Today I want to write about Michael Jackson's autobiography "Moonwalk". This blog post is next to this article, "The things Michael Jackson's autobiography "Moonwalk" gives me 1/2". I believe these posts concerning Michael Jackson support readers to live better. That's because he and the way of his living tell us the unlimited possibility of human being.
Setting goals and believing ourselves
I quote the stanza I love.
"I believed in wishes and in a person's ability to make a wish come true. I really do. Whenever I saw a sunset, I would quietly make my secret wish right before the sun tucked under the western horizon and disappeared. It would seem as if the sun had taken my wish with it. I'd make it right before that last speck of light vanished. And a wish is more than a wish, it's a goal. It's something your conscious and subconscious can help make reality."
And he wrote like this in another chapter.
"I do love achieving goals. I love not only reaching a mark I've set for myself but exceeding it. Doing more than I thought I could, that's a great feeling. There's nothing like it. I think it's so important to set goals for yourself. It gives you an idea where you want to go and how you want to get there. If you don't aim for something, you'll never know whether you could have hit the mark."
A lot of people might think he is a genius. Indeed it's right in a sense, but I think it's not true in other sense. He also wished and dreamed as other humans do. And he changed his wish into a realistic goal and achieved them one by one. As he says if we set our goals, they give us ideas. He wrote about the story of making his album "Thriller". Thriller was the biggest-selling album around the world in history. When he was making the album, his attitude was different from other staffs' attitude.
"I remember being in the studio once with Quincy and Rod Temperton while we were working on Thriller. I was playing a pinball machine and one of them asked me, "If this album doesn't do as well as Off the Wall, will you be disappointed?" I remember feeling upset—hurt that the question was even raised. I told them Thriller had to do better that Off the Wall. I admitted that I wanted this album to be the biggest-selling album all time. They started laughing. It was a seemingly unrealistic thing to want."
I feel his sorrow and loneliness when he might feel at that moment. That's because I've ever felt the same feeling of him. If someone tries to do something new, he might feel this feeling. And he goes on like this. This passage pushes my back all the time.
"Often people just don't see what I see. They have too much doubt. You can't do your best when you're doubting yourself. If you don't believe yourself, who will?"
If you don't believe yourself, who will? I think this sentence is the truth. No one believes you when you challenge something new. I think it's not easy to believe ourselves but if we don't believe ourselves, we can't achieve something new and valuable. So we need to progress one by one to enable us to believe ourselves. If we have the moment that we can't believe ourselves, we need to think about the reason why we can't believe ourselves and change ourselves on our own. Thus his words tell me the importance of believing myself.
His Attitude
As you know, his unique styles made some trends. For example, he used to wear white socks and only one glove. It seems that these styles were not accepted at first, according to this book. But he continued to do so. These extraordinary style are cause of his this way of thinking.
"My attitude is if fashion says it's forbidden, I'm going to do it."
I love this. I think this thought produces various kinds of arts. If there is the mainstream, new artists such as musicians, poets, fashion designers, writers, thinkers, architects, film directors and so on break it. I wrote about Coco Chanel before. “About COCO CHANEL 1/2“, “About COCO CHANEL 2/2“. She broke the mainstream at that time, too. For example, she invented new styles of female hats by stripping off the birds and feathers of them and making them simple. And she transformed feminine silhouette by shortening dresses to reveal females' ankle and eliminating corsets. Recently these styles are mainstream thanks to her. But these styles were not popular until she changed the customs of ladies.
As you know a lot of arts are underground style at first. But artists change the world gradually. Soon the new form might be a standard of this world. And at that time other new form of art will come up somewhere else around the world. This circulation will continue forever. So I love the art. Art changes our framework and way of thinking. Art expand our thought, feeling, rule, and common sense. Thus art makes us free from everything. Art is the light that shines on our darkness. So if we think that I am different from others, no problem. Art will be born there.
About Art
"I love to put my soul into something and have people accept it and like it. That's a wonderful feeling. I appreciate art for that reason. I'm a great admirer of Michelangelo and of how he poured his soul into his work. He knew in his heart that one day he would die, but that the work he did would live on."
I agree with his idea. Our life is limited. But arts and our legacy are unlimited. What do you want to leave after your death? If you are interested in this question, I recommend you to read this article I wrote before. "What do you want to leave after your death? About the book "The Greatest Legacy" by Kanzo Uchimura".
About Love
"I believe in love—very much so—how can you not believe after you've experienced it? I believe in relationships."
I believe in love as he believes in love. So I write my songs about love. I'm sometimes afraid of love, but I believe in love. How about you? Have you experienced love?
Message from "Man in the Mirror"
" "Man in the Mirror" is a great message. I love that song. If John Lennon was alive, he could really relate to that song because it says that if you want to make the world a better place, you have to work on yourself and change first. It's the same thing Kennedy was talking about when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change. Start with the man in the mirror. Start with yourself. Don't be looking at all the other things. Start with you. That's the truth. That's what Martin Luther King meant and Gandhi too. That's what I believe."
We can't change others. But we can change ourselves. Soon our way of living will change others. The human history proves this truth. So let's start with ourselves. There might be tough times. But it's okay. Don't try to change others. Just start with ourselves.
Important Thing
"The most important thing is to be true to yourself and those you love and work hard. I mean, work like there's no tomorrow. Train. Strive. I mean, really train and cultivate your talent to the highest degree. Be the best at what you do. Get to know more about your field than anybody alive. Use the tools of your trade, if it's books or a floor to dance on or a body of water to swim in. Whatever it is, it's yours. That's what I've always tried to remember."
I always try to put this into practice. So I always ask me, "Am I true to myself?" many many times. And I ponder that I have to know myself more and more whenever I ask this question. So I think it's vital for me to have the time to look back at myself and write down song lyrics and my feeling and thought to know myself. And If I find myself to be true to myself, I can focus on essential things. Are you true to yourself?
Thus this book and his way of living tell us a lot of things to live better. So if you never read this book, I recommend you to read this book. You'll find a lot of ideas and inspiration in this book. Thanks for your reading. I hope you'll enjoy this. Feel free to leave me a comment.
