Contemplation in Art

 It's not difficult to tell the difference between a music performance or composition that came out of the silent heart and one which is the result of a calculative mind enmeshed with "external products" such as notes in a paper, fashion ideas, the desire to please others... 

Not many artists and composers have the courage to recognize that the greatest art works are not "created" by them, but rather woven from another level of reality which is beyond the "ordinary self". The artist is a mere vessel, whereas the Deep creates by using whatever is available, which can be the attitude and technique of the person.  But it seems one has to become "actively receptive" to pick up higher influences.

We don't do anything, but without us, nothing can be done (Jeanne De Salzmann)

It's worth mentioning a remark by Mozart, who said his music turned up "fully made" in his head before it was actualized on instruments or written on a paper. 

Where do the receptivity and creative action take place?

There is a "flowing and spacious silence" that cannot be expressed, only experienced within. In it and from it, all seems to fit, and we feel effortlessly at ease, perhaps being what we're meant to be.

At the same time, because of our unbalanced condition, finding this silence within is both a higher demand and a challenge. Hence the importance of finding openeness. 

Let's listen now to an inspired and free interpretation of the 2nd movement of Mozart's 12th Sonata (KV 332), performed by Friedrich Gulda.  His words at the end are good to ponder. 

Times change, Reality remains

The Universe is brimming with activity. Life is a universal phenomenon. All things and beings long for the Absolute in some way or another. Yet, only those who become fully self-aware and manage to trasform their fear, vanity and selfishness can apire to return to that Unknown Source consciously. Arduous task, as Arjuna once discovered. 

One cannot just jump to the Absolute; one must evolve towards it...

Nameless Spirit

Of all the sublime poems, there´s one which gathers everything that can be said about the flavour of Reality, and in this case, the vessel was the Spanish poet, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. 

Let´s translate it as follows:

Nameless spirit,

indefinable essence,

I live with the formless

life of the idea.

I swim in the void,

I tremble in the sun´s bonfire

I palpitate among the shadows

and float with the mists.

I am the gold fringes

of the distant star;

I am the lukewarm and seren light

of the high moon.

I am the burning cloud 

that in the west undulates,

I am the shinning wake

of the wandering star.

I am snow on the peaks,

fire on the sands, 

blue wave on the seas,

and foam on the shores.

I am the note in the lute,

perfume in the violet,

fleeting flame in the tombs,

and ivy in the ruins.

I thunder in the torrent, 

and whistle in the flash,

and blind in the lightning,

and roar in the storm.

I laugh in the hills, 

whisper in the tall grass,

sigh in the pure wave,

and weep in the dead leaf.

I undulate with the atoms

of the smoke that flows

and slowly ascends to the sky

as immense spiral.

I, on the golden threads

the insects hang,

mingle among the trees

in the fiery nap.

I run after the nymphs

who in the cool stream

of the crystalline brook

frolic naked.

I, in forests of corals 

carpeted by white pearl,

pursue in the ocean

the light naiads.

I, in the hollow caverns

where the sun never penetrates,

mingle with the gnomes, 

and observe their riches.

I look for the already 

dissolved traces of the centuries,

and know of those empires

of which not even the name is left.

I follow in rapid giddiness

the worlds that revolve,

and my pupil embraces

the whole of creation.

I know of those regions

where no noise reaches,

and where formless stars

wait for the breah of life.

I am the bridge that crosses

over the abyss,

,I am the unknown ladder

that joins Heaven & Earth.

I am the invisible ring that

ties the world of the form

to the world of the idea.

In short, I am the Spirit, 

unknown essence, 

mysterious perfume,

of which the poet is vessel.

Freedom, at the beginning

Soon after writing the last post one received a text that shows essentially the same truth about "liberation". Surprisingly, the source which sent it didn´t know about this blog. And since such kind of "meaningful coincidences" seem to be  inspired by a deeper reality, teaching us important lessons, here we have the text, following the thread:


I think it is important to understand that freedom is at the beginning and not at the end. We think freedom is something to be achieved, that liberation is an ideal state of mind to be gradually attained through time, through various practices; but to me, this is a totally wrong approach. Freedom is not to be achieved; liberation is not a thing to be gained. Freedom, or liberation, is that state of mind which is essential for the discovery of any truth, any reality; therefore, it cannot be an ideal; it must exist right from the beginning. Without freedom at the beginning, there can be no moments of direct understanding because all thinking is then limited, conditioned. If your mind is tethered to any conclusion, to any experience, to any form of knowledge or belief, it is not free; and such a mind cannot possibly perceive what is true.  (Jiddu Krishnamurti)


The term "freedom" is one of those concepts that has been totally misunderstood and misused. It has of course many senses; freedom can be physical, biological, psychological, social, political, moral, and even metaphysical if we consider the transition from Nothingness to a Big Bang was an act of  Supreme Will.

However, isn´t the "psychological", or let´s say "spiritual" sense of freedom, the most important for us? Is it not at the root of our actions and behaviors, and therefore, of our understanding of life? More even than the "moral sense", since our beliefs get fixed in our psyche only after something in us "decides" to make them a place, isn´t that so?

We believe we are free to think, free to live as we want, free to be what we are, especially in the so called democratic societies. But, is it true?. What are we free from? Are we free from thoughts? Are we free from emotions and sensations? How much "stuff" conditions our reactive behaviors? 

