Do not blindly believe what others say, even the Buddha. See for yourself what brings contentment, clarity and peace. That is the path for you to follow
Buddha, from Buddha's Little Instruction Book.
I am playing now with thoughts. About the comfort of being one of many in this life - working with students at school, multi-functioning in my English Staff Room, living in a Kibbutz with its intricate societal quilting bee and feeling at home with my Net friends.
I'm listening to Buena Vista Social Club, a collection of Brazilian Jazz, as I write this and my thoughts are pulsing with musical flashes of colour. Bass is walking while a piano frolics in and out of the tune (Samba-esquing quips). This is music that absolutely insists on a roomful of dancers. Sticks tap out the beat and my body must obey.
Associations sway me from here to there. I think of the line dancing I've noticed on-line in Chat rooms or on Forums where there develops a kind of folks-feeling-folks-in-the-same-room gestalt. And how that suddenly transforms into a kind of group search for a drummer... someone to lead the pack, to give the tempo, hold the rhythm and heat up the mood.
Have you felt this?
The group resonance can tune our souls. It can nurture a low spirit, make us laugh. It can offer us a chance to voice something of ourselves to another one needing a reassuring tune. We give and get that wonderful cosmic return of a warmed heart.
Or, we might need the space for a rant. It can provide us a safe ground with a willing audience, an interactive group, right there with feeling to let us know we've been heard. Group - listening is a nourishingly dynamic thing.
Yet, I wonder...
Is there a reason that my mood so often hinges on finding a group, with a competent drummer, the right drummer, some other drummer, outside of me?
And the quote from Buddha: "See for yourself what brings clarity, contentment and peace. That is the path for you to follow."
I need to find my own pattern of movement. My own song. The one that brings me happiness and peace, if only for an instant.
I know I possess an inner drummer. I've met this drummer and I truly like her. I love the moments when she insists on being heard. How much do I allow her to lead? That's the question.
I do know that the more I talk, think, the less I can listen...
So... I'll stop