MOANSTER

Sunday, January 22

In Defence of Musicians

~This blog is dedicated to my musician friends. I know this is not enough, but I hope it's something. *hugs

Music is more than art. Music is a creative and tricky way of expressing oneself and what life is about. That's what musicians deliver, good musicians can let one see the world in minutes.

The conflict arises with hollow minded people now saying musicians especially those playing rock genres are all about noise, chaos, and 'improper' dressing. Reggae people on the other hand are labelled as 'potheads'. I'm not an expert or whatever but I would dare to take a stand on it. YOU PEOPLE ARE SHALLOW.

If musicians don't get paid for playing some tunes it's not a problem really on their side, for most musicians basically want to play for fun, and most importantly for the love of music. It's comparable to playing a sport to make it simple, you love to play so you play - you spend money for it even. When money comes in, it's a bonus.

Musicians I daresay are geniuses in hiding. To make a good song requires more than talent. You need to kill some braincells thinking about what to say, how to say it, and how to blend it with the perfect tune. As I observed my friends do, they brainstorm and let their spirits out making the lyrics of a song, checking every word and rhyme. The syncing of rhythm that comes next, requires an extensive amount of effort and thinking. A 3-5 minute song is not an out-of-luck project, it is well thought (except if it's a Willie Revillame song, like duh?). I could say more, but I'm sleepy so I'll stop up to this point. Hee-hee :P

I'm inspired with this song by The Chonkeys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwheOJPrdtk

Lyrics of Tignan Mo – Chongkeys

Bakit ang mga madre, sister ang tawag.

Bakit ang mga pari, father ang tawag.

Bakit yung ibang mga teacher, maam/sir ang tawag.

Bakit tawag sa banda ay kakaiba… hindi maganda…

Kami raw ay mga…

Adik, manyak, gago, siraulo

Mga adik, mga manyak, mga gago, siraulo.

Magulo, maingay, walang asenso, walang kita.

Baduy!

Bakit yung ibang mga pulis, buhaya ang tawag.

Bakit ang mga artista, plastikan ng plastikan

sa amigo at amiga…

E bakit yung ating gobyerno, kurakot ng kurakot

sa pera ng bayan…

Bakit tawag sa banda ay kakaiba… hindi maganda…

Kami raw ay mga…

Adik, manyak, gago, siraulo

Mga adik, mga manyak, mga gago, siraulo.

Magulo, maingay, walang asenso, walang kita.

Baduy!

Bakit ikaw, kayo..(kayo!)

Tingnan nyo muna sarili nyo.

Bakit ikaw, sila..(sila!)

Tingnan na muna sarili nila.

Anong nakikita mo? anong nakikita nyo?

Totoo ka ba? totoo ka ba?

Ang Chongkeys may sasabihin…

Wag nyong husgahan, wag pintasan, sarili mo’y tingnan

Maging totoo sa sarili, sa sinasabi

Hindi lang labas ang totoong kaanyohan

Respeto bigay ko, respeto bigay nyo…

Tingnan mo! Pakinggan nyo! Nasa puso ko, nasa isip ko!

Pakinggan mo…

Monday, October 10

Cosmic religious feeling

| The following articles were submitted as a Philosophy class requirement |

The Baby and the Bath Water

By M. Scott Peck

First of all ‘the baby and the bath water’ is an idiomatic expression which means rejecting the essential along with the inessential. This means that something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad. Now, M. Scott Peck says scientists tend to throw the baby out of the water regarding religious matters. They see the bad things done through belief but reject the good things about the ‘belief’. Science itself is a religion. He states that scientists can be very fanatical to science, as to theists to their faith. The basic notion of scientists is that the belief in God is ignorance. But religion is questionable and so is science. The maturity of scientists is the awareness that science may also be subject to dogmatism as any other religion.

It is plainly natural for humans to question, or doubt the common norms, but this doubt does not have to ‘not see’ and separate the good from the bad. As he said, “Behind spurious notions and false concepts of God there lies a reality that is God”. Faith is constantly being put to question and this is unavoidable. It is a process from simple belief, to doubt, and from doubt to a more intellectual form of belief. There are acts inevitable questionable for some religion but is being supplied by other religion. When we become sceptic about religion then, it is advisable that we see it through a wider view, see religion as general and not specifically judging based on one form of belief, for in every religion there is always an error.

Being too objective is bad for it results in bias. There is no single definite explanation of the belief in God therefore he suggests we don’t plainly stick to one side of the coin and be more sophisticated regarding religious matters. A balance of judgement then is crucially essential.

Religion and Science

By Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein observed that religion has sources. First, is that religion comes from fear. It is rooted from the dependence of man into something more powerful that anyone or anything else in which all they feared would depend. It results into the belief that one must go in favour of this ‘being’ through acts of offering sacrifices. Second is the search for belonging, affection, support and love, or simply to supply human social and moral needs. This is what he noted to be the basic and primitive notion which is a naïve idea.

On the other hand, men with exceptional level of understanding, has this different point of belief. He calls this cosmic religious feeling. It is a belief in a God of no limits, “…knows no dogma, no God conceived in man’s image, no church whose central teachings are based on it”. It is a feeling of non satisfaction with individual existence and a search for something beyond what humans can perceive.

He points that, “Man’s ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education and social ties; no religious basis is necessary”. The idea of being punished if we do something wrong and the idea o f being rewarded if we become obedient with religious commands will be very restraining to man’s growth. It limits man and so as it limits the meaning of religion. Cosmic religion feeling is a great source of strength and determination in spite of failures.

Lastly, he said that, “Serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people”. Scientists are basically more open-minded, not biased, in endless search for truth, looks at proofs, and always disregard ignorance. With this statement I could conclude that what religion truly is, is a religion not contained in a box. Religion is not naïve. It requires an excellent level of understanding to be truly religious.