Podcast #53 - Identity

This special class is acompanied by Salieu Suso
Find out more about his music here: http://www.salieususo.fourfour.com/

IDENTITY and MUSIC

vastusāmye citta-bhedāt-tayorvibhaktaḥ panthāḥ

Every object is empty of meaning from its own side, and each person experiences the object differently according to her own state of mind and projections.

Country music is not inherently good or bad. You might enjoy country music, or you might not, but the music itself has no goodness or badness intrinsic to it aside from your perception of it.

Music is such an interesting example because our brains actually change structure when we listen to new kinds of music. I grew up listening to rock, and punk. At some point I decided to start listening to jazz. At first it was hard, even a bit uncomfortable as my ears adjusted to the new combinations of sounds which seemed jumbled and disorganized to my unaccustomed ear. The more you listen to new kinds of music, the music centers in your brain actually transform. The neurons create new pathways and networks to accommodate the new sounds. The new music starts to become more comfortable to your brain, even pleasurable. 

So, listening to new kinds of music literally changes our perceptions. And what else is that concept of our identity other than a collection of perceptions.

The more we can practice changing our perception, challenging our perception, trying out new and different points of view, the more we can let go of that clinging to our one particular point of view, which we think is centered behind two eyeballs that we often mistake for the self. That clinging to the small perspective is what causes all the distress and confusion to begin with.

LISTEN STREAMING:
http://jessicastickler.hipcast.com/deluge/hipcast-9797-u-386486-s-1.audio.mp3

SUBSCRIBE TO ITUNES:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jivamukti-yoga-jessica-stickler/id381991271?mt=2