Some Cheap Philosophy for the New Year

It seems fashionable these days to use the ideas in quantum physics to explain things we observe in our everyday world, like the notion that nothing exists until it is actually observed. This is expanded upon to generate the idea that we can create our own reality, or we can change reality by thinking. Well, I say, yes, it is a psycological truth that our own attitude can change the way in which we view the world. It’s called the Pygmallion effect - if we can picture something, and if we have the internal motivation, we can bring it to be. For instance in 1998 I pictured myself tuning pianos, and now I do it. But this is an idea that has been around for centuries and it doesn’t really have anything to do with quantum physics, does it? Bertram Russell thought up all this stuff a long time ago. [see note below].

Another annoyance is the implication that people bring on their own unhappiness because of their own inadequate beliefs. True in some cases, yes, but it’s a “blame the victim” philosophy. It is true that we each see the world in our own unique way due to our biases, and sometimes we can’t see what’s right in front of us. But on the other hand, I also believe there is such a thing as external reality. If there weren’t, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion, would we?

When people talk about life after death, they often say something like “oh, the energy we have goes on in some form after we die”. I get a little bit irked about the use of the word “energy”, I guess because I have a degree in physics, and “energy” means something measureable and observable. I think sometimes there's confusion when folks use a metaphor but don’t realize it’s just a metaphor. The “energy” or “soul” lives on after death, so they say, like some kind of ghostie floating around or something. Perhaps I came off as a hard-headed skeptic, I just have a problem when people confuse the observed and measureable things in our world with those things which are metaphors can not be measured. I'm cool with metaphors, just realize that’s what it is.

I had a chat a while back with a guy who was convinced that we have previous lives; there is such a thing as psychics and ghosts; blah-de-blah-blah. I tried to be open-minded yet reasonably skeptical with him. But he was a “believer” and he tried to convince me of his truth, almost the same way an evangelical Christian would try to convert me. I thought it a bit ironic - it’s like he was being closed-minded about his open-mindedness.

I’m not saying that the universe consits of only the observable and measureable, I just object to people holding on to stupid ideas which have been proven to be untrue, like psychic phenomena, and it pisses me off when people think they can “prove” ideas which are inherently unprovable. There is a vast, vast universe beyond what we can measure and prove, and there is such thing as the “soul”, but to me it is a metaphorical reality. For instance, it is the soul, or the true self, which told me that engineering was the wrong occupation for me. And the fact that there is indeed a vast, vast universe of things beyond human understanding is, well, mind-blowing. And although I am a skeptic, it’s interesting to speculate about what is at that boundary between the knowable and the unknowable. Maybe we will meet again at some enormously distant time in the future, can’t prove it not to be true.

Ok, here’s my theology in a nutshell: imagine a huge black sheet of paper with a small white circle on it. The white circle is what we humans can measure, explain, and predict with observation and science. The black paper is the great mystery. Maybe the little white circle gets bigger as we advance, but the overall sheet of paper is enormous. Maybe even infinite. Call the whole thing “God” if you want to. And what one individual human can comprehend is an even smaller circle within the circle. Having said that, it also remains true that the universe does have physical rules and “God” is NOT capricious.
Vast and mysterious, but not capricious.



NOTE: My thinking about this sort of thing was set off by watching a movie called |“What the bleep Do We Know”| and having a discussion with a few people afterwards. The topics in the movie include quantum physics, psychology, metaphysics, and spirituality. The film features interviews with individuals presented as experts in science and spirituality. The film has received |widespread criticism from the scientific community| and grossly misrepresents the meaning of various principles of quantum mechanics. In fact a physicist in the film, David Albert, has stated that his comments in the film were placed so out-of-context that his views were totally misrepresented.

