"I don't want you to follow me or anyone else. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I could lead you in, somebody else would lead you out."
- Eugene V. Debs
That's one of the reasons I want my students to have their OWN well-founded musical ideas and convictions!
"People say that what we're seeking is a meaning
for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking.
What we seek is an experience of being alive, so that
our life experiences on the purely physical plane
have resonance within our innermost being and
reality, so that we actually feel that rapture of being
alive."
-- Joseph Campbell, from The Power of Myth
That description correlates really nicely to the experience of both music-making and listening to live music!
And about music...
Learning to play an instrument well and to be able to communicate with artistry is a multidimensional task which affects all areas of life. It requires depth of mind and soul, discipline in work and play, and a balance between tension and relaxation, both physically and mentally.