Growing or Dying; It's my choice.

[<(Figures of solitude)>] * drawn to the light.

“Shadows of lonliness, creeping inside.
Polarized emptiness, no image to hide.
Figures of solitude, drawn to the light.
Crawl through the darkness, return from the night.”

-“Polarized” by Geoff Montalvo (aka Seven Lions)

***

From my point of view, the idea or theme of a zombie apocalypse has exploded since the movie “28 Days Later” was released. This movie put a more realistic depiction of what a zombie take over would look like. This version of zombies make for a much more entertaining movie there’s no denial in that. However, I think the real zombie apocalypse is already here, but it’s not what most people might think it is…

The zombie state is induced by a virus that infects the mind. The virus is bred through arrogance, ego, greed, anger, envy and a host of other negative emotions that overrun the average person nowadays. The infection can also be described as “excusitis”, a term coined by Zig Ziglar. The result of this infection is a person who contasntly makes excuses (and calling them “reasons” or “explanations”), always victimizes themselves, has a narrow-minded mentality and uses a short-sighted perspective consistently.

The cure is simple, but not always easy. Applied knowledge, a desire to pursue passion, universal truth, peace and love for oneself, unity and respect for others. The illusion is a lot of people know how to use the language of someone who is not infected, but they don’t act upon the words they say or type.

Your eyes and ears will always deceive you. We live in a world where deception runs deep everywhere you turn. However, humans are equipped with a powerful and precious tool that can help identify truth. It’s called your heart. Your heart senses emotions and sends the signal to your mind which sends it to your brain to interpret. Follow your heart and things will turn out fine as long as you consistently and presistently listen to what your heart says. If your heart senses positive emotion, it’s saying yes, if your heart senses negative emotion, it’s saying no. There are forces that try to repress our heart’s ability to feel. Most people are not aware of these efforts and fall into their trap unknowingly. But once you have aquired a taste for the cure, there’s no turning back.

If a real apocalypse were to really happen, there’s absolutely no doubt that your first priority is number one: YOU. Unfortunately sympathy can have an extremely strong hold on a person. This has been my weakness over the past year or so. I’m way too concerned with helping others and often find myself on the brink of becoming infected again. But lessons are learned and I’m improving in focusing on what needs to be done. The entire thing is tricky and can only be figured out through actual field experience. But you have what it takes to deal with this. There are people out there who will help you if you seek help, but help should never offered to someone who is not willing to help themselves. They will slow you down and even infect you if you let them.

This is the current state of the world as I experience it. I used to think of infected people as my enemies. They must be beat down and killed so they can’t spread this surpressive disease. But now I see them as sick people who have little to no awareness of their current state of being. Deep inside, there’s a kind, gentle, loving person that has built many layers of walls to protect their inner self. I have hope for those people and that hope gets stronger everyday in every way. Some people are clearly struggling with their infection and are close to the cure. Others are far beyond the point where it’s worth the time and effort… but this is where your level of love for a person will really show. Now is becoming a time of ethics and morals. Every person has their own right to their personal life code and there is no right and wrong upon the decisions you make. However, know that you are responsible for everything that results from your choices. Regardless, I have a plan. I have friends who are like-minded and going the same direction as I am. We stick together and work through truth and love, but we don’t do each other’s work. From my side of the fence, it’s only a matter of time before the cure to infection is spread throughout the entire planet via the hundredth monkey syndome; love overflowing from the field of consciousness. The world is changing everyday and we’re moving closer to a time and place where the cure will be essential. Resistence is futile.

Give.Inspire.Nuture @ Global.Information.Network

Last Friday, I left work three hours early, and went home to grab my things. I listened to Seven Lions while waiting for a buddy to swing by. We were leaving town to go to a conference in Nashville, Tennessee. I knew something special was going to happen at this conference… I just didn’t know exactly what it was. But there was no denying the excitment that made my mind race a million miles a millisecond.

