From a chemical standpoint I often wonder how music affects the body and how it affects the mind. I am personally a firm believer that with the proper personal subjective mood that music can sway any attitude and action. I think first we need an example to really prove this point. Go to the following video and listen to this music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hvC506VYI
Yep, the music is from a video game (art and music + video games more to come in a later post). The music is calming, soothing, relaxing... if you are open to the theme of the music you will probably be soothed by it. The music is steady and sorrowful so it imparts a certain mood.
Now please follow me into my brain... and I realize this is a scary endeavor I ask but do not fear. I am going to a complex musical theory place that involves chemistry and neuroscience. I'll try to explain as my thoughts come.
First, sound is produced by atomic masses colliding, which cause disturbances in nearby atomic masses such as air through which sound waves travel. When atomics collide they make a sound, which then releases the wave in which we audibly detect. So my initial question is: how does sound affect carbon-based biological forms such as ourselves? None, really. The sound waves and vibrating gaseous particles affect us only in the sense that our bodies stop the wave.
I guess to jump forward I'd like to discuss dancing and rhythmic movements. Why do people dance and what causes action through music? I really do believe that atomic particles moving around our persons in certain ways do actually affect our mood, our movements, and our attitudes. Of course we have that pesky "human will' that was given to us so we really can control how we feel at a particular moment regardless of music. However, as I mentioned before, what if our composure were different? What if I were ready to relax and felt the need to put on some music to adjoin my mood. If I listen to the previously posted clip of music I may be more interested in actually reaching relaxation.
So to the next point, which is actually prior to the previous paragraph (I know, confusing huh... going all Tarantino on you...). Sound waves collide and affect our sound receptors, which are transmitted via electrical signal to our brain that interprets what we hear. As we understand chemical/electrical transmissions is as the following: sound waves affect our ear drum, which is picked up through internal ear processes and transmitted as signals via chemical transmissions that is in turn passed on via neural pathways. The auditory portion of the brain must then make sense of these sounds but how and why exactly does it process music? Why do somber tunes make me somber in attitude and mood or relaxed?
I'm going to be blunt and bold I suppose in this next statement. As a forewarning, I am not a doctor and am not credible as any source for this statement: this is only my opinion. Specific tones of sound waves affect our auditory processes differently causing the release of various chemicals based on the sound tone. Somber tones and music quality relate directly to brain patterns and my change in mood. If I am ready and willing for these tones I am essentially telling my body "hey, its totally okay to let your guard down so please release X chemicals in addition to what you hear." So to put it scientifically (hey, piss off by the way, I'm a science major!) being receptive to certain moods allows for the chemical processes to be strengthened based upon the individual sound wave patterns through interception via atomic collisions.
Woah... I heard it. I am actually posing the theory that sound wave structure affects the way that chemicals are thrown across the synapses and in specific quantities. I don't have a way to prove this... I can only state a hypothesis. However, I'm right (at least I'm convinced). Listen to this clip (another video game, piss off).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jCvfEYHLVQ&feature=related
How does it make you feel? Probably not energized and amped up to participate in a triathlon. At a complex theory, each and every note even down to per millisecond directly changes our mood. Our brain is constantly making adjustments to decide "what the fuck is going on here." We're constantly assaulted by noise and music, at times, which affect us at all times. Go to a screamo show and you'll probably leave all amped up and/or angry (for whatever reason, it works).
So I suppose I digress slightly. When it comes down to it what I am really trying to say is that every tone changes how we feel whether we resist it or not. The physical transactions between colliding atomic particles and our person, which affects chemical interactions and electrical signals ultimately changes our atomic disposition towards how we are. Yep. I have arrived at this point. Music changes who we are.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Importance & Reality
Reality, purpose, and the whole importance of it all is something that has been on my mind lately. Being what I consider an "educated fool" I seem to take what I know and weave it with what I feel for some uniquely odd results. I am a science major so my chief studies focus on how the world works, what makes up the world, and what is likely to happen to said world. My beliefs walk the line of spiritual non-existence, existence, and unity.
