Absurdity, Ears & Hearts

Do you lack heart or ear?

Last night while reading William James’ classic, The Varieties of Religious Experience, I stumbled upon the following in his chapter on Mysticism:

“One must have musical ears to value a symphony; one must have been in love oneself to understand the lover’s state of mind. Lacking the heart or ear, we cannot interpret the musician or the lover justly, and are even likely to consider him weak minded absurdrd.”

As I thought about this, I realized how true this is for most things, and not just mystical spiritual experiences.

Where do I lack the heart or ear to interpret another’s symphony?
Better yet, who do I view as weak minded or absurd?

It is usually because I haven’t developed the willingness to hear and interpret the harmoniously composition of the various elements in my own life. I cannot interpret your life if I haven't interpreted my own.

I cannot hear, listen to and interpret your symphony if I haven’t done same the same for myself. I won’t understand your pain, hopes, and joys if I haven’t touched my own. This may mean that I have to face myself and look beyond the exterior coating that I present to the world and begin to reveal those parts of myself that I attempt to protect or hide.

Beneath the surface of my skin and deeper into my heart is where the masterpiece is being written. It is where my fears, hopes, dreams, wishes, and wounds reside. Tell me where you hurt; what you fear; and how you are healing-- give me the space to do the same, then we’ll be able to connect.

There’s much talk about building community, but how can we build community when we don’t know each other? I don’t care what you do for a living, show me where you hurt and what you fear and allow me to do the same-- then we'll connect. If we are only looking at the exterior of ourselves and one another, we'll never know each other. If we haven't interpreted the symphony is our self, it is impossible to interpret another's symphony. We just write them off as absurd.