Contrary Beliefs

Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.

-Leo Tolstoy

Every essay I write has my views on the world from free will to creativity to regrets to mudita. They’re supposed to break down existing concepts in new ways or be contrary. I enjoy intermittent success.

I know some friends will vehemently disagree with me on the below. I’m looking forward to getting texts this week saying why I’m wrong :)

Manipulated Crowds

I don’t like being in a big, manipulated crowd. When I see people together all chanting and jeering, I’m skeptical. Maybe this is from my Irish and Jewish ancestry who have gotten historically fucked by passionate, directed crowds of people.

I understand why directed crowds make sense. It’s everyone together in unison in a religious-like experience. I get the vibe and energy, but my uneasy feeling trumps the positivity. It feels creepy. People lose their individual minds and become part of an irrational collective. I’m leery of authority so this irks me.

I love walking around big cities like NYC and gain energy from being around people. But that’s a crowd where everyone is doing their own thing. They aren’t all going to the same place, singing the same song, or watching the same game. It’s chaotic energy with unique intention instead of energy and intention being manipulated by a single authority. I prefer bottom up chaos over top down manipulation.

Electronic Music

I’m talking music with no lyrics. Electronic music has always been meh to me. I remember in the mid-2000s when it started to become popular. It was obvious seeing it coming. Every pop song started to have an EDM track underneath. I had a contingent of friends who also lamented its rise. It felt like the shark in Jaws approaching to take over pop music.

There’s no beauty or heart in electronic music. It doesn’t make me feel anything. My first experience was in the late 90s in the bay area where some older kids went to raves. I understood the drug induced purpose of the rave gear but felt grown ups having pacifiers in their mouths and waving lights around to computer music was a bridge too far.

I always thought people like electronic music because it sounds good when they’re on drugs and listening to it reminds them of being on drugs. It’s like the bell for Pavlov's dogs. The music itself could be anything, just random noise, but the noise is an anchor that reminds them of being on drugs. And so music with no lyrics blossomed.

My other hypothesis for people liking electronic music is mimetic theory. They like it because other people like it and derive joy from it. The same reason every new generation happens to love a new style of music. It’s not an individual preference; It’s mimetic theory.

It’s also proven that we start to enjoy songs we listen to multiple times. So if you’re forced to listen to any song a half dozen times, you’ll eventually appreciate it even though you may have been indifferent to it the first few times. This is why I have even grown to gain some joy from electronic music. My appreciation for electronic music is a form of Stockholm syndrome.

Burning Man

Growing up in the bay area, burning man has always seemed basic. The first Google doodle in 1998 was burning man. It was a weird SF or nerdy tech thing to do. I do weird and nerdy things, but this one seemed passe given how it involved large crowds going to the same thing. It’s supposed to be radical self expression, but burners dress the same and act the same after.

When I first heard people in NYC talking about burning man, and it being cool, I was shocked. Those who get most into the burner culture either lacked religion or didn’t have a sense of purpose or self before going.

I’ve heard a thousand stories about burning man, only a few were compelling. The art sounds cool though.

Drugs

I’m biased against things that seem too good to be true. When things are too easy, I feel there has to be a catch. It’s really easy to do drugs; It’s easier to do drugs than to do pretty much anything else. It’s hard to live in a big city, be social and successful and to not do drugs.

This led me to believe that drugs are for followers. It’s attempting to take a shortcut to achieve pleasure. But there’s no free lunch. The pleasure has to be taken from somewhere.

I’ve since revised my view on some psychedelics.

Mind and Body

Many, especially in tech, think our brain is simply a computer and our body is the hardware. This misses the point.

Our mind and body are one. 

The human condition necessitates having a body. Our mind is meant to be with our body. Separating our mind from our body would have untold consequences. There are parts of our body that react before the signals even reach our brain. Our body and mind act in unison. This is why keeping our body healthy affects our mind and vice versa.

Universe

The universe is one. This is a common belief among those who have delved into psychedelics or who have meditated for a long time. It’s also obvious from science's top theory of the creation of our universe: The Big Bang theory. 

If The Big Bang theory is true, the entire universe was one. We came from the same minuscule spec as everything in the universe. All inanimate and animate objects. All matter. We were once together. 

We’re made of the same atoms and even if different atoms, it’s the same protons, neutrons, electrons, and subatomic particles. It’s all the same stuff just in different formations. When you zoom in, we’re all the same.