Tonight we watched Maria by Callas: In Her Own Words, a documentary about the legendary soprano told through interviews, home movies, private letters, and unpublished memoirs.
And her performances, of course.
But — my goodness! — what performances! It’s embarrassing to admit that, although I’ve known of her, I really didn’t have a clue who Maria Callas was. Watching the movie was truly a revelation.
Her voice, her artistry, her expressivity, her incredible magnetism…words fail me. Watch the video above and experience it for yourself.
We had two meetings today. both of which — together with a couple of important meetings from last week — are adding to our sense of the increasing momentum and growing magnetism of the music ministry.
Okay, so my plan was to go out on a limb and describe mytheory of why devotees fall into the trap of “playing (or singing) at the same time” instead of “making music together.”
A very interesting theory it was, too. Except that something didn’t feel quite right. In fact, it felt sufficiently “off” that I asked Ramesha to read it over and tell me what he thought; basically, he really didn’t resonate with it at all. It made for a thought-provoking discussion, but now it’s 10:30 pm and…back to the drawing board!
I guess part of the problem is that my theory was a little too heady and, well, theoretical! If I distill it down to the essence, what I’m trying to understand is, to what degree do the following points impact this question of “playing (or singing) at the same time” versus “making music together.”
The average Ananda devotee doesn’t arrive with a ton of musical training and experience.
Devotees in general work hard to develop inner awareness and self-control.
We seek to both raise and increase our energy (and magnetism), but also learn to keep our energies to ourselves.
My hunch is that the combination of these factors might (to some degree) limit the subtle interplay and interaction between devotee members of a musical ensemble.
I’ll be perfectly honest: when I listen to some of our small groups, it sometimes feels to me that each person is an island, and the ensemble is an archipelago. In other words, they’re side by side but identifying as separate entities — like the cake ingredients in plastic baggies.
It’s taken a full five days, but the dust is settling a bit in terms of my personal upset and process. There are a few things that I’m now seeing with more clarity:
The Gift Growing up without having to confront constant, overt racism meant that my sense of self was largely free from identification with the issue of racism. I’m deeply grateful for this.
The Work But because I wasn’t constantly confronted with overt racism, I was largely able to avoid facing up to it. These past few days have helped me understand how important it is that I let myself see how much I was affected by racism, and allow myself to feel the collective pain.
The Sad Reality One of the most helpful things I’ve learned at Ananda is the concept that reason follows feeling. Which means that logic becomes irrelevant when feelings are fully engaged and passions run high. Which leads to…
The Impossibility Having my sun in Gemini means that “communication” is BIG for me. There’s a part of me that really does believe that if “they“ just got to know me and we could just talk, then I could make “them” understand! But that’s the very definition of prejudice, isn’t it? Who I am is irrelevant; I’m never going to convince a true bigot that I’m worth knowing.
So another helpful thing I’ve learned at Ananda is the importance of focusing one’s energies on those who are positive and open and willing, while ignoring — whenever possible — those who are negative and derogatory (obviously, if someone is not just negative but threatening, you can’t ignore them!).
There are many people who want to understand, who want to help, who want to be part of the solution. If we focus our energy and resources on strengthening and nurturing these connections, we’ll increase our magnetism and build the momentum…and I have faith that change will happen as a result.
I got a kick out of this when I saw it on Facebook, but then I got to thinking about how true it is. That if (when!) we’re strong in our positive magnetism, we can affect real change in those around us. Of course, the opposite is true as well, which is why we have to do everything in our power to keep our energy strong, our spirits up, and our magnetism positive. And we have to be determined to shine, like this little face demonstrates! 🙂
I think some of the little changes are starting to show some little results. Not a whole lot, perhaps. But still, enough to show that shifts are taking place.
Right now I’m particularly appreciating the way things that are in alignment with the new (little) changes just “happen” to show up, adding energy to the gradually increasing magnetism. Which then adds to my inner motivation.
And it all starts with being okay with itty bitty little changes. 😊
