Songs of Wisdom: Doing Philosophy Through Music

Isn't music amazing? A song has the power to

transform you, whether it's taking you to another time and place or

making you think about the world differently. You've

probably experienced this. You're listening to some song,

and suddenly, something about the words of the tune makes

you start to think those deep thoughts?

If so, congratulations. You've just done

philosophy. In this episode, I explore how music

can trigger you to deepen your understanding of life and what it means to live

well. I also explain why you can hear the same

song dozens of times without giving it a second thought.

Then you hear it again, and you start to see

things in a new light. Keep listening to discover how

music can help you do philosophy so that you can live an

excellent life.

Welcome to Live Well and Flourish, where I help you understand what it means to

live a flourishing life. I'm your host, Craig Van Slyke.

If you're ready to think beyond material and external success,

if you're ready to take control of who you are and the kind of life

you live, if you're ready to flourish, this is the

podcast for you. I love

music, and I have for as long as I can remember. As I

wrote this, I was listening to the infamous string Duster's fun

take on the Allman Brothers, Jessica, which is a fantastic song.

My Spotify liked songs playlist is kind of a mess. It's got over

3,000 songs and includes artists ranging from Towne's Van Sant

to Trombone Shorty. One of the reasons I love

music is the way it makes me feel, but what I love even

more is the way it makes me think.

The right song at the right time makes me ponder life in interesting,

useful ways. Put differently,

music helps me philosophize. It encourages me

to do philosophy. At the right time,

music can trigger you to think in ways that clarify your beliefs,

your values, and how you're living your life.

Several years ago, I wrote a column for the Flagstaff Business News about

the relationship between philosophy and country music.

People love that little column. Later, I revised it and

published it on medium as 9 country songs that are actually

philosophy, and I recently republished it on livewellandflourish.com.

As the name implies, I listed 9 country songs and then briefly

discussed how they made me think about different aspects of my life.

I know you're curious, so here's the list.

Old dogs, children, and watermelon wine from Tom T Hall.

Take This Job and Shove It by Johnny Paycheck. I just love that combination of

song title and singer name. Smoky Mountain Rain from

Ronnie Milsap, Roger Miller's King of the

Road, A Satisfied Mind by Porter Wagner,

Amarillo by Morning from George Strait,

CW McCall's convoy. I'll bet that one's a surprise.

Kiss an Angel Good Morning by Charley Pride, and finally, I Don't

Need Your Rockin' Chair from George Jones.

That little article was fun to write, but there were some important bits of

wisdom embedded in the column. For example,

Amarillo by morning has a line where George sings, I

ain't got a dime, but what I got is mine. I ain't rich, but lord,

I'm free. This reminded me that freedom comes

from within, not from money or possessions.

It also reminded me that I'm ultimately responsible for my own

happiness and satisfaction in life. I think George must

have a little bit of stoic in him. I encourage you to read the

article. It's not long, and you might enjoy it. Again,

it's available at livewellandflourish.com. Just go to the blog

section. Blog. What a funny word. So

today, I wanna go deeper about the connection between music and

philosophy. There wasn't really space in my little column, so I wanna go

deeper here. Let's start by breaking down what philosophy

is in this context. Here, I'm specifically

talking about practical philosophy that has practical application to

everyday life. Also, this is my take on

what philosophy is, and I fully acknowledge that trained philosophers

may be appalled at my breakdown. Before

getting to what philosophy is in my kinda twisted mind, I wanna make the point

that everyone has a personal philosophy of life whether you know it or

not. We all do philosophy to some extent

whenever you think about the deeper aspects of life.

So here's my take. Philosophy is a

foundation for living an excellent life. Your philosophy

includes your beliefs and values, and these are the bedrock of your

flourishing. Philosophy is a guide.

Your daily decisions, your goals, your mindset, your purpose, all of

these are driven by your personal philosophy.

Life is complicated, and your philosophy helps you navigate life in

ways that align with your beliefs and values and with who you want to be.

Philosophy is a never ending quest. Philosophy

is an ongoing active search for what is true and good.

It's a journey, not a static state of being.

I think this is a critical point. You're never done with

philosophy. Every day is full of opportunities to

evaluate and adjust your philosophy of life.

Philosophy is a process, not a product.

This goes along with the last point, and I'll say it again. You're

never done with philosophy. Your philosophy

evolves as you learn and experience life.

Philosophy is a constant ongoing process of experience,

reflection, and revision. Philosophy is the

lifelong pursuit of wisdom and understanding.

By the way, former cohost Andrea Christel, who actually knows what she's

talking about, and I are planning a short series of episodes on

doing philosophy. Be sure to like, subscribe, follow,

or whatever word your podcast app uses so that you won't miss out.

You can also go to livewellandflourish.com and sign up for my email

list. Although I suppose all music, even

all art, can contain elements of philosophy, some genres seem to

be more inclined to lead to philosophy, Country,

hip hop and rap, reggae, and some subgenres

of rock come to mind. I'm a huge country fan,

so that's my focus, but these ideas can be extended to other types of

music. What's interesting about philosophy in music

is that the philosophy isn't necessarily overt and explicit

in the lyrics. In fact, the writer can't really

force the philosophy on the listener. Sure.

The philosophical elements can be explicit and clear. Any Van Morrison

fan can back me on this. But for philosophy to actually

be philosophy, it must be received.

The listener needs to be open and ready to glean the insights.

Sometimes I've listened to the same song a dozen times or

more, but then I listen to it one more time. That time

is right, and I gain some new insight or wisdom.

So the philosophy is a function of the music, the listener,

and the moment. Philosophy is a subjective

experience. It's actively created, not

passively communicated. This is a critical

point. You create the philosophy, not

the writer, not the singer. You.