Daria the Lonely Lioness

Once upon a time there was a lioness named Daria who lived on a vast savannah. The landscape was brown and mostly flat, with sparse areas of yellow grass. It was usually quiet, hot, and without a breeze. She survived on small rodents, but there was nothing else to eat, and there was no other life around, and she had no lion friends. On the east end of her domain was a river, and beyond the river was a green forest. She imagined the forest was cool and filled with a variety of life; maybe even other lions that she could make friends with; even find a husband. Often times she gazed over the river and imagined herself in the forest, playing with the other animals over there, smelling all the interesting scents, and feasting on the variety of foods to be found. But she could not go over because the river was cold, wet, and even worse, dark and mysterious. She did not know how deep it was, and she was sure it held pirhanna and other viscious creatures that could kill her.
The more she stared over the river, the more depressed she became because she was so bored in her monotonous savannah, and she kept thinking about how happy she would be with new friends in the forest. She began spending more time looking toward the east, and took her naps closer and closer to the edge of the river.
One day Daria decided she just could not stand the savannah one minute longer, and slowly moved toward the river. She was very frightened, but she walked slowly and deliberately into the muddy and mysterious water. It was freezing and it was so dark she could not see what was down there, and the bottom was icky, but she kept going, step by step, deeper and deeper, until she could barely hold her head above the water. Then she felt something attack her and bite her in the side. Terrified, she tried to get away from whatever it was, but she was bogged down in the mud. She felt more bites from the school of viscious pirhannas. They tore her flesh, and she thrashed in the water, but the more she thrashed, the more bogged down she got, and became so weak from the struggle she eventually lost consciousness.
   * * *
When she awoke and slowly opened her eyes, she came to realize that she somehow was on the other side of the river. She saw the outlines of the trees, now above her, that she used to gaze at from afar. Then she saw an elephant looking down at her with a friendly face. "That was a close one" said the elephant. "You could have died, but luckily I was able to pull you out of the river".
Daria didn't say anything. In fact she didn't say or do much of anything for the next few days because she was so tired and disoriented. Someone was bringing her food while she slept, maybe the elephant who saved her life.
Eventually she had the strength to get up and walk around. She wandered around the area, exploring the riverside and the woods. It was nice, but not exactly the paradise she envisioned when she lived on the west side of the river. She thought there would be lots of great friends to play with, but she had not really found anyone yet. The friendly elephant was nowhere to be found. But she was still happy to be on this side of the river. It was shady, and cool, and she found good food to eat.
After a number of days of exploring, she found that other lions did live over here on this side of the river. She came to be acquainted with a very nice family of lions, who introduced her other friends. She came to be accepted by this group of friends, though it was after some time (you know how cats can be). She told them about living on the other side of the river and her ordeal when she tried to come across. "Was it worth it ?" they asked.
"Of course" Daria said. "I can't believe I lived over there in that wasteland for so long. Even though I have not found a husband yet, it was worth it. Even though life is still a struggle in many ways, it was worth it. It was worth it because I have met you, and it was worth it because I know I can endure just about any hardship now because I endured crossing the river. Life over here is not what I thought it would be, but life is good."
Daria grew happier and happier as the days went on, not because she had found paradise, but because she was in a better place, and she had survived a crisis which she gained strength from. This was a strength that carried her through the tough times, and made her grateful for the good times. And yes, although it was not a fairy-tale kind of happy, she did live happily ever after.

Some words from Dr. James Forbes

The Rev. Dr. James Forbes is the senior minister at |Riverside Church| in New York City. The PBS series NOW With Bill Moyers (12/26/03) interviewed him and showed some clips from his sermons. He is articulate, passionate, and persuasive.  Here is some of what he said:


"What is God thinking about in these times of war, and a widening gap between the haves and have-nots? What is God thinking about when there are trends away from parity, equality, and justice? God's heart aches. And it is a sin to be silent."


"Jesus was tempted by the devil... I fear that the ideology informing the present policies of the nation are coming from some people who took the devil up on his offer: 'You elite, you handful with your special interests, if you act quickly, all the kingdoms of the world - their oil, their wealth, their resources - I will give it to you.'  Jesus said no. But somebody helping to set policies in this nation said yes."


"The real issue that's facing our nation now is, how do we justify a corporate officer making, through his stocks and options and salary, a thousand times more than the lowest paid worker? How do you deal with that? And when you look at the consequences of this disproportion, that means that povery is a weapon of mass destruction. And yet in our capitalist society to raise questions about the freedom of some to enjoy an inordinate proportion of the resources, while others die for lack of basic subsistance necessities; that's going to be a hard conversation to have if God were our economic consultant. Would God say, 'Well, it's a free enterprise system and let it work and everything's going to be allright' ? No. God would say 'You've got to look at that again.'


