Does music potentiate/decrease your thinking?

[MMPA]

As of recently, I have been exploring myself/the world/everything and only a couple of hours ago I realized a correlation between my thoughts and music that stunned me:

Whenever I listen to music, my deep thoughts/thinking decrease VASTLY.

To expand on this, I've been listening to music for months now and it is a part of my daily process; the only time I am not listening to music is in the classroom, talking to friends, or when sleeping/eating/I am on the computer (sometimes). It was only yesterday when I decided to voluntarily turn off my mp3 player and just think without excessive aural stimulation. I noticed that I was/am able to think at an excessively faster pace with deeper thoughts about things I haven't thought about in the longest: people, friends, worldly aspects, philosophy, my purpose, other people's purpose, etc. It is appalling to me to realize that I have gone months without meaningful life thinking because music has "done the thinking for me". I think this is because I am enjoying the music and the euphoria produced by listening to it dulls my thoughts. I've also noticed that my thoughts become simpler as the music becomes more hardcore/intense and I become more involved with listening. So...

Do your thinking capabilities get better or worse when you have music playing? Or have you not realized any correlation?

 

[Eliyahu]

I find it to be the opposite...

do you have the same effect when you listen to psychedelic music....

I guess I only really listen to what I would consider to be psychedelic sounding music and it seems to assist in me having incredibly deep thoughts generally....

really wordy music though.....does not seem to help me think. I guess for obvious reasons

 

[sidefx]

Music for me, helps my thoughts enter a sort of meditative state, i stop thinking about mundane things like what i have to do and problems.

Music helps poetic grouse words and combinations of pop out of my mind picks up my mood and is good to stop my mind from chaotically spiraling into negative thoughts that i cannot control.


ONE GOOD TIP I HAVE THAT WORKS A TREAT, I NEVER REALISED IT BUT ALWAYS MAYBE KNEW SUBCONSCIOUSLY;
IF YOUR THOUGHTS ARE ROLLING OUT TOO FAST AND NEGATIVE, SIMPLY ASK YOUR SELF SOMETHING A QUESTION, ANYTHING, THE MIND/BRAIN HAS TO ANSWER IT OR CHANGE TO TOPIC, IT WORKS TRY.

ASK IT YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR, OR ASK IT SOMETHING POSITIVE ABOUT NATURE OR SOMETHING YOU LOVE MAKES YOU SMILE.

GOOD VIBES PSYCHEDELIC COMMUNITY. PLRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[vovin]

IMHO it intoxicates, it enlivens the emotions and brings about a primal instinct. Depending on the nature of the music it awakens certain sets of mind, certain personas, within the individual.

For one who finds a deep passion within music it is a drug more powerful than any other. It has the power to change the perspective of the listener. I think from my experience it is a tool that can be used to change the mindset at will.

 

[MMPA]

do you have the same effect when you listen to psychedelic music....

I listen to a lot of electronica and I agree with vovin's statement that in induces and changes certain states of mind. When I listen to music, everything menial and complex is forgotten and I become much happier overall, only thinking of how good the music or life in general is.

Could you send me a couple of "psychedelic" songs so I can see what you mean by psychedelic? If minimal, ambient, chillout, indie, trance, experimental, or dub is not considered in the realm of psychedelic music, then I don't listen to psychedelic music because I was under the impression that those were things one listens to when in an altered state of mind.

 

[Eliyahu]

Whoa you can send songs here???

sweet.....

Ya I'll do that when I figure out how...

 

[Eliyahu]

Psychedlic

is in the eye of the beholder I guess...

I'm old school I suppose and I'm a guitarist so that may have to do with my preference ... personally I enjoy Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors..Tool...Matisyahu live at Stubbs album....Bob Marley, Sublime

....With Ayahuasca I mainly like Ravi Shankar and this Peruvian Indian flute music CD I have.
too much singing can be distracting during Aya

PLEASE DON'T EVER UPLOAD COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL!

 

[MMPA]

I actually just meant sending the name or a youtube link but this works just as well. I'll listen to them soon.

 

[acacian]

good music make me feel really really good and in touch with my train of thought. especially some good psy.... allows for a very coherent headspace

 

[Global]

I think the kind of music definitely plays a big role. Different people listen to different music in different ways. When I'm listening to music, depending on the music, and what kind of music it is, I will listen to it with a certain "mode of listening." The mode of listening I employ to listen to instrumental guitar music is going to be much different than the mode of listening I employ for classic rock or jazz or metal or classical music...

Speaking of classical music, I recall reading in a neuroscience book how some surgeons will listen to classical music while operating to increase their focus. This may seem counter-intuitive. I know that for myself for example, I often prefer to listen to music without doing some other task like reading, watching tv, or even browsing the internet or talking on chat because my attention ultimately suffers from one or the other. Either I'll be paying too much attention to the music and miss out on whatever else it was I was trying to do (like read) or my favorite song will start and end, and I'll might as well have not heard the middle having accidentally tuned it out in order to process other information. In the case of these surgeons operating listening to music, it has to be classical music, and specific composers at that. They did a study, and these surgeons were empirically recorded as having been more efficient when listening to particular pieces of classical music. I suppose it appeals to the brain in a certain kind of way that other music doesn't. I'm reminded of Mozart's music (which is viewed to be highly "logical" in its harmonic progressions) that when played through a cymascope (instrument that makes music visible), it would create very orderly geometric patterns, whereas when this was done with other music, much of it was much more hectic, chaotic, and not so pristinely geometric.