The entire experience is too much to explain through words. I’m still trying to soak in the effects of the weekend. Right now, all I can say is I feel the same way I did the first time I went to an EDM show back in Halloween 2009 in Montreal. Something happened and I’m not sure what. But it felt so blissfully amazing and I want to feel it again. I must say, the Global Information Network (GIN) is the second place I found where PLUR exists… and the people are sober! People who are like-minded come together and share a time and place together to make the moment powerfully memorabile. It’s much like an EDM show or Mudika retreat, but so much more powerful in every aspect. The guys who organized it know exactly what they’re doing and every little detail has its’ purpose. These people operate at a very high level and the results speak for themselves. Master-minding with these types of people really is like downloading information energetically. There’s all these things in my mind that weren’t there before. Either that, or the voices that surpressed me are much quieter. Either way, I feel lighter, faster, clearer, sharper…

My return into everyday reality was met with drastic contrast. The theme of contrast has been a very strong theme in my heart since the Above & Beyond show. Listening to Geoff Montalvo’s (aka Seven Lions) music has really helped my thoughts focus on this topic. One thing that sticks out in my mind is gratefulness for living in Canada. There’s so much I can say regarding this area of gratefulness, but I’d like to focus on the weather aspects. Since I was a baby, the seasons changed four times a year. Experiencing Mother Nature’s cycle has helped me understand that everything is always in motion; always changing. It never stops. Humans tend to like staying at a comfortable spot and not moving. But that is not our natural state of being. We’re meant to move to the rhythm of Mother Nature. The winter is soon coming and I’ve been listening to the darker sides of music to help my mind prepare for what’s ahead. I like to call this state of mind “beastmode”. Logic takes a lower priority and survival instincts dominate. The fact that I’m listening to aggressive electronic music just makes the term much more of a pun.

There’s so much more to say. but if I were to share it I rather share it with you face to face. There’s so much digital writing with no particle flow can do. But if I were to name one thing I took away from this weekend, it would defintely have to be the way I feel about God. I recently went to my friends’ wedding and the groom had synonymously used the words God and love. He would say: “I God You”. I found it profoundly moving and touching. Such a simple play on the words that would make so much sense to use if you had a deep understanding of what love is and what God is.

What I took away from this past weekend is an extension of I God you; God does not say: “I love you”. It says: “We love you”.

Vibrant Vision

I’ve been having a lot of different thoughts throughout the week. It’s been pretty interesting to observe how times to always speed up and slow down; how I put my thoughts to a future, go through the event, and observe how I feel about it afterwards. I must say my experience with Above & Beyond was… well above and beyond all expectations. After having a powerful after-glow after that show, I have this coming up weekend to look forward to. I’m doing very similar things as I did prior to Above & Beyond, and I know how that turned out in the end… but the exciting part is that I’m feeling much more excited for this weekend. Or rather, I’m looking forward to the end of it…

Time and space are two variables that are outstandingly essential to the human experience. A lot of people enjoy travelling for this reason. Time seems very different when you’re on vacation since you’re away from you daily routine. You’re in a different place so your body and mind are experiencing something that is also outside of your daily routine. Now throw in the factor of intention and the dynamics take a very interesting plunge. Everyone travels for different reasons. To explore new cultures, for business, visit friends or family, to go to a place where there’s something special to experience or observe, etc etc. I haven’t done much travelling until this year. I always wanted to travel but never had a good enough reason to motivate myself. This year I’ve done more travelling than usual. I also got my G2 license so that’s opened a lot of doors for exploration for me. But beyond that, I often travelled out of my comfort zone in search for knowledge. There’s a lot of different places and many different people that can provide knowledge on a wide array of subjects. It’s kind of strange how I wouldn’t be motivated to do the necessary activities to travel for pleasure, but I’ll do it for personal education…

I’ve set a slightly different intention for this particular trip. Although learning will be somewhere near the top of priorities for this weekend, I’m focusing on gaining wisdom. I feel I’ve put a lot of time, effort and energy into gaining the knowledge, but I need start applying it to gain the wisdom. Of course learning will never end, but I need to put that knowledge to use. I need to start creating something that shows I can use that knowledge to improve my own life. Being apart of GIN constantly puts me in a position where I’m surrounded by people who are older than me. This gives me an opportunity to talk with someone who has more knowledge, experience and wisdom. I meet the most interesting people that have so many inspiriing stories to share through this group. Being in this environment for an entire weekend is truly going to change me as a person.

