“The Nature of Consciousness (live)”

Mike: Now, I was back in a place where I was gonna tell you what happened after “Grand Ennui” because ah, remember the horns of the dilemma that I was stuck on, remember that? So, um, I got into a place in my consciousness which began to take on a lightly so-it-goes kind of philosophical c’est la via, you know, well, what the heck, what am I gonna do, I mean, I—you know, here I am, I’m stuck here, and uh, nothing I seem to do is gonna work, I mean, I don’t wanna get into any place where I’m doing any kind of funny, false heroics. I just wanna be what I’m—am, just do what I’m doing, you know, I mean, just like anybody does. And so, um, a lot of songs began to come out of that period, along with this kind of development of this funny little place because the idea about consciousness began to take on an element of living truth. But still in all, there we were with um, my philosophical bent and kind of there, and a couple of the songs that came out of that time were “Tomorrow & Me” and “The Upside of Goodbye”. Still involved an interpersonal relationship, still subject-object kind of thing happening. But uh, nonetheless, um indicative, and there began to be an element of hope, because the last line in “Tomorrow & Me” is um, “Gently place my heart back upon my sleeve”. Because I began to realize that really uh, somehow, I began to know that I couldn’t get hurt, which was a nice place to find myself. And the funny thing about it, is that came from the depths of despair, that particular thought.