I think it always comes down to whatever is easiest. One time I had a friend describe a certain song to me as more "accessible". The popular songs are popular because they're the easiest to get into, they're the most accessible. EVERYONE identifies with that teenage, infatuation feeling that Katy Perry sings about (I totally listened to that song for two weeks straight last month).
And different things make them more accessible, right? Teenage dream is the most accessible in it's medium of the radio. While some songs aren't really radio material. Transatlanticism is my very favorite song, and I had heard it a million times before I realized how much worth it had. But I didn't recognize it for what it was until I heard Death Cab play it live. I never did the work to see the worth of that song, to really delve into it and find the beauty that wasn't immediately accessible. Whereas with teenage dream, I heard it for the first time ever in early december, and then listened to it straight for a good while after only hearing it once!
Teenage dream was so accessible in any medium that I immediately liked it, but Transatlanticism took a live performance, different dynamics, and even different emotions inside myself previous to hearing it at that time during their concert.
If a person were to ask me, "which do you think would enrich yourself more, Shakespeare or Stephen King?"
And different things make them more accessible, right? Teenage dream is the most accessible in it's medium of the radio. While some songs aren't really radio material. Transatlanticism is my very favorite song, and I had heard it a million times before I realized how much worth it had. But I didn't recognize it for what it was until I heard Death Cab play it live. I never did the work to see the worth of that song, to really delve into it and find the beauty that wasn't immediately accessible. Whereas with teenage dream, I heard it for the first time ever in early december, and then listened to it straight for a good while after only hearing it once!
Teenage dream was so accessible in any medium that I immediately liked it, but Transatlanticism took a live performance, different dynamics, and even different emotions inside myself previous to hearing it at that time during their concert.
If a person were to ask me, "which do you think would enrich yourself more, Shakespeare or Stephen King?"
I would definitely say, "Shakespeare."
But have I actually read Shakespeare since high school? No. Cause it's more work. I have to study each sentence to figure out what it means, or even consider the multiple possible meanings! I have to really delve in there. With Stephen King, I have to occasionally look up a word that I've never heard before, but mostly I just pay attention to the plot. I get way more out of Shakespeare, and find it much more fulfilling. But I still don't read it, because it's work.
(Although, I have only read one stephen king book in my life, and that's because I don't think I will get enough out of it to spend that much time reading the book … and that's a redeeming factor for myself, right? :)
I think you could come to the same conclusion in plenty of other areas. Katy Perry is popular because she is easy and accessible. Stephen King is read because he is easy and accessible. People have become much more obese because getting McDonald's is easier than preparing a healthy natural meal. I remember watching an Oprah episode on Amish people … I think … it was people who lived as if they were from pioneer days. She interviewed the woman about cooking and they said the women spent THEIR WHOLE DAY preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner for themselves and the men of the family. I remember watching that and being shocked, because I can easily run to McDonald's and get a meal in 5 minutes. Though it will only do the bare minimum of satisfaction that food is meant to do.
I think it all comes down to how much a person wants to improve themselves. And to consciously recognize that they want to improve themselves, what it takes to improve themselves, the decisions they have to make, the discipline it takes, and the rewards they will get as a result of the discipline.
I wonder if people are just becoming less self disciplined in their attempts to improve themselves?
Society gets smarter and smarter, but it seems like we really just get better and better at making everything easier, which in turn actually hinders us.
But have I actually read Shakespeare since high school? No. Cause it's more work. I have to study each sentence to figure out what it means, or even consider the multiple possible meanings! I have to really delve in there. With Stephen King, I have to occasionally look up a word that I've never heard before, but mostly I just pay attention to the plot. I get way more out of Shakespeare, and find it much more fulfilling. But I still don't read it, because it's work.
(Although, I have only read one stephen king book in my life, and that's because I don't think I will get enough out of it to spend that much time reading the book … and that's a redeeming factor for myself, right? :)
I think you could come to the same conclusion in plenty of other areas. Katy Perry is popular because she is easy and accessible. Stephen King is read because he is easy and accessible. People have become much more obese because getting McDonald's is easier than preparing a healthy natural meal. I remember watching an Oprah episode on Amish people … I think … it was people who lived as if they were from pioneer days. She interviewed the woman about cooking and they said the women spent THEIR WHOLE DAY preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner for themselves and the men of the family. I remember watching that and being shocked, because I can easily run to McDonald's and get a meal in 5 minutes. Though it will only do the bare minimum of satisfaction that food is meant to do.
