From Harmonics to Harmony

One night, I was thinking of harmonics in guitar, which is the production of sound without allowing the guitar string to vibrate. Using harmonics produces the same note as with playing with frets but in a different expression. This is just like two guitarist playing the same melody, but interpreting it different from each other. I was thinking of this while listening Metallica's "Welcome Home". In the intro of the song, there are harmonic expressions as also in "Nothing Else Matters". This gave me an idea about how people express the same idea in a different expression style. An idea can be articulated through a poem, a novel, drama or a short story. These are all ways in which a single idea is expressed in a variety of ways. For example, in politics, there are political parties. Some of these parties cluster around as sets of left, right or extremist wing ideas. Whatever cluster each party belongs to, it shares a common idea with the sets of other parties in the same cluster. However, their individual expression of the idea differs from the individual expression of ideas of other parties.

To conclude, if using harmonics and some other method of expression at the same time creates a music of harmony which appeals to the ear, in politics the expression of different voices should be accepted as creating a harmony. Here is a question. What is "harmony" in politics???

The answer: Democracy

Why democracy?

Because it is the expression of the same idea in different ways or voices.

Emotion or Reason

Lately, I have read and presented "November by the Sea" by D.H. Lawrence. When one reads the poem, one develops a depressed emotional mood. The poem refers to the end of life by likening it to the end of year (November) and the waves which come to the shore. In such a dark atmosphere, one cannot save one's self from the emotional involvement. At this point, a feeling of despair infiltrates through one's spirit. The spirit, inevitably, is imprissoned by the emotion in despair. What can be done in order to free this spirit?

In order to free and liberate this spirit, one must use one's reason. Reason is the mind which questions what is constructive or destructive for the human spirit to survive or to perish. When mind is opened, one can see a light rather than darkness in the poem. So one can evaluate that November is not the last month of the year, neither is December. It does not mean that December is the "last month" of the year just because it is accepted as the last month of the twelve months. For example, for the Chinese, the beginning and the end of the year is different from ours. When the northern hemisphere experiences winter, the southern hemisphere experiences summer. So, winter and the end are relative. That is why it is wrong to accept this relativity as if it is absolutely true.

If you read the poem with this perspective, November may mean spring to you, the end may suggest a beginning or a rebirth. The "setting sun" may give you the message that it will rise again due to the fact that nothing has an end. The mind teaches people that it is wrong to mourn for death and we should continue to enjoy every moment of life as long as we participate in it. For life, our death is not the beginning, neither is it the end.