Ideally if my belief structure had to be classified it would be one that is almost wholly Buddhist with some serious pieces of Taoism. To the uninitiated this means I'm all about oneness, togetherness, and the firm stance that we're all the same - literally the same. Yet I also straddle a line that all of this is wholly real yet none of it is actually in existence. Of course the floor I'm on is a floor and I am sitting in a chair that is atop the floor. These are the rules of this reality but it truly is a floor and yet something more and nothing, too.
Usually people look at me kind of strange when I say things like that. I always pose the question "How do you know it's there; because you can feel the wood grains, the coolness of the floor, the hardness of its form, and each imperfection?" Perception is a form of reality but there is so much more to it. I usually ask if they can sense the insensible? The billions of atoms within even the smallest portion of wood floor - I can't sense all these individual pieces at all or tell that they are moving at all but the atomic structure is there, right? We know this because we are told that it is there but how can one be sure?
I'm being silly and really am detracting from the subject. I'm not renouncing physics and chemistry I'm merely stating that what we sense doesn't necessarily mean anything at all especially in terms of reality. So back to the subject. I firmly believe that we're all the same but I tend to take my knowledge and fuse it with my beliefs. Not only do I believe that all life is tied together I also believe that all objects and all matter is precisely the same. Each individual atom makes up the glass table this computer sits on similar to how each atom makes up my person. They are different in the way in which you could quantify an atom. Two atoms side by side are different atoms but they are the same so what exactly is the difference?
Ahh! Yes the difference; the difference is the space in which the atoms occupy. Lets use an example of my human body. I am me and all four limbs are me but what makes it all me? Connective tissues made of... atoms. Atoms bound together - yet this bonding is not really important in the scale of the atom itself. They all exist and wriggle separately yet to the same beat. So in essence, I am not me because I am really nothing. I am an innumerable pile of atoms buzzing around trying to balance out this body. So yeah, I am absolutely an entity and a being. I am real and I am here but... I'm not anything, either.
I also stated that we're all the same, too. When I'm in a crowded bar (yes, I am this guy) I will usually feel out the room and look at what makes up the physical structure of the bar but also look at the interactions of each person both to me and separate from me. Its all a very intricate dance of these atoms just wriggling with no rhyme or reason. The reason is nothing and the purpose is chaos. I sit at the bar with my drink and feel the energy in the room. I'm the girl with the first date; I'm the man playing darts with his buddies; I'm the bartender just waiting to get out to shoot up some smack; I'm the spider solitary and waiting in the vent; I'm also the vent, the stool, the bar, and the window.
Now... when I first mentioned purpose I could mean many things. Divine purpose, cosmic purpose, individual purpose - but what I really mean is the absence of purpose. I really dislike the ideal of a purpose. A purpose means there is a plan and design to this all but that just is not me whatsoever. We weren't put here for a purpose and there is no purpose to achieve. No greater power or lesser evil pulling at our strings to do certain things. We are men, we are women, we are animals, and we are nothing. Let us all drink to the coexistence and unity of our struggle through this wriggling existence.
Sometimes I try to be inspiring especially when it comes to purpose. You see as I said purpose implies a reason to exist and an inherent design. I really find it funny and pretty selfish to assume there is a design and there is a purpose at all! Wholly I believe that we all have it in each of us to be brilliant but I think too many peoples beliefs hold them back. If you believe you are here for a reason - built to achieve - than you will feel crushed and disheartened when you fail. Why think of a purpose when we all have what it takes to be absolutely everything. I know I know this is contradictory to what I said earlier. Not only are we absolutely nothing - just pieces put together in random coincidence - we also are everything. With random sets of matter also comes with the absolute that matter is. Be brilliant in our vast greatness and combined unity with the universe. We are the children of the cosmos so our purpose is to push the greatness of existence to the boundaries! Each of us owes it to each other (remember: the same beings) to push each other as high up as we can go.
I'm going to end it here. Sort of climactic I suppose but that is where I like to stop. Think about it. Get back to me with your thoughts....
