Linearity Holds Happiness
Linearity means we keep our mind on one line. It creates a form of happiness by letting us stay in the present.
But what is happiness exactly? We usually treat it as an emotion, the kind that comes with laughter. We also see it as a feeling, like the thrill of gaining something.
What if instead we see it as a state of mind? A state that extends over a period of time, even over a life. That changes the context of the happiness we are chasing in our daily lives. And that state is content, peaceful, grateful, and confident. In that state we stay in the present. In that state we feel content with our present life.
If happiness is a state of mind, then the question becomes: what shapes that state?
Music is a tunnel that lets us feel the answer intuitively. Life is chaotic, and music shapes that chaos into a form of order. Beauty is felt in that order. Different orders contain different levels of chaos and neatness - the parallel and the linear.
When I hear linear music, like clean piano, I feel peaceful within time. When I hear parallel music, like neo-soul, I feel my heart move with it. Not that one is superior to the other. But the order enters us.
Mac Miller makes music into magic. His music contains a huge amount of restlessness. When I listen to it, I feel like I am inside his brain, feeling all kinds of thoughts popping — the love, the euphoria, and the dismay of life, all struggling together. What is great about his music is that he sees the depth in himself and others all at once. The other side of the story is that his order of music contains a lot of parallel. And that creates a certain level of chaos.
Music and our state of mind are interconnected.
There is a piece Out There. Within it, the drums layer over each other, and the melody comes from a male voice humming a rhythmic tribal tune. I can feel the freedom wrapping me up, like a bird flying high into the sky — and when it flaps its wings, the feathers brush around mg brain. I concentrate on the music and freedom reaches me.
And there was a time I was hiking among the sequoias of California, exhausted, all heated up by the sun. I put on music, wishing it would take me away from that pain. Instead of easing the tiredness, my brain circled with woolen threads. The same tunnel that once carried me to freedom was now a distraction. And distraction causes restlessness.
If we see linearity as a practice instead of the quality of music, we can consciously live in one mind. That means we do one thing at a time, think one thing at a time, feel one thing at a time. This is especially hard when the design of our technology lures us the other way — simulating the mind to compare, choose, and crave, to anticipate that the next thing will be more fun. We are trained to be always less content with the present. That is too large a problem to solve by ourselves.
What we can do is notice when our mind drifts and gently pull it back on track.