Wk3 comment #2 - Josh Tolar

 Josh,

I like the way that you were able to use your prior knowledge on Buddhism to make a real-life connection to our reading. I too have a hard time lightening up at times and just going with the flow. It is sometimes easier said than done when we can be all too consumed and caught up in the daily grind of life and forget what is important.

You made a great point about the way your guitar strings make you feel when you play your music. I too used to look at people in the orchestra as rigid and unemotional about the music they played, but then I had to take a music course for my education degree where we had to go to several different types of concerts to observe them for a grade. I watched a child prodigy play the piano with such grace and beauty. You could see the emotion in her movements over the keys on the piano. I also had the pleasure to observe a Seussville production full of color and emotion that even had the audience going. We always have these preconceived notions that until challenged we hold tightly to and sometimes even after they are challenged. This book is a great reminder to look inward at oneself and to lighten up. They couldn't have chosen a better name for it. 

Josh's original blog post:

The past 4 chapters of the “The Art of Possibility” started to remind me a little about Buddhism and a book called “The Power of Now”. Looking at the way things actually are instead of resisting everything around you is one of the characteristics of Buddhism and one thing that is discussed in “The Power of Now”. This is one of my major downfalls too. When something happens unexpectedly, I often get upset and become disappointed in my own little world. I have learned throughout the years to not focus on material things and these last 4 chapters are a great reminder of that. I like in chapter 7 how it explains negative emotions and not to bury them deep inside or cast them out, but rather realize that they are there. This is very powerful as you somehow step outside your self and see how you are acting. Being present to our emotions takes a lot of practice, but it gets us one step closer to being more optimistic.

“The Art of Possibility” has surprised me several times when music is mentioned, and how orchestra players play with intense passion. I admit that when I was younger I never thought that orchestra players could ever feel the passion of the music because they were always so stiff when following the conductor. In so many cases I saw people play in orchestras and symphonies and never once saw any passion in what they were doing. There were however various virtuosos that would come on stage and warmed the audience with pure passion for the music. I soon started to think about how passion in music, or anything else for that matter, can be transferred to another person. Is it how you look you when you play the instrument or how you act when working on something you love? I love asking these questions and I started to ask them again when I read about the quote that Stravinksy supposedly said about wanting to hear someone trying to play the passage instead of someone just playing it. When we enter into the unknown, we might fail or we might succeed, but there is something there that enables us to feel alive. This is what I feel when I play music. There is something about the guitar that really makes you feel when you bend the strings. Every bend becomes a part of the spirit and soul of the song. You can feel the tension in the string as you bend higher and higher, leaving way to passion.