Ideally if my belief structure had to be classified it would be one that is almost wholly Buddhist with some serious pieces of Taoism. To the uninitiated this means I'm all about oneness, togetherness, and the firm stance that we're all the same - literally the same. Yet I also straddle a line that all of this is wholly real yet none of it is actually in existence. Of course the floor I'm on is a floor and I am sitting in a chair that is atop the floor. These are the rules of this reality but it truly is a floor and yet something more and nothing, too.
Usually people look at me kind of strange when I say things like that. I always pose the question "How do you know it's there; because you can feel the wood grains, the coolness of the floor, the hardness of its form, and each imperfection?" Perception is a form of reality but there is so much more to it. I usually ask if they can sense the insensible? The billions of atoms within even the smallest portion of wood floor - I can't sense all these individual pieces at all or tell that they are moving at all but the atomic structure is there, right? We know this because we are told that it is there but how can one be sure?
I'm being silly and really am detracting from the subject. I'm not renouncing physics and chemistry I'm merely stating that what we sense doesn't necessarily mean anything at all especially in terms of reality. So back to the subject. I firmly believe that we're all the same but I tend to take my knowledge and fuse it with my beliefs. Not only do I believe that all life is tied together I also believe that all objects and all matter is precisely the same. Each individual atom makes up the glass table this computer sits on similar to how each atom makes up my person. They are different in the way in which you could quantify an atom. Two atoms side by side are different atoms but they are the same so what exactly is the difference?
Ahh! Yes the difference; the difference is the space in which the atoms occupy. Lets use an example of my human body. I am me and all four limbs are me but what makes it all me? Connective tissues made of... atoms. Atoms bound together - yet this bonding is not really important in the scale of the atom itself. They all exist and wriggle separately yet to the same beat. So in essence, I am not me because I am really nothing. I am an innumerable pile of atoms buzzing around trying to balance out this body. So yeah, I am absolutely an entity and a being. I am real and I am here but... I'm not anything, either.
I also stated that we're all the same, too. When I'm in a crowded bar (yes, I am this guy) I will usually feel out the room and look at what makes up the physical structure of the bar but also look at the interactions of each person both to me and separate from me. Its all a very intricate dance of these atoms just wriggling with no rhyme or reason. The reason is nothing and the purpose is chaos. I sit at the bar with my drink and feel the energy in the room. I'm the girl with the first date; I'm the man playing darts with his buddies; I'm the bartender just waiting to get out to shoot up some smack; I'm the spider solitary and waiting in the vent; I'm also the vent, the stool, the bar, and the window.
Now... when I first mentioned purpose I could mean many things. Divine purpose, cosmic purpose, individual purpose - but what I really mean is the absence of purpose. I really dislike the ideal of a purpose. A purpose means there is a plan and design to this all but that just is not me whatsoever. We weren't put here for a purpose and there is no purpose to achieve. No greater power or lesser evil pulling at our strings to do certain things. We are men, we are women, we are animals, and we are nothing. Let us all drink to the coexistence and unity of our struggle through this wriggling existence.
Sometimes I try to be inspiring especially when it comes to purpose. You see as I said purpose implies a reason to exist and an inherent design. I really find it funny and pretty selfish to assume there is a design and there is a purpose at all! Wholly I believe that we all have it in each of us to be brilliant but I think too many peoples beliefs hold them back. If you believe you are here for a reason - built to achieve - than you will feel crushed and disheartened when you fail. Why think of a purpose when we all have what it takes to be absolutely everything. I know I know this is contradictory to what I said earlier. Not only are we absolutely nothing - just pieces put together in random coincidence - we also are everything. With random sets of matter also comes with the absolute that matter is. Be brilliant in our vast greatness and combined unity with the universe. We are the children of the cosmos so our purpose is to push the greatness of existence to the boundaries! Each of us owes it to each other (remember: the same beings) to push each other as high up as we can go.
I'm going to end it here. Sort of climactic I suppose but that is where I like to stop. Think about it. Get back to me with your thoughts....
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