Living in Canada has truly been a blessing. Being able to experience the cycle of the four seasons every single year of my life has really engrained the concept of change into me. From the moment we are born we are guaranteed nothing but death. Every season exposes a different process in the cycle of life and death. This cycle is prevelent in everything we experience as humans. Personally I feel like I’m gaining momentum towards the sky. Everything seems to be where it’s supposed to be and it’s working itself out nicely as time progresses. The near future is going to be extremely fun and exciting, there’s no doubt about it. I hope you all enjoy your weekend because I know I’m definitely going to enjoy mine.

“Music is the universal language.”

I set the bar high for the Above & Beyond show and I can’t deny they’ve exceeded my expectations. The way the entire night went down was outstandingly awesome. I met some new people, chilled with a few strangers I hope to meet again someday, danced among familiar faces, wished happy birthday to a friend of a mutual friend, gave away water, gum and bracelets, listened to some blissfully orgasmic music, read some heart felt messages and strengthened my belief in music’s awesome power to unite.

I can’t say it was one particular thing or another that made Above & Beyond’s performance so outstanding. So I’m gonna talk about a bunch of them. First off, they’re presence was very strong. They had a big screen behind them which outlined their silhouettes. Usually there’s only one DJ and it’s cool to see the shadow of that person’s body. But when you have awesome music going on with three shadows in front of the screen, it makes the sound feel more authentic… at least to me it did. On top of that, the group used the screen to type out messages to the crowd. This was powerful in so many different ways. It was a very strong contrast compared to Krewella’s method of crowd interaction. Above & Beyond’s method was subtle, yet crystal clear. It was sincere, endearing and most of all, benevolent. Nowadays a lot of musical artists feel they gain fans’ energy by showing their swagger, being all dazzling and loud for the crowd and getting people to make noise. But Above & Beyond got the crowd going by typing messages like: “Thank you for being apart of this special night.” or “I think we sound so awesome together.” They also typed out lyrics to the music and used their album title “group therapy” to let the crowd know they were gonna drop a track from their latest album. This method of communicating is so ideal for this type of event. After learning some stuff about the human brain, I realize how powerful it is to read something with your eyes, interpret the message with your brain and translate it’s meaning with your heart. There’s no doubt that the band understands this process and utilizes it to get the crowd to evoke the positive feelings they’re trying to convey through their music… One reason why I buy into the idea that they’re aliens.

Above & Beyond also used the screen to provide the crowd with extremely visually stimulating images. Now I was sober at the show, but I can only image how mind-blowing it would have been to see some of that stuff while dosing. Anyway, a cosmically spiritual tone for the music was set by the visuals used. A lot of sequences shown were of outer space, stars, sacred geometry, ancient architecture, mathematical and scientific equations, natural scenery, grid designs and many more visuals that would promote a vibrational alignment with one’s natural self. Now, I’m sure what I just mentioned will pass over a lot of people’s heads… But it’s basically propaganda promoting positive messages. They were brain-washing the crowd into emitting a vibrational frenquency of love (528 hz<yes, emotions can be measured>). And if you were in that room at that time with your heart and mind open to the music, you cannot deny that you felt love. In my opinion, it felt like cosmic love… a type of love that can only be felt when a large group of people come in close physical proximity with one another. The only other time I felt this way with this level of intensity was at the Daft Punk show… although looking back at it, that show evoked a sense a unity, but it wasn’t unity through love… more on that some other time.

