Empty Calories.
Wow. I've gotten quite a few comments on my last couple of posts. According to M., I should stop consuming the "empty calories" of music, in order to concentrate on a more personal agenda. According to J., I should stop buying into the false hype of "self-aggrandizing, self-destructive fantasies", by accepting my limitations, sucking it up and settling for a "job [I] don't hate".
These are two very good suggestions for capturing a life focus which I've long sought. The problems are these:
To respond to the first point - M., I don't consider music to be empty calories. In fact, some of the most revelatory experiences I've had have come from the lyrical content of music, and I consider my regimen of music consumption to be a healthy part of my balanced, nutritious mental breakfast. Constant musical intake helps me keep an open mind, among other things, and allows me to benefit from the emotional and intellectual experiences of others. It also keeps me in tune with what's going on. The attitudes of modern times, and sea changes on the horizon. In short, music is not only a source of enjoyment, but also a source of data.
On the second point, which is a very good one - J., I do seem to sort of buy into the image driven current in our society which leads into what I think of as the "endless daydream", a sort of daily ego-trip which never goes anywhere, like a treadmill preceeded by a carrot on a string. On the other hand, I cannot accept that there is no path which will lead me beyond mediocrity. To cease to dream entirely is to fall into a stagnant pattern, a sort of brain-death from which none return. I still feel that I may have something interesting to offer the world, if I can find a way to sustain myself whilst seeking it.
These are two very good suggestions for capturing a life focus which I've long sought. The problems are these:
To respond to the first point - M., I don't consider music to be empty calories. In fact, some of the most revelatory experiences I've had have come from the lyrical content of music, and I consider my regimen of music consumption to be a healthy part of my balanced, nutritious mental breakfast. Constant musical intake helps me keep an open mind, among other things, and allows me to benefit from the emotional and intellectual experiences of others. It also keeps me in tune with what's going on. The attitudes of modern times, and sea changes on the horizon. In short, music is not only a source of enjoyment, but also a source of data.
On the second point, which is a very good one - J., I do seem to sort of buy into the image driven current in our society which leads into what I think of as the "endless daydream", a sort of daily ego-trip which never goes anywhere, like a treadmill preceeded by a carrot on a string. On the other hand, I cannot accept that there is no path which will lead me beyond mediocrity. To cease to dream entirely is to fall into a stagnant pattern, a sort of brain-death from which none return. I still feel that I may have something interesting to offer the world, if I can find a way to sustain myself whilst seeking it.
posted by Q. at 12:54:00 PM
2 Comments:
Hmm, I feel like I may not have expressed my point as fully as I should have. I remember as a kid being told often that I had a lot of potential which was generally followed with an explanation of how I wasn't living up to most of it. When I was younger I used to feel very guilty for not living up to that potential or "doing more with my life". Eventually I came to the realization that the belief that I needed to live up to potential that someone else saw in me was predicated on the belief that I owed someone something. Since I didn't have any sort of life ambition (doctor, lawyer, astronaut, etc) it followed that my sense of guilt wasn't a result of not living up to expectations that I had for myself but rather the expectations placed on me by society. Somehow society had decreed that simply by virtue of having been born intelligent I somehow had a duty to society to contribute in kind. When I thought of it that way it seemed sort of silly. My intelligence was an accident of genetics and a result of my upbringing. No one but my parents really had much of a hand in it and they never really pushed me in one direction or another, so to whom did I owe this debt? I owed no one. I looked at my situation and at the time I had a job that I didn't hate and I didn't have aspirations for a different one. Since then I have come to enjoy and believe in my work but it was enough at the time that I didn't hate it. I guess my advice to anyone who hates his job is to find a different one but my advice to someone who doesn't hate his job is to think very carefully. Just because something is different doesn't mean that it is better. Even if your work isn't fulfilling it allows you to afford to do the things that do fulfill you. I can see how what I said before may have seemed fatalistic but I guess what I was saying was that as a single guy with no kids the only person you really need to live for is yourself. It sounds like new age bullshit but you should define success for yourself.
Agreed. One cannot live without a dream. At least, that's not what I call living...
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