Caution: I'm just an average Joe who likes to get beyond the surface of everyday living every now and then...
Lately I've been thinking a lot about life, truth and the meaning of it all. I found myself asking a ton of questions that have really opened up my eyes to new things and it has been amazing! Now I know what you may be thinking..."Oh great, one of THESE people!" Well, I can assure you that whatever you are referring to, I am probably far from it. I guess I enjoy looking past the everyday routine of life and getting to the good stuff. So with that in mind I had some questions that I'd like to get your thoughts on...
1) What is it about music that is so important to us?
2) Why do you think it is so important to express ideas and emotions?
3) Why is the need to feel something real so important to us?
I know it's a little deep for some and not deep enough for others, but I figured there are a couple of Damo fans that could gimme their two cents worth!

1) Music is everything, it makes the world work in ways you would not even believe. We love music so much because it can stir something in our soul that not even your lover or friends can do. It is what we are too cowardly to express.


2) It's not important...it is just percieved as important to be defined as a 'normal' person. The only let down of not expressing is that what society's standard is, has begun to crumble and you are the outcast.


3) because we cannot accept faith (which does not have to be religious at all). Or visa versa, we need to feel real because when we wake up in the morning, we do the same thing over and over, day in and day out. It becomes habit. Everything is the way it is until something else comes along. It's like a relationship when things become 'stagnate'. The only exception, people make mistakes by ditching the relationship before realizing that they are feeling restless in their own skin.


if you wanna a more accurate description...feel free to e-mail me:


tasha85@earthlink.net

pretty interesting thoughts, tasha…I might have to have you elaborate on that a little more. I'm a little unclear as to your responses for #2 and #3...

oh, and thanks for responding...but you can't be the only brave soul out there...right? Guess we'll see.

1)Because its a different sound to the normal talking you hear everyday.Music makes words interesting.
2)Because it makes you feel good.

Give me a while for no.3,I've to think bout that.......

Hey Kavu if you're one of THOSE people then so am I. I think far too much about everything. I've actually thought about these questions before, along with many others. These are the conclusions I came to.
1) What is it about music that is so important to us? Music is a form of communication, it taps into our thoughts and expresses them in ways that most people never have the strength to. Therefore it allows us to feel things which we would otherwise remain unaware of, and heightens those feeling we already know.
It is also fascinating because although it follows carefuly set out rules such as harmony, rhythm and melody, it somehow transcends its science and becomes more than the sum of its parts. The idea that something can be more than its constituents is appealing to us, as it is what we aspire to.
2) Why do you think it is so important to express ideas and emotions? It IS important to express ideas and emotion because otherwise they remain inside our minds until we resent them. Retained emotions eventually become too much for a person to bear and then they emerge, with usually negative consequences. There is also the selfish human idea that everything we have to say is of great interest to everyone else.
3) Why is the need to feel something real so important to us? We live in a superficial world, where people are celebrated for what is on their surface. We also live on a largely Godless planet, which makes life seem somehow unreal (if this is all there is, then when we are dead it is as if it never existed at all). We are searching for something of meaning, to give our lives value.

I hope this hasn't bored anyone too much!

wo! Deep. Makes alot of sense.
I'd have to come back with my answers, mind is mush at the moment!</font>

I think wayyyy too much daol- it's my downfall.

Thinking shouldnt be looked as a downfall!!


Think on my good woman!! Think on!

Yeah if we had no thinkers we'd have people like daragh running round the whole time![img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img]

But the stuff I think... [img]smileys/smiley24.gif[/img]

but it's all good...at least you think!!! think think think think think thiiiiiiiiiiiink![img]smileys/smiley17.gif[/img]

good stuff, gang...

I think I scared everyone off- no one's posted their thoughts since I did [img]smileys/smiley5.gif[/img]

penny...

Hey, thanks for your two cents! I think you may be on to something with your responses... I’m going a little deep here people so bare with me…

1) What is it about music that is so important to us? Well, I think you hit the nail right on the head. I agree with you that at the basic level, it is a form of communication that helps people to express thoughts and feelings to others. But I think it goes so much deeper than that...

I think at the core of every human lies questions that for the most part seem to remain unanswered.
"Am I loved?"
"Am I needed?"
"Do I have purpose and meaning?"
"Do I have a destiny?"
"Is there something greater out there?"

I think these questions were written there with specific intent and purpose. We will spend our whole lives trying to figure out the answers to these questions. I think music illustrates this phenomenon very clearly. While some songs may seem to have no meaning to their madness, I would argue that most of what we listen to is more than just amazing guitar riffs and beats...we use it to identity who we are. We allow it to not only speak one thought or a couple thoughts but we allow music and the artist to help define who we are as a person. Some use music to draw people closer and some use it to keep people away, a chair to hide behind. For some it defines dress, attitudes and feelings, friends, activities…a whole culture!

