New Song

I wrote a new song today, and recorded it, if you want to take a listen, click here  

Epictetus

M manager at work loaned me this book of philosophy called The Art Of Living by Epictetus. Epictetus was a Greek slave who was mentally gifted and earned his freedom through his studying.  He later established his own university and taught for many years; one of his pupils was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (who became ruler of the Roman Empire).  Epictetus' foundation for his philosophy was the notion that every person, regardless of social status, had the capacity for living a noble, fulfilling, and ultimately joyful life.  He taught that peoples' perceptions of who you are are irrelevant and wrong, just as your perceptions of people are irrelevant and wrong.  He taught that self-improvement (constant progress, not perfection) was of the noblest human endeavors.  I love his teachings, I want to apply them to my life,  I have a long way to go on the road of self-actualization, (becoming the best possible version of myself) but this book is very helpful.  For instance, he writes "Content yourself with being a lover of wisdom, a seeker of the truth....Do not try to seem wise to others.  If you want to live a wise life, live it on your own terms and in your own eyes."

Something he wrote that really hit me was "If someone irritates you, it is only your own response that is irritating you...People don't have the power to hurt you."  Another great quote is that "The surest sign of the higher life is serenity. Moral progress results in freedom from inner turmoil. You can stop fretting about this and that."  His teachings are something anyone can greatly benefit from, he didn't believe that enlightenment and peace are limited to the intelligent, or the artistically  gifted.  In fact, he believed that often times people of intellect, or other gifts, are very unhappy despite seeming as if they have envious qualities.  His teachings are quite simple, and i believe therein lies their subtle wisdom.  

I was struck by a madman

Today, after my bank transaction of ungodly amounts of money, i was strolling carelessly to my car, when BAM! I was hit by a shabby purple pick-up truck,  the driver threw it into reverse and gunned it without looking,  he had even picked up about fifteen feet of momentum before he hit me! Then we made eye contact, and i figured "okay, great I'll get an apology, his window is down," but no no, he said "Better keep running," in a voice that was as friendly as your local Department of Maniacal Villains (that is a DMV reference). Flabbergasted at not receiving my due apology, i just sort of frowned and looked around, surely someone saw this nonsense.  He just hit me and told me to keep running! But there were no witnesses, just the guy's friend in the passenger seat of his beautiful piece of American engineering.  So, I shook it off and hopped into my Ranger.  And then, while cruising around to the soulful music of Mr. Ray Lamontagne,  i decided that some people are simply unreasonable.  To put it bluntly and eloquently, some people just suck. I mean if i hit a pedestrian in my car, i would definitely apologize, i would probably get out to make sure they were okay too. In hindsight, I'm a little surprised he didn't just keep going until he made a pancake of me.  So, readers beware, there is a madman driving a decaying purple pick-up truck hellbent on striking pedestrians with his mobile of madness.

What I'm Listening To

I like to share good artists that people may not know of.  Check out Joe Purdy, his music gives me chills, man's got soul.  (Ode To Sad Clown is amazing)  Also, Ray Lamontagne is another gem, his music goes straight to your bones.  Damien Rice is a favorite of mine, (there is so much good music in Ireland it makes me want to hop on a plane and see what it's all about) he writes the most emotionally powerful songs i have ever heard, literally.  Snow Patrol is a great band from Ireland, their leadman and songwriter Gary Lightbody is another writer who is so good sometimes it hurts.  Their instrumental passages are also beautiful and progressive, colorful, and relaxing, always a good listen, those guys are excellent musicians.  Let's see Jon Foreman's solo material is fantastic, very raw, acoustic stuff that is very mellow and at times emotionally poignant.  Foreman is the lead singer of Switchfoot, a very good band from San Diego, they're pretty big though so you may not have needed that information.  Dustin Kensrue has a solo album that has some great tracks, pure American folk, think Springsteen without the E street band.  Anything by Mason Jennings is worth your money, (or the time it takes to download) I recommend his new album In The Ever, very spiritual, very good folk music.  And of course, anyone who knows me knows I am a huge John Mayer fan, his songwriting is perhaps as good as his virtuosic guitar playing, which is absolutely jaw dropping.  He is reviving the blues for a lot of people, and I am stoked because the blues is pure.  John Mayer Trio's Live Album Try! is the best contemporary blues album in years.  Don't write him off as some celebrity-dating pretty boy, he is a great musician.  "Continuum" has a track called "Stop This Train" that when i first heard it, actually drew some eye 'sweat' .  Lisa Hannigan, an Irish singer who sings with Damien Rice and Gary Lightbody, has a gorgeous voice, and one day she is going to marry me.  I have an enormous crush on her, she's amazing.  

