Articulating

April 15, 2008

Welcome, new visitor! My name is Ari, the man behind Aries9. Here I share my thoughts on music and life, so you can get to know me and my music. Thanks for visiting!

As with all well-meaning people, there are a number of causes/charities I’d like to support. Everything from AIDS crisis in Africa to ban on landmines to humane society to reducing our carbon footprint to legalizing hemp….

You get the picture. There’s a lot.

As with my recent theme, I really need to narrow down and focus, instead of spreading wide and thin. I am just not effective that way, at least not yet. One day I dream of being very successful with my music/online businesses and create something like Newman’s Own. Then I can spread out and still be effective.

But until that day, I’d rather focus on one theme, something close to my heart –

and you probably know where I’m going with this. I’ve said this many times, but what I care about deeply is well-being of people’s minds in the so-called “developed” societies.

I would rather focus on individuals, instead of calling for some political change, because everything starts from individuals. After all, self is the only thing each of us can control. While it may seem like a long way around, I think we’ll set a powerful motion for change if each one of us lived in a way that exemplifies what we believe in.

For example, have you ever seen rock musicians play huge charity events for peace? How many of them are actually living peaceful lives? Do they take care of their band mates and family members the same way they suggest disagreeing countries treat each other? I’m not saying we all have to be perfect or saint, but I do think we emit louder messages by focusing on our own lives and immediate surroundings first, before tackling bigger challenges.

So, while I am not feeling guilt-free about not being there for children in Africa, I am choosing to focus my efforts on myself and those around me.

Now, something I am still struggling to articulate, though, is what it is that I’m trying to accomplish.

I don’t want to say “suicide prevention.” I don’t want to focus on the problem.

“Mental health” sounds like it belongs in a health insurance brochure.  Plus, what I am against is not necessarily disease produced by chemical imbalance in a brain.

It’s like this:  our “developed” society contains this overwhelming force that dehumanize us.  From wage slavery to entirely chemically produced food to growing distrust of our own bodies, we are living in a time where we are harnessed by the “progress” we created, instead of us harnessing the power of technology and institutions to empower us to be better us.

I am not one of those people who say yester-years were better than today, but I do think the challenges of today are different from those of yesterdays.  In the “developed” countries, our battles are not necessarily fought on day-to-day survival of our physical beings, but on maintaining integrity of our humanity.  In a way, it’s one level higher than sheer survival, but at the same time, it’s really not all that far away.  Our technology has evolved, but our existence hasn’t, not that much.  We learned how to sustain our bodies, but we haven’t, our mind and our soul.  So the machineries we created for our survival and sustenance and material prosperity, is preying on our mental and spiritual survival.

That’s why in “enlightened” countries like US and Japan, there are parents abusing their kids, kids killing themselves and/or their parents, and we are growingly more exposed to extremities of what desperate humans are capable of doing.  Else where in the world, people want to live, but they can’t.  Here, people are alive but it’s so painful, they’d rather not go on.

In my dream of dreams, I want my music to be a companion during dark times, an agent that inspires will to live.

Is today a hard day?  Let’s live one more day.  At the end of today, let’s all pat our own back, for having survived.  Life can be excruciating.

See how that’s different from something like “suicide prevention” or “awareness of mental health?”

When it comes down to it, I want to create the same music that stayed with me during those times myself.  Like Jerry Cantrell’s “Degradation Trip.”  Like Michael W Smith’s “Big Picture.”

But I also want to articulate this theme, a lot more.  I don’t want my focus to be some vague sense of “oh, I want to help people.”  I have a very specific role I want to play, and I’m just looking for clear and concise way of describing it in words, so that people understand me and I can find like-minded people.

If you know of organizations that work on the issues I’m outlining here, let me know.

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