- by Manus -
'Music is useless. Music has no purpose. The purpose of music is not to get to the end of the song. In that case, songs could play faster or start from the last note. Dancing has no purpose. In dancing it is not the intention to be able to end in a specific place in the space. The purpose of dancing is to dance itself. I think the same goes for life as a whole. '

The statement that life is useless is seen as an insult in our Western culture. Goal setting is appreciated and we like to plan to make the most of our time. As Westerners, we sometimes seem to want to do as much as possible in as little time as possible. Is this efficiency worth pursuing?
What if every day from the moment the alarm goes off your day is already fully planned. With activities aimed at achieving different goals at some point in the future. Arrange your time as efficiently as possible. I would say that such a degree of efficiency without room for unexpected spontaneous moments would be very cold.
In Japan they know the word 'yugen'. Yugen can be described as the feeling of watching a group of birds fly peacefully through the sky into the clouds; like watching a ship slowly disappear behind the horizon; like walking in a forest with no clear end goal in mind. Walking with a twig in your hand with which you are hitting the trees while looking around and feeling the wind in your hair. It are those moments when you as a human being understand uselessness.
Looking at the world around us, we can ask ourselves all kinds of questions as curious children. Why do flowers look so beautiful? Why are bees attracted to it? Why do bees collect honey for the winter? Our science-centric culture seems to dryly answer these questions with something like "survival and reproduction." What if, like a curious child, you keep asking 'why'? Is the ultimate answer really 'survive and reproduce'?
Maybe everything around us is just the way it is, because it is there. Maybe everything around us could have arisen because there was the space, matter and time to allow it to arise. Perhaps everything around us, including us humans, is an expression of all that is. We humans are a work of art of the universe itself.
Returning to uselessness; Music is useless. Music has no purpose. The purpose of music is not to get to the end of the song. In that case, songs could play faster or start from the last note. Dancing has no purpose. In dancing it is not the intention to be able to end in a specific place in the space. The purpose of dancing is to dance itself. I think the same is true of life as a whole. The purpose of life is life itself.
Within Eastern cultures life is rather called useless without a negative aftertaste. The word useless is used here before and I also use it as a compliment in this article. Art is incredibly useless. Art in no way directly influences basic things like 'survival and reproduction'. Art should not be created to earn money, but as a pure expression of the artist. People are not busy with art in order to be able to talk about it in an interesting way or to make an exalted impression. People are busy with art, because at those moments it has the power to be able to release something in people.
I personally think poetry is a beautiful and special form of art. I would say that the main difference between poems and prose is that in poems, the literal words and the literal meaning of the sentences don't matter. I would say that a good poem is a poem in which the poet has managed to get his feelings or ideas of that moment on paper. This without being put on paper in a logically constructed and literal way. More in a way that the feeling or idea that the poet had at a certain moment also reaches the reader in a similar way at a later time. Then not by definition at the level of thoughts. Especially at the emotional level. As with any form of art, poems can communicate what cannot be conveyed in everyday language. It can have the power to hit you on a deeper level.
Personally, I am a fan of the American poet Charles Bukowski. He lived in the slums of Los Angeles for the last century. Where he got a lot of inspiration for his work. Charles Bukowski was a poet with an unenviable lifestyle. He was depressed and an alcoholic. Which happens to both in what he has written. What I find admirable about him is that despite all this, he seems to be content with the life he leads and the person he is. There seems to be some acceptance. An acceptance that I personally was able to get a lot of rest from at times when I had a hard time myself. He has managed to communicate to me beneath the surface of the literal words from his poems.
What I find technically interesting and enjoyable about his writing style is the lack of rules in any way. Whether or not to use punctuation and different sentence lengths are used randomly. He was convinced about the use of rhyme that it would be distracting when the focus was put on this. There's only one thing left; Expression of the moment.
Below I have posted a poem by Charles Bukowski in which he writes about writing. His fiery passion, some frustration and the importance of writing to him are so evident here to me. I also like to write now and then. Sometimes I have ideas in my head or my head is just a mess that I cannot easily communicate in other ways. Writing helps me to get this out of my system and to regain the peace of mind in my head. Different forms of art can help very well with this. If you yourself have been stimulated by the idea of ​​poetry, I can't really recommend much more than to conjure up an old notebook from somewhere, try something and see what comes out.
Manus is a Clinical Psychology student and involved in Rapenburg 100 through a weekend of silence and Have a break meals

you don't have to like this poem
~ Manus

nothing is required
there has to
nothing

You do not have to
to be yourself
you don't have to
to stay within the beaten path
and you don't have to go beyond it
You do not have to
to like the one
and the other is not
you don't have to be spontaneous
what may be the greatest paradox
is in itself
you don't have to love
love is elusive and stubborn
and it lurks
when it feels it has to

there comes a moment
that you don't have to do so much anymore
which actually means
that you accept yourself more
don't love excessively
but ordinary
okay

and there seems to be so much space
and time to be
and energy bubbling beneath the surface
and then anything can happen
unhurried
in its own time

your life is yours
do whatever you want with it
or not

who am i
~ Manus

I do not know
who I am
you know
probably better
you see what I do
you hear what I say
I see my thoughts floating
I half notice what I'm doing
I'm enjoying
and sometimes not
I'm trying to grab it
to understand
sometimes I do
it seems
sometimes not
actually
often not
there I go again
floating
among the stars
as always

so you want to be a writer?
~ Charles Bukowski

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unsked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
hunger,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
otherwise,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
You,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self
sees it.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
Sleep
about your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun is inside you
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it's truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
and it will keep on doing it itself
until you die or it dies in you.

there's no other way.

and there never was.