Will To Hear

Date: 3/5/2005

From: dan

"I think you are going too fast, at least for me to keep up with. Its like trying to read a whirl-wind. In this batch of emails it ranges from "I'm stupid" "I hate emotions" to descriptions of spiritual love. SLOW DOWN. No one can filter the entire cosmos through one body at one time. You're tapping into the power but you let it get out control. Really its no wonder you've trained yourself to be rejected by others! You tap into the high voltage and scare them half to death....morphing through a series of terrifying intensities that very few people can handle. This shows a great talent without discipline. Passion can be wonderful, but it has to be balanced. You can learn to work with this but you've got to slow down. Step back from the power...or it will fry you alive. Try taking baby steps until you get the hang of it.

When I was in Japan a monk gave me singing lessons. He didn't speak any English except 2 words. He would motion for me to sing a note...saying "go!" But before I could make a sound he would say "Stop!"....over and over we did this...I couldn't figure out what he wanted me to do! I tried every way of shaping my mouth to prepare that I knew...but "Stop!"

It went on that way for a long time. Then he motioned from my mouth to his ear....again and again....then "go". "Stop!" Finally I realized that what he meant was that I had to connect my will to sing to him TO HIS EAR BEFORE I made a sound. I had to intend for him to hear me. Then he let me make a note....as soon as it came out he said "Stop!" This happened over and over....I could tell I wasn't ending the note the way he wanted. Then he used his hand to indicate 4 steps, like stairs, and helped me realize he meant the volume at the end of the note....that you should be able to hear it end, fading out through 4 distinct stages....so gradually I was able to do that. Then he would let me make and end a note, but then "Stop" Finally I came to understand that the space in between each note was just as important as the note. He helped me see how that the whole silence of the universe could come into that space if I would just let it open up. "Stop." It was the best music lesson I ever got."