Leela Music Newsletter, September 2007Michael Stribling Here's an overview of what you'll find in this issue:
Another Day in Paradise has arrived! The CD is currently available at CDBaby.com. The audio clips should be available on the website (and CDBaby) any day now. Check the website for details about the CD's availability at Amazon.com, iTunes, etc. In the meantime, several reviewers are, well, reviewing the project. I'll post the reviews on the website as I receive them. You're welcome to post a review, too! Once again, I am very grateful to the Muse, who continues to inspire my work. Hopefully, in keeping with the mission statement of Leela Music, the compositions on this project will "help others in their journey toward wholeness through the gift of music, by creating works that inspire and uplift the human spirit."
(The following content is just another memo to myself. You may or may not find these words are useful for you. As always, take what you like, and leave the rest. :-) Look at the picture, not the frame; the gift, not the packaging. We tend to get excited about things that ultimately aren't very important. We waste a lot of time pursuing things that are essentially meaningless. Commercial businesses spend oodles of money attracting consumers to their products. With so many products to choose from, the attractiveness of the packaging becomes all important. Unfortunately, this means we become more fascinated by and attracted to the outsides of things, rather than the insides. If the packaging doesn't catch our eye, we move on, regardless of the value of the content within. This idea extends to deeper levels of meaning besides the obvious surface reference to packaged goods on store shelves. For one thing, it applies to people, too; we tend to look on the outside, without looking to the inside. Every contact, every event in our lives is another opportunity to grow, another gift of grace ... if we choose to look at it that way. We miss it, though, when we are accustomed to looking only at the frame and packaging in which the gift comes to us. According to A Course in Miracles (Text, Chapter 17, IV: "The Two Pictures"), the ego spends a lot of effort devising elaborate gem-studded, gilded picture frames, while the picture it is framing is ultimately false and based on illusion. The frame serves to distract the viewer from the emptiness that lies within the frame. On the other hand, Truth is a picture that needs no frame at all, and in any event, any frame we might try to construct would pale in comparison to its contents, no matter how splendidly it is crafted. Ultimately, this is a question of priority. What do we focus on? What do we value? the frame or the picture? And is it a picture of the ego's devising, based on illusion, or is it a picture of Truth? The ego is noisy, like a carnival barker surrounded by loud noises and flashing lights: "Step right up and see the three-headed nonsense!" Some of the ego's packaging is so loud, and the disco lighting so bright, it almost seems to jump out at us, grabbing us by the throat, saying, "Look at this! Isn't it marvelous?" Truth, in contrast, is quiet. It does not need to sell itself. It's beauty is apparent to all who choose to look inside. It is perfectly content to wait until we find it, waiting right where it's always been (which is usually closer to us than we are to ourselves). In some ways, the framing of Truth may seem less attractive than the glitter of the ego's picture frame; yet, the two pictures cannot be compared. One is real, and the other is not. Look at the picture, not the frame; the gift, not the packaging.
One of the compositions on the new CD is called "Procession of the Avatars"; the melody is taken from a 13th Century Benedictine Plainsong, for which St. Thomas Aquinas wrote lyrics (originally in Latin) in about 1360. I thought I'd provide an English translation, in case anyone is interested in following along.
Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen, Taste, and touch, and vision, to discern thee fail; O memorial wondrous of the Lord's own death; Jesus, whom now veilèd, I by faith descry,
Every issue, I give away a free CD (autographed, of course :-). If you're on the mailing list, you're automatically entered in every drawing. This month, the winner is Vickie Blair-Colby. Congratulations! ============================================================ That's it for this issue. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you liked, or didn't like, in this issue, and any recommendations or requests you have for future editions. Thank you for your support. Please invite your friends to visit my website and sign the guestbook. Oh yeah, it's okay to order some CDs, too! They make wonderful gifts :-). I also have a page on MySpace.com. Have a look and join the list of friends at www.myspace.com/leelamusic I wish you peace, joy, and love. Namasté, Michael Stribling If you would like to be removed from my mailing list, please reply to this email and type the word "unsubscribe" in either the subject line or the body of your reply. Leela Music Newsletters
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