Jump Around

Transcript

I was out having some dinner and they put on this song you probably know it. It’s Kansas’ Dust in the Wind.

Now this song I’ve heard it so many times, thousands of times probably. Sometimes when you hear a song thousands of times you might not realize there’s a deeper meaning to the lyrics or some hidden meaning.

But I went home and listened to the lyrics, and thought the chorus sums up exactly what the song is about.

“Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind.”

Now you look into this song and it seems to have a few biblical references, refers to the book Ecclesiastes. I looked up the book and its kind of fascinating because this book is about the Son of David, the teacher, king and presumably it’s talking about Solomon.

Solomon is philosophizing, basically talking about how everything is meaningless and that’s even the title of the group of verses.

He goes and tells you to live is meaningless, to try and find love is meaningless, to gather riches and building things is futile. Even the pursuit of wisdom is meaningless, futile, and chasing the wind. Which is just, that’s pretty brutal right?

A lot of people listen to the Kansas song and thing “Wow, that’s kind of depressing.”

But of course we always have the choice. It can be depressing, maybe it’s liberating to listen to that song, Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind.

It’s kind of like that meme where it pops up and there’s two guys. One is a nihilist pessimist, the other a nihilist optimist. The one says “Nobody cares” like how terrible.

The other says “Nobody cares” like no one cares what I do I can do whatever I want and its so liberating. We don’t have to worry too much about the pressure of other peoples opinions or of the world. It’s kind of open to us.

It also references, this is a vague reference but in the second verse “all we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.”

Seems to be maybe its not quite a reference but it does evoke this famous poem which is Ozymandias.

If you haven’t heard this poem I will just read out the last few lines here.

And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

So again the message, if there’s a message to this. You could be a conquerer like Solomon was, a great builder who built so many cities and fortresses and castles and in the end it amounts to nothing, everything is meaningless. We all return to dust.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon does give us an out or a bit or positivity which is kind of silly. The key thing he says, he actually repeats it quite often but not as much as everything is meaningless. But he does repeat it he says that a person can find joy in their work.

A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink with fine satisfaction in his own toil. This too I see is from the hand of god, for without him who can eat or find enjoyment?

And he goes on in another verse where he says about having riches is kind of a curse unless you know how to enjoy them otherwise other people will enjoy them for you. It’s fascinating this book, I do recommend reading it cause there’s a lot of wisdom in there.

The point is my point, yes everything can be meaningless, perhaps everything is meaningless. It’s all for nothing in the end but in the moment you get to choose whether that struggle will fill your heart as Albert Camut said.

Will your toil be enjoyed?
Welcome beautiful thinkers.

I was out having some dinner and they put on this song you probably know it. It’s Kansas’ Dust in the Wind.

Now this song I’ve heard it so many times, thousands of times probably. Sometimes when you hear a song thousands of times you might not realize there’s a deeper meaning to the lyrics or some hidden meaning.

But I went home and listened to the lyrics, and thought the chorus sums up exactly what the song is about.

“Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind.”

Now you look into this song and it seems to have a few biblical references, refers to the book Ecclesiastes. I looked up the book and its kind of fascinating because this book is about the Son of David, the teacher, king and presumably it’s talking about Solomon.

Solomon is philosophizing, basically talking about how everything is meaningless and that’s even the title of the group of verses.

He goes and tells you to live is meaningless, to try and find love is meaningless, to gather riches and building things is futile. Even the pursuit of wisdom is meaningless, futile, and chasing the wind. Which is just, that’s pretty brutal right?

A lot of people listen to the Kansas song and thing “Wow, that’s kind of depressing.”

But of course we always have the choice. It can be depressing, maybe it’s liberating to listen to that song, Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind.

It’s kind of like that meme where it pops up and there’s two guys. One is a nihilist pessimist, the other a nihilist optimist. The one says “Nobody cares” like how terrible.

The other says “Nobody cares” like no one cares what I do I can do whatever I want and its so liberating. We don’t have to worry too much about the pressure of other peoples opinions or of the world. It’s kind of open to us.

It also references, this is a vague reference but in the second verse “all we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.”

Seems to be maybe its not quite a reference but it does evoke this famous poem which is Ozymandias.

If you haven’t heard this poem I will just read out the last few lines here.

And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

So again the message, if there’s a message to this. You could be a conquerer like Solomon was, a great builder who built so many cities and fortresses and castles and in the end it amounts to nothing, everything is meaningless. We all return to dust.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon does give us an out or a bit or positivity which is kind of silly. The key thing he says, he actually repeats it quite often but not as much as everything is meaningless. But he does repeat it he says that a person can find joy in their work.

A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink with fine satisfaction in his own toil. This too I see is from the hand of god, for without him who can eat or find enjoyment?

And he goes on in another verse where he says about having riches is kind of a curse unless you know how to enjoy them otherwise other people will enjoy them for you. It’s fascinating this book, I do recommend reading it cause there’s a lot of wisdom in there.

The point is my point, yes everything can be meaningless, perhaps everything is meaningless. It’s all for nothing in the end but in the moment you get to choose whether that struggle will fill your heart as Albert Camut said.

Will your toil be enjoyed?