The Ecstasy of Music

The effects of music on humans are perceived differently depending on the individual but one thing is certain: music will remain of heavenly origins!

In his book entitled "The Psychology of the Art", Henri Delacroix makes reference among other things to music and its effect on people, or rather explains what different people say music does to them. They refer chiefly to classical music, to symphonies in general. Delacroix says that Diderot in his "Letter about the Deaf and the Dumb" describes in a very precise and refined manner certain intense, violent and deep feelings that music may arouse in some of its listeners. Diderot claims that in music, the pleasure of the sensation depends on a certain peculiar disposition not only of the human ear, but also of the entire nervous system. Thus, according to Diderot, there are certain people in whom the fibers may oscillate with such intensity, vigor and vitality because of their encounter with musical harmonies, that they may feel as if they were dying of pleasure.

Diderot also poses some rhetorical questions regarding the intense way in which music can touch the human soul, as compared to other forms of art. It’s quite unusual for such an imprecise and arbitrary means of artistic expression to have such strong impact on people’s state of mind and spirit. In this respect, Diderot rhetorically assumes that the explanation for this phenomenon would be that music does not actually present objects, it deals with sounds, and therefore it allows people’s imagination to manifest more freely and openly. Or perhaps because we need to be shaken up a little bit in order to be impressed, music has a stronger impact than painting or poetry.

Camille Mauclair, the author of "The Religion of Music", gives a more precise description of this kind of ecstasy caused by the impact of music on our minds and souls. The effect of music on people is referred to by Delacroix as a sort of delirium of the infinity, as a kind of charming, depersonalizing experience that causes us to forget about our mundane, day-to-day life and take a plunge in the musical realm, somewhere outside ourselves. Mrs. Mauclair says that the quality of the sound can both drive someone crazy in a positive way, and calm down the spirit. She says that to the spiritual love for good quality music, she also adds some sort of violent, nervous drunkenness that feeds on sounds as if they were alcohol.

Others consider that the impact of music on its listeners can be viewed from a different perspective. Instead of the violent, passionate pleasure some claim to feel when listening to certain musical pieces, others refer to the fact that the very intensity of spiritual passions can raise the human mind to a kind of serene insensitivity, to a certain high level balance which is above and beyond any feelings of joy or sorrow. Thus, the state of spiritual ecstasy is a kind of neutral state of mind. The ecstatic state of mind of those utterly impressed by the beauty of a musical piece can suppress both joy and sorrow in a sort of neutralized perception.

The emotional rhythm or tone of a certain musical bit can actually bring someone to a real day-dreaming kind of mood. This can be accompanied by the mind’s association of the sounds with certain visual images, created of course by the power of one’s imagination. Although they may not follow a certain logical or chronological order, such images can present themselves under the form of certain landscapes, or something like pictures. The listener can thus remember certain things from his past, or can dream about the present or his future. This is what music can actually do to one’s mind. Such ideas are usually typical of those belonging to Romanticism. Romantics considered music to be the supreme art, which was able to touch the very essence of things. Delacroix says that such people may interpret the exuberance and magic of music as a sort of fusion with the absolute, or as a sort of disappearance in the absolute.

Fear of Failure Origins

It can come from many sources but fear of failure is usually an enemy we have to fight at one point or another in our lives.

Some psychology experts, in their explanations regarding the phenomenon of neurosis, made reference to Kafka's "The Trial". In this novel, Kafka introduces the theme of existence's absurdity. In short, in this novel we are presented with a character who asks the guardian of the law to let him enter. The guardian tells him that this thing was possible, but not at that moment. He also said to the protagonist that if he really wanted to go in, he should go in without caring for his presence inside, to ignore him. But that he should also remember that he is strong. So the man sat down on a chair and began waiting for permission to go in. Tens of years thus went by. On his dying bed, he asked the guardian why no one else wanted to go in apart from him. So the guardian replied that the man was the only one expected to come in, and that he could now shut the gate.

Many of us can recognize ourselves in this character that condemns himself to stay with his own life. Desire supposes confronting ourselves with the risk of being refused. For some people, the very first life experiences are so painful that they go for a passive attitude waiting for someone else to give them the possibility to exist. There is nothing more damaging to one's self-esteem and self-trust than infantilizing parents, who are incapable of giving to the child the illusion of the power to control something. Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, elaborated the theory of the so-called learnt incapacity. What these parents had in common, the psychologist noticed, was that they all believed they had practically no power to act on their own destiny, and nothing could get them out of this mentality.

The American psychiatrist named Irvin Yalom said that in order for us to decide on something, we have to give up on something else. And we also need to realize that we are the only ones who can act on our own life, we are the ones to decide and have to take up this hard responsibility. In this respect, neurotic people sort of refuse to take up this responsibility, that of assuming their own life and remain some dependent kids deep down inside.

The psychoanalyst by the name of Jacques Arènes concludes after having listened to his patients that the very first and most powerful obstacle for someone's self-accomplishment is the fear of failure. And this fear usually manifests itself by negative judgments such as: "I am not good enough to succeed, I'm too stupid, it's useless to try it's not my style or type", and many other such assertions. In order to get rid of the fear of failure we must also rid ourselves of any fixed idea such as for instance, considering that we would only be happy when we meet the perfect partner or when we get the perfect job, when we have the perfect house and become perfect parents and friends, so on and so forth. The thought that we will one day achieve these perfect things makes us inactive, especially if they are fed by those close to us. Arènes stresses the idea that even if we are the makers of our own destiny, that we choose our path in life, there is heavy load put on us by the entourage. It's very hard to keep on trusting yourself when no one else around trusts you, or when you come from a family of anxious people.

And among the most frequent causes of fear of failure and lack of self-accomplishment we can include the difficulty in finding out what we were born for. In this respect, Jacques Lacan says that we were programmed to mistake our own desires with other people's desires. We tend to absorb our parents' expectations who want to live through us what they couldn't live themselves. Because of that, many children take on these desires and ignore their very own and end up complaining about a never-leaving sensation of inner void.