Is it just the notes with their durations and volume that make a piece of music? Of course not. In my opinion, the space between the notes, that silence, is the foundation on which the notes rest and rise from. Notes add accent and movement but we start on silence and end on silence.
Is it what someone says or does that makes us angry or afraid? What about what’s inside of us? …
Today, at a the noon spiritual meditation session, the theme of the conversation was about being the change we want to see. I know that sometimes I react to the oft-negative (and sometimes horrific) news I hear from around the world. Part of me judges “others”. That part of me gets angry at “them” or afraid of what “they” represent. It’s as if I’m listening to the notes and ignoring the space below and between them. It’s as if I’m picking up the negative harmonics of beliefs and behaviors, resonating with it and forgetting the space they emanated from and travel in. Lest I forget, we “all” have the same foundation, that same beautiful space of silence inside and around us.
What this all means to me is that it’s not others that make me angry or fearful. It’s my lack of listening clearly to that silence inside of me. It’s my lack of awareness of the space we all come from and share. If I am that space, no note (no matter how high), no words (no matter how bitter) and no bullet (no matter how fast) can harm me.
I haven’t done much reading on Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and others. But the little that I know makes me think they advocated being the space between… the foundation on which transient notes lie.
Shawn
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