If you say so

Once again one about drug habit:

Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned.

George Bernard Shaw

Again a quote that characterizes playing music as a drug habit. This time for enduring the pains of hell. But one could read the first part of this quote in a different, not very kind way towards musical amateurs: For me as a professional musician sometimes listening to musical amateurs is like hell. Sorry, no harm intended!

I have to admit: music is also for me my “eternal brandy”!

What about you? Is music like brandy to you? Which kind of brandy would you prefer in hell? What means hell to you? And is music also your salvation from hell?

Last week we had once already a quote about alcohol. Here’s one about alcohol in probably it’s most sophisticated way:

Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.

Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon

I totally agree with Mr Hemingway! To me wine is also a strong manifestation of human culture. Although I drink for health reasons just white wine, I highly appreciate the art of winemaking. One of my favourite films is Sideways, where one of the protagonists is a good example for and approach to passion for wine.

What about you? Do you like wine? What’s in your opinion the relation between wine and human culture?

On the subject of reality I like this one best:

Reality is an illusion that occurs due to the lack of alcohol.

W. C. Fields

While alcoholism is far from being funny, in this one the danger of alcohol leads to a pivotal question in philosophy: What is reality? And not alone in philosophy but also in theology, psychology, brain reasearch and other sciences reality is an important subject and an unsolved problem yet.

What is your personal definition of reality? Can we ever be sure that something is real? Is alcohol a solution? What do you think?