"We are called upon to hold a plumb-line up against the policies of this nation... It's a symbol of certain set of principles by which you can measure weather we are keeping faith with the principles upon which the nation was built. ... It is not an act of unpatriotic negation to love your nation well enough to tell the truth about it."
"Everything in my spirit is in revulsion against this domination, empire building, against the braggadocious prideful arrogance. The 'shock and awe' in Baghdad looked like it was not coming from God's assignment; it felt like it was the prideful way of saying, 'you mess with us, we're going to show you who we are'. There was something ungodly about the use of firepower in this way. The policies say we are trying to export democracy around the world, yet the homeland securities acts and the 'Patriot' act end up making us more vulnerable while at the same time robbing us of the liberties that our founding documents provide for us. And also, a handful of people... are selling down the river the concerns and the well-being of the masses of the people of the nation; to set policies, which upon examination, are primarily for the interests of the few rich people. Something is not right about that."


"The church perhaps is the only institution in this nation that can ask 'how are your principles squaring up?' - not only with the principles in the Bible, but with the principles found in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Everybody else is scared to do it. The church had better be scared not to do it."


"Maybe, just maybe, God once thought that all of his children were going go be straight, then one day He discovered that one of his children, that God had made, actually was gay. What's God's attitude? 'Too bad' -? Oh, no. I think that the God who understands that out of the created order there's some straight people, some gay people, and some that are in-between. I think that the God that Jesus reveals to me would prefer that special attention be given to the child that was different, especially if that difference had occasioned rejection, humiliation, and ostracism."


"The greatest theft of all is to rob one's right to be."

Some Favorite Quotations

Here is a collection of some of my favorite quotations. Many of these were obtained from a freeware quote program I found on the net a long time ago, some are from the newsgroup alt.quotations, and others I picked up from radio or TV. Let me know if you find inaccuracies, or if you know who said some of the non-acknowleged ones.


Wise quotes about life and stuff


There is no salvation in adapting to a world which is crazy. - Henry Miller, "The Colossus of Maroussi"
Great spirits have always found violent oppression from mediocrities. - Einstein
It may be possible to fight intolerance, stupidity, and fanaticism seperately, but when they come together there is no hope. - Einstein
He who is in love with himself will have no rivals. - Ben Franklin
The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. - Sigmund Freud
Talk therapy turns hysterical misery to mundane unhappiness. - Sigmund Freud
While one must have a destination, in the end it's the journey that matters. - U.K. LeGuinn
No one can make you feel inferior without your permission. - Eleanor Roosevelt
You have not only the right to be an individual, you have the obligation to be one. - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Truth" never set anyone free. It is only doubt which will bring mental emancipation. - Anton LaVey
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. - William James
If the human mind were simple enough to understand, we'd be too simple to understand it. - Pat Bahn
Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
When someone says 'I'm so disillusioned', I say 'Congratulations! You've lost another illusion.' - Parker Palmer
To become what you are not, behave as you do not. - T.S. Eliot
My faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. - Mark Twain
Civilization will reach maturity only when it learns to value diversity of character and of ideas. - Arthur C. Clarke
Much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are 'this' yet allow themselves to be treated as 'that'. - Maude in 'Harold and Maude'
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. - Bertrand Russell
It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are. - e.e. cummings
The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is commonly employed only by small children and large nations. - David Friedman
If, after having been in someones presence, you feel as though you've lost a quart of plasma, avoid that presence. - William S. Burroughs
Creative minds always have been known to survive any kind of bad training. - Anna Freud
To always hit the target, throw a dart, then call whatever you hit the target. - Ashleigh Brilliant
We'd all be alot happier if we'd stop assuming we're supposed to be happy. - Garrison Keilor
You can't carpet the whole world, but you can put on a pair of slippers. - Stuart Smalley
I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his abilities. - Oscar Wilde
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. - Fred Bridge
Bourgeois morality is largely a system of making cheap virtues a cloak for expensive vices. - George Bernard Shaw
If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you might as well dance with it. - George Bernard Shaw
Life is not like a box of chocolates unless there's a few turds in the box. - Bill Maher
To have a happy ending, choose a happy moment and call it 'the ending'.
Honesty is incompatible with the amassing of a large fortune. - Mohandas Gandhi, 1948
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost. - Gustave Flaubert
He who foresees calamities suffers them twice over.
The future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition. - Isaac Asimov
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss
Better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not. - Andre Gide
There are a great many people who have a vested interest in maintaining the stupidity of the American public. - Gore Vidal
Americans can be counted on to do the right thing -- after all other possibilities have been tried. - Winston Churchill
America: a country that went from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization. - John O'Hara
A criminal is someone with predatory instincts but does not have suffecient capital to form a corporation. - Howard Scott
Political language is designed to make lies seem truthful and murder seem acceptable. - George Orwell
No one ever went broke underestimating the taste or intelligence of the American people. - H. L. Mencken
The crumbling of Rome took 250 years. We have the political talent in this country to do it in a couple of decades. - Kevin Phillips
The Bush administration made us nostalgic for ... well, any other time in history. - Hal Sparks
A good engineer can tell you how to build a bridge; A great engineer can tell you if it's really needed. - E.C. Grace
If God had intended man to use computers, he would have given him 16 fingers.
If computers take over, it will serve us right. - Alistair Cooke
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. - Gerald Weinberg
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. - Stephen Hawking



