Jordan Peterson: How Music Conveys Fundamental Meaning 

Ive always wanted JP to speak on the importance of music

As a composer I am thrilled to hear Prof Peterson talk so wonderfully about my art.

Music is the vibration of the air around you in a way that shows others -- if they hear it -- that you are just like them, that you are human. Since it is literally vibrations, it can get right down into your bones and shake them onto a new path in your life. This happened to me when I was high on cannabis at age 16. I was sitting on the floor in my friend's parents house listening to Adam F Original Jungle Sound on headphones. It was as if I had been wandering in a desert and I had finally found water and it was time to drink. My mouth is actually salivating as I write about this! From that point on, music was wired into my soul. There is no extracting it now. Nor would I want to.

I play 4 instruments and write my own music. Music is my everything in life.

Time and Eternity intersect to create the Instant, (a revelation). Music is comprised of Instants and therefore it gives us glimpses of the eternal.

This whole interview (the original unedited) is really worth listening to.

I thought it was interesting when the other guy (not sure what his name is) notes that 95% of pop culture lyrics have to do with mating rituals. I noticed this when I was a little kid and was extremely curious as to why almost every song I heard had themes about love and the like.

Jordan Peterson should be cast in season 4 of Fargo. That's not a bad thing nor a criticism...it's a compliment. Superb video, by the way.

Not all music is the voice of subculture. That is a cliche of current thinking. Folk music, church music, and classical art music were all voices of the mainstream, as is current pop .

There is so much we have absolutely no understanding of except the hubris this simple fact reveals for those seeking dominance over others

So what he's saying is that we should all listen to Darude Sandstorm to clean up our room of lobsters?

I majored in music theory and composition in college. The division of the octave is found in nature. It closely resembles the Fibonacci series. If you work out the 15 overtones to a fundamental note (total of 16 notes), you essentially end up with the natural scale that's hidden in the fundamental note. Along with rhythmic patterns, music really is like the Spirograph of sound. Run audio through an oscilloscope , and you can plainly see the shapes it can make. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B5ftW9GJff8.html As for why music really moves us, I have no idea. Still fascinates me 'til this day.

Depends on the music.

Scratching the surface outside the world of music. observing the effects of music generated for a profit. These concepts are sadly creating cultural manifestation and definitions that might not be to the benefit of society. To understand the foundational aspects of the effect of music, one truly needs to participate in music. A society deprived of music education and or participation is a vulnerable society as a whole. The basis of music is one of our finest tools for a more complete understanding of the whole. Music is one of the most inclusive examples of the unification of our fractal state of understanding knowledge and as an analogy the best example of the true reality of this material journey. Our intelligent minds try to create an absolute, perfectly graduated narrow path which becomes the very obstacle of human advancement. That which sounds cohesive in music if graphed is anything but this. The ability of measurement through our senses is something that we take for granted and do not currently use knowingly. This is demonstrated by a high degree while engaging in the simple process of climbing stairs. Our magnificent body and mind will calculate the rise and run of a stair by the third step to such a degree that if you introduce a change of less than an 1/8 inch it will trip a majority. The true stairway of life has huge trippers, when creating our perfect absolutes, we cripple ourselves of the fullest potential in managing the trippers on the stairway of life. Music generated to appeal to a lower sense for the sake of profit becomes that which denies society the true foundational reality of music and is no more than prostitution. Lack of understanding the foundations of music especially as an analogy, make us more susceptible. When one has a healthy perception of a stable foundation of love, one is less vulnerable to the prostitution of love. Music is no different. Music when coupled with the foundations of love, will be one of humanities surest tools on the path to the divine.

We here in Fly Over America sure appreciate the work you are doing JP!!

"Objects are patterns sustained over time." - Jordan is a Whiteheadian!

I wonder if Dr Peterson separately categorizes music that is instrumental [i.e. most jazz and classical] from music based on the popular song.

Music is an eternal object(A term to be investigated put forth by Alfred North Whitehead). It is meaning in and of itself.

Music taught me how to feel

Amazing insights.

How about Louis Prima and Keely Smith? Sinatra with Basie? The voice of the divine...

This explains a lot about Cannabis and it’s effects as well.. what a connection!

frequency is all there really is. light and sound are just vibrations, and to the extent I understand quantum physics, so is everything else. I write songs. thanks for talking about this. 🐰❤️🎸🎶🤝✌️

It’s true. Go to a Widespread concert and you’ll see.

I wonder if Dr. Peterson digs Monk? cubist bebop! :)

Have absolutely allergic reaction to pop. Unfortunately it’s becoming so overwhelming in public places from grocery stores to airports. Worst, Delta airlines put this junk noise as boarding. Squeezing people in that confined space and blast with someone’s bad taste.

Music is vibrations

Art lover here. What does JP say about drawing/painting? We hear so much about Music and Fictional writing, but little about great art.

While these observations may be accurate generalisation they are not hard and fast rules and one should never forget that even if they apply to the masses that they do not necessarily apply to more unique and intelligent individuals. Some humans, even from a young age, possess far more "awake" and dynamic minds that are not fixed to the manifestations (patterns) associated with any particular subculture. I'd also like to point out that in many cases you can tell what sort of drugs (or more specifically minds states, as drugs are only a means to a cognitive end.) a person likes to indulge in by their tastes in music. Lastly, what is music? Is rap music, I don't think it is, even if it is a form of acoustic/linguistic art that serves as a "music" as per the generalisations mentioned by Peterson.

Music and mathematics are sibings

Darude - Sandstorm

9:32

Why learn chord progressions and scales when you can get to the bottom of music just by fiercely pondering on it.

That applause was obnoxiously condescending.

patterns monkaHmm

pffft

I won't say that about heavy metal and new generation rap music..those are toxic and put my soul in disarray

Music is a tool for mass emotional manipulation. Yes, it's a language of sorts but a language without any capability of presenting reason, evidence or truth. A mere analog with limited capabilities. Everyone knows certain chords trigger certain emotions (although only within certain cultures. For instance, asian music is structured differently, with different sounds meaning different things). To engage with music, you suspend belief, as they say, but you also have to learn the local language. You submit. Music isn't true. Just an analogy for nationalism or collectivism, or the hive mind. Eww.. It has it's place, like a candle-lit dinner has its place. It's intersubjectivity, like church.