 

[benzyme]

perhaps certain people must listen to certain pieces to which they are accustomed and have some affinity, though I seriously doubt everyone likes mozart pieces and will have focus on a task while listening to those pieces. Of course, there are other repetitive and symmetric forms of music that could elicit the same response

 

[benzyme]

As of recently, I have been exploring myself/the world/everything and only a couple of hours ago I realized a correlation between my thoughts and music that stunned me:

Whenever I listen to music, my deep thoughts/thinking decrease VASTLY.

To expand on this, I've been listening to music for months now and it is a part of my daily process; the only time I am not listening to music is in the classroom, talking to friends, or when sleeping/eating/I am on the computer (sometimes). It was only yesterday when I decided to voluntarily turn off my mp3 player and just think without excessive aural stimulation. I noticed that I was/am able to think at an excessively faster pace with deeper thoughts about things I haven't thought about in the longest: people, friends, worldly aspects, philosophy, my purpose, other people's purpose, etc. It is appalling to me to realize that I have gone months without meaningful life thinking because music has "done the thinking for me". I think this is because I am enjoying the music and the euphoria produced by listening to it dulls my thoughts. I've also noticed that my thoughts become simpler as the music becomes more hardcore/intense and I become more involved with listening. So...

Do your thinking capabilities get better or worse when you have music playing? Or have you not realized any correlation?

perhaps you're focusing too much on the music, and not the task at hand. lyrics are incredibly distracting, I dropped them from my musical diet a loooong time ago.

my favorites for focusing were richie hawtin's Concept 1, and Consumed.
they're also spectacular while tripping. very minimal, and symmetric.

 

[amazingino]

I love listening psybient music when I'm sober such as Shpongle, O.T.T and others.

On DMT though, only silence. I found that music is distracting while in deep meditative states. It brings kind of recreational feeling which I then have to fight as I approach profound altered states of mind. To me, pure focus of the mind is preferable while away, so I can see what can be born from emptiness.

I think that music is great aid for those in need of soothing difficult experiences and who have difficulties to "let go". I'm different kind of beast as I never ever let anything go in those experiences, I always stand still facing whatever is poured over me, it is my conception of the path. Letting go is losing the spiritual fight and surrendering IMO.

 

[brokin]

It depends.

I like listening to music while reading.But at a relaxed low volume.I wanna still hear myself think.

Other times I like to just think "about stuff" and have a soundtrack to "IT". At a specific time it has gotten so bad that i was listening music during the night and wake up with minor wounds in the morning or pain.


Also I experimented listening Tool while dreaming.And saw how even though I'm sleeping my brain still processes sounds
because i kept having weird dream similar to Tool's video's

 

[amazingino]

...i was listening music during the night and wake up with minor wounds in the morning or pain.

What?

 

[brokin]

Oh, sorry that made no sense.

I had little wounds in my ear because of some cheap earplugs.I fell asleep and god knows what I was doing in my sleep...

Also for me the subject is very important to.For example when I am reading metaphysical stuff or similar, the music has to be related.Or it should give me a certain feeling.
I couldn't read and get a certain feeling(that I don't know how to express)listening to lady Gaga or who knows what kind of other marbles.

 

[Eliyahu]

I can listen to music on heavy Ayahuasca.....or small amounts of smoked DMT while on Ayahuasca.....


-I don't really get a recreational feeling from the music I listen to because to me it is sacred.

-I have had DMT experiences meeting with certain dead rock stars as well which I thought was pretty extraordinary. Of course since I am a musician I might view music a bit differently


I do prefer silence if I am using high doses of straight DMT however..

 

[The Traveler]

For one who finds a deep passion within music it is a drug more powerful than any other. It has the power to change the perspective of the listener. I think from my experience it is a tool that can be used to change the mindset at will.

This is completely how I think about music.

With the correct music I can set my mind, be that increasing or decreasing, it really can be anything.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[Felnik]

In my opinion it depends on the music your listening too . I am a musician , I study it , teach it , live it .

I am very selective about what I listen too .

I feel a lot of music is actually toxic.
I carry earplugs all the time. The garbage music in stores these days borders on criminal in my opinion .

Of course its subjective and a matter of opinion ,also generational .

I suggest trying to listen to classical music by real composers for real instruments . Even better see a symphony in person
It can be an amazing uplifting experience .

Try some of these dudes on for size :

Stravinsky , Bartok, Barber , copeland , Ives , , Fure , Debussy, Ravel ,
Mozart Beethoven ,

 

[Walter D. Roy]

Music is like a spiral, and when I listen to it, my thoughts spiral deeper and deeper.