In This Moment, Do I Need All This Stuff?

I have almost returned from a milestone trip to my hometown Lancaster, CA. This will likely be my last trip for some time. I’ll set up this story with a talk with my good friends Daniel and Brother Bob. Daniel seems to be having a tough time dealing with job related stress. No more or less than the rest of us. I tried to help by telling Dan about my recent exposure to the School of Practical Philosophy. More specifically, one of their most important suggestions, ‘don’t dwell on the past or future’. It’s been difficult to get this point across when talking about the class. People resist….. Like I did. I suppose they need to take the class.

Anyhow…. Brother Bob turned it around on me and told me this story. I’ll alter it a bit to my taste.

A man lived in the forest. It was tough living. Tall trees, shrubbery, tough terrain. It was difficult to see in the distance and difficult to maneuver, navigate and find food. Suddenly the man noticed that across the river was a beautiful wide-open grassy field with plenty of food and easy living. So the man began to build a raft to cross the river. After weeks and weeks of building a beautiful sturdy raft, the man crossed the river. Once on the other side, feeling a great sense of accomplishment, rather than discarding this tool he built to cross the river, the man looked down and admired his work and this thing of beauty. So he proceeded to carry the raft around on his back.

Thanks Brother Bob. I have built a great studio to make music and it has served me well. But I am realizing that when I go to record, I always seem to use the same few items. I may have a few items that I just keep around because I like them, but they are serving no purpose.. It’s time to upgrade to software based instruments. The time is now.