Making music to bore oneself. Or taking away the glitter from music.

[Enrique]

How awful not to dedicate time to music. One should dedicate the best part of the day to her, as the Godess she is. I am at the machine while listening to Brahms piano quintet. Impossible mission: the music falls into disregard.

And every time I listen to the quintet I am doing something else. And when I say: lets allot this music some time in order to really enjoy it, I find out that, repeated audition, even when not having reached the concious part of the I but here and there, has made me feel bored now.

But how wonderful it was when listened to the first times.

EDIT: OK, she was not a Goddess .

[Peter]

I think what you're describing is the difference between hearing and listening - most people today do not know how to listen properly because they simply can't sit still for 5 minutes (let alone an hour), relax and focus their thoughts just on music. To really appreciate a piece of music you have to devote time to it by being still, focused and with no distractions.

[Enrique]

You are right. My father said his father said he could listen to music and work at the same time. I do not think this to be true. For my experience and other things, among which are your words. When I observe the proliferation of cellular telephony, to say nothing of the internet, I am horrified. How can we think correctly or enjoy beauty when we are in constant dialog one with another? Ideas need communication means (music too, of course). But I say they also need some moments of absolute solitude, they need isolation too.

[Chris]

Two Jesuit novices both wanted a cigarette while they prayed. They decided to ask their superior for permission. The first asked but was told no. A little while later he spotted his friend smoking and praying. "Why did the superior allow you to smoke and not me?" he asked. His friend replied, "Because you asked if you could smoke while you prayed, and I asked if I could pray while I smoked!"

[Enrique]

It's certainly good. But we were hovering in the high spheres of metaphysics here.