

The Wisdom of Insecurity - coltr
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/01/06/alan-watts-wisdom-of-insecurity-1/

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sizzle
"To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking,
“I am listening to this music,” you are not listening"

This is a phenomenon I constantly battle internally in my consciousness when
assessing the various layers of musical composition.

So if we stop ourselves from thinking about music as we listen, the result
would then consist of "experiencing/feeling" music?

The mechanics of it being a mindless, automatic response to the auditory
stimulation. (neurotransmitter release/binding)

I don't know where I'm going with this, but how do you all listen
to/analyze/experience particular music of your liking?

~~~
gruseom
I think that for many people music is deeply connected with ideas about
identity, such as "this is the kind of music I like" and "I am the kind of
person who likes this kind of music". This is very visible in popular music,
where how the performers look and who they are is as important as the music
itself.

Because of this, the satisfaction of listening to music isn't only auditory or
aesthetic, but also an identity satisfaction, of feeling one's ideas about
oneself confirmed.

It's probably true that humans inject identity ideas into everything, so this
is nothing special to music. But it's a strange situation, since music per se
is the most abstract of the arts and this extra layer we put on top of it is
so obviously extrinsic.

~~~
kiiski
Maybe it's precicely because of the abstract nature of music that people need
to judge it based on something more concrete.

~~~
gruseom
Could be, especially when you combine that with its immense emotional power.

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ZenoArrow
The joy of being lost in the moment, and to know we can only do that now,
makes every moment valuable. But we find ourselves again and again telling
ourselves stories about who we are, and who others are. I've been trying to
piece together how it's possible to interact with others without this need for
ego narrative, but haven't found the way just yet.

~~~
ZenoArrow
Something struck me about love a moment ago... Perhaps the reason love seems
elusive is that isn't reached directly, but is found as a byproduct of living
in line with how you are.

------
dools
My first exposure to this concept was in Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now". I
look forward to reading Watt as well to gain further insight, thanks for
sharing.

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nickthemagicman
The obvious conclusion of this is that this implies you should have no goals
for the future, you should work towards nothing, and just take life as it
comes.

I feel that to be a little rediculous.

You can't control the future, but I feel that intelligent planning is
important.

~~~
rfugger
> The obvious conclusion of this is that this implies you should have no goals
> for the future, you should work towards nothing, and just take life as it
> comes.

That kind of black-and-white thinking is exactly what the article is nudging
you into letting go of. Nowhere does it say not to have goals. Rather, it says
not to confuse those goals with reality, not to spend all your time protecting
a hypothetical future when you can only ever live in the present. Nowhere does
it say work towards nothing. Rather, it says work is something to be
experienced for its own sake, rather than just as some suffering to get
through in order to achieve an end.

Yes, take life as it comes, including the fact that setting goals and working
towards them might be something that makes you happy. However, when goals
become obsessions and happy work turns to fear of failure and anxiety, you're
defeating the entire purpose of setting goals and working in the first place.

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krick
The core idea is simple, but explained this way it seems to give wrong
impression. Also, the title is somewhat misleading. So if somebody is
interested in that kind of things I'd suggest reading Erich Fromm's "To Have
or to Be?"[1]. It's also heavily influenced by eastern philosophy and zen
buddhism and is supposed to explain the same thing as this article does, but
in my opinion does it much better (although I disagree with Fromm in many
details, but it still feels like a good read).

[1] -
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Have_or_to_Be%3F](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Have_or_to_Be%3F)

------
oh_sigh
I'm a bit hesitant to take life advice from a thrice divorced alcoholic.

~~~
Vardhan
By that logic we'll have to throw out some of the most influential authors.
People like Hemingway, David Foster Wallace, Fitzgerald, Mary Shelley, etc.
etc. Their reflections on life wouldn't matter, and the study of what they've
thought on life would be meaningless. Perhaps from your POV that's true, but I
simply don't agree with that.

An author's personal life is not indicative of their wisdom, or perspective.
After all this life is simply a variety of events that just happen, all of
which can't be perfect, or just the way you want. Life is just the way it is,
and you, as a human being, are molded around it. Cognitively that's how a
human being works, we learn, and we grow. See it for what life is, and go with
it. After a while you'll develop your own perspective from wherever you stand.

But that's just the way I see things...

