Josh Tolar's Post
Week 3 Reading - chapters 5-8
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| Image by Flickr user: wadem |
The past 4 chapters of the “The Art of Possibility” started to remind me a little about Buddhism and a book called “The Power of Now”. Looking at the way things actually are instead of resisting everything around you is one of the characteristics of Buddhism and one thing that is discussed in “The Power of Now”. This is one of my major downfalls too. When something happens unexpectedly, I often get upset and become disappointed in my own little world. I have learned throughout the years to not focus on material things and these last 4 chapters are a great reminder of that. I like in chapter 7 how it explains negative emotions and not to bury them deep inside or cast them out, but rather realize that they are there. This is very powerful as you somehow step outside your self and see how you are acting. Being present to our emotions takes a lot of practice, but it gets us one step closer to being more optimistic.
“The Art of Possibility” has surprised me several times when music is mentioned, and how orchestra players play with intense passion. I admit that when I was younger I never thought that orchestra players could ever feel the passion of the music because they were always so stiff when following the conductor. In so many cases I saw people play in orchestras and symphonies and never once saw any passion in what they were doing. There were however various virtuosos that would come on stage and warmed the audience with pure passion for the music. I soon started to think about how passion in music, or anything else for that matter, can be transferred to another person. Is it how you look you when you play the instrument or how you act when working on something you love? I love asking these questions and I started to ask them again when I read about the quote that Stravinksy supposedly said about wanting to hear someone trying to play the passage instead of someone just playing it. When we enter into the unknown, we might fail or we might succeed, but there is something there that enables us to feel alive. This is what I feel when I play music. There is something about the guitar that really makes you feel when you bend the strings. Every bend becomes a part of the spirit and soul of the song. You can feel the tension in the string as you bend higher and higher, leaving way to passion.
“The Art of Possibility” has surprised me several times when music is mentioned, and how orchestra players play with intense passion. I admit that when I was younger I never thought that orchestra players could ever feel the passion of the music because they were always so stiff when following the conductor. In so many cases I saw people play in orchestras and symphonies and never once saw any passion in what they were doing. There were however various virtuosos that would come on stage and warmed the audience with pure passion for the music. I soon started to think about how passion in music, or anything else for that matter, can be transferred to another person. Is it how you look you when you play the instrument or how you act when working on something you love? I love asking these questions and I started to ask them again when I read about the quote that Stravinksy supposedly said about wanting to hear someone trying to play the passage instead of someone just playing it. When we enter into the unknown, we might fail or we might succeed, but there is something there that enables us to feel alive. This is what I feel when I play music. There is something about the guitar that really makes you feel when you bend the strings. Every bend becomes a part of the spirit and soul of the song. You can feel the tension in the string as you bend higher and higher, leaving way to passion.
“Possibilities” by Flickr user wadem used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Website Address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wadem/2268968968/
Response:
@ Josh
I know I still suffer from resisting things at first and not looking at the way things actually are. I really do believe that the longer we continue doing this habit, the longer it will take to get rid of, if it can truly ever be gotten rid of. Since birth, we are taught this specific way, to be resistant to things that do not fit in our narrow vision that most of the time we fail to step back and look at the issue from an outside perspective. This, I feel is one of the major downfalls of our species as a whole. The negative emotions talked about in Chapter 7 of the book can also be attributed to this resistance as well, as most of us still tend to hold those emotions, bottle them up inside, then release them when it gets to be too much. I do also agree with what you summed up with the orchestra players. It is better to have a person who doesn't know the piece well that will bring passion and drive in trying to play that piece versus the person who knows the piece by heart and can play it without really feeling it. To the player who already knows it, they would be just going through the motions missing out that passion and energy. This is really how we should push ourselves. Pushing those unknowns, taking that leap so we can bring that drive and passion back so it can indeed make us feel truly alive when doing it. Great post Josh!
Kris Newton
I know I still suffer from resisting things at first and not looking at the way things actually are. I really do believe that the longer we continue doing this habit, the longer it will take to get rid of, if it can truly ever be gotten rid of. Since birth, we are taught this specific way, to be resistant to things that do not fit in our narrow vision that most of the time we fail to step back and look at the issue from an outside perspective. This, I feel is one of the major downfalls of our species as a whole. The negative emotions talked about in Chapter 7 of the book can also be attributed to this resistance as well, as most of us still tend to hold those emotions, bottle them up inside, then release them when it gets to be too much. I do also agree with what you summed up with the orchestra players. It is better to have a person who doesn't know the piece well that will bring passion and drive in trying to play that piece versus the person who knows the piece by heart and can play it without really feeling it. To the player who already knows it, they would be just going through the motions missing out that passion and energy. This is really how we should push ourselves. Pushing those unknowns, taking that leap so we can bring that drive and passion back so it can indeed make us feel truly alive when doing it. Great post Josh!
Kris Newton
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