I think it all comes down to how much a person wants to improve themselves. And to consciously recognize that they want to improve themselves, what it takes to improve themselves, the decisions they have to make, the discipline it takes, and the rewards they will get as a result of the discipline.
I wonder if people are just becoming less self disciplined in their attempts to improve themselves?
Society gets smarter and smarter, but it seems like we really just get better and better at making everything easier, which in turn actually hinders us.
Megan, you got me thinking about a lot of things, and you awakened some more thoughts in me that I want to express.
First of all, the more I think about things, the more I think Thoreau was one of the greatest thinkers/philosophers/men of any time. Because of what you said, I started to think about the things he said here in "Life Without Principle," and they came like a hammer to my soul, and I want to share this so bad because it makes my heart so full:
"After reading Howitt's account of the Australian gold-diggings one evening, I had in my mind's eye, all night, the numerous valleys, with their streams, all cut up with foul pits, from ten to one hundred feet deep, and half a dozen feet across, as close as they can be dug, and partly filled with water, — the locality to which men furiously rush to probe for their fortunes, — uncertain where they shall break ground, — not knowing but the gold is under their camp itself, — sometimes digging one hundred and sixty feet before they strike the vein, or then missing it by a foot, — turned into demons, and regardless of each others' rights, in their thirst for riches, — whole valleys, for thirty miles, suddenly honeycombed by the pits of the miners, so that even hundreds are drowned in them, — standing in water, and covered with mud and clay, they work night and day, dying of exposure and disease. Having read this, and partly forgotten it, I was thinking, accidentally, of my own unsatisfactory life, doing as others do; and with that vision of the diggings still before me, I asked myself why I might not be washing some gold daily, though it were only the finest particles, — why I might not sink a shaft down to the gold within me, and work that mine. There is a Ballarat, a Bendigo for you, — what though it were a sulky-gully? At any rate, I might pursue some path, however solitary and narrow and crooked, in which I could walk with love and reverence. Wherever a man separates from the multitude, and goes his own way in this mood, there indeed is a fork in the road, though ordinary travellers may see only a gap in the paling. His solitary path across lots will turn out the higher way of the two.
"Men rush to California and Australia as if the true gold were to be found in that direction; but that is to go to the very opposite extreme to where it lies. They go prospecting farther and farther away from the true lead, and are most unfortunate when they think themselves most successful. Is not our native soil auriferous? Does not a stream from the golden mountains flow through our native valley? and has not this for more than geologic ages been bringing down the shining particles and forming the nuggets for us? Yet, strange to tell, if a digger steal away, prospecting for this true gold, into the unexplored solitudes around us, there is no danger that any will dog his steps, and endeavor to supplant him. He may claim and undermine the whole valley even, both the cultivated and the uncultivated portions, his whole life long in peace, for no one will ever dispute his claim. They will not mind his cradles or his toms. He is not confined to a claim twelve feet square, as at Ballarat, but may mine anywhere, and wash the whole wide world in his tom."
I think I'm agreeing with you, Megan, if I understand what you are saying. And I would like to extend what you are saying with what Thoreau said. We, each and every one of us, are a gold mine. There is so much inside that I am sure we have no idea what our limits are or what magnificent things we are capable of. There is so much to see when we go inside ourselves, but like you were saying, we want things that are instantly accessible, and therefore, instantly gratifying. Turning inwards can be hard, and it can be scary, and the results are definitely not instantaneous or as "exciting" as our accessible entertainment. We, as normal humans, turn outwards for satisfaction and start to scramble and meander ever onwards in flat plains. What I mean is, I am thinking how our pop culture is just awash of the same thing with different packaging. One pop song is different from another pop song in that the singer has a different voice and uses different hooks, but essentially, they are talking about the same thing all the time. Don't you ever get sick of living in a world that is surface level all the time? There is so much inside us...
I think the best media and the best of everything is somehow self-reflective. They are things that urge us to look inside ourselves and help us understand ourselves. For example, I read an autobiography by Richard Wright, called Black Boy. In it, he talked about how he grew to love literature and expressed his feelings with words that I would never have been able to apply to my own experiences, but since he did, I was able to recognize my own feelings. I realized that I had also had a similar experience with literature, but until I read his story, I did not realize that I had had that experience. Music has a similar effect. It can cause feelings in you that are somehow new to you but cause you to reflect again, and realize that they are your feelings. It can teach you about yourself.
And our society is trying, I don't know for the life of me why, but it's trying to distract us from these things. It is trying to distract us from the most important things in life.
