Jeff raised a concern.  Jeff expressed a cautionary concern about losing oneself in sensual experience.  Jeff thought that full-out pursuit of sensuality without abatement is counterproductive.  In short, too much of anything is detrimental.

I’ve taken a few days to consider Jeff’s words.  The point is well taken.  We live in a society that is overstimulated by comparison to how humans have lived together since antiquity.  Advertising assaults our senses at every turn.  We accept stimulus overload because the alternative seems to be a hermit-like way of life.

Here is what Gass had to say about stimulus overload.

It is the death of any of these elements—particularly sensuality—when the organs that fuel it are chaotically crowded with stimuli as if you were dodging signs, sounds, and pedestrians in the Ginza, or being punished by a rock concert and its cavorting kids, or furious with your government, or overcome by guilty memories. Where shame, noise, confusion, outrage are in command, serenity or any secure enjoyment is impossible.

Yes, we are blasted by overtures to our senses.  Gass points out several that I did not think of: shame and outrage.  Lately these are served up by media outlets as a conductor would direct an orchestra.

Here is a tune from the late 70s that captures the mad rush to insane levels of stimulation.  I like the tune because it captures palpably the times in which I live.  Must I keep “looking into the sun” every minute?  Yet, it is so hard to turn away from the seduction.   “That’s where the fun is.”

Thanks to Bruce Springsteen for this fine lyric.  The lyric contains the first mention of breast implants (silicone sister).

If you’d like to see Manfred Mann Earth Band play this one live CLICK HERE.