Jordan Myska Allen
Jordan Myska Allen play guitar, sings, and writes songs for Achachay! He also books and promotes shows, manages, and designs websites for the band.
Jordan meditates on stage
Jordan loves music and people and life in general. Hailing from Austin, TX, Jordan was exposed to live music at an early age. He started playing guitar right before high school, and it quickly became an extension of his body, thoughts, feelings, and attitude. He would like to think that his groovy, easy going, spontaneous, yet motivated and deeply reflexive personality is reflected in his songwriting and guitar playing. Seeing the world through the eyes of poet, Jordan intends for his voice and lyrics to be the scalpel which opens his mind to those interested to see what lies beneath.
Musical Influences
Sr. Chutzpah & the Buckets, Moxie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Andrew Bird, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Cake, Barenaked Ladies, Whitest Boy Alive, Ronny Jordan, latin music, Ratatat
Other Influences
My parents, sister, and other family; A Course in Miracles, Jesus, Ken Wilber, Integral Theory in general, Spiral Dynamics, Rice University, books like the Disappearance of the Universe, the Tao te Ching and the Sword of Truth Series, my friends
Favorite substance to abuse
Guitar strings
Reason for Living
Spreading love, compassion, and understanding; enjoying life; recognizing my true nature
Favorite fruit
Pear!
Favorite Website
http://www.betweenaduck.com – I created it to get people to “Big Talk” instead of small talk
Favorite Non-musical Youtube Video
The way Jordan’d like to die
Happy
Jordan also eats only free range meat (sometimes called grass fed, ethically treated, etc.) If you’d like to know more about this philosophical life choice, email jordan or comment on this page. You can also buy grass fed beef from this link, and J will get a percentage of sale.
Book Reviews:
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I highly recommend this book. There’s a lot to learn from the various studies Haidt shares and it’s written in a way that’s easy to follow and share. As the book progressed, I found myself disagreeing more and more with the basic premise and philosophical worldview of the author. The subtitle is “finding modern truth in ancient wisdom,” but in my opinion Haidt misunderstands the ancient wisdom. Buddha was not concerned with giving people happiness, in the worldly sense. He was specifically teaching people that the world is suffering, and that even happiness leads to suffering because it is transitory, but there’s a way out (first three noble truths). Haidt seems to miss the basic teachings of some of the ancient wisdom he refers to.Nevertheless, it’s a fun book, more on target than most I’ve read in a long time, and it made me think about things deeply. Plus, I think that most people are more interested in the “happiness” that Haidt refers to than the waking up to a peace beyond duality that many ancient wisdom traditions guide us towards.
