Ego death, death metal and black metal

[My Man Mahmoud]

Ego-death is a concept that psychedelics and zen monks alike discovered. In it, the person realizes they are one part of a giant system, and stop seeing the world through themselves. They see themselves in the world, but they see the bigger process first. Ego-death tends to lead to a transcendent state where one sees all of consciousness as a continuum, and becomes less afraid of d-y-i-n-g.

"Only Death is Real" conveyed a lot more than I had first established. This was a statement of ego-death: no matter how big you think you are or how important, death is more real than your visions, so you must accept nothingness. To accept nothingness is to cast aside the unhealthy parts of the ego and to give it context, so that the ego is a motivic force but only one of many on a planet. To see only death as real is to wonder what else can be real. The answer is right past the end of our noses: the world is real, and it's a continuum that renews itself, so it's worth working for. If you like life, you work to make it better. If you hate life, you deny the reality of the world and you go further inward into the self and its desires.

Ego death, death metal and black metal

 

[My Man Mahmoud]

Tibetans try to see death for what it is. It is the end of attachment to things. This simple truth is hard to fathom. But once we stop denying death, we can proceed calmly to die and then go on to experience uterine rebirth or Judeo-Christian afterlife or out-of-body-experience or a trip on a UFO or whatever we wish to call it. We can do so with a clear vision, without awe or terror. We don't have to cling to life artificially, or death for that matter. Waves and radiation. Look how well-lighted everything is. The place is sealed off, self-contained. It is timeless. Another reason why I think of Tibet. Dying is an art in Tibet. A priset walks in, sits down, tell the weeping relatives to get out and has the room sealed. Doors, windows sealed. He has serious business to see to. Chants, numerology, horoscopes, recitations. Here we don't die, we shop. But the difference is less marked than you think.

--Don DeLillo White Noise

I've always loved this passage because, despite its deliberate absurdity, it describes the way our society really works. We have built a culture defined by its veneration of the supreme worth of the individual human being: its institutions, its corpus of myth, its art - all exist to exalt the Sovereign "I." Death then becomes the great enemy, because Death makes "I" meaningless. A more realistic culture would re-evaluate its position in the face of this truth (most ancient cultures evolved an epic tradition for this reason - to reconcile man to the reality of death), but our society has far too much invested (often quite literally) in the sacred individual. So, instead, we engage in the Dance of Death Denied hoping that if we buy the right plastic shit, worship the properly complected Jesus and vote for the right politicians, somehow, the reality of Death will be dissipated.

The Failure of Death Denied

 

[cookiecutter]

Interesting

 

[Dazed and Brutal]

Good read. Thanks.

 

[Necro Joe]

Death makes "I" meaningless.

Well this seems to be the point you're making (minus the wrapping) but it might be helpful if you expanded a bit on the argument behind it.

 

[Demilich]

Very good post Mahmoud. To me, it seems that in the context of contemporary Western society, death is feared to the extent that even when it is the subject of art, like in metal, it is not generally dealt with in a way that accepts the reality of loss and dissolution of the individual. Rather, most metal bands seem to use the aesthetics of death, while not really understanding it more than your average person. And as I'm sure some of us know, those who have experienced death of a family member of someone close to them will have difficulty communicating about this experience with others due to the discomfort of discussing the situation. I've had this experience with suicide - some people just shut up, don't want to say anything to you at all just to avoid the subject. I'm not sure if you see this as related to your topic, but I just thought I'd toss in my 2 cents.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

I don't see how Tibetan style or Zen Buddhist views of death have any relevance towards death and black metal. Extreme metal does not focus (usually) on the westerner's fear of dying, but rather the gruesome details of murder, torture, and the like. Besides, in order transcend earthly desires, one must get past a love of music, which is just another earthly and non-spiritual vice.
Also, I feel that anything posted on ANUS.com is just someone talking out of their ass anyway.

 

[Zephyrus]

The book Siddhartha goes deep into this. Quite a fascinating concept. Anybody else here read that book?

 

[cookiecutter]

I hated that book. It was so boring.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I don't really understand how this is related to metal, other than loosely focusing on concepts and themes, which are not "music" regardless.

I think I should move this to the appropriate forum.

 

[Zephyrus]

I don't really understand how this is related to metal, other than loosely focusing on concepts and themes, which are not "music" regardless.

I think I should move this to the appropriate forum.

If anyone clicked the link there is plenty of metal-related discussion to be had.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Yeah I actually did read it, but it still seems less like "discussing metal" and more like "discussing words," if you know what I mean.

Whatever, it'll stay.

 

[hibernal_dream]

I agree. The post doesn't discuss death metal or black metal at all, as the thread title would suggest.

 

[My Man Mahmoud]

Well this seems to be the point you're making (minus the wrapping) but it might be helpful if you expanded a bit on the argument behind it.

