Buried in music

Every now and again a musician comes along with a particular piece that strikes a cord. You can't always put your finger on it, but it somehow resonates with your soul and captivates you on a deeper level. Faithless did this to me with Outrospective and Evanescence managed to the same with Fallen, but both these albums have been around for a while.

Now the silence has been broken once more. This time by the mysterious producer named Burial whose sounds now house my being. Both his debut album Burial and his second album Untrue are just amazing. They are like a blanket of city lights, keeping you warm in the cool breeze of the night.

Must listen ...

Unexpected sounds

When I came home from work last Thursday, I walked through Rotterdam central station, which was supposed to be business as usual. Only that afternoon I didn't see the normal grumpy stream of people going to and fro. Instead a band from the North Sea Jazz Festival was set up on the balcony and was playing like they were on stage in their own smoky back alley club. This created such a good atmosphere that a crowd gathered to just listen and be happy.



That is the power of music.

No Fear

Humans are primarily driven by fear. Fear of losing your primary necessities like food and shelter. Fear of not being socially accepted. It is this drive that creates our habits. Becaus if we keep doing what we do, then we won't lose what we've got. It is only when lose the things we have that we can change. It is then that our fear pushes us alter our ways so we can regain what is lost.

The problem is that we only act when it's too late. But if we could let go of our fears, we could anticipate the changes around us and act on them in advance, thus preventing forced action.

fear is a habit

We are creatures of habit, because our actions are driven by fear. This originates from our survival instincts. We fear everything, because we don't know if it will sustain us. When we find something that keeps us alive, we incorporate it into our daily routine, so that it will continue to keep us alive. Only when there is a threat, that keeps us from our habits, we can change.

The problem is that we have long moved on from our tree with rich fruits, that our habit mechanism let's us come back to. It is not our instincts anymore that we can solely rely on, to guide us through our lives. Our tree with fruits has been replaced by snacks and fastfood. And by relying on our instinct we will just grow fat.

It is now not the carnivore with the large teeth that can make us change our habits, but our own minds that must realize the threat and find alternative and better habits for us.

Time and changes are even going so fast now, that we need our rationale to continually keep us out of our comfort zone. Only then are we able to individually evolve with the same pace as our surroundings.

Detached

I am slowly becoming more and more detached from my inner emotions. Though still quite empathic to the emotional state of others and to the social rules and bounds, I find that the most basic of emotions, are starting to fade, leaving only a shell of my former self.

Could it be that my professional state of mind is starting to invade my personal environment? And what exactly is the border between work and private life? Or is it perhaps the result of meditation?

Whatever the reason, I am now faced with a numbness that I cannot seem to shake.

Trust your time

Trust in others, comes from having only a limited amount of time.

In our modern society we are dependant on others. We need others to build our houses, to provide our food and to supply us with information. But who can we trust?

With our house this is not much of a problem. Building is regulated and more important, you can see the house for yourself. You can test it's sturdiness by tapping on the walls, or by jumping up and down, to test the floor.

With information it's another matter. You trust your immediate colleagues, because can assess their professionallity on a daily basis. The same goes for personal information from friends or family. But how do you assess the validity of information on the Internet? Who do trust to tell the truth or at least give you the correct information? With the vast amounts of information that goes through our fingers, we cannot verify every single piece of information, but it's every single person that can put information on the Internet. So then who do we trust?

rationale in our emotions

The actions of human beings are only a product of their emotions. We like to think that our rationality and sound judgement have influence in this matter, but in the end we are controlled and governed by our emotions.

We've created logic to steer clear of danger and to help us provide for. It is a tool, just like the wooden spears and rocks that our ancestors used. But logic does not dictate what we do, our emotions do. Our basic fears, our need for acceptance, our cravings; they are the ones who control us.