with regards to music as meditation –



i’ll be the first to admit i’ve been having issues lately. the constant noise and clamor in my head often threaten to overpower my will and sense of ordered existence (although years of thought has rather destroyed that illusion anyway). eastern religion has always drawn me in with the ability to find serenity and the focus on personal growth in the face of adversity. i’ve found myself wanting to learn to meditate, but the act of shutting up my mind to focus on the experience of being is really rather tricky.

on my habitual quest through the 135GB of music i have collected over the years to find something new and interesting to listen to, i uncovered george harrison’s concert for bangladesh. not only does this two disc benefit compilation feature magnificent reinterpretations of well known beatles songs, but also includes appearances by legends such as bob dylan and ravi shankar. this track is nearly seventeen minutes long, but i am always shocked when it ends. it is amazing how the same theme can repeat throughout the piece without ever sounding just the same.

when i think about what i stand to gain from meditation, i am always stuck with the impression that listening to something like this would have a far grander effect on my state of mind. the notes intertwine and build; there are no bass drops but the anticipation to return to the main theme elicits a more euphoric growth in the pit of my stomach than any edm track has ever, even on the most spectacular of rolls. the illusion of crashing waves and interminable cyclic action fill the piece with meaning- just when you think it is going to end the tones climax with a rush of “oh! this is what it means to find the light at the end of the tunnel”. all moves forward, nothing is lost, nothing is forgotten. the beginning is the end but some things have changed, but it is still the same piece, the same small life in the scope of all the longer lives we live.

because songs are lifetimes, they begin and end but you can put it on repeat and find things you’ve never noticed before- small inflections, rhythmic changes- i hear new aspects every time i listen to a piece of music. the act of listening to music so actively is the only form of meditation i’ve ever practiced- i always wonder how to expand upon this.

regardless, this is one of the tracks that i could listen to for the rest of my life and i doubt i would ever get bored or that i could ever understand every placement of every note, or the significance of each harmonic collision.

but i know that i get the idea, and thats what we listen to music for, right?