What music festivals have in common with monasteries
In Stephen Chbosky's brilliant novel 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', there is a scene that describes a moment. A moment that is somehow simultaneously of incredible nuance and also resonant with each reader in exactly the same way. It is the description of a moment in which you feel truly alive.
“After the dance, we left in Sam’s pickup. Patrick was driving this time. As we were approaching the Fort Pitt Tunnel, Sam asked Patrick to pull to the side of the road. I didn’t know what was going on. Sam then climbed in the back of the pickup, wearing nothing but her dance dress. She told Patrick to drive, and he got this smile on his face. I guess they had done this before.
Anyway, Patrick started driving really fast, and just before we got to the tunnel, Sam stood up, and the wind turned her dress into ocean waves. When we hit the tunnel, all the sound got scooped up into a vacuum, and it was replaced by a song on the tape player. A beautiful song called “Landslide.” When we got out of the tunnel, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing.
And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”
Infinite moments are different actual experiences for each of us; different activities, different places. Yet we all know what these moments feel like. Its the same feeling we get at a music festival when, just on the brink of dusk, the sun gives way to a brilliant electric sky as you lose yourself in the music. Its the same feeling we get when we meditate, centering the mind on nothing but the present. Its the same feeling of being completely energized by and immersed into your work - the state that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls 'Flow'.
In search for the language to reason through the whats, whys and hows of infinite moments, I happened upon what I like to call Darin McFayden's neurological account of infinite moments. The essay examines what goes on in our heads when we are listening to music or meditating. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
Music and meditation both allow a fuller and richer experience of our emotions: They stop our incessant and often negative mental chatter and offer us an opportunity to inhabit the present moment more fully and meaningfully.
Like meditation, music brings us into the present. But unlike a painting, which can be perceived as a whole more or less instantly, a piece of music is impossible to access in its totality without paying close attention for the entire duration of the song.
Music forces us to take a present-centered perspective on reality in order to engage with it.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines flow as “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.” One of the markers of flow is “transient hypofrontality,” which is a state where our sense of self temporarily deactivates and the parts of the brain that generate feelings like anxiety and self-doubt are subdued. In this state, the activity becomes entirely rewarding in and of itself without regard for outcome.
Infinite moments result from being entirely, unshakably invested in your present activity. Crucially, runners high and being "in the zone" at work is evidence that we are able to experience these moments outside of spiritual or leisurely settings only. Its probably worthwhile then, to pursue how to make every moment, infinite.
“Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them.”
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi