The Music of Effortlessness (by Swifty Flame-Anderson)
"Some of the secret joys of living are not found by rushing from point A to point B, but by inventing some imaginary letters along the way."
Douglas Pagels
A handful of Earth revolutions ago, I rose early and drove to another town where I was attending a course. The unusually early summery weather in my native Northern England had treated me to a morning of blue sky and brilliant sunshine. Having allowed an extra hour or so for traffic problems, general dilly-dallying and the possible chance encounter with a breathtaking tempestuous raven haired beauty with a flat tyre, I arrived at my destination well in advance of the course start, and so found myself with over half an hour to while away in the sunshine.
As I relaxed out of the mostly visual focus of driving, I began to become more and more aware of the early morning sounds which abounded. As I did so, I noticed a very stark contrast. Twenty-first century Great Britain is a very crowded island, and even at that time in the morning it is difficult to find any spot where there is not a constant background gutteral roar of petrol and diesel engines. Contrasted against these was the wonderfully spontaneous music of various bird songs.
The noise of effort and the music of effortlessness. It was rather like Vivlaldi contrasted with that music they play when Darth Vader is walking into the room. "Dun dun dun dun der dun dun der dun!" It was rather like the laughter of small children contrasted with a political speech by Margaret Thatcher.
"We are in our cars. We must get somewhere, we must we must! It is serious. It is important. We must get there now! We must get there quickly! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
The noise of effort.
"Hey, look at me, I'am a bird! I am going to sing! Why? No reason. Groove on, merry wing-meisters! Groove on!"
The music of effortlessness.
Turning back to the visual I noticed another contrast. I was in a college grounds, a large building built at the centre of a small area of parkland. The building might have been described as architecturally very pleasant, but still its Euclidian geometric shapes, handful of chosen paints and hard angles made it stand out in contrast to the technicolour fractal wonder of the surrounding trees, bushes, shrubs and flowers.
Compared to many other modern buildings, it was a relatively nice effort by the architects, builders and craftsman, but still did not come close to the miracle of effortless, spontaneous organic growth. No design rules needed by the trees. No planning permission sought by the flowers.
Since that day I have awoken each morning and been aurally reminded of my free choice. Which shall I choose today? The engine drone of effort, or the musical wonder of effortlessness?
Hmmmm.... I wonder which, fellow Gaia Symphonies, I wonder which! :-)
"Did you ever see an unhappy horse? Did you ever see bird that had the blues? One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses."
Dale Carnegie
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