The Prison was what got me into Nez. I had watched The Monkees and that’s what prompted me to Googled him... but I became interested in him as an artist when I read that he creates books with soundtracks.

I think the multimedia form of The Prison on its own is remarkable -- and Nez adds to this by executing it beautifully. Not only by the songs matching the story, but the *form* matching his purpose... and thus enhancing it.

It is important to ask ourselves repeatedly, “Why?” while enjoying Nez’s work, because that is where the best bits lie (in my opinion). That was something I was asking myself before I even got my copy of The Prison. Why did he choose to make *this* a book with a soundtrack? What is he trying to say with this story? With these songs? With this presentation? (And why in freaking heck is it in French?! I’m still working on this one. I love him so much. It will haunt me until my dying day if he never just TELLS ME.)

I don’t know if I think The Prison is Nez’s strongest work (though it is certainly my favorite)... but I do think it is among his most important. It is important in that its message is important and important in that it is (again my opinion) his beginnings as an artist. This is the first look we get into what would come to define him as an artist -- multimedia and metaphysics. He had been touching on metaphysics prior to The Prison but this is his seminal work for me. His albums prior to The Prison were great but this is the moment he defined his own space within art.

After lots of close study of not just The Prison but his prior work, liner notes, interviews, stage banter, etc... I’ve come up with the following interpretation. I’m gonna jump around a lot. Please stay with me. It’s worth it, I promise.

How I personally approach Nez’s work is I look for Truth. I want to know what he intends and see his work from that perspective. His intended message tends to align with Truth, an attempted expression of Truth, etc.

I cannot suggest the liner notes to Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash more. I’d make them required reading for all Nezheads if I could. The first time I read them, I got this overwhelming urge to cry because I could feel that I’d just read something elemental. They really opened up The Prison and the rest of his work for me; I see them as a pre-Introduction to The Prison. I think the bifurcations he presents there are really helpful. I started an essay on the notes last summer but it kept snowballing BECAUSE I kept finding more and more connections to his other work.

I bring them up because I’m about to discuss some dichotomies that were essential to my understanding of The Prison.

Truth ---- Error (Logic)

Love ---- Fear

Infinite ---- Finite

Spirit (Substance) ---- Matter

Okay. Now these are opposites. But not only are they opposites, their opposition disproves each other. Something cannot be partially spirit and partially matter, so the existence of spirit disproves the existence of matter. If you listen to Life Is Long, Nez says, “No such thing as a little light.” Darkness and light cannot coexist in the same space. Light overwhelms darkness. Is it the same with this list. Any belief in the right column is Error.

The Prison is an expression of escaping the illusion of the finite into the Truth of the infinite. The prison appears to be finite. Even fear appears to be finite and made of matter -- it taps Jason on the shoulder when he is in the mist. But the finite is a creation of sense data, it is not real. The action of fear tapping Jason on the shoulder disproves its existence... Nez is indicating that fear is a result of sense data. This is why it has “no substance of its own.” In other words, fear has no spirit. Jason leaving the prison is a metaphor for the expansion of consciousness which occurs when one understands the world as infinite, not finite. Once he is outside, the finite walls disappear.

Why is the prison a prison of fear? Fear is Love’s opposite. This is another expression of Truth vs error. The prisoners are ruled by fear because they are unaware of the infinite, of the love found in the infinite world, because they are ruled by the illusion of the finite. One of the “inviolable laws” of the infinite world is love. Tom tells Jason, “Lean upon love. It is the principle of existence. Not ordinary selfish love, but the love you felt as you walked home. This love expresses itself actively in the very face of discord. The purity of love dispels hate. Sometimes you may feel that you cannot love. That is false ego. Your true nature is love. Do not hate. Love shines forth without effort.” He then continues this theodicy by explaining how evil (meaning fear and error) does not exist.

So why did Nez choose to make The Prison a book with a soundtrack? Because its infinite. Think about all the times you have experienced The Prison -- have any of those two experiences been exactly the same? Have you ever managed to time the music and reading at exactly the same pace? I think it would be impossible. This makes the work itself infinite. There are infinite experiences of The Prison possible because the form is not finite. An album, a book, a film, a painting... these are finite. They do not change. But the experience of The Prison, as a book with a soundtrack, does change. Every time. It is continuous. Its existence lives in the present.

This is my understanding of The Prison at this time but I am always learning and developing new insight. :)

My post! LOLOL

My previous post introducing discussion of Photon Wing is also relevant: https://www.videoranch3d.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?screen=blogtest&scotsblogger_postid=f00012d35e&store_code=V

:)

"The Prison" holds a great meaning for me. In my years on this

Planet I have been a prisoner many times. Sometimes because of the actions

of others and other times due to my own actions and reactions.

I like now nez describes in music and lyrics the Power Fear can have over us, as a Woman I am drawn to the Mystery of all his writings -- as young woman I was locked in the Fear of Survival to be a Adult and to throw away my inner Fears after losing my Mother at barely 17. Now I find myself battling the Fears again after losing my Husband of 23 years recently - and unlocking the door to a new adventure in my Life. "Life The Unsuspected Captive of A Million Dreams" is all so much a Reality to me now I feel a little intimated writing here since I am not that articulate as others but that can be a fear too. What would be lovely would be "The Prison" revamped like "The Ocean" with Nez reading the story of Jason that would be lovely as a new project for him when he has the time. -- Margy

I have been giving some thought on "The Prison," and prisons in general since the topic has been discussed recently. The prison obviously makes sense as a trapping of thought - the agreed upon limitations we place around ourselves.

Why are people placed in prisons? What happens to them there?

Prisons represent: isolation from the rest of society, entrapment. Social control, order and routine. People become institutionalized when they exist too long, like Les and Marie. They are more comfortable living in discomfort because it's what they know. It has replaced "reality," or any type of freedom. Does a prison exist for rehabilitation and reform, or simply to lock away what is dangerous to us? In the beginning of "The Prison," Nez implies that this prison is not the only one, and Jason was transferred in. Is it this transference that allows him to view the nature of the prison with fresh awareness and discover the flaw in it, to question it for himself?

Love can exist and develop in the Prison, though the genders are isolated, divided. Love leads the way through the hole in the wall - one step further out of duality. Love is constant and immutable truth which exists regardless of the entrapment of fears we construct around our vision.

I think processing music while reading helps reach a different part of our mind. Fitting the two together, with the same idea and message from the same artist, helps us restructure the ideas as they flow to us with each reading/listening experience.

All it takes is a crack of light to dispel the darkness. And the readiness to move forward toward the light.

I do love the Prison - not sure I could or would rank it as Nez's strongest work, because I have trouble rating art that way, but it is exceptional. And tirelessly creative.