Sometimes I read people referencing the mind as the monkey mind or the monkey brain. They tend to be talking about meditation and advocate it in order to quieten those monkey parts as they put it. I understand, but I wish questioning that thing more deeply was on the table because isn’t another way of achieving the consciousness they champion, to consider why we are at the mercy of an onslaught of thought? Isn’t it more interesting that most everyone truly thinks they are in control of their own thinking when in fact thinking is an unrelenting experience we are submitted to. And isn’t it ridonkulous to talk as though there is a “we” separate from the “monkey”? In a way “we” are being thunk. Musical improvising, whether performing or listening, is a method of altering the day to day torrent of thought and the reason. Is a way of short circuiting the usual and occupying a space of less chaos.