Miscellaneous Celebrity Quotes

All dogs look up to you. All cats look down to you. Only pigs look at you as an equal. - Winston Churchill
If women ran the world there would be no wars. However every 28 days there would be some very intense negotiations. - Robin Williams
Between the Pope and air conditioning, I’ll take air conditioning - Woody Allen on science and religion
The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues. - Elizabeth Taylor
I can handle reality in small doses, but as a lifestyle it's much too confining. - Lilly Tomlin
I've played a murderer, so certainly I think I can play a Republican. - Alan Alda
I am not in denial. I am just selective about the reality I accept. - Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes)
All messages from Satan are played forward and are in standard American English. - from a George Carlin album cover
The best anti-depressant pill for me would be one the size of a house so you could drop it on me and put me out of my misery. - Walter Kern
I never wanted to live to see the day that the most powerful people in the world were named Bush, Dick, and Colon. - Kurt Vonnegut
If somebody tries to tell me the earth was created in 7 days I take a fossil and say "FOSSIL". If he still won't shut up I throw it at him. - Lewis Black
Yes, I only took five sandwiches on my flight. I figured if I made it to Paris, that's all I would need. And if I didn't make it to Paris, that's all I would need. - Charles Lindburgh
If homosexuality is a disease, we should call in sick to work: 'Hello, can't come in, still queer'. - Robin Tyler
My films can be considered political action against the tyranny of good taste. - John Waters
I didn't have a problem with drugs, I had a problem with policemen. - Keith Richards
We didn't have prozac back in the 70's but thankfully we had you. - To Joni Mitchell from a fan
Could you come up here and tune this thing? - Jimi Hendrix from stage, to Eric Clapton in the audience
Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side. - Han Solo
In a world gone mad, only the crazy are truly insane. - Homer Simpson
The Vatican is asking that in lieu of flowers, just stop touching your dick. - Bill Maher on the death of the pope
You can't go around telling people you're King just because some watery tart lobbed a sword at you. - Monty Python

Is the World As It's Meant To Be?

Is the world as it's "meant" to be or is it chaos?

New-Age philosophy says that events happen as they are “supposed” to, and that everything happens for a “reason”, and that adversity in life has the purpose of teaching us something. You can read any of the hundreds of new-age books out there and they will tell you pretty much the same thing: “You must learn to love yourself and when you do the universe will bring good things to you.”... “There is a reason you were put on earth at this place and time.”... “Visualize good things and set your intentions and it shall come to be.”... “There are no coincidences, just synchronicity.” blah-de-blah-de-blah.

I don’t completely buy this stuff nor do I completely reject it. What it means to me is to be open minded and to be able to pay attention to what we may not normally see. Synchronicity is not a magic trick from the universe but it describes events that surprise us or jog the brain. Inspiration can come from synchronicity if we are open-minded enough to see it. Sometimes we are so wrapped up in the concerns of daily life that we don’t see those interesting and surprising things that pass before our eyes. Creative people take those little surprises and build on them to make art. Much creativity comes from putting unlikely things together in a new and unexpected way. But I don’t think the universe “intentionally” sends these things to us. They just happen. And the open-minded people can take the stuff thrown at them in life and make new connections. One feels much less powerless in a world of chaos when one can create something out of the stuff and share it.

When a dear friend of mine died, my new-age friend said he’s fulfilled his purpose in life and has moved to a higher level. This was “meant” to be in the cosmic scheme of things. Well, baloney. It was chaos, really. A very small electrical anomaly in his heart caused a catastrophe. Perhaps a micro-volt of difference would have saved him and he would still be here. It is hard for people to accept the idea that a tiny event could cause big tragedies. And yet we still must have some belief that something coherent holds everything together.