Since I’ve been going to these EDM shows and focusing on energy and feeling mostly, I usually have a phrase or theme that’s prevalent throughout the night. At the Krewella show it was “intention”. I constantly asked myself why were people doing what they were doing, particularly the DJs and people running the show. At the Above & Beyond show the theme was “importance of achieving dreams”. I’ve been taught the best way for you to help others is to help yourself first because if you get your dreams in your reality, you’re helping others get their dreams in their reality. It’s a difficult concept to really grasp and apply, but my understanding of this concept grew stronger throughout the night. I kept thinking to myself that this was the epitome of a rave/EDM show. People packed into a room with awesome music, dancing, smiling, laughing with friends and strangers alike while sharing the feeling of bliss via the sound of music in the present, fleeting moment. And that moment was made possible because Above & Beyond got their dream. Then I took a step back and thought about my dream and how much happiness would be felt by so many people when I get to that point. It made me believe even more in my dream and the importance of it’s fruition.

There’s so much more to say about what transpired that night. But all I can say is that at this point of my life, knowing what I know now and desiring what I desire now, Above & Beyond does everything I could ever ask of an artist. And the best part is they’re being themselves. There’s a lot of upcoming DJ/producers getting lots of attention and these people have a lot of power through their fans. But these guys don’t let their popularity get into their head or let it feed their egos. They use their power to send out a powerfully positive message. I know a lot of the things I mentioned in this blog sound really esoteric and far-fetched, but I do believe in it all. Maybe these guys just do what they do without realizing what they’re actually doing. But I don’t believe in coincidences. Either way, I think most people would agree that these guys render an extremely valuable service that significantly contributes to the well being of humanity by sharing their music with anyone who chooses to be involved in it.

<You Got to Go> Above & Beyond <On a Good Day>

What an awesome name for a band! “Above & Beyond”… it says so much in only a few words and it’s a great philosophy for life. I was never big into trance until a good friend of mine introduced me to two tracks that shoved me off the rock scene and into the world of electronic dance music: “Burned by Desire” by Armin van Buuren, and “Sirens of the Sea” by OceanLab. (FYI: Above & Beyond and OceanLab have the same band members, the only difference is that OceanLab has an additional member who sings all the vocals.) I remember I used to have these two songs on repeat and spend hours at Erindale park, staring into the river and noticing how the music’s sound was in sync with the movements of the water. Over time I learned how to incorporate these observations into rhythmic dancing that can bring about a deep meditative state of mind. At the time I played a lot of poker and I would listen to those two songs throughout my trip to the casino, calming myself and reflecting on the proper play. After exploring different genres of EDM, I think that trance and dubstep have the most sacred geometry encoded into its’ sound. I feel that trance has the most to offer in terms of personal development and spirtual insights.

For some reason I’ve never been to a real trance show before. I’m not sure why, but at this point of my life I know that everything happens for a reason. Whatever that reason is I can’t say for sure. But I have a pretty good idea on what the universe/god/jane or my inner-self is trying to convey to me. This Above & Beyond show tonight will be a significant push in my motivation to bring my chief aim and big dream into my experience. With Family Reunion in two weeks, my experience tonight will still be fresh in my mind and heart. I’ll be able to spend an entire weekend focusing on my dream with the clear memory of the feelings I want to draw out through Lifestream. The training balance scale really works. The “how” really doesn’t matter. It will reveal itself when the timing is right. As long as my mind is open to the dream becoming real and my heart is focused on the correct intentions, everything else will fall in place when the time is right. I know this from trial and error, practise and drilling. I haven’t perfected the techniques… far from it! But this stuff takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. And with the very little I know, I’ve been able to turn my life around.

Tonight will be the third time I enter the EDM scene without any exterior assistance during the event. It’s a strange thing to describe, but sometimes it feels like I’ll be visiting home for a few hours… a glimpse at the near future that’s coming my way; Being a contributing factor to the creation of a time and place where everything is as it is and it is all well for the moment. Smiles and good vibrations all over. This is what I’m anticipating with a live trance set from one of the world’s leading trance artists. I understand the power of music and how it can engender unity among like-minded individuals. The power of the master-mind in this type of environment is unlike any other. Some people I know don’t go into a show or event with this attitude because they’re afraid they’ll feel disappointed if things don’t go down as they expect it to. Although I have all these ideas of what I would like to happen, I know that things don’t always go the way I anticipate. I’m grateful to be in a place where I can focus on the positive, search for the gold and not mind all the dirt I need to dig through.

