Lifelong instructions for life

"We see symmetrically; canoe on the northern
Canadian lake; stars in the midnight sky
repeated in water; forested shores
precisely mirrored. Our hearing's
asymmetrical: noticed sounds surprise us;
echoes of shouts we make transform our
voices; straight line of sound from us to
shore's followed by echo's slithering
around the lake's perimeter."
~ John Cage's diary 'How To Improve The World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse)', Part 1: soundcloud.com/john-cage/diary-01

"Don’t you hate that feeling? When some crucial wire in your headphones breaks and they begin to only play music out of one ear? But these headphones are not broken; the sporadic shifting of Cage’s voice from one ear to the other, to both, to neither, is all part of the composition. Cage achieved this aural effect by changing the position of the microphone and the recording volume throughout the recording process. Not surprisingly, the visual counterpart for this piece is similarly warped."
~ Maggie Molloy's review 'Diary: How to Read John Cage – Part I': secondinversion.org/2015/10/27/diary-how-to-read-john-cage-part-i

"Much of the time, Cage’s words will feel obscure and poetic. And then, as you’re lulled by the rhythm of his voice, he’ll hit you with something as profound as a Zen koan. (“The goal is not to have a goal.”) Just sit back and let the words flow over you."
~ Jonathan Crow's review 'Listen to John Cage’s 5 Hour Art Piece: Diary': www.openculture.com/2014/04/john-cages-5-hour-art-piece-diary.html

And if you wish to complement the reading with some music (like I do), then play 'John Cage: Seven2 (1990)' by Ives Ensemble at the same time, along with Cage's speech: youtu.be/NZ-SSYFdAew