Our culture has thrown the entire weight of its belief and institutions behind the notion of the self-contained, atomized individual. It's social, political, economic and religious structures exist to both reinforce the primacy of the individual and capitalize on it (Hot Topic). Death is the grand leveller that gives the lie to this conceit - it is the end of any individual distinction. As such, it is the 'enemy' in our society, and so our institutions are designed to systematically deny the reality of death.

 

[My Man Mahmoud]

I don't see how Tibetan style or Zen Buddhist views of death have any relevance towards death and black metal. Extreme metal does not focus (usually) on the westerner's fear of dying, but rather the gruesome details of murder, torture, and the like.

And what is that if not confronting the unreality of euphamism and Jesus and salvation by consumption with the reality of actual death?

 

[My Man Mahmoud]

I agree. The post doesn't discuss death metal or black metal at all, as the thread title would suggest.

Did you miss this?

Again, one day at a party in my small dormitory, and the five-disc changer kicks in (after Enya, Dead Can Dance, Led Zeppelin "Houses of the Holy" and Muddy Waters) with Hellhammer, the EP named "Apocalyptic Raids." That edition of the disc had a Posada-like artwork on the inside cover and the legend, "Only Death is Real." An acquaintance who wasn't yet aware of my fanatical dedication to death metal asked me what it meant. I told him it meant that we were meat for the grist, flesh of a temporary nature and that all our illusions of immortality and Gods and morality were complete garbage and illusion.

What about this?

I drew out the Slayer and Hellhammer CDs and for the first time, began reading lyrics...

Lyrics to me are the finishing touch on a song, or the concept that spurs it, but rarely fit in the middle. Metallica wrote riffs, then came up with a general concept ("this sonng is about fuckin' fire") and then filled in the lyrics to accomodate rhythms. Slayer wrote songs around a clear concept but it seemed to me often filled in the lyrics in the studio, with Tom Araya or Kerry King translating a paragraph of Jeff Hanneman's ramblings into a clear linear discourse, although often filled with silliness and obvious ad libs. I knew a great deal of Black Sabbath was random aesthetic junk, but that Bill Ward wrote many with purpose. I saw their being a divide between the folk bands and punk bands who were "activists" and metal: metal wasn't political, in the sense of picking an option available in the political spectrum and repeating it ad nauseam. It was philosophical.

Or, well, you know, pretty much the whole article?

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Why can't you just make one post and subsequently combine all of the BBcode into it...?

Also, not to get into another lyrics argument, but this has very little to do with the MUSIC...

 

[Life Sucks]

Yeah I actually did read it, but it still seems less like "discussing metal" and more like "discussing words," if you know what I mean.

Whatever, it'll stay.

It's Falco. He usually makes a good point.

 

[MasterOLightning]

I actually found out today that my grandfather had died this morning. I think while we certainly fear our own deaths, it is more reasonable for many to fear the deaths of others. While I am not extremely moved by a personal sense of loss, I do feel for my grandmother who is on her own after 60 some years of marriage, and my father and aunts and uncles who have lost a parent. I hope they all are prepared to see things in the proper light. He was rather old, and had lived a successful life, raising children who all went on to have families of their own.

I almost immediately tried to think back to the last time I had seen him, which must have been sometime over the summer. I do not remember in particular. One thing about a sudden death, no matter how peaceful, is that it doesn't allow for the sense of closure that a prolonged one does. This appears to be one of the major sources of the fear of death; the loss that comes with never being able to see one again, or at least not being able to say goodbye. I would wager that this is our primary source of anxiety regarding death. Not our own separation from people and things, but our dread of the grief that others will feel in our passing. In this sense, I feel that fear of death is a bit more justified.

Metal has always seemed willing to address this grief in an open and clear fashion. One song that comes to mind is The Night and the Silent Water from Opeth, which was written after Akerfeldt's own grandfather had died. While some are critical of Opeth's relationship-oriented lyrics, they all get at loss in a sense, which I feel is a worthy topic. The aforementioned song is an excellent example of the emotional cleansing that metal allows. I know that I'll later go through my library of songs and find several others that are emotionally appropriate for the situation. Ironicallly, rather few will be strict death metal.

I'll probably have more to say about this a bit later.

 

[TylerTheNuke]

Umm, this is just a stream of consciousness. YOu are probably ok if you ignore this.

Well, this seems like sommon sense to me, rather then some great philosophy. Of course the whole is more important then the part. And death is something that has never scared me. If there isn't an afterlife, then oh well, whetever, it was fun while it lasted. If there is, then yay. I guess I agree with most of this, although it is something I really haven't applied that much. I guess I find that there is something about myself that I find appealing and I can't completly let go of myself and devote myself to making the world better as the article suggests. I think that if only death is real, then where is the conclusion that the world is also real coming from? I find that there are two worlds. The inner world and the outer world. I know the inner world is real, I don't know the outer world is though. For all I know, you people are just figments of my imagination and I am having an elaborate dream. If the universe is real, then it is cold and impersonal and I still prefer the inner world. And the minds of others. Here we have the ability to create perfect worlds that are tailored to our personalities, and we blow it by worrying about real stuff like the rest of the world and death. And, my god, I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. ugggh.