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Harmony
| Inner
focus |
colon |
| Outer
focus |
integrating the dark |
| Color |
orange |
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Welcome
Feature from West Hollywood, California
Dreams of Harmony
Why the Colon?
Film and Book Recommendations
Harmony in the News?
Who’s
Who in Harmony
The Child's Garden
Poetry
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From the Editors |
This month we are featuring Harmony, number 21 of the Descending Principles (numbered 20-29). Harmony brings to consciousness our awareness of the unseen realms behind the seen, the tones unheard or implicit beyond the dominant melody. The Escher engraving or the improvisation of the jazz musician pick up on these dimensions. What we usually call reality is only the tip of the iceberg. Harmony makes things more complex, and in that way brings us to a richer life.
Tamar Frankiel, Editor
Thanks to Cammie Doty and Connie Kaplan for help on this month’s newsletter.
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Feature from West Hollywood, California |
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This month's principle is Harmony. Here is a teaching from one of our dream sisters:
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My brother has Sun in Harmony. When I found that out, I wondered if that’s the source of his musical talent; he picked up a clarinet at age 8 and virtually never put it down. However, if we watch the “Who’s Who” column in this newsletter, we see that musicians can appear in almost any principle. Perhaps the kind of music? he was drawn to jazz at an early age, and jazz is a metaphor for the principle of Harmony, because the jazz improvisation lets you hear the “uncomposed” dimensions of the melody.
But even if that’s so, it wasn’t till five or ten years ago that his full relationship to Harmony appeared. He had formed a band to play New Orleans jazz, and as they developed their repertoire and began to play at clubs and weddings in and around Dallas-Ft.Worth, he ended up doing more and more of the talking in between numbers. An artful composer and arranger of orchestral and jazz music, now he began composing offbeat songs. And one day he confessed, “I’ve gotten to love being up on stage cracking jokes! I really get off on making people laugh and engaging with an audience.” Harmony was showing one of its other favorite faces: humor, where we appreciate the undertones of human behavior and human language.
His day job? An air traffic controller - watching blips of light which each represent hundreds of passengers flying through the sky.
--Tamar Frankiel
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Dreams of Harmony |
Here are some Harmony dreams from our fellow dreamers. We were surprised to find that dreams with Harmony themes are often portrayed as visits to unusual worlds.
I’m taken to another planet we are being saved. It is the planet of the Shit-eaters. I’m revolted at the thought but the man who is taking me there says I’ll get used to it. When we get there, I’m given some of the “regular” food and I eat some; it’s a lot like chicken & rice. Certain people have to handle it and give it to us. Then we go to a restaurant and I order another version called “Islamabad”; the waitress is surprised that I am ordering this already. Again it tastes like chicken & rice. I tell the man that I’m not ready to eat all the foods here. He says, “no, but you will."
The colon is the inner focus of the Harmony principle, so the reference to “shiteaters” suggests the ingestion/integration of that which we prefer to ignore or treat as waste. That’s on the “regular” physical level, part of our cultural rules. Then, on a political level the city Islamabad is for an American dreamer an ambiguous name an exotic foreign capital, but also potentially, according to the media, a source of danger. The dream says that absorbing the dark energy usually takes time. Even though the dreamer can transmute the dark energy so far to “chicken and rice,” there is a longer path to travel.
I’m a young vampire/shape-shifter living in a parallel world. My family was ancient, co-existing with humans. I was sent on a rite-of-passage, after which I would be treated as an adult or mature. So I went, shape-shifted into a canine form running towards quaint-looking hills with houses on it.
My quest was to look for food. The first stop was a house selling pastries and cakes. I turned invisible and started to gather pastries, while trying not to startle anyone. Then, I was off running again in canine-form, and rounded a corner, only to find a bunch of filthy children. Filthy, because they were homeless and their clothes were rags. I did not have the heart to scare them and backed away.
