Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Allen Watts used to say that music and dancing have no point. The goal is not to get to the end, but to immerse yourself in the activity itself. If the end were the goal, then only the fastest dancers and musicians would be the best. But we know that’s not true. Life is as goalless as music is – no point, no destination, no finish line worthy of being “better” than the experience itself. If you only played music to get to the end, that would be a huge disappointment. If living is only about getting to the end, you’re racing to the cemetery.
Music is immersive. Life is immersive. Therefore the enjoyment of doing and being are more important than goals. Here’s a simple, domestic illustration. The joy is not in getting the bed made. The joy is in making the bed. Music is the same. The joy is never in completing the piece. The joy is in making the music happen. That’s the pointlessness of what I speak, and that pointlessness is the sweet nectar that feeds the soul, and restores wholeness to the broken spirit.
Getting to the end is striving for the worst part! Living for tomorrow is totally missing “the point.” The pointlessness is the point, if you get what I’m saying. The joy of music is immersive, unbroken concentration, unhindered by the noise of the mind’s chatter. The joy of life is immersion too. To “get to something” is never what life and music are all about. The difference; however, is that music is repeatable and life is not. So when the music is playing, sit back, pay attention, and soak it in more carefully. When life is going, do the same. There’s really not much to the ending, anyway.