Can Music Festivals Play a Role On Enlightenment?
Aldous Huxley once wrote that “after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music”.
Have you felt that moment? The moment when music makes the world stop and you are swept by a feeling. When a part of a song opens up a door that you had forgotten was closed, and describes a feeling so perfectly, that you struggle to explain it yourself. It could be a flowing melody, it could be the ultimate guitar riff, or a huge build-up followed by an epic beat drop. For me, its lyrics, and their delivery by a passionate musician.
A Music teacher once gave me the 4-1-1 on how to judge a live gig. You should feel the bass in your heart, the crowd should be mesmerised by the performer, and you should feel like the song is being played directly for you. When that happens, you’ll hit that moment, that moment you can’t quite describe, but you can feel, and you will know the others feel it too… Welcome to the collective consciousness of music.
This article looks at the power of live music, and the greatest source of live music, music festivals, and the effect they can have on personal development and the path to self-actualization, which is being aware of who you are, and your role and impact on this world.
"what a man can be, he must be"
American psychologist Abraham Maslow believed that “what a man can be, he must be”, and his life’s work was research how people can understand and achieve their true potential. This is what he referred to as self-actualisation. To achieve this level of awareness and enlightenment he created a series of stepping stones to get there. They are his hierarchy of needs.
Maslow believed that was as humans need to fulfil each level, or each fundamental need, before we can progress to the next. This path toward self-actualisation seems to be the journey that we are all on, and all stages affect each other.
At the base level is our body needs. We need our physical body to be well nourished and capable of performing efficiently. It only takes a quick scan around the campsite of Slendour In The Grass to see the vegan breakfast options present. If our body is healthy, our next focus is feeling safe, our environment is crucial to our ability to grow.
Humans are social beings, we require at least 6 hours of interaction with others a day to feel happy. Those festival goers reading this will know the feeling of walking in on day thinking ”I wonder which friends ill make this time?”. Our social needs tie directly into our ego. The ego is the subconscious mind, the left hemisphere of your brain that is focused you. Who you are and what you want to do. We need to feed our comfort levels to feel good right? Until we find a way to move beyond this. Until we realise that there is something bigger than us out there. When the happiness of the group, or the beauty of a moment is bigger than if we are cool and our hair looks right. When we step into that freedom, we step beyond our ego and we can have an impact on the universe.
Beethoven once said that “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy” because music can help us realise things a way that sometimes can’t figure out on our own.
Splendour In The Grass
Splendour 2018... A sunny day, police smiling and taking photos with groups of music lovers, outfits of all designs with compliments and smiles everywhere. This festival had created an environment to feel comfortable and safe, with the ego being left at the door. And you see this environment globally, from Coachella to Glastonbury to Tomorrowland and everywhere in between... Then enter the artist, to create evocative beauty to tens of thousands of people in unison.
A Winter sunset. The last rays of sunlight shoot their way over the hill and illuminate a giant stage in front of 25,000 people. The opening chords of “Believe” are strummed by Australian artist DMA’s. This is the first time they have covered Cher’s hit live, and the crowd breaks their anticipation with a joyous roar. In a moment a crowd of strangers are unified in commonality. The song breaks through the ego and asks “do you believe in life after love?”. It takes us straight to the core or our protective ego. When we shut away the pain and hide our weaknesses from the world. But a lone leader on stage makes it okay when he tells himself that “I can feel something inside me say, I really don’t think you’re strong enough now”. Every single member of the crowd is singing, in a moment where the connectedness to nature and those around us is a strong as our emotional connection to the song.
On a cold Saturday night you can feel the energy as Gang of Youth’s play their ballad “Let Me Down Easy”. The crowd sings along and jostle with the foreign comfort of accepting the pain of a past break up and yet are free in the comfort of the lyrics. The song ends and thousands of people are calmer and happier for the journey they have taken together.
In a forest, in a national parkland of Australia, Pnau step onto the stage to bring their views on life in the form of Electronic music. An introductory message that we must listen to the trees. That we as humans must be connected, that we must breathe in the negativity and breathe out positivity, in the way that Trees take in poison (carbon dioxide) and breathe out life (oxygen). The crowd transcends to a deeper understanding as the resilient and inclusive lyrics of “Embrace” are sung by 25,000 people all searching to find happiness in the challenges of life.
The Magic of Music
Pablo Picasso told us that “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life” and can help us on our path to being who we really want to be, to realising self-actualisation, and experiencing spiritual enlightenment.
There is beauty in the idea that music conveys a message in a way that words cannot. It shows us that there is a form of communication out there that needs to be felt to be understood. It is an energy that connects us all, and amongst a group of like-minded people, it can create a surge of happiness and togetherness that is hard to find in the daily lives of the busy world we face today.
Music gives clarity to the jaded, expression to the silent, and understanding to the judged. A song can give you a feeling of understanding and belonging. A live song can bring your experience from one or two senses, to all of them. And a live song among thousands of like-minded individuals can show you the beauty and power that exists among the collective consciousness.