[ music is living, dept. ]
“The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus: Let not such man be trusted.”
William Shakespeare.
I just vaguely recalled and gogled the above, apropos of my daily dance with a mind that is – unlike The Merchant of Venice quoted above – often mildly occupied with some kind of music – any kind, as long as the tempo is gracefully slow and the volume easefully low. 🙂
It’s not a wandering into old favorites so much as a constant and subtle recognition of the exquisite beauty, nature and dynamic of being life. Music itself seems to naturally arise when one is simply enjoying – really delighting in the curious wonders of being alive, here and now. My inner music has nothing to do with being musical – which I’m not (there being too much repetition to bear in practicing to learn) but there is a love of music, of deeply listening to the music of this moment. That music may be aural, visual, mental, emotional – even tactile, but always subtle and sustaining and nourishing to spirit and well-being.
Music brings grace to moving, touching, seeing, regarding, apprectiating and amusing. Indeed, I love her, but do not know her well, though I’ve flirted with four guitars, a piano teacher and sang and whistled my heart out in a garage rock band one or two winters – I left them all – none wept for me, enough. 😉 I stayed focused on my spiritual endeavors and only of late have come into deeper recognition of grace in music, and the harmonies in living freshly, fully, in flow.
Music often arises in simple living when I’m doing the dishes, or hiking along a stream bank, or watching the silent snow lightly dancing, melting and tinkling down the water pipe outside my window now. Music is like the sound track for awareness; there’s a lightness, a softness, a tenderness in resting in one’s aware self-nature: peace abides, love and gratitude abounds.
In fine, aware living is life itself, dancing to its own music. Step lightly and enjoy your self. 🙂
