Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Creative with Consciousness
This whole blog is in response to another snarky article written about the frightening fad of "i-doser" music which changes the brain waves and induces alternative states of consciousness.
Click the link below and be sure to watch the news feature. They are SERIOUS and WORRIED. But I'm not, so check this out:
Report: Teens using digital drugs to get high.
I'm really glad there are news sources out there like Wired.com to pick on these people!
I couldn't believe my eyes and ears on that news piece and with interviews with the narcotics division. Are these people really that ignorant of the vast ways people use things other than drugs to ease their consciousness between states of awareness.
Want to know more about the industry's producers and the mechanics behind the i-doser phenomena check out this direct link to frequently asked questions at www.i-doser.com:
http://www.i-doser.com/faq.htm
Do you change consciousness? To be sure you do.
When was the last time you lost focus of everything except the TV while your companion went right on talking and talking and talking? Surely these reporters must realize that their news program is just as guilty of altering the minds of sponges just soaking it all up. But perhaps they are just genuinely concerned with the futures of these poor kids who might learn to think for themselves because of *gasp* - MUSIC.
And billing it out as a "gateway" to anything other than individual thoughts is also ludicrous. People seek drug-free methods for altering their state of mind for a reason: They don't want to do drugs! (The End)
I'm by no means a psychologist, not a brain-ologist who has delved deep into the makings and matters of the way minds work. But I do have some understanding of the differences in consciousness, having dug instead into dreams and their relationships to waking states.
The muse is an animal all its own that brings something across from the ethers and into our own realm. For some, the muse screams music. So here we have a creative work, inspired by whatever muse the artist/scientist has chosen, and as such should first be protected by the artists and peoples freedom of speech/expression.
I do think our minds are susceptible to hypnotic rhythms, and trance states can definitely be induced through music. There are shaman's techniques for inducing a special state of consciousness which only include beating on a drum at a steady rate for the duration of the meditation. These type methods for reaching a different states of consciousness have been around for the duration of humanity.
And I really must inject something here about the effects of reaching altered states of consciousness: SO WHAT. So what if people do that.. everyone does it. Most may not even realize that they are, but they are.
Maybe someone should give a news report on how often people change states of consciousness without realizing it. That sounds dangerous, but most are so unaware that they are conscious until the acceptance of such a piece might be lost on the Oklahoma viewing public and beyond.
What does i-doser music sound like? It sounds like an electronified version of New Age music, and a lot of that is electronic to start with these days.
If you do click the link above, listen to the video by Steve Reich, who has been known to play with such groups as the Kronos Quartet and other visionary musicians like Philip Glass. Glass is also good, and a lot of their music has been featured in well-known films like "The Truman Show," and "Requiem for a Dream." Beware, they use actual instruments.
New Age, Techno, Electro, Trance music - there are all manners of genres that are well known for giving people a mental, emotional and even spiritual high. Acid Jazz has been around how long, not to mention tribal flute music, which works for some, and folk?
If you're up for something a little different give a listen to my new favorite genre, Electro Swing, which has a bit of everything. And the artists are producing more than just that, so explore if you dare.
CARAVAN PALACE - "Jolie Coquine"
Personally, I've been listening to quite a lot of music while avoiding all TV. I feel better about things than I have in a long time. Turning it off is not such a bad thing. The people in there will not get their feelings hurt if you don't watch what they have drummed up for today.
(But that doesn't mean you shouldn't read the newspaper and keep up with current events. Your input, your vote, your participation in the process matters!)
And if you're REALLY worried about young people entering altered states of consciousness I encourage you to consider these other activities as equal potentials for concern:
Peace to all,
Terri
Click the link below and be sure to watch the news feature. They are SERIOUS and WORRIED. But I'm not, so check this out:
Report: Teens using digital drugs to get high.
I'm really glad there are news sources out there like Wired.com to pick on these people!
I couldn't believe my eyes and ears on that news piece and with interviews with the narcotics division. Are these people really that ignorant of the vast ways people use things other than drugs to ease their consciousness between states of awareness.
Want to know more about the industry's producers and the mechanics behind the i-doser phenomena check out this direct link to frequently asked questions at www.i-doser.com:
http://www.i-doser.com/faq.htm
Do you change consciousness? To be sure you do.
When was the last time you lost focus of everything except the TV while your companion went right on talking and talking and talking? Surely these reporters must realize that their news program is just as guilty of altering the minds of sponges just soaking it all up. But perhaps they are just genuinely concerned with the futures of these poor kids who might learn to think for themselves because of *gasp* - MUSIC.
And billing it out as a "gateway" to anything other than individual thoughts is also ludicrous. People seek drug-free methods for altering their state of mind for a reason: They don't want to do drugs! (The End)
I'm by no means a psychologist, not a brain-ologist who has delved deep into the makings and matters of the way minds work. But I do have some understanding of the differences in consciousness, having dug instead into dreams and their relationships to waking states.
The muse is an animal all its own that brings something across from the ethers and into our own realm. For some, the muse screams music. So here we have a creative work, inspired by whatever muse the artist/scientist has chosen, and as such should first be protected by the artists and peoples freedom of speech/expression.