The world flows around us and we can’t stop it. It’s like being in a flowing river. Each moment is gone in the blink of an eye. All kinds of shit both good and bad flow down and bump into us. In some ways I must “go with the flow” and realize it’s impossible to stop some of the shit from flowing by. But I must also have the strength and the motivation to swim up and grab the good shit when it drifts by. Some days the river is calm and clear. Other days there’s shit everywhere. There is a balance in life between allowing the river to flow and having the strength to go against the flow in order to grab the good stuff. The river can’t be stopped but it’s extremely wide and there are many paths that can be taken along it.

Each moment is gone as soon as it passes, yet each moment exists just like every place along a river exists, even though it is behind or in front of you. Each view along the way is unique. I can look back and see it with a different perspective. I see the directions that I did not take and wonder why. But it is neither reasonable nor constructive to dwell on the paths not taken. I should look ahead and pay attention to the present place and where I’m going. If I look back for too long I will slam into a bunch of rocks.

And what of the future ? If all moments exist, is the future already there ? Tomorrow at this time will certainly arrive and things in the world will be in a certain configuration at that moment. The moment exists but is it fixed ? Is it fated to be the way it was “meant” to be ? If all molecules behave in a predictable manner according to physics, and everyone’s brain is made of those molecules, then we have no choice about what will be happening at that moment or any other moment. But if molecules behave according to chance and chaos, we don’t really have any choice either, do we ?


Our consciousness gives us the illusion that we have free will. I have the choice between continuing to write this stream of whatever, or I could stop and make some toast. But do I have a choice ? My stomach is dictating that I should eat something. But my brain can decide whether to eat now or later. The moment of my eating toast exists but hasn’t arrived yet.

This is, of course, a theological question. If all moments are already laid out in time, then praying to a deity is quite useless. But then again, if all moments are already laid out in time, then who did it ?

Contemplating our own consciousness and time makes one realize that there must be something greater than ourselves because the universe is so incomprehensible.

Time for toast.

My Little Forum about Music and Emotion

I've been reading a book by Joe Jackson called A Cure For Gravity, where he talks about his love of music and the wide variety of his personal experiences with it. He often mentions the great and mysterious relationship between music and emotion. So I was inspired to make this tiny contribution to bringing "normalcy" back to our lives after the events of  9/11: a forum about music and emotion. Here are some jumping-off points that you can ponder: What the heck do people really mean at the end of a concert when they say "oh, it was so emotional" ? Why do Major keys generally seem "happy" and minor keys "sad"?  Igor Stravinski said: "Music is powerless to express anything other than itself". Do you agree? Does music really carry emotion, or is it just notes, subject to the unique psychology of the individual listener?  If a group of New Guineans who never heard western music before, heard Barber's Adagio for Strings, (which we in the West consider a sad piece), would they feel sad ?  Or, if they heard a Can-Can, would they get happy? Or would it make no sense to them at all? In other words, how universal is music? I’m interested in your unique perspective. What music touches you and why? Expand on the subject in any way you like, and use as many words as you see fit. And pass this on to any highly or moderately intelligent persons you may know. I will post all responses here  (let me know if you do not want your address to be posted).

--- David P. Gillis     Mon, 24 Sep 2001 00:10:33 EDT: Haydn and Stravinsky were quite right. Music doesn't really express emotion. It may evoke it, but only in the broadest sense, and not in a uniform matter. There is an abstract psychology to music based on certain fixed elements (the use of brass instuments, the use of the secondary dominant chord as transition, etc.,) but music itself is not a fixed form, as is, say painting, sculpture, or the written word. Music, Dance, and any of the performing arts are "time"arts-- there is an element of ephemera which is infinitely difficult to re-create. (This is why Toscanini always said, "That's why  they're called NOTES!"  A bad paraphrase, but you know what I mean.) To be honest, we live in a fortunate time. Think of how many musicians before us would have sold their-- well-- this is the first time in history that we can actally hear Stravinsky play Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Schoenberg. I sigh for Handel & Scarlatti.  And on a personal note (everyone asks...) My favorite composers are still Handel, Haydn and Stravinsky  (and on the odd day,  Debussy.)

