Reading poetry on the train yesterday, and being drawn into a beautiful energetic space by it (Rachel Blau DuPlessis was the poet), a space so soft and misty I could not, nor was inclined to cling to anything, I realized that objects are largely defined by our attachment to them or our disconnexion from them. I would say that attachment and disconnexion are functions of the mind and are largely fearful (needy), whereas connexion and detachment are functions of the heart and are largely compassionate (loving). When the heart opens, which it can only do really if activated by a wave of giving (love), then the needy clinging habitual mind – the part of you that takes things for what they are because that's the way they were yesterday or that's the way you've been taught that they are – relaxes and detaches. The things in your life thus detached from respond to this by opening up themselves, shrugging off the ill effects of your mean (reducing) mind. So the wave of love that opened the heart induces a similar wave in that part of the world your opening affects. When these two waves meet then we have the second function of the heart which is to join – to connect. Joining is an energetic mingling – a give and take – a conversation – a seepage – and its inevitable action (inter-action) commences the third function of the heart – transformation, or becoming – and changes all of you forever. Each of these actions – opening, joining and becoming – is like a wave of energy, so in fact there are three waves, so close together to appear or be felt as one, but actually three – beginning, middle and end – and the three together give a rounded satisfying completeness to the experience. Like an embrace – the opening being the arms moving apart and the heart leaping out its invitation, the joining being the first contact and the arms encircling, and the becoming being the arms hugging around the other's back and drawing them into your heart as you get drawn into theirs – enclosure. (This is how Ward Off should feel. It should have three distinct actions, felt crudely in the shoulder as back & out, forward and around.) When you involve the heart you effectively dance a waltz – a three-step – all the time.
I remember once attending a workshop in which it was demonstrated convincingly that the heart actually beats in three (BOOM boom boom BOOM boom boom etc) and music that beats similarly strengthens the heart whereas music with an even beat – in two or four – tends to make you want to march – is militaristic – and actually damages the heart by over-riding it. There's also an essay by Bob Brotzman kicking around on the Internet in which he argues that much of the appeal of early jazz and blues, and also I suspect much band music such as Sousa, is in the tension (torque) between the even beat and the swing (giving more weight to the first of each pair of eighth notes – effectively triplets the first two notes of which are tied). Broadly a march but internally a waltz. Skipping? Remember that beautiful scene in the The Tin Drum in which Oskar subverts and deranges the marching band at the Nazi rally by playing waltz rhythms on his drum under the band podium. The band members find his rhythms impossible to resist and gradually join in, causing the stern rally members to drop their rigid salutes and take partners and dance. Transformation.
Oh and by the way, Merry Christmas.
Try and do a little Tai Chi today even if it's only 5 minutes in the secrecy of the bathroom (away from closed minds). It's important.
I remember once attending a workshop in which it was demonstrated convincingly that the heart actually beats in three (BOOM boom boom BOOM boom boom etc) and music that beats similarly strengthens the heart whereas music with an even beat – in two or four – tends to make you want to march – is militaristic – and actually damages the heart by over-riding it. There's also an essay by Bob Brotzman kicking around on the Internet in which he argues that much of the appeal of early jazz and blues, and also I suspect much band music such as Sousa, is in the tension (torque) between the even beat and the swing (giving more weight to the first of each pair of eighth notes – effectively triplets the first two notes of which are tied). Broadly a march but internally a waltz. Skipping? Remember that beautiful scene in the The Tin Drum in which Oskar subverts and deranges the marching band at the Nazi rally by playing waltz rhythms on his drum under the band podium. The band members find his rhythms impossible to resist and gradually join in, causing the stern rally members to drop their rigid salutes and take partners and dance. Transformation.
Oh and by the way, Merry Christmas.
Try and do a little Tai Chi today even if it's only 5 minutes in the secrecy of the bathroom (away from closed minds). It's important.
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