I continued running and suddenly, I chanced upon a church and I could hear sacred music. A Mass was in session. I was nervous: vampires never liked the Church. A priest came out and he saw me. He directed me to the back of the church, where - to my surprised delight - a tomato tree grew, luscious with red juicy fruit. There were other plants but the tomato tree impressed me a great deal. I helped the priest to do some gardening and he allowed me to gather the ripe tomatoes. It was a strange but amicable relationship.
When I emerged from the church, I was carrying a bagful of tomatoes. I was ready to go back to my family who was by now waiting for my return. I made my way back. Two younger vampires - a girl and a boy - wrinkled their noses and backed away from me, saying that I felt "pure" and my "shadows" were gone. To them, I felt different now. And to their surprise, I decided to give some of the food to the homeless children.
This shamanic/ceremonial dream engages with the ‘shadows’ directly, and by the end of the dream the dark has been integrated, the shadows gone, Harmony’s mission accomplished. The alternating themes food and filth, a priest and a vampire suggest light and dark. The homeless children represent the “underside” of human civilization too. It’s interesting that gardening brings about friendship and integration a garden is where the light of the sun meets the dark of the earth.
A factory full of machine-works is being shut down. Deep in the structure of the factory, I am in a room where people eat and take breaks. It’s at a very deep low level safe deep inside the earth. I walk through the cavernous rooms. A woman’s disembodied voice repeats: “You can feel free to come back any time to study synchronicity, time travel and ______” Is she a projection or hologram or a program? Her words begin to drop out like a fading signal and the picture quivers and becomes indistinct. Simultaneously I begin to think I should get out of here and become vaguely aware that I am dreaming.
Outside the factory in a great random teeming city, I sit in a room which feels other-worldly…of the Earth and yet either not-Earth or an alternate time or future. The light has a sunset-amber color. It’s comfortable and familiar. I’m visiting a master musician who reminds me of S. A swarthy handsome man enters the room and squats down near him. “S” and I watch as he opens a cloth sack and pulls out an extraordinary tambourine. It is made of wood and skin as one would expect, but the cymbals creating the sound are of a translucent material, hard and crystalline, creating a magical fairy-like sound. I marvel at all the comings and goings here in this room. People and things just seem to come to this man who stays in his apartment. Many people spend little time at home; instead they roam the city on peculiar yet magical missions.
Yet another other-worldly but earthy dream speaks of Harmony, starting in the bowels (“colon”?) of a factory that is closing, words and images fading, then moving to a sunset-amber atmosphere in a teeming city. The dream then focuses on an unusual musical instrument in the home of a master. We might be reminded of the famous Bob Dylan song, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” whose lyrics convey some of the quality of a journey through worlds, encountering darkness on a “jingle jangle morning."
http://www.asklyrics.com/Bob_Dylan/Tambourine_Man_Lyrics/48596.htm
To find Harmony
in your dreams, look for references to the colon or waste products ... to dark/light combinations or dark orange tones ... to unusual music or sci-fi type worlds . . .to the number 21.
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Why
the Colon? |
As indicated in the first dream cited above, the colon contains the waste of the body; it extracts salt and water from solid waste before passing it on. Since it has no digestive enzymes, we think of it as not performing a positive function. But in fact a symbiotic process occurs where bacteria break down fiber for their own food and the bacteria’s waster products nourish the lining of the colon. This “hidden” system provides the body with 100 calories of energy per day. Similarly, the principle of Harmony teaches us that we should never assume that something we can’t see or don’t understand has no function. There is “hidden nourishment” to body and spirit everywhere we turn.
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Film and Book Recommendations |
Revolutionary Road , directed by Sam Mendes
This film depicts the shadow side of the American dream as it was lived in suburbia in the 1950's. Frank and April Wheeler (played by Leonardo diCaprio and Kate Winslet) create the perfect Connecticut life in their lovely home, raising their two normal children. He takes a job in the city, and they begin walking down the road of "normalcy." Their unlived hopes and dreams, the what-might-have-been story, takes over their lives, and the dark underbelly of their lives becomes the focus of the film. Harmony speaks loudly through the mouths of the characters. Michael Shannon makes an important appearance and serves as a mouthpiece for the principle of Harmony, playing a schizophrenic acquaintance who has no fear of stating the obvious. Not a "fun" picture, but one that requires you to look at the otherwise unnoticed side of life. --CCK
The Reintegration of Science and Spirituality by Deno Kazanis
Religious traditions around the globe have insisted that there is more to the world than the physically measurable, and more to the body than the sensations and emotions we regularly notice. These have been called “subtle bodies,” “subtle matter,” or “invisible worlds.” Physicist Kazanis suggests that the wrongly-named “dark matter” and “dark energy” recently discovered by science may turn out to be related to the mystics’ subtle matter. If so, it’s a huge iceberg of which our reality is only the tip. This is a suggestive book which may provide a foundation for further explorations.