I do think our minds are susceptible to hypnotic rhythms, and trance states can definitely be induced through music. There are shaman's techniques for inducing a special state of consciousness which only include beating on a drum at a steady rate for the duration of the meditation. These type methods for reaching a different states of consciousness have been around for the duration of humanity.
And I really must inject something here about the effects of reaching altered states of consciousness: SO WHAT. So what if people do that.. everyone does it. Most may not even realize that they are, but they are.
Maybe someone should give a news report on how often people change states of consciousness without realizing it. That sounds dangerous, but most are so unaware that they are conscious until the acceptance of such a piece might be lost on the Oklahoma viewing public and beyond.
What does i-doser music sound like? It sounds like an electronified version of New Age music, and a lot of that is electronic to start with these days.
If you do click the link above, listen to the video by Steve Reich, who has been known to play with such groups as the Kronos Quartet and other visionary musicians like Philip Glass. Glass is also good, and a lot of their music has been featured in well-known films like "The Truman Show," and "Requiem for a Dream." Beware, they use actual instruments.
New Age, Techno, Electro, Trance music - there are all manners of genres that are well known for giving people a mental, emotional and even spiritual high. Acid Jazz has been around how long, not to mention tribal flute music, which works for some, and folk?
If you're up for something a little different give a listen to my new favorite genre, Electro Swing, which has a bit of everything. And the artists are producing more than just that, so explore if you dare.
CARAVAN PALACE - "Jolie Coquine"
Personally, I've been listening to quite a lot of music while avoiding all TV. I feel better about things than I have in a long time. Turning it off is not such a bad thing. The people in there will not get their feelings hurt if you don't watch what they have drummed up for today.
(But that doesn't mean you shouldn't read the newspaper and keep up with current events. Your input, your vote, your participation in the process matters!)
And if you're REALLY worried about young people entering altered states of consciousness I encourage you to consider these other activities as equal potentials for concern:
- Breathing
- Praying
- Dancing
- Running
- Martial Arts (and other sports)
- Drinking alcohol
- Laughing
- Rollercoasters
- Sweating
- Driving (it's true, your brain does change consciousness during a drive)
- Having sex
- Fasting
- Chanting or singing
- Making art or even playing music ... Just to name a few.
My caption - photo credit to "the tech" if he ever sees this.
Terri
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Freedom the Aquarius in Poverty
So I put 2 + 2 together with a statistic put about by astrologers that Aquarius people probably make up half the mental wards and made a pretty humorous discovery...
I realized that is how left-wing nuts and right-wing nuts are made. It's pretty universal though, not just for Aquarius people.
I think I prefer to be somewhere in the middle most of the time, but how do we know where the middle is unless we've explored one end or the other to find that balancing point on our own?
“When the highwayman holds his gun to your head, you turn your valuables over to him. You 'consent' alright, but you do so because you cannot help yourself, because you are compelled by his gun. Are you not compelled to work for an employer? Your need compels you, just as the highwayman’s gun.” --Alexander Berkman
Sometimes I feel like I'm not free at all but caught into the machine of debt slavery and that my work was commissioned not by my choices but by the way I am expected to maintain a level of society which is enforced by possession. And as I feel poor today, putting aside my wishes and putting aside some of the things I had grown accustomed to in habit, putting aside my cravings... I am richer for I see that the free things are all around me.
"The possessions of the rich are stolen property. "- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
My sociology professor at Southern Arkansas University, Dr. Ambler, said we should always try to haggle with sales-people for a better deal on things. I try to do this sometimes and have found that if someone is willing to make a good deal, then there are others who give freely.
While it is instilled in me that I should earn my take, and as I proceed with this at the root of my motion... I have a giving spirit and don't feel too out of balance to accept when another has gifts to share.
In that vein, I told someone the other day - in a rather philosophical moment - that if they really want to do business with someone, if they want their take in the spoils, well then all they really needed to do was ask for it.
Have any of you reading this ever found this to be true?
“All men have poetry in their hearts, and it is necessary for them, as much as possible, to express their feelings. For this they must have a medium, moving and pliant, which can refreshingly become their own, age after age. All great languages undergo change. Those languages which resist the spirit of change are doomed and will never produce great harvests of thought and literature. When forms become fixed, the spirit either weakly accepts its imprisonment or rebels. All revolutions consists of the "within" fighting against invasion from "without"... All great human movements are related to some great idea.” --Rabindranath Tagore
I see all around me a movement of people who are working from within the system to make the world a better place and I question my place in this movement. I'd love to be among those to profit from it and to become engaged for permanence with a place that has such a love for its surroundings and its natural attributes.
After all, these are the very things I am finding in payment for my poverty. Among these, I hope to share distinct stories of the passion I have and find.
I gain by witnessing, loving, seeing others share such caring for whole towns, states, nations, peoples of similar affliction or arresting spirit, people who are struggling all together to figure out their places.
I will post quotes I find profound here. I will share my meditations on the world. I will also, hopefully include several original articles on the creative process, some poetry and photography.
I'm just one woman, but also a news reporter walking with eyes wide open to the possibilities. And I'm among the people, their potentials and their drives. I hope to share my own experience with this, along with some spiritual impacts.
Sincerely, - Terri (A woman who hopes you'll subscribe and share her blog with others)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)