Pressure

By: Jimmy Hackett

Future generations will be perplexed by our seemingly passive approach to death. And it will be seen that the great evil of religion was the idea of an afterlife, which greatly contributes to this attitude. It is the most unnatural aspect of religious belief. In fact, the attempt of a passive attitude towards death is a uniquely human phenomenon. So many simply accept the great genocide of human mortality.

The great irony of the modern age is the traffic jam. Nowhere else is something as miraculous as the experience of consciousness, the last true mystery of the universe, spent in such a tremendously wasteful environment. How have we, as humans, come to allow such a squandering of opportunity? We hear much talk about conservation and reducing waste. Why do we lack the same enthusiasm for preventing the abundant waste of human experience? And why do some people refuse to signal when they switch lanes?

My car is nothing special. A make and model familiar to all and a color familiar to most. It signals modest means, but ultimately it signals my fear of a car payment. I do regular maintenance which means that when a light comes on, I bring it in. For the most part, my car runs fine. The brakes screech, but the screech means their working. That’s literally true. But who makes the music and who makes the sound? And in my car, there is usually plenty of sound.

I came to the music game late in life, preferring silence well into my late teens. But something happened in my early twenties that changed me forever. I discovered dubstep.

I believe dubstep is the highest calling of music. And I firmly predict it will stand the test of time. Only predict the inevitable. Everything else is just a guess.

Electronic music is a music no longer handicapped by the physical limitations of the human body. The only limits are the imagination of the human mind. With the birth of dubstep, for the first time in a long time, we have proof positive of our limitless potential. God save the bass.

But there is an unhealthy side of music. When it stops being the soundtrack of our lives and instead transforms into a gentle plucking of the harp strings as we slip in a lullaby daydream. We find ourselves no longer awake but sleeping with our eyes open.

That is not to say all daydreams are bad. Fantasies are fun. And when properly conducted, they can expand the mind. But there is a particular type to be avoided.

A healthy daydream is a fantasy that generates self-esteem. An unhealthy daydream is one that leads to self-hatred. It is always a mistake to excessively daydream about the past. This is different from reflection. Reflection is a process where past events are analyzed, so that we can learn from them. It is discovering lessons in past for future application. This is different from a fantasy.

We don’t engage in fantasies to learn. We engage in them for entertainment. Fantasies about the past are unhealthy, because they are an implicit form a self-hatred. You are viewing your past self as unworthy and imagining a better replacement. It is a form of self-hatred that masquerades as an activity we find enjoyable. It is masochism. Think about the past only long enough to learn from it. Then, move on. And if you see me slow down to make room for your car, move over.

My car has been through the paces. It has its fair share of scrapes and bruises. A slow crack on my windshield crawls across the glass. And in my cup-holder is an old drink from the night before, inviting me to take that uniquely refreshing sip of a watered-down soft drink.

Every morning is the same. We enter our car and desperately try to recall the cryptic speech patterns of a forget time, etched into back of your mind. The foggy recollection of the dreamworld we just left behind. We leave that world and enter this one, the great drama. That great drama of forgetting to release the parking brake.

My fear is that we live in the moments before a truly cataclysmic human event, the death of hope and the conceit to stagnation. It is a drum I have played before, but if I know one thing, it’s rhythm. And if I know two things, it’s that the truth deserves repeating. And if I know three things, it’s that I hate driving. But it is today, and this is where I am.

We are here and now. And it is the only place we have ever been. And it is the only place we will ever be.

Courage, dying for your sins.

Courage, enjoying life as is.

Courage, working from where we are.

Courage, reclaiming the cosmic perspective.

Commute with me. But never be mute, with me. Build a community with me. Hand in hand, we will rebuild this world. Humans greatest achievement, humanity. Someday, but for now, we drive and enjoy the music.