--- Bud Allen         Mon, 24 Sep 2001 12:00:00 -0400: Unless I misunderstood Igor Stravinski, "music", in it's broad sence most certainly expresses more than itself. Music is expression of the soul/heart/???. Listen to Black Mambazo, before they went commercial ( which is a whole different discussion) and you feel. Weather you feel joy where joy was not the implied emotion or not, to me, makes no difference; you feel. Listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan, His saddest expressions makes my heart feel as though it is about to burst with Joy. It's hard to talk about Stevie without mentioning Syncopation. Unless you know a particular piece my heart, you're ear will not anticipate the next note or phrase. A surprise to the ear. Listen to Mark Knopfler and he can take you, (as a Taxi picks you up and takes you to a destination) "to" agony  and drop you off at ecstasy; leaving you wanting more! In the fifties 100's of songs had a chord progression of (C, Am, F, G), or that same progression in different keys. So, a minor key when taken standing alone may sound sad, where it is and how it's expressed counteracts the force or effectiveness of that "almost there" sound.  Just as a suspended chord creates tension that is relieved when the suspended note is resolved to the next chord, so to is with the minor chord...........

--- (anonymous)  Mon, 24 Sep 2001 12:48:59 -0700: Happy Lynard Skynard makes me happy, I truly enjoy Ernest Tubb I do not understand polka but it makes many people happy. I hope to elucidate when time permits.Modern rap is an abomination. Marshall Mathers makes me think very bad things about music industry executives. How stupid are we to let them make money from such shit. Remember music vibrates. A minor chord slide from a major chord in barbershop.... well it just doesn't get any better.

--- Michael Wright         Mon, 24 Sep 2001 16:46:12 -0400: Can there be any doubt that music is a form of communication? As a matter of fact, I feel music can communicate some ideas or emotions much better than words can. As with any form of communication, there is the communicator and the intended recipient. There are so many (almost infinite) possibilities and variations in this type of comunication: The message set to music and possibly words by the composer and his/her talent in presenting it; the talent level and sensitivity of the musician(s); the musical knowledge, experiences, and sensitivity of the listener(s); the context or venue in which the music is presented. Add in to the equation the current emotions that the performer(s) and listener(s) bring in to the situation as well asthings such as Zeitgeit or social influences. Do we as mere mortals have any hope of ever fully understanding music?Singing in Dayton Bach Society is a great experience. Many of us who have sang there have sang Bach and other composers works with other choral groups, not knowing the full intracies of the music as often pointed out by Dick Benedum. And can we ever hope to know all of the intracies of it? My answer is no. But it is also my philosophy that humans exist to grow and learn, both, as individuals and as a race. Therefore, it is worthwhile to perform the music even if you don't fully understand it or the composer and, likewise, it is important to learn and grow from the experience and try to gain a more fuller understanding and awareness in all aspects. I feel that humans cannot and will not ever attain perfection in any effort, but by our very essence we are not excused from trying to attain it because of the rewards and growth we obtain in that striving. Okay...I'm stepping down from the soapbox now. * People refering to a perfomance as "emotional" can only be referring to their own reactions (since we are not mind or emotion readers of others). Perhaps they were touched by the performance. The levels that individuals are touched by a performance certainly can vary from individuals. * I'm not sure why major keys sound happy and minor ones sound sad. It does seem to be a Western Music concept. Why do the whole-tone or 5 note scales used in some Eastern Music seem so much more subtle in their sounds and ideas? I do feel that a lot of Western Music is built upon the concept of anticipation, both tonally and rythmicly (sp?). If you play a major scale going up and end on the 7th note, does it not seem unfinished? Does the musical ride not seem incomplete? And how the heck did we end up on that ride anyway? I think tonally, we get conditioned to hearing the 8th note of the scale as a natural conclusion to the scale. If you listen to James Brown singing "I Feel Good" and you stop playing the recording just before he sings the "...I got you!" line, does that not feel incomplete? It seems to me that rythmic anticipation is what makes most percussion sounds into music. Banging a stick on a rock like a metronome is not music in my opinion. Throw in a different instrument (percussive or otherwise) playing a differnt rythm (I really ought to look up how to spell that damn word!) or throw in a kick or riff in time with that metronomic beating, then that is music. Thin line, eh!  * I'm not all that big on Stravinsky. I think he's sort of a hack who got lucky. Music is all about the interaction of the performer and listener, the link that is formed between them. While a person may be able to look at notes on a page and imagine the sounds, the notes have not been brought to life, so to speak. I think that his quote is a particularly assinine comment in view that he was (sort of) a composer. No wonder he wrote all of that 12 tone crap that had very little meaning to people, even after hours and days of analyzing it. I think he set out to make music have no meaning. Unfortunately (at least for us who were forced to analyze his "music" in class), even his collections of notes have some, albeit unintentional, emotional experession. My opinion, take it for what it's worth (Can I help it that I'm a Wagner fan). * A group of New Guineans would probably find Barber's "Adagio" at least interesting. Would they feel sad? I sort of doubt it because they have not been raised with that music tradition. However, I do believe they might find the "Can-Can" to be a happy piece because of it's upbeat rhythm (Hey...I finally spelled it right!), a style they could probably identify with. It's more than the notes or the scale that make the music. Consider this: Why does the song "America the Beautiful" have so much meaning to so many people right now? To me its still the song they made us sing in fourth grade that we liked to make fun of! Obviously, the song has become identified with the Congress singing it and the events of September 11. Would we have appreciated Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" more if they had sung that instead? This is actually a more interesting topic than it first appears. More and more, the media appears intent upon relagating music to a background role in association with another medium. Soundtracks are a prime example of this. I had not heard "Adagio" until I saw the movie platoon. Now, I have trouble disassociating it from that movie and context (visions of Willem Defoes death by betrayal). How about "Fanfare for the Common Man" or Pachelbel's "Canon"? How about "Ride of the Walkeries" sung by Elmer Fudd or in the movie "Apocalypse Now"? The interesting thing for me about "Adagio" is that, once I tried to listen to it apart from the movie and with an open mind, I found a different emotional context for the song. Can we try to disassociate music form the context in which we've heard it before and discover a new emotional meaning? I belive we can. Try it sometime!

