What Are The Pros And Cons Of Listening To Music Or Playing Music In Enlightened Life

[Joseph Maynor]

Curious.  Playing music means creating music, including but not limited to playing a musical instrument.

I play jazz trumpet, but I stopped a couple of months ago because I became convinced that music was slowing down my growth.  I stopped listening to music too at that time.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Ananta]

I often prefer complete silence, it's peaceful. It's not required, but given the option I would rather sit in silence.

So, I'll listen to a song or two, then turn the car radio off or not turn it on at all. Occasionally, I'll listen to music with my headphones for awhile and it can be relaxing after a tough day at the office.

If you find music distracting right now, then don't do it. Personally, I think it's fine in moderation.

[Shanmugam]

@Joseph Maynor Do you create music? If yes, I am looking for someone like you

Anyway, if you play music or create music, you can do it even better after liberation. Your mind is peaceful and one-pointed and you will be fully absorbed in whatever you do..

I write poetry. When I sit down to write something, I am completely absorbed and I would have no sense of time at all. It is a meditation.

Even you listen to music, then choose instrumental music.. You can even do it as a meditation.

There is a book called 'Vigyan Bhairav Tantra'  in Kashmir Shaivism which lists 112 techniques for dharana (centering)... It lists those techniques in 112 sutras. Here is one Sutra which is related to this:

"While listening to stringed instruments, Hear their composite central sound; Thus omnipresence."

Osho has given discourse on this book, and has explained all the 112 techniques.. Here is the explanation related to the above sutra:

"You are hearing an instrument — a sitar, or anything. Many notes are there. Be alert and listen to the central core, the backbone of it around which all the notes are flowing, the deepest current which holds all the notes together — that which is central, just like your backbone. The whole body is held by the backbone. Listening to the music, be alert, penetrate the music, and find the backbone of it — the central thing which goes on flowing, holding everything together. Notes come and go and disappear, but the central core flows on. Become aware of it.

Basically, originally, music was used for meditation; particularly Indian music developed as a method of meditation, Indian dancing developed as a method of meditation. For the doer it was a deep meditation, and for the audience also it was a deep meditation. A dancer or a musician can be a technician. If there is no meditation in it, he is a technician. He can be a great technician, but then the soul is not there, only the body. The soul comes only when the musician is a deep meditator.

And music is just the outward thing. While playing on his sitar, one is not only playing on his sitar, he is also playing on his alertness inside. The sitar goes on outwardly and his intense awareness moves inside. The music flows outwardly, but he is alert, constantly aware of the innermost core of it. And that gives samadhi. That becomes ecstasy. That becomes the highest peak.

It is said that when the musician has really become the musician, he will break his instrument — because it is of no use. If he still needs his instrument, he is not a real musician yet. He is just learning. If you can play with music, with meditation, sooner or later the inner music will become more important, and the outer will become not only less important: ultimately it will become a disturbance. If your consciousness moves inside and can find the inner music, then the outer music will be a disturbance. You will throw the sitar, you will throw the instrument away from you, because now you have found the inner instrument. But it cannot be found without the outer; with the outer you can become alert more easily. Once you have become alert, leave the outer and move inwards. And for the listener also, the same!

But what are you doing when you listen to music? You are not meditating. On the contrary, you are using music as something like alcohol. You are using it to be relaxed, you are using it for self-forgetfulness. This is the misfortune, the misery: the techniques which were developed for awareness are being used for sleep. And this is how man goes on doing mischief with himself.

If something is given to you which can make you awake, you will use it to make yourself more sleepy. That is why for millennia teachings were kept secret — because it was thought to be useless to give techniques to a sleepy man. He will use them for sleep; he cannot do otherwise. So techniques were given only to particular disciples who were ready to shake their sleep, who were ready to be shattered out of their sleepiness.

Ouspensky dedicates one book to George Gurdjieff as “the man who disturbed my sleep.” Such people ARE disturbers. Persons like Gurdjieff or Buddha or Jesus, they are disturbers. That is why we take revenge upon them. Whosoever disturbs our sleep, we will crucify him. He doesn’t look good to us. We may have been dreaming beautiful dreams and he comes and disturbs our sleep. We want to kill him. The dream was so beautiful.

The dream may be beautiful and I may not be beautiful, but one thing is certain: it is a dream, and futile, useless! And if it is beautiful, then it is more dangerous because it can attract you more, it can become a drug.

We have been using music as a drug, dancing as a drug. And if you want to use music and dancing as drugs, then they will become not only drugs for your sleep, they will become drugs for sexuality also. So remember this point: sexuality and sleep go together. The more sleepy the person, the more sexual; the more awake, the less sexual. Sex is basically rooted in sleep. When you awake you will be more loving, the whole energy of sex will have been transformed to love.

This sutra says: WHILE LISTENING TO STRINGED INSTRUMENTS, HEAR THEIR COMPOSITE CENTRAL SOUND — their complete central sound — THUS OMNIPRESENCE. And then you will know what is to be known, or what is worth knowing. You will become omnipresent With the music, finding the composite central core, you will become awake, and with that awakening you will be everywhere.

Right now, you are somewhere — a point which we call the ego. If you can become awake, this point will disappear. You will not be anywhere then, you will be EVERYWHERE — as if you have become the all. You will have become the ocean, you will have become the infinite.

The finiteness is with the mind.

