Guest Editorial Rockert-T
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Photo by Grizz Pure Anywear
The Essential Nature of Harmony
by Ras Rocker Tafari a.k.a. Rocker-T
(c2012 T.Sorensen)
There are hundreds and even thousands of schools large and small throughout the world that claim to hold the answers to all of life's problems. And clearly human existence and society is so diverse and sometimes so complicated that it might be unrealistic to think that humanity would sacrifice it's natural independence in the name of one religion or one school of thought. Knowledge of the One ultimately requires knowledge of the fact that the One has thousands if not millions of names.
As there are so many ways to call the Name there are at least that many ways that life is experienced. In one place there is too much to eat while others elsewhere are starving. Some have peace and others live war. Things seem out of balance and the world is in pain. The apparent lack of harmony causes sadness and sorrow. Whenever we feel pain or loss, or we become upset or frustrated it is because there is some aspect of ourselves or our situation that is out of tune with our environment.
Suffering is in many ways in relation to harmony. A being that is in tune with the total environment never becomes sick or loses their temper. It is only the introduction of non-harmonious forces that can disrupt such a perfect state. All sadness based in desire is relative to the basic need to harmonize. As the entire universe is virtually always in tune, so the beings in the universe long to be tuned in as well.
Every basic component of this universe is endowed with the primordial ability to be in harmony. As the components become more complex and complicated, the more free will they are capable of exercising. Hence they become able to either cause dissonance or bring harmony on many levels and in various ways. For example there are multitudes of humans with myriads of cultures and cultural styles. There are also as many styles of music and instruments with which to style the music on, as well as just as many scales, melodies and rhythms of expression. And for most humans our favorite rhythms and/or melodies help us to feel content or give us a sense of joy and relief even in a confused world.
We can examine the notes of any musical scale. Starting with a "root" note. We can combine this with other "branch" notes one at a time and hear and feel various levels of harmony or dissonance that each possible combination produces. By combining the same root note with two or more branches at a time other levels of the same phenomenon are also experienced, although it becomes more difficult to harmonize greater amounts of notes at one time. Since this is the way the universe works, one can see