Free will left to its own devices can take to one of many paths and make of it what it can. Conformity, on the other hand, works in weirder ways. Coercion, even more so. The best analogy, for geeks, would be Faraday's Law of Induction. That a dynamic electric field causes another conductor in the vicinity to start conducting current and produce a field that opposes the very field that created it.
Corrosion of Conformity, apart from being the name of a great band, is also the result of the very Conformity that caused it in the first place. Or how else do you think, a kid growing up in a small town, brought up in old family values, comes to find heavy metal as a tool of rebellion and non-coercion. What else does explain the stubbornness that helps the kid summon up the courage to refuse and resist? To resist from praying in a temple of pretend and refuse from uttering the very prayers that have long been held sacred?
There will always be people who tell you what to do and how you should behave and carry yourself. But, as I have already said, free will is best left to its own devices. One time or the other, you will have to start harnessing your own intelligence, if any. Rebellion is all well and good, but without free will, it is just some smoke with no mirrors.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way, influenced the music industry through the genre of rock music. Thank you Wikipedia
Now, I know rock music. And this is definitely not a boast. People who know me will testify to this fact. So, my ADHD ridden brain is in complete shambles when it tries to comprehend the reasons over why Metallica is in the Hall of Fame and Deep Purple is not? Absolutely no disrespect to Metallica, they being my favourite band of all time, but I do not think pure common sense, logic and love of the music are at play here.
I want somebody to explain to me the reason why the greatest prog rock trio of all time, Rush, has not yet been nominated. Who else is left to be influenced by them? Rebecca Black maybe, going by her absolute lack of musical talent and sensibility.
Maybe some of the following bands make more sense to you as the ones to be nominated:
Kiss
Motorhead
Judas Priest
Iron Maiden
Cheap Trick
Journey
Ronnie James Dio
I don't even feel like cursing and being profane here. It's not worth it. Rock is kept alive by its fans and those very fans have no say into who goes into the Hall of Fame. Sad but true.
One documentary that every man of science should see. The history and chain of events that leads to the most famous equation that is known to mankind. Presented in a very easy going way with real life characters and their stories as people and with enthralling narration, it will make you feel grateful for everything that you owe to science. Which is most things in life. Please do check it out.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0476209/
On the same topic, there is something horribly wrong with the world when the first result for the word "Einstein" is Einstein Bros and Bagels.
Even though Sant Kabir has been an integral part of India's spiritual landscape, my ADHD ridden brain became aware of the wisdom contained in his words only after Indian Ocean, Rabbi Shergil and Agnee started singing his verses. A typical example follows.
As Monika Dogra rightly puts it, for a musician, it is the journey, but more importantly it is the artistic turns and influential steering changes which produce a more marked change. The more you reflect on what Sant Kabir says through his poems, the more you introspect and become aware. And this leads to a greater knowledge of self and surroundings, which ultimately leads to enlightenment and humility.
I am yet to achieve anything close to what I just rambled about, but the very fact that the wisdom contained in those words have the power to touch my, or for that matter any-body's thought patterns with an indelible stamp, is testament to the greatness of the man in question. He might disagree, though. These revelations come from unbiased observation and puritanical thinking have a lot more to offer than any religious tome can ever claim to. Maybe it takes faith to uncover these. Or just open eyes and an open mind.
Will leave you with some of his verses that I could find and have come to like.
Jo Dise So To Hai Nahin,
Hai So Kaha Na Jayee
Bin Dekhe Parteet Na Aave,
Kahe Na Koyee Patiyana
Samajh Hoye To Rabeen Cheenho,
Achraj Hoye Ayana
Koi Dhyave Nirakar Ko,
Koi Dhyave Aakaara
Ja Bidhi In Dono Te Nyara,
Jane Jananhara
Woh Raag To Likhia Na Jayee
Matra Lakhe Na Kana
Kahat Kabir So Padhe Na Parlay,
Surat Nirat Jin Jana
Translated in plain english, it means
What is seen is not the Truth
What is cannot be said
Trust comes not without seeing
Nor understanding without words
The wise comprehends with knowledge
To the ignorant it is but a wonder
Some worship the formless God
Some worship His various forms
In what way He is beyond these attributes
Only the Knower knows
That music cannot be written
How can then be the notes
Says Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion
To what shore would you cross, O my heart? there is no traveller before you, there is no road:
Where is the movement, where is the rest, on that shore?
There is no water; no boat, no boatman, is there;
There is not so much as a rope to tow the boat, nor a man to draw it.
No earth, no sky, no time, no thing, is there: no shore, no ford!
There, there is neither body nor mind: and where is the place that shall still the thirst of the soul? You shall find naught in that emptiness.
Be strong, and enter into your own body: for there your foothold is firm. Consider it well, O my heart! go not elsewhere,
Kabîr says: 'Put all imaginations away, and stand fast in that which you are.'
LAMPS burn in every house, O blind one! and you cannot see them.
One day your eyes shall suddenly be opened, and you shall see: and the fetters of death will fall from you.
There is nothing to say or to hear, there is nothing to do: it is he who is living, yet dead, who shall never die again.
Because he lives in solitude, therefore the Yogi says that his home is far away.
Your Lord is near: yet you are climbing the palm-tree to seek Him.
The Brahman priest goes from house to house and initiates people into faith:
Alas! the true fountain of life is beside you, and you have set up a stone to worship.
Kabîr says: 'I may never express how sweet my Lord is. Yoga and the telling of beads, virtue and vice-these are naught to Him.'
