Back in the day……I love saying that only because my college students say it often like they are old. At 18 to 22, they have no real back in the day. Back in the day, now almost 50 years ago, the Doobie Brothers had a song, “Listen to the music”. The lyrics aren’t fancy but the tune and the idea are catchy. They serve to remind me that a joyful heart makes a difference.
Recently, the writer, Terry Hershey discussed the whole idea of listening for the music, the music that is life itself if you allow yourself the silence to listen closely. All of life is rhythm. Thomas Merton said, “You fool, it is life that makes you dance, have you forgotten?” Merton could hear the music. All of life vibrates, that much is clear. It is even discussed that we vibrate at the rate that is the note “C”. Apparently, casinos know this and tune the bells and tones to that note in the casino.
But maybe the Doobie Brothers were on to something. Maybe we should be listening to the music. Maybe that flow of music is life itself. Okay, not necessarily their song but the music of Life itself. That note of “C” that we are all vibrating at, together……this very moment. I believe Merton was right, it is the music of life that makes us dance. It is the very vibration of life that moves us, keeps us flowing. I should use this phrase here: does that resonate with you?
I confess to not having listened more closely to hear the song of life. The world around me, around all of us, distracts us from hearing that gentle song, keeps us from vibrating at that common frequency within us all. That frequency that is Life itself. I think I will go now, sit on the deck and listen to the Lifesong the birds are singing and perhaps dance a step or two to the song within me, on that frequency we call God.\
TMM