Plane-to-Plane Memorandum | |
| To: | My Beloved Students |
|---|---|
| From: | Master Djwhal Khul |
Subject: | August 2008 Lesson |
| Date: | August 3, 2008 |
Beloved Students:
I greet you in the beauty of the natural world, which you perceive with your wondrous senses: hearing, sight, smell, taste and texture. What a fantastic world it is, and how wonderful that you can celebrate the magic of perception in your interaction between consciousness and that oceanic flow of life force as it moves through all the countless things you perceive. Is not life truly a wondrous experience? Are you giving thanks each and every day for your opportunity to bask fully in the perceptive feast?
Most of you have heard me say (probably many times by now) that your life is an artistic creation – or has the potentiality to be such. You, of course, are the creator of that magnificent work of art. I would like to give you a bit of a stretch this month by suggesting that it is both powerful, and appropriate, to think of your life in this way. Indeed, your life is much like an educational project wherein you demonstrate your artistic skills for your final grade. The “test,” if you will, is much like the thesis that is required of students applying for advanced degrees at the master or doctoral level. To attain the best grade, the student must do rigorous research into a specified area and then generate and defend a premise that either opens into some creative idea that moves in a new direction for the discipline, brings together seemingly disparate levels of the discipline, or interprets a standing body of knowledge within the discipline in a novel way.
In each of these cases, the mind must enter a creative mode to accomplish the demands of a substantive and well-presented thesis. In the same way, each of you is in the process of investigating deeply the question of what it means to be fully human. You could say that the living of your life actually amounts to stating your thesis and defending it well – or at least, that’s the idea. In truth, a great many people either misunderstand the assignment, put it off until the very end (when there may not be enough energy available to do a good job), or fail to take the assignment seriously. I am sure you can think of situations where you may have watched as someone you knew, perhaps loved, exited his/her physical life without ever getting around to completing the thesis – in some cases, never even starting on it.
This month, I would like to challenge each of you to think of your life as some type of musical piece. Not only are you composing it right now, you are actually going through many rehearsals of the parts you have completed, even though you may choose to rewrite some of those parts. Stop for a moment and reflect upon how very precious is the sensation of hearing. Think back to poignant moments in your life wherein you now wish you had been able to listen more carefully, or perhaps listen from a broader perspective than that of your own ego. Reflecting in this way, I’m quite sure you can all recall situations in which you now wish you had been more present for the process of listening, whether for a friend or loved one, or even to a great piece of music.
Consider for a moment the power of music in your own life. Reflect back to ceremonies in your culture that you experienced as powerful. How many had some kind of music with them? There were weddings, funerals, and graduations, all of which were accompanied by music – even those high school sporting events! While it is clear that these events do not always involve music we could call “masterpieces” in the classical sense, still, the participants counted on some kind of music to enhance the moment. Think of all the holiday parades you attended, or the parades welcoming soldiers home from military tours. Music is presented as an attribute fitting the situation, or to set the desired emotional tone for the moment.
Of all the types of music you have experienced, what kind befits the masterpiece of your life? Would you like your life to be remembered as a rap song, or might you prefer your memory to be held in a soaring operatic aria, or art song sung by a highly accomplished vocalist? Would you prefer your masterpiece to take the form of a symphonic work, or perhaps an inspiring choral work? Maybe you’d prefer a marching band or a barbershop quartet. Whatever calls to you, please consider carefully just what kind of music might reflect your life experiences adequately to posterity? Who might you want to record your masterpiece? Would it be a rock band or a prestigious conductor?
If you are getting a little flack from your ego as to why I might be asking you to contemplate on your life as a musical work, please bear with me yet a bit longer. The idea here is to get you thinking of your own life symbolically, but to use symbols that you may not be used to applying to your life. It is one thing to see your own life played out symbolically in any of the great mythological masterpieces and quite another thing to grasp your life using symbols that are not built on words or discursive concepts.
To a great extent, your creative process here will depend upon what you have allowed yourself to be exposed to, musically. If you spend your day listening to rap music, how you see your life (as well as the lives of others) is quite literally influenced by your listening habits. If you spend your day listening to country western music, your sense of identity will reflect those musical choices in some way. This principle holds true whether you listen to bluegrass, jazz, rock, elevator, gospel or classical music. In some way, you are employing the symbols of “your music” into the creation of your life. Thus, whatever your musical preference, make sure you are listening to (i.e., entraining your neurological system) master-pieces!
In last month’s lesson, you may recall I stated that I “cannot emphasize too strongly the value of contemplative skills.” Indeed, I stand by that statement this month, as well, but I am asking you to move into another kind of contemplation – that of musical symbols. In truth, musical symbols vibrate at a much higher frequency than do word symbols (even though sometimes music uses words to express ideas and specific conceptual material), and this is precisely why it is important to contemplate in musical “language” as well as in normal language. Learning to think in musical phrases and harmonies is much more difficult than thinking in words, is it not?
Can you call to mind now a phrase of music, or perhaps a particular timbre of sound, that communicates something about you more adequately than a mouthful of words? Can you think of a melody that expresses love better, or more accurately, than mere words? Can you think of a musical theme that draws you closer to the Divine than perhaps a sermon? If so, you are thinking in musical symbols. Now remember, I am not talking about the words of some song, I’m talking about the direct experience of musical flow, or the symbolic relationship of sound and time when set in meter and tonality. Have you ever played a piece of music for a friend or loved one and said, “There; that’s how I feel!” Again, I’m not talking about the words in some song you like; I’m talking about the music in and of itself.
If you haven’t tried this kind of communication, I highly recommend it. You might be surprised what you can express to another without any words at all. Or, you might be surprised about how much you can understand without all those words getting in the way. I encourage you to take some time to share deeply with some other person things you cannot share with words. If you think this is an impossible assignment, you probably need a little work with your creativity! If you see value in taking your contemplative skills to a deeper, profounder level, try “speaking” with music. Enter into the fascinating realm of the master musician, the one who thinks and views life through the filter of musical symbols. You might be surprised by the power of direct experience when there are no words to clutter up the time/space configuration in which two hearts communicate. Indeed, you might even discover that the heart prefers the language of music to the language of words!
When you allow your heart to speak in this way, however, please do so with great masterpieces. Surely, your heart deserves no less than the high vibrational communication level. Do you remember the story in the Hebrew Scriptures where powerful King Saul was given to fits of uncontrollable rage? If so, you will also remember that the only thing found to soothe his rattled nerves was music played on a small harp by a shepherd boy named “David.” Here is a clear example of a situation where musical symbols were much more powerful than word symbols in effective communication!
Please join me this month in contemplating a lecture I recently recorded for you entitled, Music for Life. I hope this teaching will inspire you to explore communicating in new, perhaps more effective, ways. In truth, when you communicate through music, you have to transcend the ego, for even though the ego does find engagement in music, communicating through musical masterpieces turns out to be a “para-personal” experience. May you have many direct experiences with Reality as you learn new ways to deepen your communication.
Your loving teacher,
Djwhal Khul
Copyright 2008, Vajra Flame Foundation, Ltd.
Reprint prohibited without permission.
