By Reza Ganjavi
When I first flew over Switzerland on a short-haul, low-elevation flight, I totally fell in love with the greenery. I had seen many mountains in my lifetime. I was born in a metropolis at the foothill of 5600-meter high mountain range that chains all the way to the Himalayas. But the Swiss Alps were like a dream, because of the greenery. What blessing God/love/intelligence had bestowed this region -- the gift of plenitude of water, to have a whole country covered in greenery.
Winter has its own beauty but nature goes in hibernation except humans who like to slide down the Alps' snow-covered bodies. The air is dry in the winter and not comfortable for the guitar, skin and body. But it's summertime that makes the Alps glow.
Marvel bestows upon the land as spring arrives, and before long, the earth is blossoming with flowers of many colors, and as Maria sang in the Sound of Music:
"The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears"
The brain is a machine -- a very complex, sophisticated instrument. One of its functions is thinking. Thought creates "free radicals", pollution, residue, debris, garbage, which the brain cleans during sleep, as it gets quiet.
The brain has far more capacities than thinking but thought is the dominant process in most brains. Its over-dominance in areas it wasn't meant for; because it's a material process and matter is limited; and because it's based on limited experience; it cuts off love which is infinite, ever new, alive. Love, music, perception are of a different dimension which does not require thought. There can be seeing of a tree without thinking. And it's important to perceive not just nature but ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, and others, and issues, with a quiet mind (but that's outside the scope of this quickie write-up as the pizza/focaccia hybrid is about ready!)
Meditation helps clean the brain of the residue and debris of thought, while a person is awake -- to give thought a break, to allow the mind/brain to rejuvenate. The clearest way to think about meditation is to think of earth which is not farmed -- in between farming seasons -- so it regenerates and rejuvenates itself.
But if you play a musical instrument you don't need to meditate because playing music is (can be) meditation.
Coming back from a short walk with the guitar (as it had started to drizzle), played some classical outside under the eaves -- watching the trees, with the brain totally quiet, and the only movement inside the brain was the music. It was relieving and alleviating the brain from the debris of thought. It was meditation, oneness with everything, in connection with universal goodness, with a smile. There's no evil in those tees, in those notes, in the drizzle.
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Manjula Pondugula: Reminds me of Robert Frost's Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening!... amazingly vivid canvas