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Sunset on westward contrail (airplane condensation trail) seen over power lines from highway, Andover, MA, October 19, 2010
How the West Was Won

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There is a positive and a negative version of everything that must be done. The positive way is expansive and joyful, from receiving love and assistance to grow and make more friends. The negative direction is compulsive from fearful inversion of divine guidance and the destructive opposition which kills opportunity but cannot hide the fact that destiny was and is still calling us to a better life. The manifest destiny of the United States to complete humanity's westward expansion in the direction of the moving sun was answered by a mix of impulses ignorant and wise. There were senseless tragedies of fear and greed in the massacres of our brothers and sisters, offset by the wonder and love of the great explorers who knew to greet nature and native cultures with sacred awe. Having reached the western shores and covered this planet with hot and cold ambivalent technologies, humanity is called again by manifest destiny to expand into the spiritual worlds. Let this be a time of the greatest healing, wisdom, and love we have ever known. My blog for Independence Sunday 2010 offered more inspiration to this holy end, and my 1997 song "How the West Was Won" grew intuitively to encompass sounds of the American experience including banjo (though bowed I call it a bowjo), Appalachian dulcimer, saxophone, metal clanging for railroad construction, native drums, and orchestral hits reminiscent of an Aaron Copeland theme. A whoo whoo for the unresolved fate of the western spotted owl interjects and concludes.


"How the West Was Won" music by Carl Johann Schroeder, copyright 1997, all rights reserved, downloadable version for personal use only, no resale or commercial rights implied. Photo copyright Carl Johann Schroeder.
Creative Commons License"How the West Was Won" by Carl Johann Schroeder is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.ReturnOfHildegard.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.ReturnOfHildegard.com.