My daily search for intelligent life on this planet often begins with this forum. Today I was paid back in spades.
It's been said that there are no absolute truths; only workable truths and relative truths. As an audiphile, this can both comforting and frustrating. Comforting in that the "workable" systems we configure can be musically satisfying -- to the degree where they produce strong emotional responses. Relative to lesser systems, they provide exponentially better sonic results. Frustrating went we know "the absolute sound" will never be acheived. If, by chance, we wake up tomorrow morning and discover our audio IQ's have expanded by a factor of 2, there's still a great deal we don't understand, and will neverr understand about the phemenon of reproducing music in our homes.
To me, it's a miracle when those with broadly diverse backgrounds, idealogies, religion, and social status can put those aside and identify, validate and celebrate their commen links and connections. Music is a great example. When we are engaging in those activities we are demonstrating who we truly are. Everything else is a distortion of what we are.
I'll leave you with a question:
A thermos keeps our hot beverages hot, and our cold beverages cold. How does it know the difference?