More on Music

Why? Cuz I'm obsessed; that's why. I am always obsessed with music, but I go through manic periods of being unable to discuss anything else, and usually things go ahead and present themselves to continue that flow. That synchronicity is why I do believe this is what I am intended to be doing - every time I get excited about music, the universe seems to send back tenfold enthusiasm about my involvement.

What fed into this particular bout of musical and spiritual enthusiasm was a friend on one of my INTP mailing lists posting the lyrics to the song "Lateralus" by Tool yesterday. This song is one that my boyfriend gave me on a mix CD last year, knowing that I would like it, and this is why. The song just so perfectly embodies what I see spirituality as being, not to mention covering one of my major shortcomings as a whole entity - my tendency to overanalyze everything, which causes a definite disconnect from the real world around me - an indication of a very imbalanced N-S ratio, incidentally; I test 100% N, and an indication of a real imbalance elementally (Air with no Earth to counterbalance) as well, but that's for another post. It is a wonderful lyrical explanation of the disconnect we experience as a result of our evolutionary path both as individuals and as a race, and of the desire to reconnect and embrace the entirety of our being as one with the universe around us. I cannot think of a song that brings me more of a feeling of sheer joy at existence.

Now, Lateralus (both the individual song and the CD by that title) has very interesting and unique qualities, demonstrated in this video, as well as in these videos (which discuss the relationships between Lateralus and other songs on the CD). The main point of the first video is to demonstrate multiple examples of the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio, discussed here without having to listen to the song (which, while wonderful, is quite long). This ties into my spirituality in its relationship with spirals, which are discussed in the song. The spiral is one of the oldest magickal symbols known to modern man, probably because it occurs so often throughout nature, whether on the macro galaxy level or on the micro level of a spider's web.

I love hearing music like this that ties in so neatly, both because I love hearing about things that interest me, even if it's outside of a musical context (and I went through months of training to be a priestess, so it's not like I require a lot of incentive to study spiritual stuff), and because I love hearing music that not only is spiritually stimulating simply by appealing to me, but also that addresses within its lyrics what it does with its sound. Music is something that helps me bridge that gap that tends to form between myself and Spirit, and a song that uses divine mathematics and magickal symbolism in addition to its simply being is something that is overwhelmingly exciting to me.

I also love the way that the song discusses the disconnect between mind and body because, interestingly enough, the less involved music has been in my life, the more physically unhealthy I have generally been, and, whether that's another "As above, so below" thing is debatable, but, regardless, music does draw me back into my body and into the world as an active participant in a way that very few other things do, so having this addressed so directly is unique and energizing.

So, in the interests of reaching out and embracing the random, I'm starting college in the fall as a voice major, because to do otherwise would be a continuation of sin (in ignoring a natural gift I was given) and would simply allow me to continue feeling sorry for myself and to continue perpetuating this disconnect with myself as a physical and spiritual being. It's time to start bridging that gap, and this is the best way I can see to do it.

I'm debating starting up religious training again as well. We'll see.

Or, to put a very long story short, in the words of pretty much everyone who has known me since high school, "About fucking time you go to school!"

So.