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Harmony in the News |
Harmony is seeing the unseen, hearing the unheard. Are these news stories expressions of this principle?
- Headline: Trichopterae
Cabinet Magazine, Spring 2007. Artist Hubert Duprat works with caddis worms who integrate into the protective sheaths of their larvae materials that he provides gold spangles, precious stones, and the like. Is the caddis worm creating something out of random materials, or are the larvae the work of an artist? “The artistic statement plays on the confusion of the two levels by overlaying two perspectives,” says philosopher Christian Besson. http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/25/duprat.php
- Headline: Unheard Voices Project
Dedicated to recording the stories of workers whose lives have been irrevocably altered by technological change, this North Carolina group produces documentaries like Wild Caught on the fishing industry and With These Hands on the closing of the Hooker furniture factory.
- Headline: Scientists Shine Light on Dark Matter
John Mangels, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 9, 2009 An international workshop focusing on dark matter meets in Cleveland, featuring British scientist Carlos Frenk, who thinks new technology will enable scientists to identify dark matter within five years. “There’s a feeling in the air,” he said.http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer
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6.
Who's Who in Harmony |
The famous people we found with Sun in Harmony include an unusual number of people who take either a comedic or distinctively critical perspective on society. Of course, some are just “ordinary famous” people too. See what you think!
- Earvin “Magic” Johnson, 1959-
One of basketball’s most successful players (Los Angeles Lakers, 1980s-90s), he became an HIV-AIDS activist and philanthropist after his retirement from the sport.
- Howard Stern, 1954-
American radio and TV personality, media mogul, humorist, actor, and author, dubbed a “shock jock” for his highly controversial use of scatological, sexual and racial humor.
- Rush Limbaugh, 1951-
American radio host and political commentator, credited with reviving AM radio in the USA; generally regarded as the cheerleader of the Republican party’s conservative wing.
- Mark Spitz, 1950-
American champion swimmer, best known for his 7 gold medals in the 1972 Munich Olympics, after which he retired at the age of 22.
- Pete Rose, 1941-
All-time major-league baseball leader in hits and games played, an All-Star game player in an unequaled five different positions (2B, LF, RF, 3B, and 1B). After retiring, Rose agreed to permanent ineligibility from baseball amid accusations that he gambled on baseball games.
- Danielle Steel, 1947-
One of America’s most successful novelists, whose writing while focusing on romance and suspense, also explores less savory aspects of human nature such as incest, suicide, and war.
- Steve Martin, 1945-
American actor, known in early years for his offbeat, absurdist stand-up routines, considered becoming a philosophy professor, but then turned to film and became an award-winning comedian.
- George Carlin, 1937-
American stand-up comedian whose irreverent attitude and observations on taboo subjects led to a 1978 Supreme Court decision to allow the government to regulate his act on the airwaves.
- Glenn Yarbrough, 1930-
American folk singer, known for his work with the Limeliters in the early 1960s, then a prolific recording career; he provided vocals for the Hobbitt film series. He is also an accomplished world class sailor who has sailed around the world five times.
- “Yogi” Berra, 1925-
Major league mostly New York Yankees baseball player, named MVP four times and, as a manager, led both American and National League teams to the World Series.
- Jack Kerouac, 1922-1969
Best known of the artists and writers of the Beat Generation, a term he created. His On the Road inspired a whole generation of critics of mainstream American society.