The purpose for all things in my life are becoming more and more clear. And it gets me so excited! People do a lot of different things for a lot of different reasons. A lot of the times, people don’t even know why they do certain things or are even aware of what they’re doing. Regardless, I feel my awareness of everything in my life has equipped me with the proper tools to get the most out of every fleeting moment. It’s such a blessing to be put into this body at this time and this place with the people I choose to surround myself with. I’m realizing the value of my time and giving it to those who I feel are worthy of it. There’s so much ahead of me and I can’t wait to experience everything that’s coming my way. But for now, I’m focusing on tonight and what it means to me; inspiration to go Above & Beyond all expectations I impose on myself.

Sex, Drugs and DubStep vs PLUR

A friend of mine shared a rather interesting thing that he experienced at this year’s Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). One DJ screamed into the mic during his set: “MAKE SOME FUCKIN’ NOISE!” Following his set, the next DJ gets on stage and says into the mic before his set begins: “I will never ask you to make some fuckin’ noise… LET THE MUSIC SPEAK!” And I think this summerizes what’s going down in the electronic dance music (EDM) scene right now. On Thursday night, I went to see Krewella, one of the big up and coming electronic groups. Although they have a very unique style that appeals to my ears, it’s a little too party-hardy, “sex-drug-dubstep-ish” for me. But I went because I wanted to check them out and see how they run their set… I wasn’t too impressed. Throughout the set, they kept screaming into the mic “PUT YOUR HANDS UP!!!” or “MAKE SOME FUCKIN’ NOISE!!!” whenever they felt the crowd’s energy dying down. Eventually, they got to the point where they would lower the volume and say their “please-get-hyped” phrases. In my personal opinion, it was really pitiful. Theses production artists that pose as DJs resorting to such techniques to keep the energy alive. A real DJ would be able to read the crowd and know how to direct their set to please the fans. Maybe if they didn’t make the crowd wait three hours for their appearance, they wouldn’t have to push the fans to be excited.

Regardless of these displeasing things, I had a really good time. Krewella’s live dubstep material was really really good. The back of the club was pretty empty so I was able to go back there and go all out. I made a few bracelets and gave them out. It was really awkward because the club was filled with a bunch of young kids who don’t really know what EDM is all about… at least in my personal opinion. Back in the 90s and early 2000s, people would make a tonne of bracelets and hand them out at the show as a way to meet new people and connect with other music lovers. They would exchange bracelets and names, dance the night away together and this would make the current moment meaningful in their hearts. Glow sticking and Poi were much more prevenlent and people would show off their skills and admire other people’s lightshows. There was a phase that was used to express what this scene was all about: PLUR (peace, love, unity, respect). At the time, I was more into the rock scene. But I know people that have gone to those types of shows/raves and I wish it was still like that.

I understand that the whole raving experience and scene has a bad wrap for the drug use involved with the culture. Back in the day, people would take ecstasy (often referred to as “e” or “x”). Nowadays, most people take MDMA (often referred to as “molly” or “m”… and yes, Madonna’s newest CD is a direct reference to this drug). Ecstasy is MDMA mixed in with other things such as speed, angel dust or PCP to keep the user awake and hyper. As time went on, unethical drug dealers would be irresponsible and hand out ecstasy that was mixed with poisionous chemicals in order to cut down on production costs. Nowadays, most people use primarly just the MDMA, so it’s much more safe and reliable. In addition, most MDMA users are aware that the combination of the drug, and dancing in a hot and crowded area will dehydrate them, so they’re typically drinking water as the night progresses. I understand that this drug faciliates in bringing out the feelings of peace, love, unity and respect in people as well as a pile of other pleasurable experiences. But it’s not required. The music alone is enough to evoke those feelings if they’re in the correct state of mind. Personally, I used to use MDMA at these shows because it really does enhance the experience in certain aspects. But the more I used it, the less authentic the musical experience became. It was becoming harder and harder to connect to the music and really hear the music speaking to me. So the past the two shows, I decided to go in sober and they were probably the best two I’ve been to in a long time. When I was a teenager, I would never go to music shows high because I wanted to know that the pleasure I was experiencing was coming from a place within me without any exterior crutches… that and I was afraid of getting caught with anything on me. But going back to my roots really helps remind me what music is about for me and why I love it so much.

