Music and Self-Actualization

[Genghis Khan]

Music can make a considerable impact on the way a person feels and thinks, and subliminally effects a person's mood and brain function. Music can set the mood, and add a dramatic flare to the moment which can often times make the experience of the present far more vivid and memorable. 

Think of how music is utilized in cinema. It adds a dramatic effect to the scenes as a method of expressing the emotions in the film. Sad moments in a film are far more effective when accompanied with the appropriate music. When building suspense, the feeling can be transmitted through the notes and rhythm. 

To me, music is an incredibly awesome, mysterious, and magical phenomenon which has existed as a feature of every society and every human life for as long as human history has been recorded. Music is essentially the use of sound to program and manipulate human minds. Churches sing hymns. Grocery stores play music to subliminally effect your mood. Performing bands cause people to dance, and various genres can arouse a vast array of unique reactions. Even the little intro in Actualized.Org is deliberately placed there to prepare your mind and set the mood. 

Music is a tool of mind control. It seems to arouse something in the human brain. It appears that our ability to perceive music must stem from our ability to perceive emotional inflections of human voices. In music theory, the seven modes, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian all arouse a unique human emotion. These modes originate from the ancient Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras. In those times music was used to treat anxiety, depression, and heal the soul. Needless to say, music has a tremendous effect on humans.

 

 

"Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful."

~Socrates

 

“Music directly imitates the passions or states of the soul…when one listens to music that imitates a certain passion, he becomes imbued with the same passion; and if over a long time he habitually listens to music that rouses ignoble passions, his whole character will be shaped to an ignoble form.”

~Aristotle

 

"Any musical innovation is full of danger to the whole state, and ought to be prohibited. When modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them"

~Aristotle

 

"They were men of genius, but they had no perception of what was just and lawful in music...And by composing licentious works, and adding to them words as licentious, they have inspired the multitude with lawlessness and boldness, and made them fancy that they could judge for themselves about melody and song...in music there first arose the universal conceit of omniscience and general lawlessness; freedom came following afterwards, and men, fancying that they knew what they did not know, had no longer any fear, and the absence of fear begets shamelessness. For what is this shamelessness, which is so evil a thing, but the insolent refusal to regard the opinion of the better by reason of an over-daring sort of liberty?"

~Plato

 

 

 

 

What kind of music do you listen to? How many of you are musicians? What role can music play in Self-Actualization? Music has a considerable influence on identity, personality, emotions, mood, outlook, and mindset. You may find that the music you listen to every day is adversely affecting the mood of your life, for better or worse. 

In my personal experience, my personal development skyrocketed once I seriously took upon the discipline of musicianship. To me, music is utterly fascinating and nothing else has ever been as fulfilling. I've noticed that my meditation has gotten deeper and easier after I began practicing my instrument habitually. As my meditation, mindfulness, and patience develops my musical ability increases. As my musical ability increases, my consciousness seemed to have increased. I find myself being far more playful than usual, more laid back and present, more productive, staying up through the night, but with no stress. I lost the ability to take life's problems seriously. I can't live life stressed out as I once have, I just simply let go and I'm happier than I ever was. 

Simply sharing an experience. Positive changes to myself have coincided with the study of music. Perhaps finding a passion provided relief.

Please share any thoughts on how music affects us.

[StardewValley]

Do you happen to know which music they would play for people with depression and anxiety? I'd like to try listening to it. 

I usually listen to the same kind of music as the person above me has posted a video of.

[Genghis Khan]

https://youtu.be/7TO_oHxuk6c

 https://youtu.be/KtJRVL0sE10

The ancient greek philosophers based the seven modes on the Greek Lyre. The Greek Lyre was the instrument used to administer musical therapy. One of those is the harp but it is very similar to the Lyre.

I also listen to that flavor of music. Metal, to be exact. But I often bounce around between different genres to keep it interesting.

Edited August 13, 2018 by Genghis Khan

[StardewValley]

@Genghis Khan Thank you.

[SgtPepper]

1 hour ago, Genghis Khan said:

What kind of music do you listen to? How many of you are musicians? What role can music play in Self-Actualization? Music has a considerable influence on identity, personality, emotions, mood, outlook, and mindset. You may find that the music you listen to every day is adversely affecting the mood of your life, for better or worse. 

