In the last two years, I have expanded my musical preferences alot. Consider 200 snowmen. Now that is alot of snowmen. But multiply that by 5 to get 1000 snowmen--each with its own fashion--, and you have quite a bit more snowmen--each with its own fashion. That is approximately the best analogy I can give you on how much my musical taste has increased in the past year or two. It is now over 9000.
One of the most important additions to my taste is the Indie genre--with the other most important genre being rock!! Here is an example of some of the expanded taste music:
Chicago by Sufjan Stevens
A Man From Argentina- Billie the Vision and the Dancers
transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie
It is SSSSOOOOO nice to find a new song that you love. It makes life so much better. BTW, I read an article on existential depression and how it proliferates in gifted people much sooner than in older people. And I don't want to say I am gifted, but with all my pragmatic viewpoints, I feel that I quite easily could have been existentially depressed. (I don't know if I still am, but I think I was at one point.)
Hahaha. "Gifted people" sooner than "older people"??? It must be quite depressing to realise that your gifts disappear as you age.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think anyone who meaningfully reflects on the deeper questions of life is gifted. Having a broader perspective on the meaning of our existence is the key to so much of the best of our intellectual and cultural traditions. Sadly, the truths out there are fairly depressing. I've always been keenly aware of the half-empty status of life's glass, but the battle is to keep being positive in your day-to-day life. Life is so much more rewarding that way.
Btw, it's an advantage we have over straight people. When they have kids they are forced into a blind faith in the positive future for their progeny. As they invest their lives, hopes, ambitions into their kids, any doubts they have become like a heresy, threatening to undermine the very foundation of their faith. It's not a disease, it's a rational response to the world as we find it. Our job is to make something of that, to make a difference. If not to the world, then to ourselves and the people around us.
"If music be the food of love - play on!".
ReplyDeleteI'd not heard of it being called 'existential depression' but why not? The article you've just got me to read seemed to make perfect sense. I could quite see how you, or him or even me, perhaps, might suffer from it.
And yes, probably it would be one of those things we are free to recognise and analyse once it's stopped happening.
If I may be so bold - I am enjoying your current stream of posts: you're making me think.
Thank you Micky. And thank you Billy. I always appreciate responses.
ReplyDeleteI've wondered if being gay was at all a factor of my views of the world or if it was some sort of societal conditioning or if it was some sort of defect in the brain or if it was some sort of something else. And I don't really care one way or the other. The homosexual community (i believe) is growing. And that makes me both happy and sad at the same time--though i think more happy. Everything is both, btw.
Um, and i think that wondering about the cause is a bit off-base. Perhaps we should view the effects first. As you said, Billy, being gay is an advantage. It definitely makes me see the under-dog's view of society. Since it is one of the harder walks of life, it gives alot more perspective--and alot of that is just being more open to things. I think that should i have been straight, i might have been a more charismatic person--rather than a thinker. But i wonder which is the more preferable trait. Obviously being charismatic is helpful in gaining the trust and love of others. But thinking gives a more mature outlook on life. I think that if i wanted to, i could be a more charismatic person, as i could have been a thinker had i been straight. But as my life is, I really do not know what I am doing. And that aspect of mentality opens so many doors.
That is part of where the existential depression comes into play. Purpose is the driving factor in life. What determines that, in large part, is ability. Now what if you grow up as the universal man--you have a plethora of abilities, each equal in regard to the others? You obviously have to determine which one should be the most important. And that is very difficult; as well, it points out the disappointments in life. Oh, i have all this ability, but i'm only allotted this much space to utilize it. There is so much more that i could be doing. But with the hours in a day and the structure of a normal life, there is no time to use all that ability. So, a child slowly and surely minimizes his life. And through this, his outlook on life slowly hones in to that viewpoint of "how ironic."
I would like to qualify this by saying that it is mostly rambling--hopping from one topic to another. I hope you enjoy reading as much as i enjoy writing. BTW, i consider comments and such as part of the actual "writing", as part of the final product.
I never can seem to end a piece of my writing as i think it should end.
ReplyDeleteYes, ending with that perfect summative remark without being trite or banal is so hard. I edit, try to pare back what I write to the bare minimum. I used to be the master of the run-on sentence, now I just begin them with conjunctions instead.
ReplyDeletePurpose is separate from ability. God I see it in my job. People with a vision of where they want to go have a focus which is so valuable. I hate that post-modern detachment which deprives us of passionate involvement in life and condemns us to being eternal voyeurs.
Something in the world of ideas should be your goal, that is the realm where you can make a difference. I always look forward to reading your stuff. Change comes as new generations confront the world as they find it for the first time. You've got a perspective that shows insight into the beauty and the shittyness of this place. I love it.
first, you're gifted. second, i just found your blog earlier tonight and i've been reading through it (post by post) and i really like it. i know you don't post here anymore so what does it matter b say this you might never see it for as long as you live, butt this just seemed like a good place to say this. okay bye. i've got to get back to reading. i read the earliest ones first, then skipped ahead to 2013 to see where things left off with you and now im making my way back to where i stopped reading and skipped ahead.
ReplyDelete