‘I performed first the music calculated to awe;
     and you were frightened as if by a ghostly visitation,
I followed it with that calculated to weary;
     and in your weariness you would have withdrawn.
I concluded with that calculated to perplex;
     and in your perplexity you felt your stupidity.

But that stupidity is akin to the Tao;
you may with it convey the Tao in your person,
and have it (ever) with you.’

—Zhuangzi, The Revolution of Heaven, by Zhuang Zhou, trans. James Legge

Exchanged email with a friend this morning about the Israel Hamas war.  The logic of the drama appears to be genocidal.  I ponder whether it is possible to pause, to delay sufficient to create space, enough for   reason to illuminate this abyss.  Of course it makes a difference in such a desperate circumstance whether one prevails.  Life is preferred by every individual within this performance space, whether Israeli citizen, IDF member, Palestinian civilian, or Hamas fighter.  The conundrum comes with the self-understanding of some of these participants, for whom “life” means they have a divine mandate to murder their fellow-human beings.

But this is an old story, the logic of mass murder, and how the entire community is dragged along…

But this post was supposed to be about music, about the viewpoint of an ancient Music Master, a composer.  There is a logic, a pathway conceived by the constraints of lyric, melody and harmony which is conceived to capture everyone within the space of the tune.  It is best to demonstrate, so I offer this superb tune by Van Morrison, The Village Idiot.

The logic is inscribed, built in.  Yes, it is complicated, and we are all village idiots of a kind.  Better that we “know something” which we are reticent to say…