The Soundless Void

[Epiphany_Inspired]

I only lasted 2 of the 4 weeks = no music challenge (and there were times when music was unavoidable, in the dentist office, etc, when I didn't think to bring earplugs). I finally caved for an incredible live, intimate house concert with a famous band and local talent, all ages, amazing  

I have some insights from the music-less experience:

1. When music showed up out of nowhere in public, it was often the same unconscious pop songs repeating everywhere, call this conspiracy theory, but it seemed as mind-numbing a tool as toxic billboards and crappy fiction television.

2. When I'd have to let other's know about my "no music challenge" (to turn it off, or not play in my presence) they DID NOT get it at all. The reactions were often extreme, horrified, as though I could be harmed without it or something. Is this because it is a mutually pervasive addiction, or is what they were saying true?...they spoke exactly how I felt when Leo suggested it, as though music is like food and medicine and love... "but Leo, avoiding music could be unhealthy, right"? None of the people I told understood the issue with stimulation addiction (as I gave up TV, fiction books, etc already)....but I believe it was not really about me specifically, but mostly because stimulation distraction is so engrained in our culture.

3. I did not find more mindfulness most of the time, just desperate grasping for less healthy replacements for my music desire. After a few days, I was like Gollum without the ring. I turned to Leo's Hawaii videos and binged watched them over 2 evenings, like before I started actualizing and I'd  get addicted to a TV series and watch all episodes in a row. I had to know "what happens in the end" ...lol... It was actually really good timing, to have Leo's honesty and insights from that retreat, but my craving for stimulation was just being masked by my desire to learn about more advanced meditation etc.

4. Of all songs, "Fly like an Eagle" by the Steve Miller band was the only one pervasive in my mind.... I felt it was like cheating whenever it played, and I struggled both to "turn it off", and let it "play"... I have no idea why it was this song, I only hear it occasionally on the radio, I may own the record, but it's not in my iTunes or anything.... Am I reading into things that it "means something"?...who knows....

5. I mostly gave up because it was inadvertently creating some backsliding for me... in the form of other, less healthy distractions re-surfacing as replacements. The most profound benefit is my awareness of the "quality, consciousness, messages, and resonance" when I do make musical choices, I am also far more capable of thriving in silence some of the time as well Thanks Leo  

 

 

[Leo Gura]

@Epiphany_Inspired Hehehe...

[Joseph Maynor]

I've done it before when I've gone on vacation for 2 weeks.  I've deliberately left my music at home.

What happens is I'll start to hear songs in my head.  I'll develop a radio in my head.  

There will be like one or two songs that will just get burned in my head and I'll play them over and over.

And it will be like the most random song.  Some pop song from the 80's haha.  I think one of them was "We Don't Need Another Hero" by Tina Turner.  I was sick of that song by the end of the trip haha.

Edited March 29, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[GomeGabrielDavid]

I suggest reading my new topic "Effect And Cause".

[Epiphany_Inspired]

@Leo Gura yes...hahahaha

@Joseph Maynor I love it! ...and glad it's not just me... Tina is so good! lol

@GomeGabrielDavid cool, I will!