First Draft-16/09/17, 2331. 11th Writing.
Music is beautiful. I would go as far to say it is the part of our life that displays the most beauty. Whether it be the majestic sounds of a symphony, elegantly playing a piece from Bach, or the anger enraged within from the screams of Lamb of God; there is beauty within all music. I suppose you can also think of music as emotion. The endless range of music available at our discretion each inflict a certain emotion. I believe that in this way we can think of music as an amalgamation of beauty and emotion. I think that is a fair attempt to describe the effects music has on us. Therefore, this must be one of the reasons why people are so obsessed with music. It appeals to our intrinsic emotions. In Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, the characters participate in an event called the “feelies”. This includes (spoiler) going to a musical performance where they experience feelings. The characters feel elated when they participate in the “feelies”. I think we can use this example to connect the former idea. People love to feel, period. Why? Because it makes us human. Without emotion what are we? Just robots, wondering the world. Rick and Morty also has a great episode (can’t member which one exactly) where Rick creates a robotic substitute for Morty. The robot ends up developing feelings/emotions. We discover this right before Rick shuts him off, and that’s the last we see of the robot haha (does that suggest that once we develop feelings we are done for?? Lolz na na na). Anyhow, I think music appeals to our emotions, and we fucking dig that. But you probably already knew that. I think the beauty element must be considered as well though. Beauty is priceless in our world. Just think about the power it holds over us. Men strive to have a beautiful woman as a partner and beautiful woman can enchant men, making them powerless. People spend thousands of dollars just to go and see beautiful national icons such as: The Eifel Tower, The Pyramids, The leaning tower of Pisa, the great cannon, etc. Think about the effect that has on the economy of the places the icon resides. I could argue it is the single most powerful part of the economy, bringing immigrants from every corner of the world just to see them, but I am by no means an economic expert (or an expert in anything for that matter!). Think about how expensive beautiful paintings are, it’s fucking ridiculous! Then there’s something as simple as the beauty of fire, we can’t help but just stare at it (I know I could for hours). It can be emulated in the form of an infant, which we will also stare at for hours on end . This is all because of our natural, undeniable, attraction to beauty. It is a major part of our species, always has been, always will be. Music is another beautiful item to jot down on the list. The good thing is that in our days, the beauty of music is only a click away. Emotion and beauty drive an individual, hence why people love music; they cannot deny it.
Obviously (I don’t like to use that word but..), music is subjective and open to interpretation, which somewhat adds to its beauty. My interpretations change all the time. This means music is not constant. I think this is another reason people love music. We love the diversity it offers, we love the way it grows and we love its unpredictable nature. Jordan Peterson talks about this a little bit, Ima try recall it and put it in my own words. I think people love music because it is both chaotic and orderly at the same time. In Taoism, this is the perfect state for the individual to be in (think of the ying and yang symbol), on the boarder between chaos and order. I think music does this incredibly well. Every song has something unique/different about it (or at least it should). But at the same time, it also has this familiarity that we can relate to; like structure, instrumentation, tone, lyrics etc. The familiar elements could well tie into the whole beauty and emotion idea. It appeals to systems that are prevalent in us (such as beauty and ya closet full of emotions), but it appeals to them in a unique way that we have not experienced before. From my personal experience, I feel this when I fall in love with “a type of music” (aka, genre). When I first fell in love with reggae, I was like, “holy shieeeet, that is tight asf”. Everything made sense, there was stability and excitement. That is the place you want to be. The feeling is more prominent in a live environment. When I went to Alabama Shakes live, it was an enlightening experience. The whole vibe, everyone connected under the beauty of music, people lost, out of the real world for a couple of hours, in a trance like state. All that hippy shit, I felt it, it was fucking amazing. It was at that point that I released the immense power of music, and I decided that I am going to be in the music industry in one way or another; it gave me direction. Don’t get the wrong idea when I say power. I believe it was more the fact I saw how amazing music can be, and how it can bring people together, and I was just like “Damn son, I needs to be part of that! I need to spread the joy, the passion, the beauty of music because it’s what matters to me.” That feeling when you know that you are in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, it’s just, all so right. I believe this feeling is best explained through Taoism’s notion of being on the edge of chaos and order, almost surfing between the two, in a fluid state, discovering/experiencing new things in a way that feels like de ja vu. You knew you wanted to be there, but you didn’t know until you got there. I believe that is part of the experience of music and a reason why we love it.
Music is everywhere and used in many, many ways. It organises our lives, brings us joy and keeps us on our toes. I could presuppose it’s programmed into us from the very beginning. In this sense, I would say we cannot live without it. For a second, imagine a world with no music. Actually, sit back and imagine that. It would be fucking insane. And don’t give me the bullshit argument of ‘if we never had it we wouldn’t know the difference’, just think about it for a second….. Mind boggling shit. Really fucking scary. Man I’m kinda stuck on that thought hahah ahhh ok. Music is programmed into us. From the day we are born we are exposed to a world full of music. I think that this is another reason why we love music. It can be related to the archetypal benevolent mother. Something we can rely on, that won’t fuck us over. Something we can go back to when shit hits the fan. Something we can have a good time with. Something that gives us meaning. Due to it being a part of us, we need to have it. It’s a god damn drug. The other amazing thing with music is it’s a universal language. Everyone can experience music themselves, we don’t need a translator. Sure, it’s fun to talk about different interpretations a piece of music evokes, but ultimately, everyone can understand music (Bar death people #soz). The other awesome thing is there is no incorrect interpretation. It is an experience between you and the music, and no one else can tell you how it should make you feel, or how you should interact with it. Phenomenal stuff, that subjective nature. This is all part of the fact that music is programmed into each individual. The programmers play around and give everyone their own unique programming, but there are similarities we can draw back to that are common in all of us. That is why we love music, it’s part of our soul (soul?), literally. AHH Amazing!!
I don’t think anyone can deny their love of music. People who say they hate all music are either crazy or are trying to be cool by being that one cunt that must be different (been there). Think about the life time of music. It’s basically co-evolved with us, which I think is pretty damn incredible. Kin Baaartiful!
Music,
The universal language, the universal beauty.
Steer us, when our life goes off course.
Alleviate us, when the suffering is too much too bear.
Guide us, when we are blinded by chaos.
Music, the universal love, stay true.
That was a fun one, interesting topic to explore. Didn’t even get into the theory of music, which would be pretty intense but I don’t think I could just write that on the spot, so here’s a reminder to do that one-day Reuben. 17/09/17 0029