London Re-Calling
by Carole Sawo
“London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls”
The Clash (1979)
What does it mean, when ‘London is Calling’? First spoken during the darkest period of World War II, ‘This is London Calling’, were the words uttered at the beginning of BBC broadcasts delivering the news to people concerned about their country and their survival.
From politics to Punk, adopted into the epic anthem ‘London Calling’, written and produced in the United Kingdom by the punk band ‘The Clash’ in 1979, the lyrics describe another apocalyptic clash between two warring factions. But what war was really being fought, then, and as the pattern repeats, now? Were the band’s songwriters merely protesting the injustices in the political establishments, in an attempt to expose the underworld dynamics of imposed social conformity? Given current world events, was the song really a prophecy? And where, in truth, is the war?
“The ice age is coming, the sun’s zooming inMeltdown expected, the wheat is growing thinEngines stop running, but I have no fear‘Cause London is drowningI, I live by the river”
The Clash (1979)
Like every great masterpiece, whether in oil painting or in lyrics, the perceiver’s view is mostly subjective and cognitively biased. On the surface, one may simply enjoy the tune and the tones of two-fingered fury in the face of the social machine. But looking more deeply, we find the battle of all battles, that which each of us faces in life, the brutal, often devastating internal confrontation. The disharmony in the dark underworld, of the subconscious mind.
Symbolically speaking, London represents the subterranean world of the unconscious, the unknown aspect of our tribal selves – way down in that ‘tube station at midnight’. When ‘London Re-calls’, we are drawn back into the recesses of the mind. It initiates a finely tuned orchestra of alchemical change. Of remembering. And sent forth are the rising vibrations of a highly evolved paradigm shift in the collective consciousness of man. Before the external world can change, the internal world has to. Thoughts have to be examined. The inner child must be heard. “Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls”.
Prevalent in the day, and very sadly, saturated in society today, in outward attempts to defend ourselves from the overwhelming internal pain, many self-medicate and become addicted to drugs and other soothing, yet sabotaging substances. And who could blame us really? Some people’s childhood’s have been horrendous. Brutally bullied, betrayed, and misled within their own home, by those who should have nurtured them, the environmental battleground in childhood internalises to the silent and solitary war within the mind in later life. And now all guns are loaded.
The real clash in the internal world is that between our ego and our self. Misperceived by most, the ego is a vital element in the mind that we need by our side. But our self has to undergo the often traumatic battle to re-assert itself into the driver’s seat of consciousness. We do not, in truth, become addicted to drugs or any other substance or behaviour, we become addicted to not experiencing pain. But life is suffering. Until that is, like the masterpiece, we perceive of it through other eyes.
“My daddy was a bank robberBut he never hurt nobodyHe just loved to live that wayAnd he loved to steal your money”
The Clash (1988)
In analytical terms; my father took my power within, I know he didn’t mean to, that’s just the way he learned to love, by giving me ‘a seeing to’’. And therein lies the real war. The perceived disapproval of the father and the necessity of the ego to defend one’s self from within. Arrogance, fury, and blame are the predictable defence mechanisms in the mind. In such devastating perceived losses of love – it’s inevitable.
Now we are being re-called into the collective unconscious. Called again. To repair, we must travel back and then forward in time. Go back to the place of the original sin, the place of misperception, in order for our innocence to be remembered and revealed. But how do we cope with injustice and unfairness? Usually by protesting. But why are we constantly set up by life into this catch-22? Because the lesson is neither to protest nor ingest, but to master the art of tolerance, even in the face of that blatant unfairness. They are wrong. You are right. But in that experience, we can build the muscle of resilience and acceptance. Symbolising manifest ignorance – our maladaptive thoughts – we do not rise by kicking the barking dogs, we grow through and because of them. We have a choice; to shoot at the opposition, or to grow because of them. Even under fire, let us all choose wisely.
Currently, the individual and collective minds are in regression for this very reason. We need to review the journey so far. Examine the impact of wilful and accidental ignorance on the external and internal worlds. Then we must pick up the proverbial sword and with courage, go into that dark night of change, with our eyes fixed firmly on the correction of all errors.
From chaos to calm, after every collision of destruction, the world will rebalance and continue on. And so will we. Thankfully programmed outside of human construct, it is written in the script of the cosmos. From nuclear fission to a new clear vision, the clash will invariably happen – because it has to. Only this time we evolve as an enlightened species. Fully conscious in the liberated soul.
“And I saw a new Heaven, and a new Earth”
[Revelation 21: 1-4]
[24/10/22]