--- David B. Stang   Tue, 25 Sept 2001 13:09:04 EDT: Mike, I'm afraid I have to disagree about Stravinsky. First, the great majority of his music was not "12-tone crap". He dabbled with 12-tone some, but mainly as an experiment, I think. Secondly and most importantly, he is not only one of the great composers, but one of the great minds of the 20th century. His music was shocking to some at the beginning of the century, just as Picasso's and Einstein's ideas were difficult to swallow at first. But his music is without question brilliant and groundbreaking, whether you happen to enjoy listening to it or not. Also, how can you say his quote is "asinine", when you go on to say in your last sentence that one can disassociate music from a previous context and discover a new emotional meaning. Also you said above: "People refering to a perfomance as 'emotional' can only be referring to their own reactions". Seems to me that supports Stravinski.

--- (anonymous)      Fri, 28 Sep 2001 02:27:32 -0400: What music touches me?Marlene Dietrich singing in German and French (brings the full power of a different era) Berthe Sylvae (French) Edith Piaf (French) Jacques Brel Mozart's Requiem (only when I'm suffering deep depression -- if so, I play it over and over and over) Bach's Toccata and Fugue  (there is just raw power in this music).  Barry Sisters (their greatest Yiddish hits) Cher  (her talent is underestimated) Parliament (pure animal) Doris Day (See the USA in Your Chevrolet)  Annie Lennox (Lenox?) Dolly Parton  Most "classical" music bores me.  But occasionally I'm in the mood to enjoy it. Truly depends upon my mood.  Some music energizes me.  Occasionally I like to hear the techno music that is played on the island of Ibiza (decadent place for European eroticism). Some music makes me cry.  I dare not listen to it.  It is too powerful.  It unsettles me.  I lose control.  It brings back painful memories.  One song reminds me of my father being on a respirator.  It's very upsetting. I can't stand it.  Makes me very angry when I hear a particular rock song that is about breathing.  I can just feel my father's labored breathing.  It feels like the song mocks his suffering.  Naturally at an intellectual level I know that this is ridiculous, but at an emotional  (what the hell does "emotional" mean?) level it affects me greatly. Music can inspire soldiers in war.  Create esprit de corps in a platoon. Consider marches.  All soldiers are  synchronized.  Same with religious music. Do animals enjoy music?  We humans are animals.  But cats and dogs don't seem to notice music very much.  Or do they? In response to your question about individuals who are non-western who hear western music for the first time, I send the following article: The Comfort Effect of Music, by Paul Recer

