"Sometimes we share ourselves with a circle of people, sometimes we share our inner selves with outer selves."
In the "Arthurian Philosophy" article by Arthur Hall this one line stood out to me. How often is it that we think of our inner and outer selves as different people? Quite often actually. In the application of make-up or in buying name brand clothes, in lifting weights or becoming more flexible we dress our outer selves up. Through listening to music and reading literature our "inner self" is nurtured. To me this single sentence struck a chord, "have my inner and outer self ever really been introduced?" I know that my mind and body work together, for instance my brain is telling my body to type right now. And then I realized that just recently they had been introduced, in drum circle. On Wednesday and Friday my mind was stimulated by the many unique drum beats in our circle and my body (my hands) simply hit rhythmically on the drum in any manner that my brain found pleasing. Though my inner and outer self have worked together previously in playing the violin, I have never felt that they were this in sync. Without the distraction of sheet music or an audience, simply surrounded by people who I believe I understand on some internal level, I felt that there was no distinction between "inner" and "outer". All that I felt was fantastically simple and unequivocally human.
Have you met yourself yet?
I hope that everyone read this article because it was homework...if not, http://www.drumcircle.com/articles/philosophy.html.
Kay see you guys on Monday,
Sarah Jylkka
Sarah--that is NEAT! I'd also like to digress: when I'm too tired to do anything, I often throw on the worst-coordinated clothing. That is a blatant "HELLO OUTER! I'M INNER!!! JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW I'M HERE!!!" moment. Anyhow, that's a very interesting point you bring up about outer meeting inner during drum circle. Come to think of it, I've never remembered my thoughts and actions to be so well coordinated as they were during drum circle. Thanks for introducing more speculative rhythm to my life! (Pun FULLY intended.)
ReplyDeleteI don't think Mo would mind if I mention this. Because we were actually talking about something JUST like this earlier today...or yesterday, I don't know, my days are all blurred together. It feels like we've been here much longer then a week. But we were talking about how when we moved here and became acquainted with other music students we could be more of ourselves and not worry so much. I took this conversation as showing we don't have any reason to hide any part of our musical passion. And I loved how you tied this into the articles concerning inner and outer selves. And sorry, but I don't have a clever pun like Zoe to end this soooo see you tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI love this post. It touches on things that I have been thinking about a lot these last couple weeks. Does my inner self match my outer self? Are they in sync? And after reading this post and thinking about it, I definitely have to agree with your realization. In drum circle, all there is to focus on is the beat your hands are forming and the music that the whole group is creating. You can't worry about anything else. I think the simplicity is liberating, because it really does still connect the outer and inner self.
ReplyDeleteI mind Matt. Maybe you should ask first.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding, that conversation really holds true, and I hope I speak for all of us when I say inhibitions fell to the floor the minute we walked through the door (I'm not a poet). Music really speaks for the soul in a lot of ways and is an external representation of who we are and what we stand for. I love the "Edberg-like" style with which you approached this blog; very fitting. Sometimes who we are and what we portray are far from one another, and yet very capable of being twins. Music, is that bridge.
"Edberg-like" style. :) love it.
DeleteI very much enjoyed your musical pun. Also your whole relating dressing our outer selves with clothing and make-up grabbed my attention right away. I had never thought of how I nurture my outer self versus my inner self. Thank you for your insight to the article. You are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you and may I just say that YOU are wonderful.
DeleteI love the whole concept of "inner" and "outer" self.
ReplyDeleteThis is very well written Sarah. :) I am a natural outgoing person, but there are sometimes when I tend to go to my inner self. Being in this drum class, I feel like my inner self and my outer self have become one to form just me.