Doom or Existential Angst?

[emmline]

I don't have to ruin tiny villages to feel doomed. I'm doomed most of the time, anyway.

I lifted mamakash's quote from the faerie king thread, 'cause it resonated with my own life queasies.

I'm reading a book called The Forest for the Trees--An Editor's Advice to Writers, in which the author, Betsy Lerner, basically psychoanalyzes the writing mind. It's interesting reading, and striking to me in how well I seem to fit the typically semi-tortured profile. I feel grateful, in my reading, that the alcohol abusing tendencies of my maternal ancestry seem to have lost their genetic grip on the last couple of generations.

Question: As a group, are we whistlers more or less afflicted with existential angst or other psychic maladies?
Do you use music as an opiate?
Do you find that you and your music loving friends are better or worse at coping with life's mental anxieties?
and how do I, as a writer, justify the use of the redundant phrase "mental anxieties?" :roll:

[MarkB]

Emmline inquires:

Question: As a group, are we whistlers more or less afflicted with existential angst or other psychic maladies?
Do you use music as an opiate?
Do you find that you and your music loving friends are better or worse at coping with life's mental anxieties?

I used the struggle of learning to play the flute just after my wife and I seperated and the ensuing dance of divorce. I forced myself to practice two hours every morning and anyother time during the day I could catch to practice, it eased the pain and the anger and slowly drove it away.

Indeed, I do find that my friends and I are better in coping with life's struggles, either physically or mentally. It is always a good time when we play together but we have known each other for over fifteen years and have shared many of life's ups and downs.

A good post Em!

MarkB

[amar]

This is a very good thread indeed. Hard to say whether we can cope with life's pitfalls easier or not. I'm not sure...I'm not whistling all that long yet, so, I really wouldn't consider myself as "an artist" not by far... But I do think that on a large scale artists, no matter what kind, tend to be far more sensitive and vulnerable toward all the things going on around them. Maybe it is this increased vulnerability that can lead to personal hardship, just because their skin isn't that thick. OTOH this "vulnerability" in itself might be the reason an artist must produce something of personal beauty, be it music, paintings, sculptures, whatever, just to make life easier for themselves.
Maybe this is just hogwash. Maybe pink elephants fly out of my nostrils?

[emmline]

Maybe pink elephants fly out of my nostrils?

let me know next time so I can watch!

[amar]

it just happened!!!

no, wait, it was just a green booger

[SirNick]

Art of any form draws on emotion in part. When we make art for ourselves or others we are attempting to release, satisfy, and or please ourselves or others on some level. All these attributes are directly linked to emotion. I use music (and painting, when no ones looking) to focus my mind completely for a brief period. When I'm playing a tune, I'm engulfed in concentration and don't have "brain availability" to worry about the petty things that weigh you down in your busy life. Another benefit to whistle and flute is the breath control. It forces you to breath deeply and release slowly. It's like yoga with out the pain !!

[nancymae]

I believe that people who are artists (those who actually DO art...that includes you Amar!)--ie. play music--no judging here--perform professionally, paint, sculpt, act, sing..on and on....are more receptive to other arts and use art as an emotional release/crutch/escape. This is by no means a bad thing. I am a visual artist (painter)...and have loved music all my life. I use music to paint by...to relax, to uplift my spirit. I use my painting in the same way. I use performing arts in that way also. Sometimes I will play a cd over and over while creating a painting. Gets me in the "zone".

When I play my whistle (bad and new as I may be) it puts me in the moment...I'm not worried about what to cook for dinner, the dishes, the dust accumulating...I'm concentrating on getting my notes right and listening to my music. Irish music really uplifts me...gets me into a really great mood. I'm in the "now" when I play my whistle or paint my watercolors. I love it and I couldn't live without either!!

I really discovered this when I was in an extremely BAD relationship--which nearly ended my life. I was staying at a battered women's shelter with my children..and one night when I was awake worrying...I picked up a cheap little watercolor set used by kids..and some typing paper..and painted...a Caribbean scene...calm blue water. My problems, for that moment in time...went away. I still have that painting.

I know this is a bit off track from what we are talking about, but I believe that all art is an escape...whether it be by the artist's themselves, or by the viewers/listeners of art. But I think, as a musician (ha!) or a visual artist, we get the most fun out of the art..cuz we get to play/paint/write/sculpt it!!!

