#professionallyweird

[songsinshadesofsmoke]

Dearest reader, please don't be angry.  Simply put, there are some people - probably even most - that will never grasp what it is that you understand.  You cannot force, coerce.. persuade, convince.. convert or hurt someone into seeing what you see, feeling what you feel, knowing what you know.

You can, and should, try instead to admit to yourself, however insecure, that there is something he sees, feels, and knows that you will never know.  You are at a mutual loss not for words, but for humility, the deficit of which has allowed more gruesome struggle and horrific acts of self-righteousness than anything else possibly could.

Know that you will never know, and care only that they, too, might know - for their own lack of knowing - you never could know, either.

[songsinshadesofsmoke]

I am among those who think well of the human character generally. I consider man as formed for society, and endowed by nature with those dispositions which fit him for society. I believe also, with Condorcet, as mentioned in your letter, that his mind is perfectible to a degree of which we cannot as yet form any conception science can never be retrograde; what is once acquired of real knowledge can never be lost. To preserve the freedom of the human mind then and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to devote himself to martyrdom; for as long as we may think as we will, and speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement. The generation which is going off the stage has deserved well of mankind for the struggles it has made, and for having arrested that course of despotism which had overwhelmed the world for thousands and thousands of years. If there seems to be danger that the ground they have gained will be lost again, that danger comes from the generation your contemporary. But that the enthusiasm which characterises youth should lift its parricide hands against freedom and science would be such a monstrous phenomenon as I cannot place among possible things in this age and country.

Thomas Jefferson

[songsinshadesofsmoke]

Childish rivalries;

Bringing entertainment back

To adult living.

[songsinshadesofsmoke]

Paradise, you ask?

To come home to you, looking

So nice by the fire.

[songsinshadesofsmoke]

Which is worse to be;

Living simply to exist,

Or risking to live?

[songsinshadesofsmoke]

Haikus

I find myself lost,

Between sun-down and sun-up,

Praying 'neath the moon.

[songsinshadesofsmoke]

The Meditative Metronome Method

"Absorbing the Power of Perfect Time"

As a trained musician, you know you're supposed to use a metronome.  You use it frequently, but if you're one of the overwhelming majority, you'll use it for a handful of consecutive days, notice massive improvement, then stop using it altogether.

Why?  Well, because it requires discipline, and lots of it.  And because those practice sessions are always of the brain-melting variety due to the intense focus required to mold your imperfect body and mind to the unwavering demands of strict tempi.  

"How can I develop better rhythmic consistency then?"

See title for a clue.  But to get straight to the point, try this;

Simply turn on a metronome set at 56, low volume. Just have it in the room, try to coordinate your breath with it; 2 in - 2 out, then 2 in - 3 out, etc. Stretching simultaneously works wonders.  (Don't stretch?  You NEED to be - followup article on that later)

Reasoning? You know that 60bpm (beats per minute, naturally) measures seconds.  Let's assume we're comfortable with those, considering our familiarity with the unit of measurement.  To venture below this BPM will gradually expand the lower range of your comfortable perception of time.  It will also be soothing and relaxing to the mind, which will help to bring natural focus whatever tasks may be at hand.

Eventually, once you feel that you've thoroughly absorbed the feeling of this slightly broader tempo, we will drop another notch, down to 52.  I recommend going as low as 44, but this can take time.

"Should I be practicing my instrument during this process?"

Entirely up to you.  I am an avid supporter of mental practice, and often find it unnecessary to be physically with my instrument to reap the benefits of this style of practice, relying instead on internalizing scales and other relatively simple patterns.  If you do decide to play, however, make sure that it is with the same kind of focus as with meditation, allowing each beat to work its way into your being.

Give it a shot - see what you think.  If all goes well, you should come away with a sense of clean focus and general well-being.  Good luck.

[songsinshadesofsmoke]

Well? What about those things that invariably find you at a loss for words? Are you content with this feeling, or must you find some way, some madness-inducing method with which to seek some transferable description of these ephemeral and immortal essences embodied through us? And will that help you sleep, my poor and atrophying minds? Or know you already what invigoration follows the plunge through the sightless opacity of self-imposed limitation?