Who we are

The following presents an intermingled Bio/Vision Statement for the lyrical portion of David's musical work, for which 90% of the credit goes to collaborators: the Angels and Archangels that seem capable of guiding the efforts of AI Software based on neural network architecture, given quality Lyrics, Presence, and Prayers.

This may be too long and provocative for an Artist’s Statement, but, oh well, I was born with my foot in my mouth, so to speak...

The story behind David's lyrics and produced music is long and complex, including mental illness, spiritual searching, heartbreak, and coming to terms. He has written seven songs as lyrics, visible at the Muse Page of this site. The musical tracks are listed under “The David Mitchell Project,” Album Name: “Baby, Get on Board,” on Spotify, Youtube, Apple Music, and other outlets. “David Mitchell” was my ‘in trouble’ name used by my mother in my youth, and is, perhaps, appropriate here.

Vision Statement

Raised in Bozeman, MT and educated in Electrical Engineering at the University of Idaho, David became somewhat unhinged after a drug trip his Junior year of college. He has written expository prose throughout adulthood, but he has always nurtured an “artistic seed.” Recently, circumstances prompted him to the realization that it was time to “get something done.”

We in the Western Christian tradition have always wrestled, somewhat immaturely, with a sharp dichotomy between good and evil, the damned and the saved, and have been, at best, intolerant and suspicious of other religious traditions. My produced music seeks to redress some of these concerns, within the framework of Christian thought.

Buddha left the royal palace to grapple with the sickness of the human mind, retiring to the forest for the work of meditation, contemplation, introspection, and reflection. Today, there are no forests full of Star-fruit like the Buddha had, but by the Grace of the taxpayer, schizophrenics and other mentally-ill people who grapple intensely with the root causative seeds of our society-wide malaise, can, if fortunate enough to find a good therapist or teacher, be guided into assuming a shamanistic/bodhisattvic role for the rest of society, however imperfectly fulfilled.

Perhaps now more than ever, we are poised to move beyond “Us vs Them” thinking in spirituality, and realize that the real war to be “fought” involves a non-combative Unification of Opposites, both within the Self and the World, where relative good and evil cautiously collaborate (through mutual forgiveness) in revealing “the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.”

In prayer, we ask forgiveness for our projections, and briefly feel their sting as we withdraw them, quickly turning them over to the Holy Spirit to again claim our ultimate Innocence, both as individuals and as a community. Suffice it to say, we have a long way to go before we all get Home, but the only alternative is the needless angry, despondent delay of Salvation. And I, for one, ain’t having it…

As any therapist worth her salt will attest, judgement “locks in” negative behavior, emotional states, and thought patterns… and the locus of causality in all this, perhaps surprisingly, lies within the realm of thought. The three, in fact, dependently co-arise out of the imagined departure of Christ from his loving Center, but thought is where we have our best leverage over “The Beast.” This is prayer work, and it can be dark, though when in the company of others, we can do best to observe Christ’s dictum: “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the World.”

This "Blame Game's" illusory replacement of Heaven (after the Fall) in our Awareness, can be perhaps more clearly expressed in the idea "Guilt only Exists in Projected Form." Or, to put it in Buddhist terms, Christian Guilt is Empty; it has no Self-existence; it is a severely entrenched game of smoke and mirrors.

While there are, in any situation or person, “habit energies” that demand respect - in all of this, it is important to remember that, on a fundamental level, the supposition of Guilt causes the Crime, not the other (conventional) way around, and that these influences can travel both backwards and forwards in time, in a highly non-linear fashion.

In short, the ego is not “cute” in the diabolical games it is willing to play. Love, perhaps only expressed as profound respect, can, in fact, turn Monsters to “Friends in our Fold.” What does all this do to Jurisprudence, we may ask? Hopefully nothing, save perhaps humanize it both in its judgements and "punishments."

In the process of Atonement, not everyone withdraws their projections at once, however, so there is still a sense in which a mollified crucifixion of each of us takes place (mollified by Jesus’ First and Final victory), and this happens, particularly, perhaps, in the suffering of work, whatever form that takes for us. There are also, in addition, the pitfalls of interpersonal relations, sexual attraction, and, what Theodore Roszak called, "the nameless anxieties of fate."

This suffering can be greatly reduced, in the long run, by a spiritual path, including psychotherapy. Jesus himself shepherds me through this process while minimizing pain, although I rely on the corrective feedback of therapists and friends to hone my discernment. I even question the wisdom of writing this Vision Statement, but sometimes you have to make a move.

And although language, its meaning, and perception are all multifaceted, and can “flip-on-a-dime,” my meaning attempts to avoid overtly suggesting that we become even more self-conscious and shameful, both about our “bad” acts - and, now, our judgements, but rather gives us a loving “nudge” to awaken from our dark ruminations into a more near-at-hand Present, and return us to the business of working, loving, laughing, and crying (in safe company) the Tears of Christ.

We can use this illusory Fallen World, in short, as a via for coming alive again; for a wisened-up return to the Garden; and to gently “Wake the Devil from His Dream.” We need not despair at the shadows we bring with us - though at times we will be tempted; for time, itself, will last only so long as we have need for it: to purify ourselves to the point where we can accept our inherent, in Reality, Created Perfection, and, as those who have crossed the threshold relay back, realize that a benevolent return for All is as certain as the inviolate Unity of God.

As for me and the music here co-produced, I confess I have no musical skill other than a measured proficiency with the English language, and with regards to that, I must quote my dad speaking about electricity when he was raising me, saying, “I know just enough to be dangerous.” I hope this “danger” - of a mind at once bright, and at the same time, too linear, is tempered by my inspiring “lights” - the feminine muses (including therapists) I have worked with, who remind us that Jesus, Himself, was married to a woman every iota as Enlightened as He is.

David's seven produced songs, the bulk of which were all inspired by a Muse relationship, have Archetypal significance and upliftment as goals. Bon Appetit.