls. 'No sooner have we finished one situation than another comes up' (1969/1971:15). The neurotic 'individual somehow interrupts the ongoing processes of life and saddles himself with so many unfinished situations that he cannot satisfactorily get on with the process of living' (1973:23).
The basis of gestalt therapy is looking at the moment - the whole moment and nothing but the moment. Gestalt therapy seeks to free the "dammed-up psychological process" so that it flows naturally... to Run Wild, Run Free...
L&A opens like a Gestalt counselling session, that is interrupted by the entry of a loved one (real or imagined). The narrator cannot confide in a sister (because she hasn't got one?) and cannot confide in a priest. The institution of confession permits all to be said, but the narrator seems mute. Indeed, the album cover to TSW shows Kate's mouth concealed by a flower and in the Aerial photograph to 'Joanni', Kate's mouth has disappeared... In L&A, her muteness leads her to explore other philosophies of freedom. These seem to include Buddhist principles of rebirth and karma:
"Karma, meaning action-reaction, governs all existence, and man is the sole creator of his circumstances and his reaction to them, his future condition, and his final destiny. By right thought and action he can gradually purify his inner nature, and so by self-realization attain in time liberation from rebirth. The process covers great periods of time, involving life after life on earth, but ultimately every form of life will reach Enlightenment."
http://www.budtempchi.org/12prin.html
So, in Love And Anger the narrator seems to be breaking through of personal limitations and "busting through" constricting forms. A 'spiritual cleansing' to let a 'new house' of the future rise up. And I agree that the end of the song is a real triumphant feeling...
But in Under The Ivy she seems to be retreating deeper into her sanctuary...
This little girl inside me
Is retreating to her favourite place...
Under The Ivy feels like a dangerous regression, a compulsion to repeat something forbidden. Maybe the noise and pressure of the party get to her and she is tempted by secret love... But will her lover join her? ...
Under the Ivy and Love and Anger
It lay buried here. It lay deep inside me It's so deep I don't think that I can speak about it...
And it's not easy for me To give away a secret It's not safe...
It could take me all of my life But it would only take a moment to Tell you what I'm feeling...
It wouldn't take me long To tell you how to find it...
'Our life is basically practically nothing but an infinite number of unfinished situations-incomplete gestalts.' writes Perls. 'No sooner have we finished one situation than another comes up' (1969/1971:15). The neurotic 'individual somehow interrupts the ongoing processes of life and saddles himself with so many unfinished situations that he cannot satisfactorily get on with the process of living' (1973:23). The basis of gestalt therapy is looking at the moment - the whole moment and nothing but the moment. Gestalt therapy seeks to free the "dammed-up psychological process" so that it flows naturally... to Run Wild, Run Free...
L&A opens like a Gestalt counselling session, that is interrupted by the entry of a loved one (real or imagined). The narrator cannot confide in a sister (because she hasn't got one?) and cannot confide in a priest. The institution of confession permits all to be said, but the narrator seems mute. Indeed, the album cover to TSW shows Kate's mouth concealed by a flower and in the Aerial photograph to 'Joanni', Kate's mouth has disappeared... In L&A, her muteness leads her to explore other philosophies of freedom. These seem to include Buddhist principles of rebirth and karma:
"Karma, meaning action-reaction, governs all existence, and man is the sole creator of his circumstances and his reaction to them, his future condition, and his final destiny. By right thought and action he can gradually purify his inner nature, and so by self-realization attain in time liberation from rebirth. The process covers great periods of time, involving life after life on earth, but ultimately every form of life will reach Enlightenment." http://www.budtempchi.org/12prin.html
So, in Love And Anger the narrator seems to be breaking through of personal limitations and "busting through" constricting forms. A 'spiritual cleansing' to let a 'new house' of the future rise up. And I agree that the end of the song is a real triumphant feeling...
But in Under The Ivy she seems to be retreating deeper into her sanctuary...
This little girl inside me Is retreating to her favourite place...
Under The Ivy feels like a dangerous regression, a compulsion to repeat something forbidden. Maybe the noise and pressure of the party get to her and she is tempted by secret love... But will her lover join her? ...