In the Mysticism of Sound and Music,
Hazartanayat Khan says,
Everything in this world that seems to lack harmony is,
In reality,
The limitation of man's own vision.
The wider the horizon of his observation becomes,
The more harmony of life he enjoys.
The invitation of this meditation is to widen our horizons so we may find harmony that already exists in our here and now experience,
No matter its qualities and no matter our current attitude towards it.
It is not only a practice in equanimity,
But a step beyond that,
Where we may begin to see the pristine,
Musical,
Delicious perfection of reality as it is.
So find a comfortable position,
Find some balance in the body between left and right,
Front and back,
Finding length and alignment in your spine.
Starting with a few deep conscious breaths all the way into your lower belly,
Grounding yourself into the seat and the practice.
Familiarizing the body with breath happening down in the belly.
And just letting it settle into a natural rhythm,
Feeling it rise and fall,
Rise and fall.
Feel the breath as the beat of the song,
The metronome keeping tempo,
The part of the song that doesn't change or go away.
Always here for you to rest into.
Just catching the rhythm,
Simply finding it.
There's no force needed here.
And now opening your ears to listen to the sounds around you.
The goal is not to manufacture harmony,
But to be deeply curious and interested in your listening.
You might ask yourself,
What's next?
What's the next sound?
And listen for what arises in awareness.
Maybe it's the sounds of the body,
Birds outside,
The street.
Just opening your ears to listen.
Continuing to feel the rhythm of your breath gently keeping you.
If you're noticing urges to move the body,
See if the interest and curiosity evoked through listening allows you to find stillness.
Again,
Not forcing it,
Just finding it.
Resting into it.
True stillness gets to have a restful quality.
Continuing to listen to the sounds.
And then expanding your awareness to the sensations that you're noticing in your body and including them as part of the song.
Can you feel your body sensations as a sound?
As one part of the song?
An accompaniment,
An instrument,
A little ache,
A little tension,
A little pain.
Just an accompaniment,
Another part of the song.
And seeing if you can release any of the mind's ideas about what a song should sound like.
And just resting into what the song does sound like.
And then expanding your awareness to include your thoughts,
Noticing the thoughts as a part of the song.
As a melody,
Perhaps a vocal,
Perhaps another instrument.
Just another part of the song.
Just listening.
Listening for the song.
Letting all of it,
Sounds,
Sensations,
Thoughts,
And breath converge into a grand orchestration of music.
And if you're noticing resistance to the song or any of its components,
Seeing if you can make a gentle attitudinal shift towards the experience.
Trusting that it is safe to listen to the song.
It is safe to be curious about it.
That the song is friendly and harmonious no matter its sounds,
And even if it feels disharmonious.
Opening into friendliness towards it.
Saying yes to it.
Now just spend the next few minutes listening to the song.
Being with it with curiosity and interest.
And now closing the practice by offering gratitude,
Reverence,
Awe,
Or just a simple acceptance for the music that is the here and now.
The invitation is to find this harmony in the everyday,
Ordinary life.
Both in the moments of perfect peace and quiet,
And in the moments of chaos and cacophony.
Can I hear the song?
Can I hear the harmony?
Can I hear the music?
Thank you for listening!
