“I suggest we learn to love ourselves before it’s made illegal.”
– Incubus,
Warning
Man, I love concerts. It truly is inspiring to revel in that surreality of seeing and hearing some of your favorite artists perform right in front you. It’s that childlike giddiness you feel in between songs, when you can just guess what they’re playing next. It’s that sense of connection you have with an arena full of strangers, as you sing the same words in unison.
Last Saturday, I attended my very first Incubus concert. Backdropped by the stellar stage visuals and lights, I lost all track of time, as I sang out loud the songs that have had such an indelible mark on my life. It was one of the most life-affirming experiences I’ve ever had.
I personally feel that many of their songs (especially from my favorite albums, Make Yourself and Morning View) are a celebration of life, in all its light and shadows. The songs acknowledge that while life can be cold and cruel, it is ultimately relative. We can decide to only see the ugly side of life, or to also bask in the beauty and good that exist on the other side.
I’ve often said that listening to Incubus is like reading entries off someone’s journal, that weren’t meant to be shared with anyone else in the world. At first, it may feel awkward because of how blunt and unfiltered the writing is.
But as you keep listening, the more comforted you feel. You feel less alone, as you recognize your own repressed fears and insecurities in the lyrics. You feel uplifted too, as you hear candid pieces of encouragement that are seemingly tailored to your own troubles and adversities.
I thought it would be interesting to distill some of the “life lessons” that I’ve taken to heart from the songs into an article, and interweave them with photos that I took from the concert. Hopefully it would be of practical use to you. (It’s also a fun way for me to shake off my post-concert blues.)
Here we go.
1. Don’t Take Your Time For Granted.
“What’s so wrong with being happy? Kudos to those who see through sickness.”
– Warning
In their song Warning, Incubus puts forth a poignant metaphor for the human condition. As the lyrics describe, “Floating in this cosmic jacuzzi, we are like frogs oblivious to the water starting to boil. No one flinches, we all float face down.”
It’s too easy to indulge in the false comfort of thinking that we have all the time in the world. We put off our goals. We hang out with “friends” who don’t make us feel good. We work on projects that we aren’t emotionally invested in. Until one day, we realize only too late that all the precious years have gone by.
It’s an immutable reality, that with each breath, we are inching ever closer to our last. The message in Warning, then, is to not take your time here for granted. Get out of your comfort zone, learn to be more self-loving, and go after the things that will actually make you happy. As the lyrics implore: “be otherworldly”, “count your blessings”, “seduce a stranger.”
In relation to the song, I often have to remind myself that I’m responsible for my own happiness. I’d tell myself, “don’t make the mistake of letting unhappy people drag you into their unhappiness.” It’s always in my power to be in a beautiful state of mind, in spite of my circumstances, or how other people are treating me, whether or not it actually has anything to do with me. Because as the chorus warns us again and again, “Don’t ever let life pass you by.”
You only have one life, so make it count.
2. Make Yourself.
“You should make amends with you, if only for better health. But if you really want to live, why not try and make yourself?”
– Make Yourself
This is one of my all-time favorite Incubus songs.
At one point or another, I’m sure we all have found ourselves questioning, “Who the hell am I?” and “What is even my purpose of being alive?” But how many of us actually take these reflections seriously?
The truth is that many of us have never really stopped to figure out who we are, especially in terms of our values and needs, our goals, and what our passions and callings are. So we just default to however we’ve been conditioned by our family, culture, school and the media in how we think about ourselves and the world around us.
The song Make Yourself advocates the thought process of figuring yourself out, and it makes it clear in the bluntest language there is. Quoting the verse, “If you let them make you, they’ll make you papier-mâché. At a distance, you’re strong until the wind comes, then you crumble and blow away. If you let them fuck you, there will be no foreplay. Rest assured, they’ll screw you complete ’til your ass is blue and grey.”
Rather than merely letting society make you, the song beckons you to make yourself. And in the worst case, even if you end up undoing yourself in some way, it would at least be in your own terms. “If I fuck me,” the lyrics say. “I’ll fuck me in my own way.”
3. Open Your Heart to Beauty and Good.
“Experience the warmth before you grow old.”
– The Warmth
It was a blessing that the band included The Warmth in their setlist that night. As I sang along to the song, my mind conjured images of a few really difficult people that I’ve had to deal with recently. In that moment, I let go of whatever lingering hatred and resentment I had for them, and opened myself to higher emotions, particularly love and forgiveness.
The Warmth acknowledges the fact that assholes exist, and that people do asshole things. But it also reminds us that it’s not fair to see it as all there is to life. There are also good people, and people also do good things. “Don’t let the world drag you down,” the chorus sings. “Not everyone here is that fucked up and cold.”
The song circles back to how short our life is, and how we must use the little time we have left to open our hearts to life’s beauty and good. The chorus continues, “Remember why you came, and while you’re alive, experience the warmth before you grow old.”
4. What Goes Around Comes Around.
“Existential carousel, spin.”
– Circles
I remember being in a restaurant in Jakarta, Indonesia, when I was a teenager. A group of staff were teasing each other, and I heard one say to another in jest, “Don’t fight back. Let God take care of it.” That line has stuck with me ever since. I’d remember that every time I listen to Circles.
Circles is about the karmic cycle — what goes around comes around. You do good and you get good. You do bad things, and bad things happen to you.
The narrator of the song speaks about being wronged by another person, leaving them looking “pathetic” and “helpless as a stinger without a bee.” But rather than retaliating, the narrator takes the high road, and leaves the matter to karma, believing that the wrongdoer’s actions would naturally be “reciprocated”.
With that, the message that the song puts across is, how would you act, knowing that whatever decision you make will, sooner or later, either be rewarded well, or bite you back in the ass? “What would it mean to you,” the song asks. “To know that it will come back around again?”
However you choose to act in this moment, this means something.
5. Face Your Fears.
“Would you choose water over wine, hold the wheel and drive?”
– Drive
It’s one thing to be scared, and another to be afraid. With the former, you feel the fear on a subconscious, instinctive level. But with the latter, you are consumed by the fear, in that it fazes or paralyzes you.
Personally, as someone with depression, I’ve gone through plenty of long nights where I would be deathly afraid that the light has completely gone out, to the extent that I truly believe it. I would see no reason to be awake the next morning, and I would just want to sleep forever.
In such times, Drive is a major source of comfort, and hope. The chorus line, “Whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there” would be just the statement of resolve that I need to hear.
Using the act of driving a car as a metaphor, the song challenges us to take responsibility for our lives, to “hold the wheel and drive.” Rather than being driven by our fears, or merely following where other people are going, it’s up to us to decide where our destination would be. It’s up to us to acknowledge our fears, and to go about our own journey anyway. Because it’s when we drive ourselves, that our “light is found.”
Whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there. With open arms and open eyes.
Izzat Zailan 