Oceans of Notions

I took a class last spring that put me in a rather interesting thought-thinking state, and at that same time I was also arriving at several important epiphanies in my own personal musical pursuits, and the result was a new appreciation for the world in ways I am still just beginning to comprehend. That sentence was long, and full of p's. Anywho, the summation of said realization is that music is intrinsically connected to the relationship human consciousness has with the universe as a whole, or quite possibly it is the essence of the universe itself, and music is the most direct way our brains can comprehend it.

Strangely, a similar topic was brought up in class for a moment in class on Thursday, and shortly after Professor Sexson said repeatedly, "Somthing is going on here!" Whether by sheer coincidence or something completely different, that phrase is a song lyric of mine. Regardless, I do find myself obsessed with this concept. In fact, those lyrics are followed by "There is something that we forgot how to see. Feel the wind blow, feel the gravity." I wouldn't normally quote myself here or anywhere, but that moment in class made it too hard not to bring up.. Indeed, it is something I believe, and for the sake of needing to blog, I will attempt to justify, and maybe, just maybe, validate my personal beliefs.

Contradiction dominates the human experience. The greatest animal on earth is also consistently trying to annihilate itself, going so far as to fantasize about the event on a scale permeating every major culture I can think of off hand. Humans have decorated the globe with hallmark cards and Bibles expressing goodwill and harmony, yet to actual follow through on such instructions today would be seen as corny, cliche, socially awkward, and particularly in the case of the Bible, following through on all its instructions today would be social suicide.. Humans are their own worst enemy and their own biggest fan, every bit as capable of true greatness and connection as they are ignorance and abomination. They are truly terrified of each other while depending on one another for every. single. thing. Capable of great acrobatics, they often find themselves off balance, separating themselves from each other and their environments.

Perhaps it makes sense then that the experience of human consciousness and all it entails (exploration, creativity, romance, ennui, poop jokes, anguish, etc.) has got to be about the last thing any rational being would predict to be an outcome of all the matter and energy that makes up the universe rippling chaotically through space and time in a massive expansion post-singularity that took place approximately 13.4 billion years ago. Life alone would defy all expectation, as it is the most blatant example of finely tuned order appearing from an originally chaotic system.

Still, life and human consciousness must be seen as a product of the universe, tied by a direct chain of events back to the original chaos, and even further back to the original starting point of singularity. This is where I must depart from rational thinking, as if you could consider these notions examples of rationality, and move into the stranger muso-mythic (yes, I just made that up - musical + mythical) state of mind.

Which I will do in my next blog. Cliffhanger!