We use it for a bookmark for special events in our lives, good or bad. My dad can’t remember a whole lot in his old age but every time he hears Louie Armstrong’s "Wonderful World" he is always reminded of dancing with my mom at their wedding dance. Music feeds our emotions and can often dictate how we feel (i.e. breakup songs). I mean where would scary movies be without the creepy background music.

What it doesn’t do is answer the questions at the core. It doesn’t give us our complete identity. True, it may lead us in the right direction but ultimately music will give us no answer… so you’re left with yet another question, "Who or what wrote these questions on my heart?" I lean towards "who" myself.

I dunno…just some thoughts…

Those are good- you are so right. I ask myself those huge questions everyday, and find some answers (and yet more confusion) in music.


I also totally know what you mean about music enhancing memory. They say that smell is the most powerful invoker of memory but for me it is music!!

penny,

I think we scared everyone away.

nah..we're just pondering...[img]smileys/smiley1.gif[/img]

please...by all means...ponder away.

ummmm okay, maybe I should warn you all, I am an exetentialist so what I say may very different from what you know so I guess my theory did not fly over well. In existentialism, you do what you do out of you, your personal beliefs you do not do something to please another person because the decisions you make are yours and in the end they will be what get you where you are. To elaborate on the doing to stuff for yourself it is not meant in the insensitive fashion. For example, I like the music I like not because someone else told me to. I try not to just go along with what is put in front of me, I question it to make it my own. I do do volunteer work and I like helping other people. Read, 'The Stranger' by Albert Camus. It gives some insight to existentialism. Basically it sounds like a self way of life but depending on who you are, depends on your degree of existentialism. I am not a super existentialist because I care about other people enough not to be an asshole. E-mail if you are still confused.

[img]smileys/smiley5.gif[/img]


can everybody STOP "thinking" for a while? there's only ONE anwer to all 3 questions: it's all about FEELING, not about THINKING. [img]smileys/smiley27.gif[/img]. and I think (...!) that's what we like...

Well they say a man without music has no soul! Now thats deep and probably quite true. Music plays out loud the notes from a page and the beat of our hearts, the rhythm of daily life.

Without expressing our ideas and emotions we feel like the child told to be seen and not heard only this time its the universe saying sush!

And i dont quite get what the third one means? the need to feel something real? do you mean with people not wanting to feel fake with them or something else Kavu? let me know [img]smileys/smiley10.gif[/img]

well alright...

Tasha - I believe I understand where it is you may be coming from. You sound like you’ve given this some thought! How about we simplify and define things so that others can play. Correct me if I’m wrong but existentialism is the basic belief that truth is defined by our experiences. At least that is the definition I hear you use, right? Given that information, I think I’m beginning to see where it is you are coming from. Now that you have my attention, may I ask you another question? "How do you define truth?" I’m curious because I think you answer to that question would give me a lot of insight as to what it is that you believe.
By the way, Katinka sounds like she may agree with you…we’ll have to ask her.

janedoe -I think we would all agree that nobody likes to feel fake, artificial or lifeless, right? People want to feel and know that they are in fact alive and want to be a part of something significant and meaningful. So the question is "why?" Why is that search for significance or the need to feel something real, that isn’t artificial or fake, why is that so important to us all?

Thanks for the feedback!

no, exitentialism is exactly what I defined above, amybe it has a second part I have never heard of...Exitentialism is like independence blown up thirty times larger than itself..I define truth on fact, or I define it on what feels right for me. I do not think for others. Their decisions are their own.

Tasha and anyone else-

I have a couple of things…

I think that there is a major part, if not the very basis, of existentialism that defines truth as what I validate by my own personal experience. For example, "If it feels good, do it." This is what most of the world is being taught and believes. Is that a problem? Well it depends on the question I asked you in my last response. "How do you define truth?"

Stick with me on this one…

If you say "What is good for you is good for you, but it may or may not be good for me," then you subscribe to the idea of relative truth. This idea is where truth is defined by the individual, internally. You believe that right and wrong is subject to interpretation and the individual. "I believe that X is right and Z is wrong…for me, for anyone else…well, that’s up to them." Relative or subjective truth.

If you don’t agree with that then you would most likely fall into the other category…Absolute or objective truth. This means that truth is defined by a standard that is out side of our control, externally. Truth is truth whether you believe it our not is up to you…but it is there. It’s like gravity, you may chose to deny its existence, but take a step of a 3 story building and you’ll change your mind real quick!

Still with me?

What I really want to know is which of these two (or if you have another option) do you believe?

whatever makes you happy

yes, i do agree with tasha

ineresting stuff, gang...thanks for all the feedback!

Well, don't stop... keep those thoughts come'n!

How old are you anyways...you have plenty of time to decide what you want out of this life.

I'm 25...and I think I know what it is I want. Just trying to help others do the same.