Things Falling Apart Reveal a New Song
Posted: Friday, October 21, 2011
by Dr. Carla Goddard
Your story – every single note – is worth singing. Especially those dissonant, not-quite-X-Factor-ready tunes. And for those of you less musically inclined, this: Your story – every word, every phrase, every sentence, every paragraph, every page – is worth telling. Especially, those between-the-lines scenes you’ve kept under wraps.....From: Ronna Detrick
What does that have to do with sleeping in? I have shared with many of you that I have been in a story of a semi-serious medical story. While I have sat with this "story" to learn the underlying lines, it never occurred to me until this morning that "every note" of this musical story was worth singing and worth telling.
I took a class with Contemporary Shaman Robin Rice which included some work with Alchemy. In the course she shared a passage from the Second Book of the Tao by Stephen Michell.
"You have heard of flying with wings,
but can you fly without wings?
You have heard of the knowledge that knows,
but can you practice
the knowing that does not know?
Consider a window, it is just
a hole in the wall, but because of it
the whole room is filled with light.
Thus, when the mind is open
and free of its own thoughts,
life unfolds effortlessly,
and the whole world is filled with light."
Then, in commentary...
"Wisdom is not a something, to grasp or to have. When you discover the extent of your own ignorance, it's like a revelation. 'You mean that nothing I believe is true?' Suddenly a window appears in the hermetic chamber. A little openness becomes available. A little humility. Eventually you realize that there's nowhere the light doesn't penetrate, no where the non-wings cant fly."
I went deeper into the notes of the song to discover the wisdom of why the medical story is playing out again. Perhaps it was the non letting go? Perhaps it was even deeper? As I meditated and journeyed to discover the wisdom, to discover the passages I may have missed in the musical.
The quote that comes to mind to explain my discovery is by Pema Chodren .
"Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy."
So has health falls apart only to come together (a story that I have read before), the key is to make room to just BE. That is the gift, the true blessing. A note to celebrate. If something is to be celebrated in one musical, is it not to be celebrated in every musical score?
This morning I celebrate the notes of my health - with all of its falling apart - knowing that it is simply an interlude to make room for a new wind to blow. As I stand to look out the window I see a glorious morning sun filled day. The leaves are stirring on the ground from an autumn breeze. A hummingbird enjoys the nectar of the bottle brush. The rose bush covered in delicate white blooms framed by the brilliant green leaves of a banana tree. A celebration in nature of changing seasons. A celebration in musical notes during an interlude. "Wisdom is not a something, to grasp or to have."
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)A beautiful article, tenderly written.I heard Donald Neale Wash(not really my cup of tea) say that things going wrong is things really going right, because every soul calls forth what it needs for its own growth. There is no change in happiness. I wish you healing.Thank you Carol. mwah (my wishes are heartfelt)
Dearest Carla,
Thank you for pouring it out...every glorious note. That lesson was so evident for me last weekend when I was asked to share my story. I left out the health part when the sharing began because I was so tired of the story. Turns out that was the music and those were the missing notes that connected me at such a deeper level with the whole experience....With others that wanted and perhaps needed to hear my melody. I just love Ronna's blog I'm glad it resonated with you. Thanks again, I'm grateful for you! SandraRonna's blog is awesome. Thank you and mwah (my wishes are heartfelt)
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