I liked what you said about the Amish women cooking all day long. I used to think, "Ew. All day preparing food?" But there is something so, so amazing about being close to the roots of things. Again, I thought of Thoreau and what he said in Walden:
"Let us consider for a moment what most of the trouble and anxiety which I have referred to is about, and how much it is necessary that we be troubled, or at least careful. It would be some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilization, if only to learn what are the gross necessaries of life and what methods have been taken to obtain them; or even to look over the old day-books of the merchants, to see what it was that men most commonly bought at the stores, what they stored, that is, what are the grossest groceries. For the improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man's existence; as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors.
"By the words, necessary of life, I mean whatever, of all that man obtains by his own exertions, has been from the first, or from long use has become, so important to human life that few, if any, whether from savageness, or poverty, or philosophy, ever attempt to do without it. To many creatures there is in this sense but one necessary of life, Food. To the bison of the prairie it is a few inches of palatable grass, with water to drink; unless he seeks the Shelter of the forest or the mountain's shadow. None of the brute creation requires more than Food and Shelter. The necessaries of life for man in this climate may, accurately enough, be distributed under the several heads of Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel; for not till we have secured these are we prepared to entertain the true problems of life with freedom and a prospect of success."There are things in life that are absolutely necessary. And it is my belief that those are the things that are worth spending our time on. I had a strange conversation with my coworkers yesterday, and they were telling me that a professor here at my school (it chooses to remain nameless) is proselytizing the idea that if we want to be a good family person, magnify our callings, and be able to sufficiently provide for our families, that we have to learn to live on three hours of sleep a day. That way there are more hours in the day to be productive. I wanted to scream when I heard that. I have not been that ruffled in a long time. I just want to scream, "NO. NO. NO." Before I can really lay a judgment on this man, I would want to take a look at his house. I am going to go ahead and assume one thing, though, that his kids are not lacking for anything they want. I used the word want. His house is big, white, just a lovely place without a spec of dust settled on any superfluous piece of furniture. They have a few brand new cars, and their hedges are always trimmed.
We can have too much stuff. Too much stuff that we don't actually need. I think that's intrinsically known by us. But there's something about working to buy all these things that we need and want that disconnects us from an important part of life, and yet we still try and spend our time trying to get those things we don't need. Really, step back and think about most major companies and people in business. I am not saying they are bad, but really, when you think about it, what are they doing? They are, for the most part, not giving us anything new that we need, but they are making things we need/want easier to get...kind of. That way we have more time for what? For working to earn more money to provide for what we need, which is supplied by the same big companies. I hope I can capture this circle, this loop that we are plugged in to. It seems like since we are all provided for, all our necessities are taken care of, we are disconnected from actually working directly to provide for our needs. So instead of working for the things we need and seeking happiness in those things, we start looking for happiness in our wants, not our needs. It is my belief that a greater source of happiness are in those five things that Thoreau listed, and there is more satisfaction in personally obtaining them than in any other things we can pursue. And when we have quality necessities, we can ponder on the questions that are then most important in life and those other musings.
Let me see if I can illustrate this idea.
Last summer, I purchased a car. Before I had the car, I basically walked or biked every where I went. The feeling of being outdoors with the sun on my face and my thoughts free and easy to explore anything it wanted. I always felt unrushed and basically happy. After I got my car, I started to feel more crammed for time. I would be busy at home, doing something probably important, right up until the very last minute I could before I drove to my destination. The car was/is not a good place for thinking and meditating. You just get too distracted, and please, don't meditate in your car. I love you too much to want to be at your funeral.
The point is, I felt like I was missing something when I was using my car, even though I had even "more time," even though I was "more efficiently using my time." I was busier. I was spending all my time earning money to buy gas for a car that was saving me more time that I could use to earn money to buy gas for my car.
Also, I would be a lot more generous with time when I was walking or biking. I would give myself a half an hour to an hour basically everywhere I went, and that was time I was spending with my self, unlike the five or ten minutes I had in a car.
I was cutting out the basic time I needed to think my life through and organize it and just spend time imagining and daydreaming. So, the car took care of a necessity of travel and disconnected me from my Self and other important basics. Counterintuitive, right? You'd think that a car, which gives you more time, would be a helpful tool. And it can be, I am in no way anti-car, I am just now more careful about using them.
