Cultural redundancy vs esoteric alignment.
This article deals with music and culture from a greater perspective and makes no comment on culture created for personal amusement or other strictly personal uses.
The majority of musical endeavours may soon risk being culturally redundant. Unless the basis for artistic creativity aligns itself with something more profound than entertainment, business motivations and technology, the entire creative sphere may be doomed.
As AI technology is able to compose music, create advanced texts and art, the entire question of why overtakes the how question. How to create, used to be about a generally agreed proficiency issue where technique and rules where important, but as was apparent with the invention of the camera - as it could replicate the world perfectly - artists no longer needed to bother with that and could instead focus on the deeper, more esoteric and/or philosophical aspects. This lead to surrealism, symbolism and other more personal, internal and esoteric art forms which turned art on its head and focused on the human and even occult aspects like experience, emotions, psychology and esoteric initiation. The arrival of the camera had freed art from the constrains of replicating the world from a one sided materialistic perspective and the artist from standardized techniques, harsh judging as regards likeness and need to replicate the physical world. And computers have for a while been able to draw and paint perfectly, but who wants that?
Now we are arriving at the same revolution in text and music. AI will be able to compose and produce perfect music, based on mathematical algorithms and also write perfect texts. But who will want that? Considering the low ebb of modern culture, quite a few possibly. Already the top 20 songs of the last years are to a large degree computer constructed and especially vocals has been moved into an area where we expect a digitally tuned voice. Vocals is the most human and personal aspects of music and it is troubling that modern ears are getting used to not hearing real voices.
All this may lead to a situation where all composers, musicians and singers must re-evaluate why they are doing what they are doing. If computers can do whatever they do more perfect, technical, quicker and 24/7 surely just like at the arrival of the camera, the fixation on technical perfection must be left behind? The human factors in music will always be the soul, energy and life of the music. New paths must be found to make music, and indeed culture, relevant in the future. To merely write a hit, make a technically proficient piece of music is no longer relevant. The created piece needs more. The why needs to take precedence and overcome the how.
Here is where music needs to be appreciated as the magical art form it is and the vibration, energy and soul as well as the esoterically or at least artistically elevating aspect must be emphasized. This is indeed already happening and has been happening, but it will probably be even more tangible in the coming decades. Like the surrealists made a stand against the old forms of art, now is the time to revolutionize the musical arena with a focus on music as a personal, inner form of progression and esoteric initiation. Music as a true form of spirituality, not a superficial theatre, cliche-ridden bombast or copy-cat commercial venture. Metal and alternative music is a good place to start, since there is already a more fearless and culturally antinomian direction here to begin with.
From the surrealism manifesto:
SURREALISM, n. Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.
The automatism referred to in the surrealism manifesto has to do with operating on a level beyond thoughts. Automatic writing is when the hand appears to write by itself. As is expressed in the quote the aim is to operate outside the control of reason. This means a higher state of mind, above the cacophony of thoughts, similar to the states of Dharana och Dhyana (meditative states of focus) in meditation. This means that the creative act is foregone by esoteric practice and aims to channel that higher state of mind into the creative work. The work created will be both esoteric in its creation and in itself. Such works will spread the state of mind to others and act as a magical vessel of initiation. This has always been the core of art and music, and the surrealist manifesto is a good example of how this aspect always survives when other aspects of the creative form dies off due to technological advances or societal change.
The quote also refers to a creation beyond aesthetic and moral concern. This entails a freedom from the hypocritical structures that are always in effect in all societies on the social and political levels. Any true art-forms should stand above such aspects and always orient itself only from the core of being, the essence of the mind, the higher states of consciousness as described above. It furthermore refers to a freedom of aesthetic concerns, which echoes that the creation should not be limited by accepted or temporarily popular structures.
Even philosophy and religion how it is viewed in contemporary western societies are dead ends. The lower thinking mind of words is a closed circuit, a locked room – a place where one either can relish in circular egotistic gratification or be at constant odds with oneself leading to fear, anxiety and depression. Often a constant shifting between these two states keep people busy and blind to true reality. In this locked room philosophy is concerned with moving around the furniture in even more creative manners, giving no exit or even relief, but at least keeping the thoughts busy with themselves temporarily. Religion in its modern western sense can best be likened with sitting still on a chair, according to the rules written on the wall.
The foundation of any art needs to encompass true inner progression, and in particular of the mind and soul. The concept of soul is especially important these days since the over focus on the body and the intellect leads to a world which ignores the depth of the human existence. Breathing and thinking with the heart or stomach can be found in many non-Christian cultures and this western fixation with our heads may have led to all kinds of headaches. Music is powerful and influences our reality in myriad ways. Darker forms of music like metal, rock and hypnotic electronic music leads the way in exploring hidden sides of existence, but only if it is aligned with something more than money, fame, tech and entertainment. In addition music that has this aspiration of being a bearer of culture needs to reflect a true esoteric achievement and cannot be based on superficial ideas. Any influence on the outer world must begin within the artist and never must the limitations of the outer world dictate the inner world of the creator.
