Category: Walden
Theory of the Jumbotron
Are our thoughts not unlike the jumbotron at a baseball game? Are our thoughts real or are they merely a collection of images put together in an attempt to grab our attention forcing us to believe they are real? Is there not a greater reality? Of course there is. There is the actuality of the jumbotron’s existence, the baseball game itself, the spectators around you and the world outside. How quickly our eyes turn to the jumbotron for excitement when it is not only a fraction of the truth of what is. Is this not an appropriate metaphor for thought? I pose the question, “Just because something exists in our minds, does that make it real?” Surely, mental images can be chased after and transmuted into a reality by the thinker. I think of law, science, and invention. But is there not a dark side to the pursuit of thought? Think of all the thought that goes unchecked, the lust, the greed, the jealousy. These are the emotional byproducts of thought. Is it possible to understand the relationship between these feelings and thought? Think about it.
Thought is something one need not worry about. Thought just happens and it is up to the thinker to passively observe or to judge. This is where integration may begin or where division takes hold. How can we know anything if we are constantly judging our thoughts, choosing which ones are beneficial and which ones are not? How quickly does our psyche divide and conflict arise when we choose between what we believe to be good and what we believe to be bad. These are merely labels, judgements, all created by mind. It is this operation that is destructive, thought working against thought. How limiting a concept is this? Is reality not more apparent now than it ever was? We have facts, come about by arduous years, generations of research. We know how small we are compared to the world, compared to the universe, compared to time. Can we see how infinitely small our thought is compared to this reality? Is it possible to see thought objectively, without thinking? Real understanding.
Meditation begins.
Thought is a product of our evolution. It is necessary for our survival and technological progress, but nothing more. If we allow thought to work by itself, unobserved by the higher mind, it can only bring about conflict, internally and externally.
Thoughts?
Words vs. Music
Isn’t it amazing the power and importance we unknowingly give to words? Words seem to trigger psycho-emotional responses that give us comfort or frighten us. Words can bring people together or start wars, make someone feel important or they can make you lose a friend.
The saddest thing about words is…most of the time…it’s bullshit.
We are so quick to jump into the national political debate, or take sides in an argument two friends might be having without considering the effect that words have on us. Words can brainwash someone into becoming a rich man, or brainwash another to follow a certain religious organization.
Why do words have so much power?
The answer is not a simple one, but perhaps the answer lies within the question itself.
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Music makes us feel, simple as that.
Music is beyond words.
It is only when we think about music, remember music, do we put that feeling into words.
It seems to me that music criticism today has become far more important than music.
Why is this?
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What happened to experience?
To sit and listen without thinking about who the composer or artist was, to lose the time and just listen.
Music is everywhere and it is most certainly not defined by magazines or television.
Music is life, not something to be criticized and graded on.
Music is sound. Music is silence.
We all love music because we are alive.
It is only the ambitious, the cunning and the enslaved who divide music into categories.
Life is experiencing, but when we criticize life, we shun the one thing that is important.
How ironic is this existence?
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Outside birds are chirping and the sky is now blue.
I hear a lawnmower and the sound of the refrigerator, the typing on my keyboard.
Let the music play on.
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I’m taking care or my sister’s dog. His name is Bambino. Cute, right?
Consider…The Usual Propaganda
The following image is worth considering
What does “Dig Yourself” mean?
Critics like to say it is a play on the phrase, “Know Thyself?”
Well, how can one know himself if it is another person telling him to do so?
That is the opposite action, is it not?
It is assuming that the answer comes from a source outside the self
Knowing oneself is a continuous prcoess, and not knowing oneself is to allow oneself to continue on in a habitual manner
To know oneself is to keenly observe one’s feelings and his or her surroundings, without judgement
It is to hear the traffic of the city, the smell of the your apartment, your hands as they type unending permutations of keys on the laptop
It is the awareness of the thoughts moving through your brain while you watch a pair of legs cross the street
And it is asking the question, WHY?
Why do I feel hurt, why do I feel pride, why do I feel enlightened, why do I feel like I need to fit into the mold?
Is this not “Digging Yourself?”
I think this is
Otherwise, life becomes dull
By searching for an answer that comes from the outside is unimportant
Because that answer is not real
But the question, WHY? is very real
WHY? is innocent curiosity
WHY? is taken for granted
As all things are taken for granted
WHY? do I feel like this when this thing occurs
NOW!
RIGHT NOW!!!
WHY?
On Why “The Shawshank Redemption” Is The Best Movie Ever
The Shawshank Redemption is the best movie ever.
And here’s why…
We all live in a prison.
Andy Dufresne broke free from the prison because he was innocent before he stepped through the prison walls
We are all beaten down by the guards of the prison.
The prison is manifest within ourselves and within society
The innocent must break free
That is what is right
Sadly, many innocent are born in the prison
And do not even consider their own innocence
Thus they forget their own innocence
Andy Dufresne was an innocent man
The prison is meant for the guilty
Well-Oiled Machines
Are we meant to be nothing more in life than well-oiled machines? All of the stress, the hard work, the over-studying, the interviews, the dating, the endless effort. A well-oiled, and suitably programmed machine excels at any of these tasks.
Question: What does society want from us?
Answer: It wants us to be well oiled machines.
Ah, but you say you are not a machine. I beg to differ. It is quite enlightening to discover how much like a machine you actually are. We are always on the quest for the fastest phone connection, the most fat-burning workouts, the cheapest movies rental deals, the “-est” of everything. Efficiency is essential for our perfection. And what is more efficient than a machine functioning at its highest capacity?
There is, however, something quite dark about our hunger for the best, for exquisite perfection, for immortality. What is the final outcome once we satisfy these hungers? We become hungrier, greedier, more merciless. It is this evil that swallows each of us in its void. And the sad thing is:
It is an illusion.
Just as we are born, our bodies always fail, and we die. Humanity is trapped in this endless cycle. Why must we work at all? What is there ever to gain?
Your Soul Costs 99 Cents
We have made a critical error
We have sold out.
We have put a price on something very important to us
Our music is now free, or at best, 99 Cents
Free music is a double edged sword
Both edges are very sharp
Your trumpet playing now costs the same as my remix
Her Soft Christian Rock is now equal in value to his Satancore.
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It is time to stop selling out.
There is no reason to sell your soul
Only bullshit is sold
Beauty is admired
Be beautiful
Write and record and create an arsenal of art
It will be recognized as great if it truly is
Sell your bullshit.
Don’t sell your soul.
efficientmusician 