message to mraz

i'll probably send you a message via some other medium (not that you'd be more likely to read it there), but i started reading your blog by accident a few months ago when it updated on my facebook, and it has literally changed my life.

okay, so it wasn't JUST your blog, but i credit it very much. i respect you a lot as a musician, and i guess that's where it all began, but it wasn't until i started reading your blog that it all came together for me. suddenly your music was more powerful and i just felt so spiritually connected to you, your music, myself, and the rest of the world. i see you very much as representation of how life should be. i don't mean specific thoughts, experiences, career choices, etc. (though many of those do line up with my own) but i mean your approach to life. i am on this path of extreme self-discovery and re-definement, which is definitely nothing new, but now it feels very positive and actually headed somewhere. i have always been one to analyse my Self, my surroundings, life, the meaning of everything and anything... i've discovered a lot of truths through thought and experiences, and even though i'm still very young i know i have a strong sense of who i am as a person. before this point though, i was never really able to focus my energies in a positive way. i think this is why i am so tied to the arts. the arts have always acted as an outlet for everyone, particulary music. Schopenhauer believed that music was the only thing that was the embodiment of the human will--- all other art forms and communications were developed in order to express this will in an abstract, while music was close enough to actually BEING the will itself. how heavy is that? i'd say it is pretty damn heavy, but also accurate.

HOWEVER!

i feel like i have seen the light! even though music is such a heavy and passionate thing, it is such because it acts as a direct expression of the human soul. that CONNECTION itself is where the power lies, not within the topics. and i am finally letting go and realising that a less dramatic approach to understanding life and living it REALLY makes a huge difference. everything i'd think about seemed to turn overly dramatic and frustrating. life became this landfill of emotion; none of them recognizable to name, just piled on top of each other in a massive heap. i realise i'm being ridiculously dramatic now, but not in a negative sense! haha it's just that once you let go of all of the burdens and chip away all of the worry and misery within yourself, you are left with who you truly are. and i think it is THIS self that should really come through in music if it's going to be genuine. i'm obviously not saying that unhappiness never happens. it's one of the most basic human emotions. what i'm saying is that true emotion is the most powerful, and when you strip yourself down to the core it is more powerful when these emotions actually occur.

like so many for so long, i have been trapped in this consumer culture. i have been sucked into this downward spiral of technology and self-destruction. i can't stop feeling like tyler durden while i'm writing this. well, half of it. he'd be all for self-destruction, but whatever! it's true though. we have become prisoners of our own society. and your entries, for whatever reason, just help me see my own thoughts in a different light and guide them in a positive direction. they let me see that other people are feeling these same things and are finding it too difficult to not become part of a revolution of sorts.

i've been thinking these things for a while, obviously, so what made me decide to respond to this particular entry?
because you are completely right. we all have the power of our own presence in the world. so much could change if we all just became self-aware and able to stand on our own for the world we want. i have almost this cult-like feeling inside, but i don't care. we are all part of something greater and that's what makes our Selves so great. if this message could be presented to the world, even by the few, change would be inevitable. ideas spread like wildfire. thought is the greatest weapon. let's come together and use it.

so jason, i hope you end up reading this. and everyone else, i hope you read this as well. let's change the world, together.

Jason Mraz- either write a book (with these entries compiled even) or run for office.