The Rolling Stones and Philosophy_ It's Just a Thought Away - Luke Dick [107]
By the nature of their respective arts, the musician and actor require different talents. Good acting, by some standards, requires some kind of empathy. A good actor is expected to “act” like whomever she is portraying, to create and harness the emotional history of a character. This helps tap into another world and allows the actor to give a convincing performance within the constraints of a plot. Great actors find ways to create a unique emotional experience with and through a character. Mannerisms, vocalizations, delivery, interaction, and costuming all contribute to an overall experience for the audience.
Keith’s talent, on the other hand, begins with his own relationship to music, sounds, and words—not always in that order.49 He uses his own sensibilities and instinct to carve out the sound. It’s generally more of a visceral inspiration that occurs differently each time. Sometimes, a melody or phrase hits him and sets the musical steel wheels into motion. Sometimes, he reaches for the guitar and creates a sound that he finds agreeable, something that moves him. Though he has a few tried-and-true ways of making songs, each situation is unique.
Unlike an actor, whose job is to tap into others (both the character they are playing, as well as their audience they’re performing for), Keith’s job is primarily to tap into what moves him. After some technical woodshedding, someone like Keith develops a “style” by virtue of a musical conversation with himself and the muses. Oftentimes with a song, Keith simply riffs and mimes words until something inspires him. When he’s sufficiently moved, he hones in on formalizing the song. No matter how much Keith becomes a persona or a caricature, if you trace back his experience with music, you’ll be led to some kind of pure interaction with music that moved him. The main distinction here is that Keith taps into his own soul, rather than tapping into the souls of others, as is the case with actors. This is one reason why Keith’s music is more believable than Jack Palance’s. Keith has spent years having a personal aesthetic conversation with himself and music, letting his own aesthetic soul develop his sense of what is good. In a sense, Keith is relying on his own refined instinct of what is “good.”
“Values” and more importantly “good values” are important aspects of political and moral philosophy. If we want to know if Keith should be president, we eventually need to tap into Keith’s soul to see what moves him now and what would move him as a leader.
A Palace Revolution
Since we’re indulging hypotheticals, I believe Keef wins the primaries in a landslide against Arnold for presidency. But if we bring back Plato, an ancient dead flower, the election gets much more heated.
Plato spent much of his life talking about what good souls do. In his Republic, this takes the form of a discussion of justice. That might seem an easy task. Good souls do good, right? But if you devote any kind of intellect to any issue of moral or political importance, you begin to see the complexity. New York just passed a law allowing same-sex marriages. I’ve heard plenty of philosophical argumentation for both sides. Wherever you stand on the issue, rest assured, there’s someone out there in your own city who stands passionately against you with some valid reason in their corner. The question Plato is concerned with is whether or not there is such a thing as “good” at all. If there is, how do we find and develop it?
Plato begins to illustrate the question of justice with the story of the Ring of Gyges. This fabled ring has the ability to allow you, if you’re its owner, to disappear by simply turning the ring around on your finger. Being invisible exempts you from consequences. If there are no consequences, do you have any reason to be good? Turning the ring and stealing some old Stones paraphernalia without