In my personal experience, my personal development skyrocketed once I seriously took upon the discipline of musicianship. To me, music is utterly fascinating and nothing else has ever been as fulfilling. I've noticed that my meditation has gotten deeper and easier after I began practicing my instrument habitually. As my meditation, mindfulness, and patience develops my musical ability increases. As my musical ability increases, my consciousness seemed to have increased. I find myself being far more playful than usual, more laid back and present, more productive, staying up through the night, but with no stress. I lost the ability to take life's problems seriously. I can't live life stressed out as I once have, I just simply let go and I'm happier than I ever was. 

Simply sharing an experience. Positive changes to myself have coincided with the study of music. Perhaps finding a passion provided relief.

Please share any thoughts on how music affects us.

1. I listen to all music, but my favorite kind is Rock and Hip Hop. I particularly love 60s rock music.

2. I am a guitarist. I can play a little bit of drums and I make some simple melodies and play chords on the piano.

3. I see music as very separate from self-actualization. But I definitely see music as having a transcendent quality especially while playing. 

I definitely think music has a powerful effect on "identity, personality, emotions, mood, outlook, and mindset." It's a two way street tho. A person can enjoy a particular music because that energy is already within them, but vice versa can also happen. Music to me is a personal experience, it also a super engaging activity that can be done alone or with others. I think it helps develop a sense of time and sound. 

I guess what I love about it is how transcendent I feel when I play, I forget myself, and I almost feel like I'm healing myself by playing my feelings out. It's totally strange. I play my guitar every time I trip on LSD or mushrooms for pretty much a good 2 hours and I've had absolutely wonderful experiences. Music is energy and it speaks to us a different way language, it engages with our soul and does not discriminate. Even animals will enjoy music. It's an absolutely wonderful medium.

[Joseph Maynor]

ON THE IMPACT OF MUSIC IN PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

I think listening to music and playing music my whole life has given me almost super Emotional Intelligence.  I also credit music with expanding my mind a lot too, including by not limited to laying a foundation for Creativity in me.  Playing Jazz Trumpet also helped me become super-Intuitive too -- and to trust and run with my intuitions.  

Edited August 14, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[St Clair]

@Joseph Maynor Yeah playing jazz is the absolute mintest aye! Just raw expression in the moment. Pure creative control. It was a pretty mind-blowing experience when I first took jazz improvisation to the streets to busk with. I could do whatever the heck I wanted  - if a kid is looking at me with fascinated eyes, I could lock onto that and play something silly/random/funny, and that kid could very well be the next Herbie Hancock, who knows?

@Genghis Khan I'm suuuper passionate about music and this post made me so happy! I play the keyboard and compose music, which has kind of taken a jazzy sound at the moment. But my favourite genre of music is actually 'Soundtrack' music, and I use it for Self Actualisation purposes. "Music directly imitates the passions of the soul.." I discovered this for myself a few years ago, living in Queenstown New Zealand. The place has a landscape similar to what you find in Skyrim, Oblivion, and Guild Wars 2. I was a huuuuge fan of these games, and so I took the music from these games and listened to them while exploring Queenstown. It blew my mind - this was transmitting all of the raw joy I derived from playing these games to "Reality". The music was synthesising with my direct experience of nature, and creating peak experiences. Standing on the top of huge snowy mountains listening to the theme track to Skyrim... lol, it's the most epic fucking thing ever, I felt like a true hero on a heroes journey. It's no joke. 

As you mentioned, soundtracks are designed to inspire the themes of the film/video game. If you listen to the soundtrack to Avatar while walking in the jungle, you will create for yourself a super magical experience, because the music was originally designed to enhance the feeling of nature and adventure in the movie Avatar (Throw a tab of LSD into the mix and you might even become a blue monkey!) And each soundtrack has a unique touch to it. For example, if you are exploring a desert, you could listen to music that was designed for a game set in a desert. If you are strolling through the town, likely Oblivion would have composed music for when you are in a town.

My favourite soundtracks:

-Journey OST by Austin Wintory

-Ori and the Blind Forest Soundtrack

-Avatar Soundtrack

-Song of the Sea Soundtrack

-Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind

-Guild wars Prophecies, Guild wars Factions, Guild wars Nightfall, Guild wars Eye of the South, Guild wars 2

-In fact, anything by Jeremy Soule, he's a genius.

If you ask me, I would say that you should try this out if you want to take your Vision Questing to the next level!

Edited August 14, 2018 by St Clair