Searching For Our Purpose
So… do you believe in aliens? How about supernatural events? What is it about these topics that makes them so fascinating? My hunch is these questions are somehow connected to deeper questions about our purpose and identity as human beings. Are we alone in the universe? Where did we come from as a species? Is there a God? Do we have some sort of a purpose or is life completely random? To me, they’re fascinating questions to explore, and as a songwriter, I thought the subject might inspire some really cool guitar riffs. The answers to these questions could have a major impact on how we see the world, how we see ourselves, and how we live our lives.
The Truth Is Out There is a riff-driven song about our own search for purpose and meaning. One day I was home sick from work so I turned on Netflix looking for something to watch. I had never seen X-Files and had always found the subject of UFO’s to be intriguing so I began watching X-Files Season 1. In Season 1, Mulder and Scully attempt to prove the existence of aliens. What I found most interesting about this concept is that they were attempting to prove supernatural events by collecting enough facts and evidence to make a case that would be strong enough to hold up in a court of law.
I found this approach to be unusual and intriguing. It resonated with me because at that time I had been conducting my own spiritual investigation. I am someone who struggles with “blind faith” and I need a certain amount of evidence to develop trust in a theory. I had just taken an approach similar to Mulder and Scully in my investigation of spiritual questions such as “does God exist?” That’s a whole different conversation that I also find fascinating, but because of that search, I instantly connected to the themes of X-Files Season 1. It seemed like a unique topic to write a song about, so I sat down and wrote The Truth Is Out There. My writing process began when I stumbled across the mysterious intro riff on my electric guitar, which I titled “circus music” in my notebook because that’s what I thought it sounded like initially. I turned on a delay pedal and used a pick to scrape sideways along the guitar strings to create a “space echo” sound, adding to the atmosphere. Finally, I wrote lyrics about exploring life’s deep questions.
With this song, I didn’t want to tell anyone what to believe; instead, I wanted to encourage people to search for answers themselves. For years, I did not look for answers to questions about UFO’s, God and the purpose of life because I thought evidence for these types of questions did not exist; the answers could not be known. After putting on my “detective hat” and investigating, I realized we might be able to know more about some of these questions than I originally thought. But this conversation isn’t meant to be about me. What I’m really interested in is what you think. That’s really what the purpose of this song is; to start a conversation and explore together. So… what do you think about the supernatural? Plausible? Implausible? Are we here for a purpose? E-mail me if you want to dive into that. Otherwise, press play and LET’S HEADBANG! WOO!!!
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