BARK

This blog had gradually submerged deep into an inaccessible area of my hippocampus until about ten minutes ago when I was reminded of the immense power of music. Off went a spark along some neural network from my amygdala to my frontal cortex to my hippocampus, and this little forum's existence came bubbling up. "Sure you hate your writing, but you should sack up."

I won't accord music some metaphysically unique position among the arts as Schopenhauer did, but my 23 years of interaction with the world leaves me with little doubt that music is man's greatest pursuit. What else can affect us at such a visceral level? What else offers such a complete escape, a reprieve from reality? What else has such a capacity to capture and transform us?

People have written of the strong link between our sense of smell and memory, but what of the link between music and memory? A few notes flood my mind with vivid images of spring days smoking hookah on the fishbowl, my first kiss, summer road trips, the hot prospy who I almost - almost - hooked up with freshman year, center court pong series in our red basement, simultaneous smiles from two friends upon listening to the first track of a long-awaited album. Waves of nostalgia pull me into my past when the right tracks starts rolling. Is this a universal phenomenon or am I unique in tying specific music so closely to life events, be they mundane or noteworthy?

Dignan recommended "I Got Shit" when I was down and out over issues with a Barr-bodied companion, and that single track made the emotional load so much lighter. To lose myself, to unleash the anger and the sadness for five minutes, to go crazy eyes and Neanderthal jaw - it felt so fucking good. One part catharsis, one part expression, two parts pure escape.

Half an hour ago I felt numb and depressed. I meditated and it did little to improve my state. But twenty minutes with an album from my high school days that I am too embarassed to mention by name and my insides are brighter, like a fucking star was born in my heart. How does music do that? Because it involves us like nothing else, it transplants us into its own universe and releases us changed men.