The truth is that modern humanity has been in a state of inner slavery for thousands of years, since the processes of destruction became a savage habit. And that is not a natural condition given the fact humans have access to something called Intelligence.

Now, since Intelligence help us see the chains which keep us trapped into suffering, why shouldn´t we use it?

There we have the message of Buddha, or Jesus, who is attributed the saying: The Truth shall make you free.

Paradox of Liberation

This second movement of Gorecki´s third symphony, a classic of minimalist music, radiates a strange quality of dark and bright contrasts, a stillness, timelessness and simplicity that are not easy to express, not even to notice, despite inspiring a familiar flavour. An apparently anecdotic impression that may be telling us more than what the heavy mind can grasp.


An old proverb says the spiritual path is more difficult than walking on the edge of a knife. Yet, it is also said there´s nothing more natural and simple than "being on the Way". Anything can lead to Consciousness and Liberation; but anything can also lead to a trap. 
Is this what makes the journey so complicated and treacherous?
Perhaps that is why human life is so erratic and contradictory, full of dark and bright contrasts, wonders and miseries that coexist.
Yet, which is the root of the human falls? Perhaps a distorted perception of Reality, a lack of discernment? Can inner conflicts, source of the outer ones, cease with a glimpse of that "ineffable and everpresent Something" which is the Source and Destiny of everything?

Only so long as one considers oneself bound do thoughts of bondage and Liberation continue. When one enquires who is bound, the Self is realized, eternally attained, eternally free. When thought of bondage comes to an end, can thought of Liberation survive?

If it is said that Liberation is of three kinds: with form, without form, and both together, then let me tell you that the extinction of those three forms of Liberation is the only true Liberation.

(Ramana Maharshi, verses 39 & 40, 
from Forty Verses on Reality)

Inner Requiem

The Winter afternoon is cold but very bright. The sun shines in all its glory. Meanwhile, a man walks on a park, feeling fresh air on his hands and face, immersed in some reflections. After a long stroll, he sits on a rock to rest and lets all tensions go, listening to all around, enjoying the body's  natural breath, the sunlight, the quiet presence of trees and birds...The mental fist disolves...A deep silence breaks the Maya...A realization takes place....He's not a body, not a man, but an openness that includes All; nobody is listening; everything is listening. What a relief! The bundle of the past is gone. Nothing to gain. Nothing to loose. Nothing to fear. Nothing to desire...A perfect moment, timeless...


Mind alone, delusion; emotions alone, wild horses; body alone, weakness. Isn't this inner separation the very same illusion of Time, what makes us identified with the waves in an ocean, trapped in a mind that thinks "I´m this", "I´m that", "this cannot last", "I have to do this... do that"; a mind that tries to grasp what cannot be grasped, carrying too much "me", "mine" and "I"?

Can we really be all at once, even if it's just in a few daily actions?. What a difficult task!...How complicated we make things. How many painful turns we take in life; how many distractions we cultivate in order to find the wholeness that lies everywhere and nowhere at the same time, suspended in eternity, like that sublime piece Gabriel Fauré brought more than a century ago, for a "Requiem" that really ends as a new beginning, a new Life.

Creativity

You cannot reconcile creativeness with technical achievement. You may be perfect in playing the piano, and not be creative; you may play the piano most brilliantly, and not be a musician. You may be able to handle color, to put paint on canvas most cleverly, and not be a creative painter. You may create a face, an image out of a stone, because you have learned the technique, and not be a master creator. Creation comes first, not technique, and that is why we are miserable all our lives. We have technique -how to put up a house, how to build a bridge, how to assemble a motor, how to educate our children through a system; we have learned all these techniques, but our hearts and minds are empty. We are first class machines; we know how to operate most beautifully, but we do not love a living thing. You may be a good engineer,  you may write in a good style in English or Marathi or whatever your language is, but creativeness is not found through technique. If you have something to say, you create your own style; but when you have nothing to say, even if you have a beautiful style, what you write is only the traditional routine, a repetition in new words of the same old thing. Having lost the song, we pursue the singer. We learn from the singer the technique of song, but there is no song. The song is essential, the joy of singing is essential. So, if you watch yourself very critically, you will see that technique does not lead to creativeness, but when you have creativeness, you can have technique within a week. To express something you must have a song in your heart and sensitivity to receive (J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life).

As an illustration of this argument we have chosen one of the hundreds of music pieces composed by G.I.Gurdjieff & Thomas De Hartmann, one of his pupils. And the reason is precisely that this music is not based on a great virtuosity or technical achievement –as it is the case in the works of Chopin or Liszt–, but rather on a slight brush that gives a glimpse of special places and something profound in ourselves.
Gurdjieff received much inspiration from folk tunes, songs and dances he witnessed while traveling through Central Asia and North Africa. Later, in the early 1900's, he found Thomas de Hartmann in Russia, a very accomplished and classically trained composer, who helped Gurdjieff to express certain Oriental themes by using Western harmony and instrumentation. Working together, beyond conventions and dead rutines, they crafted some of the deepest and most original compositions of the XXth century, most of which are an integrant part of the so called "movements" and "sacred dances" that Gurdjieff crafted as well. But that's another story.