The infiniteness enters with meditation."

Edited July 19, 2017 by Shanmugam

[MiracleMan]

6 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

Curious.  Playing music means creating music, including but not limited to playing a musical instrument.

I play jazz trumpet, but I stopped a couple of months ago because I became convinced that music was slowing down my growth.  I stopped listening to music too at that time.

Why was music slowing down your progress if you don't mind me asking?

[Natasha]

@Joseph Maynor High vibration music is beneficial for consciousness work.  Jazz is relaxing and groovy. There is a nice jazz launge in Cocoa Beach called Heidi's Jazz Club I like to go to. Ron Texteira's Trio often play there live. Here's some of their music

 

[Joseph Maynor]

1 hour ago, MiracleMan said:

Why was music slowing down your progress if you don't mind me asking?

Having songs playing in my head all the time was feeding my monkey-mind.  

[MiracleMan]

1 hour ago, Joseph Maynor said:

Having songs playing in my head all the time was feeding my monkey-mind.  

Yes!  Man....please, does the music ever stop completely?  I made a post a long while back about my depression/anxiety, I mentioned that I always wake up with a song in my head and I almost always default to playing some track in my head, constantly, at one point I felt like I was going insane but I just accepted it, which is the only thing I could do.  It started for me in early childhood, waking up in the morning to tv show theme songs they were the first to form loops.  Its gotten worse as an adult, as a kid it would be a brief occurence in the morning.  I just try to be mindful when I notice it playing, but it's always there.  I get monkey mind a lot too.  I am also a musician like yourself, I've been trying to limit the amount of music I listen to and play but I still have the loops.

Edited July 20, 2017 by MiracleMan
Grammar, added time frame

[pluto]

Tune your instruments to 432 hz if possible as this tuning is mathematically tuned to universal flow. Music and creative play should enhance path to harmonic balance. Being creative and playing is expressing energy of creation. Find what works for you

[art]

@pluto Sorry to break your illusion on this, but as someone who has knowledge on acoustics calls this 432 hz-new age thing is bullshit, typical new age shit. 440 or 442 also makes beautiful patterns with sand on paper, just needs a different size. Binaural beats on the other hand, works. I doubt Holosync uses 432 ?.

@Joseph Maynor I'm a musician, I can understand your concerns, but turn it around ,like Peter Ralston: before he used consciousness-training to study material arts, now he use material arts to study consciousness. There is so many ways you can do that, remember playing an instrument is also physical: Check out Zen body being for some brilliant ideas that you can apply playing jazz trumpet.

Also, my motivations for music has changed, that's a transition as well; before I was motivated by more low consciousness stuff. Realize music can be a high consciousness activity. 

[Ape]

Music is like a drug for me. Earlier in my life I binged a lot on music and almost always listened whenever I had a chance to.
After I cut down and started to just listen to a few songs when I really felt like it music became very powerful. 

If music isn't something  that I do mechanical and regularly I get very strong euphoria from it.

 

A "con" to music is definitely the looping in the mind. The only solution to that is more mindfulness. I take it as a reminder to go back into mindfulness when I catch myself repeating a song in my mind. Though for me it stops altogether when I don't listen to music(that I like) for about 2 weeks.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Ape

[AlwaysBeNice]

Music can be pretty nice to come in touch with emotions =)

[pluto]

42 minutes ago, art said:

@pluto Sorry to break your illusion on this, but as someone who has knowledge on acoustics calls this 432 hz-new age thing is bullshit, typical new age shit. 440 or 442 also makes beautiful patterns with sand on paper, just needs a different size. Binaural beats on the other hand, works. I doubt Holosync uses 432 ?.

@Joseph Maynor I'm a musician, I can understand your concerns, but turn it around ,like Peter Ralston: before he used consciousness-training to study material arts, now he use material arts to study consciousness. There is so many ways you can do that, remember playing an instrument is also physical: Check out Zen body being for some brilliant ideas that you can apply playing jazz trumpet.

Also, my motivations for music has changed, that's a transition as well; before I was motivated by more low consciousness stuff. Realize music can be a high consciousness activity. 

Besides the mathematics i am able to feel and sense things at a very high degree. I believe music was changed to 440hz by Nazi's around 1940 to create distortion. There is a reason why very intelligent individuals such as Mozart, Verdi and Chopin i believe recorded in 432. It may appear illusion to you but through my perspective i feel a deeper harmonic resonance when i play 432 hz compared to 440 hz. I actually am able to feel the music within where 440 hz is merely heard and not felt as deep even when i am able to amplify my senses.

Most of these "New age" things that have been popping up the last 5-10years are actually ancient knowledge that has been lost, hidden or forgotten and because we have been heavily conditioned almost completely backwards from the truth when long lost knowledge like this does present itself the automatic response by the average conditioned individual is "New age bullshit". or the typical "conspiracy theorist" which is nothing but a derogatory title used to dismiss a critical thinker.

There is a reason they keep coming back no matter how much we try to ignore them.

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by pluto

[Max_V]

Well if you neuroticly motivate yourself to play, then it's not something beneficial.

But if you put your heart and soul into your music, and be mindful of the sounds you are creating I think this is something amazing.

If you strive to increase your consciousness, it does not mean that you have to give up all the hobbies you had before. It means you can try and do them with more presence, which will make the activity more fulfilling too! 

Good luck on your journey m8