Another example goes back to food like you talked about. You used the example of the women preparing food all day long. The more I go through my life, the more I think, "Well, yeah. That's kind of how it should be." It keeps you so connected to the basics and the most important things in life. It is somehow so much more satisfying than the dollar you pay to eat something from McDonald's that takes less than a minute to order and about five to eat, if you are eating slowly.
Ben introduced me to one of the best books I have ever read in my life. It is The Omnivore's Dilemma. This book has changed my whole perspective on food, which is, in my new perspective, life. The author talks about how disconnected we are from our food. He asks, that Pop-tart in your hands, where did it come from? Where did the individual ingredients come from? Can you trace it back to the beginning? You are disconnected from your food. You don't know how many steps it took to get to you, and you can't know what kind of weird things they might have done to your Pop-tart during those steps to get it to you in that form. This is just another disconnect from the basics of life.
I want to use Tamson Maloy as an example of being connected to food, and you can maybe see a difference. So, think of that Pop-tart again. Think of what kind of "experience" you have buying, opening the wrapper, and eating that Pop-tart. Can you even call it an "experience?" Tamson probably has no idea I follow her blog or am even using her post, but here you go:
Baking with Opera
Tonight upon the request of my brother, I made brownies.
While I worked in the kitchen, all members of my family apart from my cat and dog had gone missing, having wandered to some other area in the maze that is my house. With the kitchen all to myself, with the cleared counter awaiting my ingredients to perch atop it, with the soft patter of rain, and my pending project, I opted to dig our collection of Italian opera from the depths of our music collection and play it. Loudly. Very loudly.
The music played, and my baking groove began to work on me. My moments of baking became a dance performance for an invisible audience, operatic tones and passions illuminated by chocolate and carefree movement.
This particular batch of brownies turned out to be one of my best. Was it the music that mingled with the batter as it baked that made them so delicious? Was it the outpouring of delighted dance that made my mixing so full of virtuosity? Perhaps it was simply the coconut I added at the end. I suppose we’ll never know.
It has struck me, however, that dancing to an opera while baking is a magical way to spend a rainy evening.
While I worked in the kitchen, all members of my family apart from my cat and dog had gone missing, having wandered to some other area in the maze that is my house. With the kitchen all to myself, with the cleared counter awaiting my ingredients to perch atop it, with the soft patter of rain, and my pending project, I opted to dig our collection of Italian opera from the depths of our music collection and play it. Loudly. Very loudly.
The music played, and my baking groove began to work on me. My moments of baking became a dance performance for an invisible audience, operatic tones and passions illuminated by chocolate and carefree movement.
This particular batch of brownies turned out to be one of my best. Was it the music that mingled with the batter as it baked that made them so delicious? Was it the outpouring of delighted dance that made my mixing so full of virtuosity? Perhaps it was simply the coconut I added at the end. I suppose we’ll never know.
It has struck me, however, that dancing to an opera while baking is a magical way to spend a rainy evening.
Doesn't that sound heavenly? (Just like that video I just linked to the word "heavenly", except I imagine Tamson's experience would be a lot heavier feeling and have a richer purple feel...) She is connecting to her food. She is taking it from (at least as close as you can get in our society) the most basic ingredients and working her way to a completed food. She is connected with her food.
All I am getting at, with all of this, is that the things most worth spending our time with are the basics. The world has tried to take that from us by making all our necessities easy to get and cheap and then tells us to expend our energies and our time and money with our wants. Working on making sure that our necessities are well taken care of will give us a richness in our lives that McDonald's won't. Then we can have time to spend with our friends like Shakespeare who are trying to answer those important questions in life.
Then we can spend time exploring our selves. We can cultivate the GOLD in ourselves like Thoreau talked about. I will end with this poem I wrote last year. I don't think I have ever written a more frustrated poem in my life. However, I don't think I have ever written anything else so close to truth. I keep coming back to it. It keeps on becoming relevant, that's why I like it so much. In this case, the second half, particularly.
i hate words
I hate words
I hate that they won't do what I say
I want to crush them and hammer them
Until words stop forming words
And they stop showing to your eyes as symbols
But whatever fluorescence feelings are
I want your eyes to stop seeing and
I want your eyes to know
I want them to know pure communication
I hate words
All I will say is
GOLD
Think about gold
Inside yourself
And the gigantic, endless world that is you that can be you
Do you even know who you are?
You don't even know who you are
How can you know who you are?
GOLD
It means everything and yet it's just
A little nothing on the paper
It's you
And yet you can't know it's you
You, that giant of self that's swallowed up in so many other selves
Yet when you find you, you know real power
You know real truth and good
GOLD
I hate words
