In an interview with Neil McCormick of the London Daily Telegraph, songwriter Ryan Adams has an interesting take on what distracts us these days from connecting with thoughts beneath the surface. Looking at his iPhone, he says,
“There’s something in that Pandora’s box, you can find an endless trail of information, and how do you break free? But, you know, the world is like that already, the United States way more than anywhere. This place is a loud child that wants attention, everywhere you look, give me your money, you need this, blah blah blah. They give you every reason not to connect to your unconscious mind. Why do that? You can eat a Domino’s pizza! It’s scary. I almost wonder if you are not supposed to be internal any longer in this society. As if the human race has moved past self-discovery.”
I don't think the human race has moved past self-discovery, but our culture may be losing the idea that there is value in anything that can't be bought or sold..."monetized."
When we value the process as much as the outcome, we do things that salespeople would consider radical. In Adams' case that was recording an entire album...and then throwing it away.
“The songs were boring me," he says. "They were the kind of things I do that people like: acoustic guitar, introspective and morose. There was no element of discovery. It wasn’t real, and so I had to abandon it.”
I find I need to be reminded of that attitude from time to time, do you?
