“Harmony cannot be recognised unless there is disharmony”
–David Deane-Spread (as it was given to him).
Temporary chaos, likewise, reminds us of the order necessary for, and accorded to, life. We often cannot recognise our true lives—and the meaning to life—in the absence of chaos, pain, discomfort and emptiness. It reminds me of a certain interaction between The Oracle and Neo in The Matrix trilogy. As they sit at a park bench together, The Oracle mentions that it’s only the errant programs (people) who attract any sort of attention—all others (which are operating as designed) are not ordinarily noticed.
Yet, we cannot get enough harmoniousness in life, can we? We have a lovely, relaxing weekend and then all of a sudden our world’s are in turmoil again as we’re thrust into ‘the doing’ of employment and activity again. Our safe havens are dishevelled. Our harmony is shaken so easily.
Like on a hot summer’s day without air conditioning or being caught in the rain, our very human tolerances are disrupted at the finest adjustment—life turns up the volume.
And again, we’d not really know the intricate balance implicit in harmony if we always achieved it. It’s disharmony that helps us define the preciousness of balance.
Life is actually designed that we evolve through disharmony, skilfully managing it, engineering it into harmony at times, and enduring the disharmony at others. That is balance.
If we had bright, lovely, warm spring days all the time we’d hardly appreciate them. The very fact of rain and cold means that when the perfect day comes we cherish it; and perhaps even too much i.e. to the worship of the day—by virtue of our reticence to let go of it. That would be imbalance i.e. it’s disharmony to hold some things tightly.
When we can finally learn to see the disharmony for what it is—to the heralding of harmony—we will not dislike it so much. We will have hope that in the disharmony there awaits harmony again; it awaits, about to poke its head around the corner.
There is nothing more certain.
1 comment:
Hi Steve,
Thank you for acknowledging that is was given to me. Your exposition of the value of disharmony - or the opposite of what we desire is most useful and helpful.
Best wishes,
David
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