I would hope to never have to make that decision, but as someone who's been myopic since age 7, I'd have to go with blindness. I take in so much from feeling, intuiting, and sensing, so losing my sense of touch would be tragic; I do love the taste of good food, but I think I could manage on bland things forever. Hearing threw me for a loop momentarily, because I considered how much of my life is about music. Many, many percents. :)
However, if I never heard another piece of music, I think I could cope. Because there's so many songs in my head. In fact, I've had a couple if times recently where the choice of music unintentionally interrupted the serene experience I was attempting to attain. Both of these were ironically during massages. (Yes, yes, I know. Poor me.)
I was getting a massage in Denver over the weekend (the traditional, naked under the sheet on the table kind) and the music was without voices, but various showtunes with a rhythm or two out of place. It was strangely disconcerting!
One massage place has a group setting and my friend Annalise was in town (back in Atlanta) from Phoenix for a bit. She and my guy and I went out and then to this "Heavenly Foot" massage place. (I don't want to sell it too hard, but it's a massage place where you stay clothed and sit in these nice recliners and get a massage while you're zoning out.) The music started all Yoga-esque music with chimes and tones. Then at some point, it turned into muzak and my friend and I turned to each other (she's a musician) and noted that it was midi versions of hymns. If you know the hymns, it's a very odd location to hear them.
I haven't been a regular church goer for several years now, probably since college. I deeply care for my Methodist church family back in Georgia, but it wasn't something that was fulfilling my spiritual needs to attend weekly. Lately though, I've had one particular hymn stuck in my head...and once a song is stuck in my head for long enough, I realize it's because my heart is trying to tell my brain something. That's their way of talking, my heart and my brain. They sing each other songs. (In MY world of anatomy.)
So it's the hymn whose lyrics come from Matthew 6. Matthew 6 is the one with the Lord's Prayer. It's also got my favorite scripture: 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow. Let the day's troubles be sufficient unto the day." Just breathe, Adrienne. God's got this under control.
But the song that goes with it has a couple of verses...the first one came from Matthew 6:33, and the rest are just nice and pretty:
Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And his righteousness;
And all these things shall be added unto you.
Alleluia.
Ask, and it shall be given unto you;
Seek, and you shall find.
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Alleluia.
You can hear it here. This was always one of my favorites to sing at church. I remember the "added unto" being "offered unto" which made more sense to me. Plus, I hate math, so anything with addition is bad...and I don't think God was trying to punish me with that verse or hymn. (!)
The boss at my new school is very intelligent, educated, well-traveled, and intense. She has a phrase that she uses when discussing the mission and teaching of the school, which is "That which is good and right and true." It seems to be a simplification of Phillipians 4:8 (thanks, google!) as well as a little bit of layman's legal speak. I sought out this job, this move, this life-upheaval to find that which was good, right, and true. I'd been seeking that back home in Georgia, but I was finding many obstacles in my path.
Seeking the truth in others-- finding their best nature-- that's one of my talents. Finding the good and right? I'm working on it. I'm thinking on it. I'm hiking and meditating about it. I'm reading and seeking more spiritual guidance. The light is in me...to find others who share it and spread it...that's my path.
| Oh, this is a path alright. Sunset at Greenbelt Plateau Trail in Boulder...views of the Flatirons the whole way. |