Let me run through an example. A few weeks ago, I was approaching this

significant age milestone. I'll let you guess which one.

One morning, I was listening to Nancy Griffith sang across the great

divide, which was originally a Kate Wolf song, I think.

It's a great song with wonderful lyrics. One line

says, where the years went, I can't say. I just

turned around, and they've gone away.

Since I was approaching this milestone, this line gave me

pause. It's really true, of course. The years fly

by. So what does that have to do with philosophy?

Well, it reminded me of some key beliefs.

1st, time is gonna go by regardless of whether we want it to or

not, and we age whether we want to or not.

Sure. You can take steps to age in better ways, but you're

still aging. This reinforces a central

belief of my personal philosophy. I've talked about it before.

Control what you can and let the rest go.

I cannot control the passage of time, but I can

control how I spend that time. This triggered

another thought, one that reminded me of another song.

One of the secrets to living an excellent life is to not fight the passage

of time as we age, but to embrace it and

enjoy it. Any ideas on which song this reminded

me of? If you're a James Taylor fan, you

probably guessed it's Secret of Life. The opening

lines are, the secret of life is enjoying the passage of

time. Any fool can do it. There ain't nothing

to it. The music also reminded

me that acceptance is important.

When you get to a certain age, it's natural to look back on all the

things you didn't do, the milestones you didn't accomplish, and the tough times you've

had along the way. But to quote another line, this one

from a poem, the moving finger writes, and having

writ, moves on. Nor all thy piety nor

wit shall lower it back to cancel half a line, nor

all thy tears wash out a word of it.

That's from the rubeat of Omar Khayyam, and I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing

that name. I've used it before, I think, since I really, really

love it. When I feel that

melancholy seeping in over all the things I haven't done or accomplished

and all the loss I've had, I remind myself of 2

things, that getting sad over the past is pointless, it

changes nothing, And that all in all,

life's been good to me so far.

Here's the point. I've probably heard Across the

Great Divide a 100 times or more. I really like the song.

Usually, Nancy's voice is just in the background.

It's pleasant to listen to and has a nice mellow vibe, but it's

just background. But when the time was

right and my mind was receptive, the pleasant

mellow tune triggered my brain to remind me of some important

truths about living a good life. That song,

in the right moment, led me to do philosophy.

My guess is that all art can serve a similar purpose by being a

trigger for engaging in philosophy. Really, almost any

experience can, I suppose? The trigger isn't the

important thing. It's what it triggers that matters.

That brings me back to the first big idea. Philosophy

is not a static, stodgy bunch of words contained in dusty

books. Done right, philosophy is a

living thing that grows and changes along with your wisdom.

Sure. The great books and big thoughts can help you develop wisdom

and the philosophy that guides your understanding of the world. But

at the end of the day, philosophy is a journey, not a

destination. That leads to the second big

idea. Your philosophy of life is up to

you, not Aristotle, Buddha, Seneca, or any other

guru or guide. You are responsible

for your philosophy. This is

both wonderful and kinda terrifying. It's

wonderful that we each get to create our own journey, but

taking responsibility for that journey can be a heavy load.

That's why so many people just drift through life. Not you, though.

Not you, though. The simple fact that you're taking the time to listen to

this podcast tells me you're one of the few who actually do

philosophy in a thoughtful, meaningful way. What's

your favorite stealth philosophy song? Is there one

that leads you to do philosophy? I'd love to know. Just email me at

live well and flourish at pm.me. That's live well and

flourish at dot me,

or use the contact form at livewellandflourish.com.

Before moving on to what you can do this week to put the ideas of

this episode into practice, I have a question for you.

What aspects of living an excellent life are you struggling with? What are

your pain points when it comes to living well? I'd

love to hear what's going on with you and how I might help.

After all, that's why I produce Live Well and Flourish, to

help you live a more flourishing life. Again,

you can email me at live well and flourish at pm.me

or through livewellandflourish.com.

Alright. Here are 3 actions you can take this week to help you use

music to do philosophy and live a better life.

The first thing I'd like you to try is to actually listen to a few

songs this week. They can be random songs, or you can pick

a few favorites. Before listening, spend a

couple of minutes calming your mind through deep breathing. In through the

nose, out through the mouth, you know the routine. While

doing your deep breathing, think about what you're currently struggling

with in your journey to flourishing. Then

really listen to the song. Pay attention to the lyrics, the

vibe, and how the song makes you feel. What

thoughts does the song trigger? How do those relate

to how you live or should live your life?

Then write or record your thoughts about the philosophy contained in the

song. Make this a stream of consciousness type of

thing. Just start writing or recording and let it flow. I

like to write, but just opening up your voice memo app

on your phone is equally effective. Finally,

after a few days have passed, go back and read or listen to

your initial thoughts. Spend some time reflecting on

what truths might be revealed in your initial ponderings.

If you wanna try something kind of fun to capture these truths,

put them on sticky notes that you can leave in strategic spots or write them

on 3 by 5 cards that you can shuffle through when you need to do

a little philosophy. This sort of practice can help you

maintain a philosophy mindset. Well,

we started off with a kind of random list of country songs and ended

with some suggestions about how you can do philosophy so that you can live an

excellent life. It's quite a journey in about 15

minutes. Life doesn't have to be hard as JT

says. Just enjoy the ride.

I'll close with a wonderful quote from Aldous Huxley.

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible

is music. Until next time, listen

to the music, my friends. I

produce Live Well and Flourish because of my dedication to helping others live

excellent lives. I don't accept sponsorships, and I don't want your

money. The only thing I want is to help you and others

flourish. If you've received some value from this episode, please share

it with someone that might also benefit from listening. The best way to do that

is to direct them to live well and flourish dot com.

Until next time.