WHAT DO WE LOVE?

We all love a good melody, It makes us feel emotional truths in both the peeks and the valleys. It takes us to depths of visceral emotion that connect us to ourselves and make us feel what is is to be alive. Similarly, we love to laugh. When we laugh, we put a joyful period on the end of a sentence. We recognize truth from a physical distance but a close emotional  and intellectual proximity. And when we have sex, we experience closeness and intimacy and (hopefully) the resolution to a rise in tension. 

​TENSION AND RELEASE

Maybe the reason that we tend to love and need all of these things comes down to a simple common thread: we love the release of tension. When a melody soars, we soar with it and when it adds tension, we lean in. Then, when that tension is resolved, we sit back in satisfaction. Listen to the first two minutes of this familiar piece of music. Even the first three note have within them tension and release. The first note being grounded, the second asking a question and thus, building tension and the third, releasing us for the tension builder of the next two chords…the DUN DUHHHHHH!. That tension is then resolved in the next DUN DUHHHHH. The tension the builds again for our FINAL big release at 1:39. How satisfying!! A constant rise and fall the reassures us on a deep level that all will not just be okay, but will be triumphant!

When we tell a joke, we ask a question and when that question is answered, the answer reveals a truth by bringing us to an unexpected place. Why did the chicken cross the road? Because a new Starbucks was coming in on the other side.  This joke, while totally lame, surprises us by not simply being ‘to get to the other side’ but rather, to illustrate something true (and somewhat outdated) about our culture. Again, we have built tension and then satisfied that tension.

As for sex, well, I think you know where this is heading. That said, the greater the tension, the greater the release.

​Okay, enough about that.

IN CONCLUSION

And so, as you walk through your day, see if you can recognize where you find that sense of tension and release? Is it in the food you eat? The smile you give your co-worker as you arrive at your workplace? Is it in the small, unexplored regions of your day to day existence? Dive in and explore!!

And let us know your experience. Subscribe to robschiffmann.com and follow this blog to read all kinds of future far-out musings from the mind of Rob Schiffmann!