Do you agree with the philosophical message of "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas? Why or why not?

Question

Please discuss the meaning in a philosophical manner.

For those unfamilier with the song here is a link:

http://www.lyricsdomain.com/11/kansas/dust_in_the_wind.html

Answer 1

i do not agree. if they poured all their efforts into making music, i can see how they adopted that philosophy, because all songs have so many influences behind them, and many are barely-disguised recycled songs and slightly altered songs with cliche lyrics.

our lives are short, restricted, imposed with political and societal legislation, and clouded with confusion. however, when they say, "don't hang on," it almost seems like they say don't hang on to life, it's not worth it. the rest of the song backs up that idea.

dust is useless, ugly, annoying and dead. we are bright, shining, loving, moving, killing, starving; we change each other, we change the weather, we change planets. all the "moments" and "dreams" are dust in the wind, but:

We are stardust –

Billion-year-old carbon -

We are golden

Caught in the devil’s bargain

And we’ve got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

       -Joni Mitchell

Answer 2

   Yes, I do, although it is a bit simplistic.  We all think we can alter the world, but in reality, we have next to no effect on it.   There are very few Jonas Salks or Eleanor Roosevelts amongst us.  We're born, live a full life, and die.  And twenty years later our name means nothing to anyone other than a handful of people whom we were probably related to in some fashion.  It sort of puts it all into perspective.

Answer 3

It doesn't fit what I know of life.

Answer 4

Physically we all become dust after death. But the song speaks metaphorically, metaphysically, and it is an idea much older than the Kansas song. Let me begin by saying that song has always been in my top 10 list, even though I disagree with its philosophy. Here is why I disagree:

"I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose."

Ayn Rand; "Anthem"

Rand was very often the perfect Stoic, because this sentence could have been written by Marcus Aurelius. It does not matter that after death we are dust in the wind. While we live, we are the meaning and the purpose of life itself.

Answer 5

Moments are fleeting, dreams are ineffable, money can't buy eternity, and nothing last forever EVEN the earth & sky. But are we NOTHING but dust in the wind? Hardly.

Answer 6

Agreement with the message is predicated on one's own awareness of who one is.

If one is exclusively and determinedly materialistic, then it's a catchy tune for a sad existential realization.

If one loves God, one senses that the Biblical phrase "man is as grass, here today, gone tomorrow" (paraphrase, apologies) applies to the material girl in the material whirl, not to Saint Paul's "put on the new man with Mind of Christ."

Some authors to the latter:  "The Path of the Higher Self," Mark Prophet,

"The Secret Power of Music," David Tame,

"Music and the Soul," Kurt Leland,

"Creation:  Artistic and Spiritual," O. M. Aivanhov,

"The Third Music," Ann Ree Colton,

"The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?", Free and Wilcock, http://www.divinecosmos.com