Life
The existence, the physical universe is basically playful
But it is best understood by analogy with music
Because music, as an art form is essentially playful
We say, "You play the piano", you don't work the piano
Why? Music differs from, say, travel
When you travel, you are trying to get somewhere
In music, though
One doesn't make the end of the composition
The point of the composition
If that were so
The best conductors would be those who played fastest
And there would be composers who only wrote finales
People would go to a concert
Just to hear one crackling chord because that's the end!
Same way with dancing
You don't aim at a particular spot in the room
That's where you should arrive
The whole point of the dancing is the dance
Now, but we don't see that as something
Brought by our education into our everyday conduct
We have a system of schooling
Which gives a completely different impression
It's all graded
It's all graded
Then you're gonna go to college
And by jove, you get into graduate school
And when you're through with graduate school
You go out to join the world
Then you get into some racket where you're selling insurance
And they've got that quota to make, and you're gonna make that
And all the time that thing is coming
It's coming, it's coming, that great thing
The success you're working for
And when you wake up one day about 40 years old
And you say, "My God, I've arrived, I'm there"
And you don't feel very different from what you've always felt
Look at the people who live to retire
To put those savings away
And then when they're 65
They don't have any energy left
They're more or less impotent
And they go and rot in an old peoples
Senior citizen's community
And because we simply cheated ourselves
The whole way down the line
We thought of life by analogy with a journey
We thought of life by analogy with a journey
With a pilgrimage
With a pilgrimage
Which had a serious purpose at that end
And the thing was to get to that thing
Success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead
But we missed the point the whole way along
It was a musical thing
And you were supposed to sing or dance
While the music was being played
But it is best understood by analogy with music
Because music, as an art form is essentially playful
We say, "You play the piano", you don't work the piano
Why? Music differs from, say, travel
When you travel, you are trying to get somewhere
In music, though
One doesn't make the end of the composition
The point of the composition
If that were so
The best conductors would be those who played fastest
And there would be composers who only wrote finales
People would go to a concert
Just to hear one crackling chord because that's the end!
Same way with dancing
You don't aim at a particular spot in the room
That's where you should arrive
The whole point of the dancing is the dance
Now, but we don't see that as something
Brought by our education into our everyday conduct
We have a system of schooling
Which gives a completely different impression
It's all graded
It's all graded
Then you're gonna go to college
And by jove, you get into graduate school
And when you're through with graduate school
You go out to join the world
Then you get into some racket where you're selling insurance
And they've got that quota to make, and you're gonna make that
And all the time that thing is coming
It's coming, it's coming, that great thing
The success you're working for
And when you wake up one day about 40 years old
And you say, "My God, I've arrived, I'm there"
And you don't feel very different from what you've always felt
Look at the people who live to retire
To put those savings away
And then when they're 65
They don't have any energy left
They're more or less impotent
And they go and rot in an old peoples
Senior citizen's community
And because we simply cheated ourselves
The whole way down the line
We thought of life by analogy with a journey
We thought of life by analogy with a journey
With a pilgrimage
With a pilgrimage
Which had a serious purpose at that end
And the thing was to get to that thing
Success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead
But we missed the point the whole way along
It was a musical thing
And you were supposed to sing or dance
While the music was being played
Credits
Writer(s): Alan Watts, Eduardo Conde Fión, Irian Mechel
Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
Link
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