check out my songs

i have some songs that i wrote and recorded on my laptop on this page.  they are poor quality, and unpolished but eventually i will have better recording equipment.

myspace.com/drewgrovermusic

Thoughts on Education

I wrote this for my English class           

 

            Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed people are inherently good-natured, caring, and inquisitive creatures.  He felt that our education systems taught children to become useful to society, but that they stifled true learning and the natural methods of enlightenment.  Rousseau’s writings and thoughts have influenced thousands of people but have not had a considerable impact upon the way education is run in America.  America’s education system is the very kind of systematic, institutionalized sort of anti-learning organization Rousseau was writing about in the eighteenth century. 

            Education has become a stifling system of monotonous and tedious routines executed over and over again and repeated until one has given up on their absurdity or either endured the anathema right up until they are given their hard earned right to be come over-qualified and under-paid.  A truly fantastic system for encouraging learning!  From personal experience, I know that we are taught how to glean facts from selected readings and learn what the state has decided is prudent for our societal development, we are not taught how to formulate our own ideas, nor are we stressed the importance of self education.  The autodidactic learner died with our founding fathers.  Today we are a nation of ignorant, illiterate people dependent upon others to tell us what to believe, and this is the result of years and years of an educational system that rivals the creativity of, well….insert inanimate object here. 

            Rousseau suggested a form of education that nurtured to children’s natural tendencies to explore and ask questions.  He felt that forcing them to sit still in rows and be quiet while they were spoken to was against their already reliably probing personalities.  This is very true, people should not abhor learning, but because of the way in which we are exposed to ‘learning’ most people do.  I have learned so much more on my own accord than I have ever learned in a classroom, it makes me furious.  By the time I was in high school I was pointing out spelling and other grammatical errors in my English teachers’ lessons. Go America.

            Of course, there are teachers who do their best to give their students an experience the likes of which would make Rousseau proud, but their efforts are limited by the impositions of the state.  Impositions which are made perhaps with the best of intentions, perhaps not, but either way, their effects have wreaked havoc upon the cumulative intelligence of the world’s people and their posterity.  Questioning the status quo has always been the impetus behind the most revolutionary changes of society.  Sadly, I believe there are a dwindling number of people who challenge the effectiveness and motives behind popular education. 

            If one were to ask ten ambitious academics at any prestigious school in the country why they have applied themselves so assiduously to their work, I would wager that nine of them would tell you “so I can get a good job”.  That is perhaps the root of our problem, people dedicate themselves to earning good grades (whatever the hell those represent) in order to get into a respected and venerable college, and once there they slave over their work like passionless robots until they have powered through years of toil and torture.  Upon graduation they use their degree to finally procure for themselves a job with a respectable salary, or perhaps they go to law school, or medical school, of course for fiscal reasons once more.  It is love of money, not learning that propels the ‘exemplary’ student forward, it is not honorable perseverance nor demonstration of work ethic, it is vanity.  

            Albert Einstein was a poor student, and a tremendous learner, as was Rousseau and countless other writers and artists.  Education is another extension of the superfluous appendages hanging from the dead tree of society.  There is no truth in it, there is no progress, there is regress, and for the thinking, impassioned individual of the mind there is a long arduous struggle against an unseen entity.