I was listening to music on Spotify this week. Spotify keeps track of what I listen to and suggests other artists based on my preferences. I was listening to one of these suggested artists, previously unknown to me, while working on a paper. The tune was really mellow, such that I was tuning out the words and staying focused on the task at hand. In the middle of one of the song, however, there was a verse that pulled me out of my deep focus and drew my attention to the artist and what he was communicating. The verse reads, “I fell in love with an idea in my head, but that's not who she is”. This made me think of Martin Buber’s I and Thou and its relation to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In the film, Joel at times conceptualizes Clementine instead of seeing her rightly and allowing her to be independent from his conception of her. This causes Clementine to be greatly frustrated such that twice in the movie she says forcefully, “Joel, I’m not a concept. I’m just a fucked up girl looking for a peace of mind”. I admired the artist’s awareness that he was conceptualizing this woman and really didn’t know her at all. I hope to be similarly aware of when I slip into this way of thinking as it is an unfortunate tendency we humans so easily fall into.
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