Where is Music and Art in Schools??

This is one of my favorite rants, so I will refrain from anything of book length here, since it is a response to another's journal posting.

All subjects are important as facets of a diamond are to the proper reflection of its light. Music is the Queen of all of these because its practice can form neural pathways that correspond to actual relationships in the universe of experience. Art is the way of practicing connectivity with the palpability of the invisible, which is the very source of ideation. Both of these disciplines act to form an individual of perceptive and expressive facility, as does a firm foundation in grammar, which is the rules of expression of words as music. This means that if there is the right grounding in language, the speaker/writer can use the instrument of language to convey nuances of exquisit finess and practicality, and even of poetry. The understanding of patterns and the ability to detect semantic error are enhanced as well. But most of all, a competent teacher or Mentor in any discipline can guide the pupil in the ways of maturity. This maturity would be the "table" of the diamond, that part that gathers and reflects the light of experience. Enough for now, and thanks for asking a very important question. (You might find it interesting to look at my journal entry about the nature of the artist.)

Oh, as for technology, I agree with Mahatma Gandhi's answer to the question he was asked in London after visiting the spectacles of the city. He was asked "What do you think of Western civilization?" He answered "I think it would be a good idea." We seem not even to have the tools to percieve our monumental lack of development of our own remarkable abilities. We have, as a culture, dismissed maps of experiential and physical reality that were at one time easily navigable and were richly rewarding. We have given them up, perhaps, to be willing wage slaves of a few astonishingly wealthy individuals. Do the math on who earns what for doing what. Are you happy with it? As Adolph Hitler said "It is great luck for leaders that the people don't think." In part we don't think because our schools don't teach us to. In part it is because we have broken the links of social interactions that brought us the subtlties of percieving our own worth and abilities, both of which are, it seems, "old fashioned." We also do not police ourselves and thus invite tyranny. The soul of you, before it is stiffled by a religious definition, is an astounding treasure of incalculable wealth, and most do not know they wear its key to the grave.