The Heart of the Mist

Hiding and Seeing

' Music has charms to soothe the beast ' … says a saying … and its not without some understanding to those who have experienced it. But its not necessarily … music from an instrument. It may also arise from the voice … in speech … where we decide on the true or false of matters … by the tone of the voice … with which … its communicated to us. The Indics called it the Veena … meaning not content of speech … but its form of rhythm. Like an accent.

Speech … when its unrehearsed … not willed … or strategically oriented … produces a manner of sound … that's unique … and vibrates with the instruments of body and mind. It starts right … at the place of individual volition … that's related to objects … associated with our individual nature. Its true to what we are … in the time and place … where we were born … and is integrated with our nature of being.

But didn't we do that always … unmindfully? Was it Pele who responded with … ' if I have to figure out how I do it … I wouldn't know how.' And yet in these times of the osier attitudes … we feel in our bones … that our societies … engage themselves boorishly … in such practices. Still … it seems to be the wave in some way … and even as we conform to its provocative drives … we feel a rising swell … at the place of incredulity.

George Sanders … the English actor … brought a silky sound of voice to the screen … in past years … that had a profound effect on audiences … in enhancing their enjoyment of the movie. The effect was reproduced by Kit on ' Knight Rider ' … Hal in ' 2001 : A Space Odyssey ' … and of course Charlie … in ' Charlie's Angels.' However … for older audiences … we had grown a little defensive … to Charlie … after beginning with George.

Speaking with an eye on our … osier ways of representing experiences … we may offer the possibility … that … after George brought the dragon down … he grew more calm … and in the effects of that new harmony … he developed a voice … that accentuated the thought … but wasn't provocative … as to acts of strategic deliberation.

Predators in the wild … crouch … hide their movement and intent … before creeping noiselessly … close to the prey. And it would appear to anyone … that such are also the workings of … the instruments of speech. But in the transparent application of such a skill of voice … in a court philosopher … it brings considerable counsel … to the court … on the choices and decision making … on issues.

The Indics cultivated … such a personality in a man called Narada … and thereafter it was always a matter of Narada and his veena. In the west … it was Apollo and his lute. Indic legends relating to the Siva family … thereafter … really took off … with Narada … as the counselor of the Indic pantheon of Gods. Today … in the Indic experience … the stimulus on irritability … occurs primarily … in connection … with the ' speech of the Gods ' … the way it leads to glory ... and denies the Ichabod.

On a dark stormy night … as we sit next to a cup of coffee and cigarettes … we sometimes encounter … the sound of our voice another way. In the celebrated story of ' The Devil and Daniel Webster ' … we encounter the mystical suggestion … that the individual is not the speaker. Like Goethe's Faust … it challenges us on the issue … and drives us to find the right word … that would affirm to our experiences … the notion of speech … and the way it engages our volition.

In the social circles … when we bring ourselves … to create a conversation … we experience the languid sense … of ideas and forms of speech … floating around by themselves. And sometimes … the ticklish sense of referring to our comic position … compromised as it were … for having to account for our identity with regards to acts … that relate to events. What's the word for that … pilgrim?

In the warrior's last stand … that I had to take … with regards to the matter … I came to the view that its a coincidence. I sometimes fancy myself a good writer … and lo and behold! … that's something people say about me sometimes! And that is also like saying … the Buddha did the best job … in putting together these views … in a treatise … that coaxed people … to understand themselves better. What a coincidence for him!

The issue revolves around the notion that man knows himself … or if not he is making the attempt … and thereafter social relations … simply bring themselves to imply by the coincidence of events … that such is what you think. A man in hunting gear … aims his rifle at a deer and misses. His friend says … ' guess you haven't quite got into the hunting season.' Isn't that reasonable?

Individual identities … or knowledge of the self … imply a great deal of honesty … and of facing up to the instrumentation of the mind and heart. And when we bring that to the cauldron of social relations … it cooks up quite a stew … of impressions … actions … and record of events. The Indics call it  Prakriti  … or a state of semi-permanent coincidences. We subscribe to that as the way of life in these times … and create the suggestion … that it is so. Have a nice day!