Some people go to shows to have a good time and just forget all about their problems. They go and get smashed, pick up chicks and party hard, live it up. Over time, it becomes a crutch for their only source of “happiness”. These people try to have sex, drugs and dubstep mentality… even if they’re not lisening to dubstep specifically. Personally for me, I go to listen to good music, connect to the present moment and remember that life is good. I use the music and dancing to tap into a state of conciousness where I can face my problems and explore ideas to come up with a solution. If I meet new people and connect with others, that’s a huge bonus that I will be extremely grateful for that. I try to have the PLUR mentality.

I don’t write this blog to intentionally rag on other people and their choices. All these critisims and opinions fall on a very thin line that can appear contridicing or paradoxical. I just want to express my views on the EDM scene and trying to bring out the best of what it has to offer while pointing out the negative things I want to avoid. It’s very easy to fall into something without being fully aware of what you’re participating in. Afterall, I was there. But I quickly realized what felt wrong and I’m adjusting myself to get back to where I was years ago when there was a more pure and sincere music scene going on. This is where my passion lies and I’m devoted to helping build a music scene that evokes peace, love, unity and respect without any negative concequences.

“Y’wanna know why I use a knife?”

“Y’wanna know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You’re can’t savor all the little emotions.”

-The Joker, Batman:The Dark Knight

The little things can really make a big difference if you’re aware of what’s really going on. I remember when I was a kid, my Dad told me: “If you take a penny away from a million dollars, it’s no longer a million dollars.” I thought it was a pretty profound observation. Years later in high school, I shared this with a girl in one of my classes. She looked at me funny and said: “Yeah, so? You can just find a penny on the floor. It’s not a big deal.” That’s when I realized that some people view the world very differently from how I view it. This girl was focused on that one penny’s worth by itself. I was looking at the penny’s worth within a millions dollars.

This theme of “every little bit counts” has resurfaced throughout my life several dozen times. At this current moment, it applies to music (surprise, surprise…). I really like electronic music (surprise, surprise…) for a lot of different reasons. But one of the main reasons can easily be explained through the genre of trance. For the readers who don’t know what trance music is, I’ll explain… Trance music is played at a faster beat count (roughly between 128 and 135 BPM/beats per minute), but uses sounds that are very light, soothing and very rhythmic in nature. Most trance songs tend to be longer in length because it uses a very progressive style. So the beginning of the song usually starts off with a simple beat and some sound effects. Then the beat is built with more sounds piling on top of another, building layers as the song moves forward in time. The layers slowly weave together and everything feels like it just exploded. That’s called the drop. And it’s an amazing thing that a lot of music lovers can relate to. Trace music resonates a lot with me because the combination of sounds make me feel like I’m in nature. The beat flows like a river. The synthesized sounds emulate the warmth of sun rays poking through thick fluffy clouds, or the wind whistling throught the leaves of the trees. Chord progressions create a curious mystery like the sun rising or setting. When I analyze and think about trance music (or music in general), I learn something about myself and life around me. Here’s an example of what I mean.

I seem to have an issue with focus. My habit is to get excited over an idea, do some action, get little or no results, then give up and move on to something else. In my mind, I know that I must focus on one thing, make it part of me and maintain it while I move on to the next thing. In trance music, the beat and rhythm is established before any melodies are put in. Once the melodies are throw into the mix, the beat still has to maintain what it has already established. The beat will change over time to compliment and work with the melodies, but it will be stable and maintain it’s flow. With my life, I know that I need to focus on certain attitudes and routines until they’re established as my beat. Then move on to throw in the melodies. I basically need to build my foundation. But I’m half-assing my efforts with the foundation and starting something else that just falls apart since the foundation isn’t strong enough to support itself.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been walking a whole lot. Which usually means I’m thinking a lot. I’ve been in a rut over the past few weeks so the walking’s been very helpful. I realize that my focus is on something that is beyond my level of belief at this point. I kept doing things to try and force it, but we all know what forcing things gets you. I couldn’t wrap my head around it until I stepped away from it and did what I natrually wanted to do. As I did this, things came to me that clearly answered the questions I was asking. I think I’m getting the hang of this stuff…

