(not necessarily in that order)
Completely out of the blue, today ended up being the day we changed our cell phone numbers — which we’d had since 2011!
It was past time to do it, but — boy oh boy! — the process of updating everything (and I do mean everything) took up pretty much the whole afternoon and evening.
Phew.
Today we enjoyed a pancake feast to end all pancake feasts!
Not only were Pavani’s pumpkin pancakes beyond delicious, but we got to share them in company with some of our dearest friends.
What joy!
A friend sent this photo to me in the past week, completely out of the blue.
I’ve gotten rather sidetracked from writing about my early experiences with Swamiji and the music, so I’m sharing the photo in order to not completely lose the momentum.
I’m pretty sure we were in Swamiji’s house after a meeting with him (it must have been before we added Bhaktan to the group).
On the heels of yesterday’s post about Imbolc and the first stirrings of spring…
…this is what I noticed when I left the house this morning. The very beginning of buds on the Daphne shrub that I planted last summer.
I can’t wait.
Imbolc is a festival in the Gaelic tradition which marks the very first stirrings of life that will become the spring, but before there’s really anything to see.
I was happy to learn of this ancient tradition in my women’s group many years ago, because it helped me understand the wonderful feeling when you see the very first swelling on the tip of a branch — it isn’t a bud yet, but you can tell one is coming.
It’s a lovely time of the year, giving you a sense of hope for warmer, lighter days to come, even though it’s still dark and cold and wet.
So, blessed Imbolc to everyone!
When I had time to write, I couldn’t get my blog website to load.
And now that the website is working again, I don’t have any more time to write!
Oh well.
Running to a meeting and wanted to at least share a beautiful image.
Have you ever seen such an iridescently beautiful beetle?!?
This was the perfect snowy Sunday…
It was barely raining when we left early in the morning to rehearse before service, but the predicted snow did arrive midway through the morning.
By the time service was actually underway, sitting in the Temple of Light felt a little like being in the middle of a snow globe!
But the snow had completely stopped by the time service ended and we were ready to drive home to a winter wonderland.
Then the weather had cleared up as the day ended, resulting in a beautiful cloudy sunset.
Altogether perfect.
When I see videos like this, and feel the powerful energy they capture, I am convinced that a big part of why music is so powerful is because it reminds us of the truth that we are made for unity.
We truly are one.
The video above is of Jacob Collier conducting the audience in an amazing 3-part-harmony encore, at the end of his homecoming DJESSE World Tour show in June 2022.
I first heard a video of him conducting his “Audience Choir” in Singapore. Even the comments are inspiring:
🎶 It’s not the voices that move me. It’s the unity for me…….. Big Chills!!!
🎶 It’s hard to express clearly, but there’s something bigger here. It’s almost spiritual. It’s something about enough people coming together in one cause and there being enough good in all voices to fill in and uplift everyone else’s voices to a place of beauty. Perhaps this is how God hears us. When you step far enough back from the world you begin to see and hear the cohesive beauty rather than the minute chaos.
🎶 What a beautiful moment of perfect harmony among humanity. If it can be done here in this room, we can do it everywhere. Imagine.
And then there’s the group Choir! Choir! Choir!, which started in Toronto in 2011 as a weekly drop-in singing event. Participants got a lyric sheet at the door, “DaBu” (AKA Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman) taught the vocal arrangement, and a video was recorded.
Hundreds, even thousands, of strangers coming together to sing — I can only imagine what a high it must be.
By the way, even though I picked a video almost at random, I managed to choose a performance that Choir! Choir! Choir! did in collaboration with supporters of the Canadian Cancer Society. Serendipity strikes again!
Another inspiring comment:
🎶 This is beautiful. What’s more beautiful is the diversity of people… young, old, kids, races all together for one purpose. It’s the proof that music brings people together and heals. Thank God for music and for artists and talented people.
Reflecting on all this brought to mind a song we used to sing when I attended Unity church in San Francisco. I couldn’t locate a recording, but here are the lyrics (as best as I can recall after so many years):
We are one, we are one,
I am you, you are me, we are one.
And in that unity we can live in harmony
And peace will come, cause we are one.
It’s thrilling to me to see music developing in the direction of not just musical, but human harmony.
This is what our big meeting last night was about. It went really well; I feel we’re headed in some exciting new directions.
So, this is the new vision:
To broaden and expand community singing at the Village, while also presenting the highest quality and purest musical expression possible when broadcasting worldwide.
Our goal is to have MORE people singing — and in more ways — than before the pandemic. To help accomplish this we proposed three levels of involvement, depending on a person’s life circumstances, individual inclination, and energy level. Each individual gets to choose what’s right for them.
LEVEL 1 – Community All-Sing Choir
Fun and spontaneous; melody only (or parts if you want to); once a quarter sing-alongs
LEVEL 2 – Village Choir
Community attunement; singing in parts; two evenings a month; informal performances
LEVEL 3 – Performance Ensemble
Commitment and follow through; regular weekly rehearsals; perform for Sunday services, as well as possible outreach and recording
What’s really fun is that more ideas came up during the meeting, from people who are enthusiastic about helping to make them happen — specifically regarding more involvement for children and families, as well as more support for “newbies” who are just learning the music.
All in all, it’s an adventurous new phase for music at Ananda Village.