My view of it all!!

Nancy

[Chuck_Clark]

Good questions

Question: As a group, are we whistlers more or less afflicted with existential angst or other psychic maladies?

Less, I think. Not that we're individually any saner than other groups, given some of the psychodrama we have seen here, but the median level of affliction here seems to be calmer than that of other peer groups I've been part of, most notably social workers and cops.

Do you use music as an opiate?

Yes.

Do you find that you and your music loving friends are better or worse at coping with life's mental anxieties?

Music lovers, not necessarily. Musicians, even rank amateurs, yes, I really believe we/they are.

and how do I, as a writer, justify the use of the redundant phrase "mental anxieties?" :roll:

The phrase is so commonly used and misused that were you to find such a justification, readers would not understand it and would feel you to be in error due to no longer using the phrase.

[anniemcu]

Question: As a group, are we whistlers more or less afflicted with existential angst or other psychic maladies?

More?... it seems to me at least that we tend to recognise the ills of the world in a different way than those who do not participate in worldy investigation and the seeking of musical solace/inspiration/outlet/opiate.

Do you use music as an opiate?

Hmm... sometimes, and some of us more times than others.

Do you find that you and your music loving friends are better or worse at coping with life's mental anxieties?

Yes. ... that is, 'both'... better at times, but sometimes more likely to feel like cashing it all in... that's when having a friend who has an inkling is a life saver!

and how do I, as a writer, justify the use of the redundant phrase "mental anxieties?" :roll:

Quite justifiably, IMHO.

EDIT: I feel particularly interested in this thread as I am not "just" a muxician, but a graphic artist, designer of loads of different things from costumes to webpages, have spent a good deal of time on stage in plays and playing music, am an earnest, if unknown writer ( ), and have an extra dosage, it seems, of empathy, if not good judgement. IOW - I' a basket of artistic anxt, LOL!

I live in the state of constant Missouri (pronounced, 'misery'), and tend to play in the key of metaphysical distress.

Oh! *AND* I'm ADD....

(sigh)... and I have a toothache!!!

[Nanohedron]

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH!!! AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!

[anniemcu]

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH!!! AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!

Amazing, Nano dearie... you just said exactly what I did, but in oh so very much fewer words!

[Nanohedron]

Thanks, Annie. I'm feeling better. For now.

[anniemcu]

You know... thinking longer on this, I *do* see a real benefit to having music as a release, focus, shared activity... it is personally relaxing, and helps relesase pressure and stress for an idividual, playing alone, but the joy of playing with others, even when there is stress to keep up, learn a new tune, manage to *remember* the new tune... is *always* a good thing.

We need each other sometimes, and who understands that better than fellow musicians?

[gonzo914]

It is my thought that artistic types are not more prone to angst or depression or other psychological problems than the non-artsies, nor are their lives any harder or grimmer or more fraught with hardship, unless they by design make it so.

But the artistic types are more inclined to whine about it.

And if they whine well enough, we call it art.

I also think there is a lot of unmerited whining going on in this world. You got no business singing the blues if you got a 401k.

[Nanohedron]

Okay, here's another take: I play music in part because I feel I need to. I enjoy it immensely, don't get me wrong, but it's less of a coping mechanism, although there have been times, I can assure you. Let me explain: what contributes to any mental and emotional stability I yet retain is, for me, identity. Music, Irish flute playing in specific, is a big part my worldly self-identity. Without identity I would founder. I know this because of my own history. I need to be identified by what I DO; otherwise I am rudderless, as it were. To simply be of an artistic bent isn't enough for me. I've painted, sculpted, sung, played piano and guitars both plugged and unplugged, etc., etc., but couldn't stick tight with any of them; yet I need to do something artistic in a solid way. It's what I am at the root. But with nothing specific and consistent to use as a forge for my character, and with nothing to show that I've accomplished anything other than being a dilettante, I wind up a seething ball of angst, twisting slowly in the breeze, with no identity that I'd care to accept. I'm lucky to have found a pursuit that I love enough to keep going at and improve in, and, importantly for me, identify myself with.

I've heard that this is a guy thing. If so, at least I'm true to type.