- Ingmar Bergman, 1918-2007
Swedish film director known for his portrayal of themes of mortality, loneliness, and faith Award-winners included Through a Glass Darkly, Cries and Whispers, and Fanny and Alexander.
- L. Ron Hubbard, 1911-1986
Former science fiction writer who gained fame as the founder of Scientology.
- Katharine Hepburn, 1907-2003
Winner of a record four Academy Awards for Best Actress during a 70-year career, Hepburn was known for her sharp wit, non-conformist behavior, and fierce independence.
- Aaron Copland, 1900-1990
“Dean of American composers,” who balanced modern music with American folk styles. His slowly changing harmonies are said to evoke the American landscape, while his use of polyrhythms, polychords, and changing meter make his work distinctive.
- e. e. cummings, 1894-1962
American poet, romantic in tendency, but known for his unusual use of syntax and typographical style, so that the poems need to be read aloud.
- Dwight David Eisenhower, 1890-1969
34th President; former Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, who supervised the successful invasion of France and Germany. As President, he oversaw the cease-fire of the Korean War, began the “Space Race,” and initiated the Interstate Highway System.
- Swami Vivekenanda, 1863-1902
Chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna, he became a Hindu missionary to the West, key in introducing Vedanta and Yoga, and establishing Hinduism as a world religion.
- Florence Nightingale, 1820-1910
“Lady with the Lamp,” a pioneer British nurse during the Crimean War, who became an inspiration for American nurses in the Civil War. She worked to improve conditions in hospitals and helped professionalize nursing, resulting in greater recognition for women.
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7.
The Child's Garden |
The spiritual parenting of our children through studying their principles teaches us as well as them. Bringing this work to the next generation can be one of the most powerful forces to heal humanity. Here’s an example of learning from our children:
Two children with Sun in Harmony, and how different can they be? In lifestyle, they have chosen very different paths one a devout religious student, married in his early 20s, building a family life; the other a secular rebel, a brilliant “I don’t wanna grow up” 21st century bohemian.
But, scratch the surface.
No one in the family can make people laugh more than these two. She searches the internet for the funniest You-Tube skits and best political satires. He would rather tease and tickle than enjoy a big steak dinner. You know that when one of them is “on,” you’ll be splitting your sides with laughter before long. Of course, it’s best not to have them both on together because then competition is the name of the game.
On the serious side, both are incredibly introspective. Both, in their twenties, are more aware of their own shadow side than most 40-year-olds. The two of them took psychotherapy very seriously and are more articulate about family issues than their siblings.
More mysteriously, both love the intricacies of language, the hidden messages in the artistry of words. When our son was in 10th grade, he came to me with a page of John Steinbeck, saying “Read this, Mom.” I did, and looked at him “Yes?” “Isn’t it just wonderful writing?” he sighed. Ten years later his sister, getting off the plane, tosses a book in my lap. “Wait till you read this!” she exclaims. “He really knows how to write.”
Scratch the surface. That’s the story of Harmony.
--TF
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8. Poetry |
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Keith Allen Daniels (1956-2001) was an editor and poet and, by day, a materials engineer. Known for his witty poems and unusual vocabulary, he described himself as having a soul that “belongs to the night.” His poetry was published, mostly in science fiction magazines, over a span of 30 years, and was frequently nominated for prizes. In 1990 he founded Anamnesis Press to specialize in imaginative poetry and fiction. He died at the young age of 45 of colon cancer.
The poem below irresistibly reminded me of the rhythm of "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things" - though it doesn't quite fit. --Ed.
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The Quaker of the Olden Time
ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING
Keith Allen Daniels © 1997
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/anamnesis/oncemore.htm
robins are nesting
in brutal appliance
caddisfly larvae
build hauberks of bone
insects observe
no moment of silence
horseshoe crabs
are impassive as stone
human debris
is sorted by pack rats
hording their trophies
in fulgurite homes
lichens develop
a hunger for plastic
devour the remnants
of packaging foam
flowers are blooming
in high mountain passes
tektites are gathered
in cairns for the dead
yetis emerge from
tunnels of glass with
Jesus their savior
new lambs to be led
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