For me, music is the gift that connects me to something that cannot be put into words. I guess you could call it God, or the universe or Prime Creator… Jane… whatever. But when I feel connected to it, I feel good… REALLY good. It’s something so far beyond words but it makes sense to me. I believe that humans are special in that we can use creative imagination to manifest thoughts into physical things. Through the creative arts we can communicate our feelings, emotions, thoughts and ideas. When you’re in that mode of creativity, a switch gets flipped and things are different. If you’ve ever been frantically obsessed to get something done before you probably know what I’m talking about. But if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I encourage you to get involved in something creative. Paint, draw, write, play music, dance, sing, sow, knit, make jewellary, cook a meal, learn to juggle, heck I dunno. Pick something that can put you in another zone. When you into that zone, concentrate on how you feel. Pay close attention to it and you’ll find something I think all humans look for. If anything, just try something new and find something you can develop a passion for. Passion is a wonderful spice of life that sound be very familiar to you.

From Owl Cities to Enchanted Forests

Since discovering his Ocean Eyes album in 2010, I’ve been enjoying Owl City’s music and labeling him my favourite artist to date. It’s been quite an interesting specticle to see the progress of his career. But his latest album does not resonate with me anymore. It’s a sad thing that happens with musicial artists over time. People change, and in turn their music changes. People change, and in turn their listening preferences change. I take full responsibility with this because I was very vocal about Adam Young incorporating EDM elements to his music. And now that he has, I believe his music doesn’t contain it’s unique qualities as it once did. I think his best style is when he incororates electronia elements to his alternative background. This enables him to fully implement his talents in beat making. His latest album feels like it was forced. His message used to be clearly felt through the sound, but now is crammed into awkward lyrics and monotonous melodies. Regardless, I still admire him and consider him one of my idols. He’s someone that has what I want and has been where I am. I wish him the best.

It’s interesting to note that Owl City’s older music clearly emulates sounds and feelings in nature. I think this was the most appealing feature of his music. His lyrical content contained more subtle and metaphorical messages that puts a focus on the blissful nature of his “dream world”. Now the lyrical focus seems to be using his “dream world” to escape a painful reality. I have my own personal speculations for why this happened, but I think this could the main reason why his latest pieces no longer resonates with who I am. I feel as though this album resembles the feeling of a city. Measured, straight-lined and predictible, caculated. I feel that my preferences are geared to something that feels more like a forest. Random, vibrant, diverse, curved (like a girl’s body XD). Where his older music felt like the owl, his newer music feels like the city.

I can’t deny that my heart is deeply intrenched in the whole EDM genre. And there’s so many reasons for this. But I think the main reason is that the sound is totally unique. For the most part, the instruments are personally customized. When one person hears the sounds and tries to attach an image to that sound, another person will probably envision something a little different. But the feeling they both feel will probably be parallel. I think this is the magic of electronic music. The dance components take these unique sounds and puts them into a very catchy flow and meditative context. I’ve realized extremely profound similarities to participating in EDM and meditating. Dancing in a club while listening to a DJ/producer do their thing live emulates the feeling of a deep meditaion. Present in the current sliver of time, a sense of unity with surroundings, no attention to regrets and resentments of the past while dissolving any worries and doubts about the future, stronger belief in dreams, connection to a divine source of energy… and the list goes on. One thing I must say though, I do not go to shows to party. I go for a musical experience. I get into a state of mind where I analyze the music and try to connect to the presenter of the music. I try to imagine what they are thinking and feeling and pick out very specific things in their techniques. I use that state of mind to resolve personal issues. I embue those euphoric feelings into my goals and dreams, bringing them closer to me. At the end of the night, I tend to walk away with something; a sense of improvement. I feeling that I’ve cleaned out some of the mental and spiritual garbage that’s been bringing me down. This is the value I see in music and what I will share with the world once I become the man I’m striving to be.

