Mandala music

*

Thank you to my friend, Sue, for bringing Jacob Collier to my attention.

*

Tiny Mandala #27 of 53 (Chinese character: to eat)

Emotionally exhausted, with little social energy, and yet my physical energy and creative energy are as good as they have ever been.  Daily yoga practice and good long walks in the September light.

 

Indefinite / Mystery and ambiguity

 

Tiny Mandala #26 of 53

(4 x 4 inches, drawn with non-dominant left hand)

*

Daily Tao / 255 – Indefinite

12

September

Indefinite

Spring was a time of swaggering declarations.

Reaching autumn, one finds few absolutes.

Life is mystery and ambiguity,

Toward winter, that now seems agreeable and comfortable.

When young, one makes heroic attempts. 

The world will surely bend to our will, we think, 

and we will surely make grand contributions. 

Social injustice will be righted. 

The big questions will be answered.

I once went to see a master writer. 

Long retired, white-haired and fragile, 

she nevertheless evinced a sharp and discerning mind. 

I was a novice writer. 

She had edited hundreds of great authors. 

I peppered her with all my anxieties

and asked her all the questions that my teachers never answered. 

To most of my questions she would only answer, “Yes.” 

She knew all the answers, 

and she knew all the exceptions, 

and she knew the best thing that an older person

could tell a younger person was

“Yes.” Yes, the affirmative. 

Yes, as in keep exploring. 

Yes, as in there are no ultimate answers.

I used to push for an immediate resolution to daily problems. 

Now, I am not so anxious. 

Is science right about things, or is religion? 

Is there good and evil on a metaphysical level? 

Is there one god, or are there many gods, or no gods? 

A hundred answers exist for these questions. 

They are all known, but no one agrees. Today, I think it all very fine. 

Let there be a hundred answers with none of them entirely correct. 

The asking of the question is already enough.

*

Not that I am comfortable.  

Or agreeable.  

Things are the way they are.  

How can I be useful, of what service can I be?  

There is something inside me, what can it be? 

-- Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

*

It follows that I am not writing this book 

out of any sense of objection to what

anyone believes now. 

Beyond all reason is the mystery of love: 

you know we are all equal, 

no one in truth needs any help 

from anyone else, 

no one needs to be told anything

or given anything—and then you 

do the most compassionate act anyway, 

do the best for your brothers and sisters 

that you have in you. 

I'm relaying what was given to me 

when I felt I needed it: 

if I felt that way, 

maybe someone else does, too. 

This is a letter to my brothers and sisters, 

a love note to try to show how, 

when we thought love wasn't working, 

it was working perfectly.

(Thaddeus Golas)

*

Tiny mandala #27 of 53, work in progress:

September Dream Mandala / Awe