---   Jack and Susan Hillbrand      Fri, 28 Sep 2001 09:51:24 -0400  As you may recall, I can not sing well nor play any instrument. Susan played flute, guitar, and piano in her youth and she has a lovely and sweet voice. Our comments are basically from a layman's point of view. However, we have read the subject of music and we have attended a multitude of voice and instrumental concerts.Per your questions, we think Stravinski was correct. It seems to us that music and emotions are subconscious interactions in the mind with the emotions delivered by the listener. Sadness, and other emotions are probably conditional responses we learn and we bring those experiences to a musical performance.   Yo Yo Ma recently commented that ''Music was a way of putting all our thoughts and emotions into order and into perspective - music, specifically classical music, can hold within it all those complex emotions of sorrow, anger, and bewilderment.'' And that for example, Denyce Graves's singing of Malotte's setting of ''The Lord's Prayer'' at the service in the National Cathedral. ''That was amazing - very, very moving.'' Then in particular about memorial services he said that, ''The music served to bring people together in a kind of fellowship and it holds them there, in the moment. I have never felt more moved to be playing; every note meant so much more, both to me and to everyone who was listening.'' . . . ''Memorial services bring everything together, and such times, music is particularly meaningful. While I was playing the Sarabande in Bach's Sixth Suite for solo cello, I was thinking about some pairs of phrases in the second half. One phrase asks the question `Why?' and the other phrase says, `Because.' Music can't answer the why, but it helps us deal with that kind of question.' What follows are quotes and other articles we researched and like - Some Musical Quotations Three Theories of Emotion An Effect-Perceiving Interface Music and Song in Discussion Exploring the Musical Brain From Mind's Eye to Emotion's Seat Humpbacks, Hummingbirds, and Human Composers Auditory Cheesecake or Evolutionary Advantage? How Can Music Excite, Calm, or Depress People? Emotions in Music, by Andrew Marr The Dark Side of Music Music and Film, by Jean Mitry Music in the Movies, by jas79 Music and the Bible

The Death of My Childhood

My brother says I had a kind of “certainty” when I was a kid. What he means, I think, is that I created things without self-conscious doubt. I used my imagination without inhibition. I made hundreds of crayon drawings, I made tapes of my own silly radio shows, I wrote adorably funny letters, I played piano, I made little pieces of pottery, I went looking for frogs, I laughed at my Dad’s Spike Jones records, I danced around the house.

The end of this “certainty” was the death of my childhood. There is a piece of the brain that tells us we are not “supposed” to do certain things, and this piece of the brain is encouraged by our parents, teachers, and peers as we grow up.  There’s a way we are “supposed” to draw, “supposed” to speak; things we are “supposed” to be interested in. Peers at school told me I was supposed to like competitive sports, and not supposed to like things that girls like.

The death of childhood is like the expulsion from Eden. It’s the realization that someone is judging you. It is the development of conscious. The things you do matter to those out in the world: parents, friends, society, God. The nightmares of childhood creep up: Why don’t other kids like me ? Why does my brother call me a sissy ? Why do my parents consider me a problem ? My answer to these and similar questions was: I must be messed up in some way. 


I still have a kind of nagging notion that "supposed" to be laboring out there somehow every day. There are those who would say I am "wasting my education" if I am not working a professional job. There is a paternal voice from within that says not working hard is a very bad thing. Perhaps this is the "nightmare" part of childhood lingering in my brain. Society says we are not "grown up" if we are not working as a responsible person should. If I respond to this pressure am I really "grown up", or am I really still a child because I am listening to this rigid voice ? What is really growing up ? It is not necessarily leaving behind childhood frivolities and going to work. It is leaving behind the paternal stern voice and listening to what comes from my true self.

The second death of childhood comes when we mature enough to realize that we should not be burdened by negative judgements. When we realize that God loves us as we are. When we realize that it is OK to be sensitive. The new-age phrase “finding the inner child” I think really means growing up and rejecting the guilt and negative self-judgement still left over from the nightmares of childhood. If there had never been these nightmares and monsters then perhaps we would still be in that state of grace where we could freely create without worrying about the expectations of parents, teachers, etc. The true adult understands his responsibilities without taking on undue or imagined responsibilities. This is a shift from acting upon fear, to acting upon love. It's finding the inner adult.

The first death of childhood occurs when we stop playing and start working. When school and books stop being fun and begin to feel like a burden. When we stop creating because we know there are better creators in the world, so why bother. When we give up those “little boy” activities and start longing for a sexual partner, and realize how lonely we are.

The second death of childhood occurs when we realize we do not need to be bound by what the paternal inner voices are saying. When we realize that fanciful dreams are OK, but also understand our true responsibilities to ourselves and others. When we feel free to love and know we deserve to be loved.
What’s really childish is to let the crap we have been conditioned with, bind us.

It's ok for me to dance around the house. It's ok for me to make crayon drawings. It's ok for me to make a web site.