Soundtrack To A Moment

After walking all over North Central Los Angeles on Saturday from Venice Blvd to 3rd street, from Fairfax to Labrea and loving every bit of it, I realized how important the iPod is with regard to encouraging this walking, moving and dancing body. Speaking of dancing body, I enjoyed seeing this guy with his gigantic headphones on break a move on the corner of Farifax Blvd, it was as if he were reading my mind.

So on with the blog.... I discovered how far these two legs can go, and how it feels so good to get them going. But, when you're stuck out in the middle of nowhere because you've walked too far, it appears to be quite important to have certain songs as the backdrop to those thoughts, thoughts like 'how the hell did I get this far?' or 'I'm tired as hell' or even get a little deeper like the realization of how connected you are to everything around you, how all of sudden there are familiar faces, and everything seems a bit better in person as oppose to seeing it from inside a moving car.

So many decisions to make, walking in this city, but inside the customerless mattress store all the decisions become an exchange of words with the Nepalese Buddhist named Sage, as he gives me a tour on all the beds, and I jump right into them, like a trampoline, making sure the bounce is worth the price... he laughs a bit.... Later, I explored the boxing equipment store and I tried to ninja kick the thing that looks like a hanging bean bag, but the power kick kind of hurt my foot a little... It was interesting going inside the bakery and noticing how detailed they are, there was even a cake sculpted like a fish, and it looked like a fish, I wanted to taste it, just take a nice bite into it, but I didn't.. I enjoyed the walk through the Grove, it reminded me of how much LA itself can be like an amusement park, actually life can often be an amusement park, once you decide to really take a walk into it and take on all the mini adventures to come.

So if I could think of a soundtrack to a walking moment, hmmmmm, perhaps I would go with the songs below:

The XX - VCR (Matthew Dear remix)
http://hypem.com/#/track/1020711/The+XX+-+VCR+Matthew+Dear+remix+

The XX - Night Time (Danny G Pop Art Remixxx)
http://hypem.com/#/track/1020537/The+XX+Night+Time+Danny+G+Pop+Art+Remixxx+

Four Tet - Plastic People
http://hypem.com/#/track/1020517/Four+Tet+-+Plastic+People

I Blame Coco - Caesar ft. Robyn (Diplo Remix)
http://hypem.com/#/track/1020534/I+Blame+Coco+-+Caesar+ft+Robyn+Diplo+Remix+

Sufjan Stevens - Henney Buggy Band
http://hypem.com/#/track/1020622/Sufjan+Stevens+-+Henney+Buggy+Band

Fever Ray - Seven (The Twelves Remix)
http://hypem.com/#/track/1020647/Fever+Ray+-+Seven+The+Twelves+Remix+

Blockhead - Which One Of You Jerks Drank My Arnold Palmer
http://hypem.com/#/track/1020665/Blockhead+-+Which+One+Of+You+Jerks+Drank+My+Arnold+Palmer

Jan Turkenburg - In My Spaceship (Pilooski Remix)
http://hypem.com/#/track/1020658/Jan+Turkenburg+-+In+My+Spaceship+Pilooski+Remix+

Happier

Yesterday I was at home having a discussion with some folks on the subject of Buddhism and individual happiness, and during this exchange, quietly playing in the background was Bjork's Hyper-Ballad. And as I tried to concentrate on the conversation at hand, I couldn't help but also focus on the chorus singing out, I go through all this, before you wake up, so I can feel happier. To be safe again with you. Those lyrics stayed with me throughout the day until that evening where I decided to share them with a friend. I asked him what was his take on the song. He thought for moment, then responded by saying "She describes a ritual. How every morning she purposely experiences all that she's afraid of, just to return at the end of the day to the one she loves, to remind herself of how happy and safe she feels with this person." And with his response, I explained that perhaps there is another way to look at it, an aspect that is very much so in alignment to the Buddhist philosophy.

I went on to say that perhaps she, or this particular character in the song, wakes up every morning to purposely live her life completely and fully, confronting all of her fears and obstacles, which are symbolized by the cliff. And during this journey or ritual of highs and lows, she self-manifests this internal happiness by her sense of freedom and ability to overcome her fears and navigate her way through these obstacles. At the end of this experience, this journey of self, she returns to him once he is 'awakened' to feel safe and happier with him. Although this happiness was already established before her arrival, the one she returns to simply enhances it.

My friend and I went back and forth for a moment over the interpretation of the song and the manifestation of internal happiness. I ended the exchange by adding that it didn’t appear to be outside the realm of Bjork's consciousness, this notion of individually obtained happiness, as seen during her live version of Possibly Maybe where she sings out Well it came about through happenstance that I happen to be happy. You're just a bonus to that. My friend and I thought for a moment and agreed that it wasn't outside her realm of consciousness.

SGI President and well respected mentor of the Nichiren Buddhist practice, Daisaku Ikeda, further explores the notion of happiness in an article by stating that it, “is not something that someone else, like a lover, can give to us. We have to achieve it for ourselves. And the only way to do so is by developing our character and capacity as human beings; by fully maximizing our potential. If we sacrifice our growth and talent for love, we absolutely will not find happiness. True happiness is obtained through fully realizing our potential." he continued to explain that, "if you genuinely love someone, then through your relationship with him or her, you can develop into a person whose love extends to all humanity. Such a relationship serves to strengthen, elevate and enrich your inner realm of life. The same is true for friendship. Only to the extent that you polish yourselves now can you hope to develop wonderful bonds of the heart in the future."

Shanna Nikole, another Buddhist and friend, mentioned that this journey of life, is really just a journey of the heart, well said Shanna. In this journey you never know where you may find these affirmations of truth or answers from within, it could be in a book, practiced in a philosophy, or even heard simply in a song.

Dear Bullet Proof Soul:

Love is not a gun.