One Hand
Clapping:
The Taoe of Music
WholeArts and
The Psychic Internet is proud to present the
"Preface" and "Part One" of this
remarkable book by Daniel d'Quincy. "One Hand
Clapping: The Tao of Music," originally published by
WholeArts in 1991, is a book-length essay on the
performance of music from the perspective of Eastern
philosophy and religion. Mr. d'Quincy is a noted
composer, musician, author, inventor, educator, speaker,
and photographer. Please visit his unique music sites at WholeArts: syNThony, and the WholeArts Online Music Conservatory.
Page 25
It is quite
natural to imagine in ourselves an entity that transcends
all bounds of space and time. All of us wonder, now and
then, “what will happen “to me” after
death?” - quite irrespective of whether or not we
are religious - and the question is in itself this
natural imagining. Even the confirmed atheists among us
may have room in their universe for the survival of a
person through fame or works. People even go so far as to
speak about the soul of a work of art, the soul of a
nation, or the soul of an age, thinking of something that
outlives the physical term of the life of its creator(s).
Therefore, let us not shrink now from asking if the soul
really can, one way or another, define who we will
be after we die.
But, then, if we
really intend to approach this question from an eastern
perspective, we will also have to ask who we were before
we were born. This question is even more difficult for
westerners, who do not customarily, and as a matter of
cultural convention, have much truck with the idea of
reincarnation. Moreover, this idea of reincarnation would
also seem to be burdened naturally with the difficulties
of faith and belief, even though there are people, East
and West, who claim to know something about their past
lives. Scientists have researched the question with the
help of hypnotic regression, and other techniques, though
not without controversial results. Still, there seems to
be no reason in principle why the matter could not be
approached directly and with objectivity.
Can you remember
who you were before you were born?
If that is too
difficult, try something a little easier that may serve
just as well for our purpose. Try instead to remember who
you were after you were born, but before you became you.
Can you remember whomsoever you were the day before you
knew your name?
It will be
helpful to approach this question obliquely, by way of
introducing a new idea into this discourse. Consider, if
you will, the philosophical notion of the void. (Next Page)
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