If all the roads…

“If all the roads were paved with ice that wouldn’t thaw or crack, I would skate from Maine to Nebraska, then onto Alaska, and back. ‘Cause you keep me warm…”

My family and I are leaving for a road trip soon… in about five hours. We’re taking a road trip to Maine to meet up with my Aunt, Uncle and three cousins. We’ll be chilling at a cottage for the following week. We haven’t had this type of trip as a family since mid 2000, where we went to the Martimes and spent 2 weeks in Nova Scotia. I love these kinds of trips. I kept thinking about that one sunrise and forest that had me thinking I was in the “shire” from Lord of the Rings. I would just sit and think about those moments, pulling back the feeling and emotions I felt during that experience. I put a lot of effort into perserving that memory in my mind. I guess with all that focus, I brought upon another experience to be remembered.  

Since we’re leaving around 4am, I decided to just stay awake after work and sleep throughout the afternoon… I had originally planned something else, but I broke that agreement with myself in pursuit of a more personal experience. I decided to go home straight after work, grab a few supplies, then headed down to Erindale park. I haven’t had as much quality time with Mother Nature this year as I normally do.

With the slew of events that’s happened in the past few weeks, I had a lot of things to think about. Put on a few new songs on my iPod and things got rolling pretty quick. I walked down some paths I never went down before. I started using the camera on my phone, something I rarely do but been trying to get more active in doing. I went on a rampage, taking over 350 photos. Something surreal happened when I took the photo, looked at the picture on my phone, then looked at where I snapped the shot. What I saw were two completely different scenes. It was like my camera phone was a telescope into another dimension… but in reality, it was just Mother Nature doing her thing.

I can’t deny that my perspective on a lot of things are changing… and changing quite rapidly. I find the more I indulge myself in seeking information, it leads me to more interesting ideas. As a result in a change of perspective, I’m changing my experience. It’s becoming so much more real to me now. I’m beginning to really understand how powerful my mind really is and I know that I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg.

This trip to Maine has got me super excited. I know it’s going to be an amazing experience for me and my family. All the events dated in my daily planner rouse an extremely high level of excitment I never thought I could have. Looking into the future and awaiting the moment of it’s arrival can be liberating. Everything is coming together, everything is connecting. Slowly but surely, it’ll happen.

The Game Changer

Once you’ve figured out your purpose in life, everything becomes amazingly clear. If you’re completely confident and have zero doubt towards what you were meant to do, then you can’t die. The universe will not allow you to die without achieving victory in your mission. Emotions truly become a guide towards your dreams and all the things you were destined to accomplish with your time on this Earth. I’ve dismissed the belief of coincidences because everything truly does happen for a reason. If you spend time alone and reflect deeply and sincerely, you will see that there’s more to this life than what you’ve been told. You’ll be able to feel it deep in your heart.

Your purpose is what you make of it. You know what feels right and what feels wrong to you. If you can’t make the distinction then I strongly recommend you to start trying to figure it out. We’re all blessed with cognitive thinking and emotions to help us figure this out. Everything you need is already inside you. You were born with all the knowledge and abilities required for your task. But along the way, we’ve forgotten. The keys to our inner most precious treasures lie in our minds and hearts.

There are two types of people in this world. People who build, and people who destroy. Unfortunately there is a lot more people who destroy than build. It’s something I can’t really point fingers and blame because it’s no fault of their own. Being born into a prison you can’t smell, taste, touch, see, and hear makes it really tough to figure it out. However, once you do figure it out, things become much easier. I tend to keep my mission to myself because I’m in the early stages of my training and my armour isn’t that strong to resist the negativity. But when I’m alone and I’m focused properly, I feel unstoppable. I’m filled with a overwhelming sense of confidence and knowingness that convinces me that what I’m doing is right. It’ll take time to see the results, but I know this is the right thing for me.