Friday, August 16, 2013

The Music of Life

In the middle of a song or symphony, at times there is a moment of silence. Utter quiet. Yet, not only is that moment PART of the song, the richness and beauty of the song is FELT in that silence.

Now, seemingly, that silence is exactly the same as a moment of silence that’s not straddled by music on both sides. Silence when no noise is present at all. The silence itself is the same.

Or is it? Is there not a qualitative difference? Don't we hear the moment of silence in the song as melodious?

Does the mind of the listener do that? Or does the music emit itself INTO that silence?

But…then there is the moment of silence at the END of a song. There is a bitterness and feeling of loss and even of sadness in that moment. Cessation of beauty is felt there. And again, we must ask if that moment is essentially the same as a regular moment of silence, which is bare of dreariness just as it’s not straddled by excitement; and as the textured, sensual moment of quiet within the song.

And if it is indeed not, what then brings that negative vibe into that moment? It’s not the music emanating into it-for the music is beautiful. And it’s not the nothingness that follows the moment, for the regular, content moment is surrounded by nothingness, and yet feels no lack.

Rather, it must be the actual experience of cessation of sound that radiates the felt melancholy.

What about a moment of silence after a radical halt of song, sudden and not heard as part of the melody, and not known whether it is the finale or if even greater crescendos shall follow?



That is the road we all have to travel - over the Bridge of Sighs into eternity.
                                                                      --Kierkegaard

Send out your light and your truth;
    let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
    and to your dwelling!
 Then I will go to the altar of God,
    to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
    O God, my God.
 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God.
                                             --Psalms 43


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