"Simplify, simplify" - Henry David Thoreau
A bit easier for Thoreau to practice what he preached circa 1845-1849, yet how true even today. Especially in this day and age. There are so many complications in all our lives, complicated relationships, complicated finances, complicated jobs. On top of all that, we also possess more now than we ever did. The fact that everything is available online, the fact that things are a lot cheaper than they ever were (thanks to the mass manufacturing culture in the far east) - we just seem to have so much "stuff". It's only when you HAVE to suddenly "up and leave" that you realize how many boxes and bags of stuff you actually have. Not to mention cars, pianos, electrical appliances, furniture....those are just material possessions. Then there is the emotional "clutter", the childhood attachments, the nostalgic memories and the baggage we carry as we make the transition from childhood to adulthood. Someone very dear to me recently said to me that there is no point "being stuck in the past" and that the obsession with the "good old days" was unhealthy and detrimental to one's sanity and well being. How true - and yet an obsession with the future, things to come, the next event or occuring is equally unhealthy. When Thoreau talks of "simplifying" is he referring to simplifying your life by removing all the unneccessary worldly possessions and complications, or is he talking about simplifying one's existance so that only that which is truly ALIVE, and in the moment is of paramount.
In my case, I admit, that I have always had an almost unhealthy obsession with my childhood, with my past, and have always used these memories as an escape when dealing with any stressors, or upsetting circumstances. Despite the way my life has evolved in the past ten years or so, I have always carried the same childhood toys, some photographs, a couple of items of clothing from my trip to the Himalayas, an LP of Glenn Gould, and my little diaries (amongst all the music books that were left to me by my teacher, and all the books that I accumulated over the years). As a result, I have always been able to escape into a different world, when the real world was too ugly or difficult to comprehend. Spending so many hours as a child in isolation (with animals or practising piano) or with just one sibling would have only reinforced the ability to drift off into flights of past nostalgia and fantasy. Attachments to certain things are common, they signify certain moments in your life, certain events, life changing occurrences and what not. Then there are the things...the books, the records, the CDs, the clothes, the piano, cards and letters, souvenirs, concert programs, trophies and medals, collectibles and photographs. I remember feeling utterly distraught and devastated some time ago, when I had to sell my piano. It was an inanimate object - a musical instrument, yet I was grieving for it as if I were grieving for the death of a person or animal... how ridiculous! Even after that, in the process of packing away stuff, I lost an album of photographs from my childhood - with my grandparents, parents and animals - a thin album that I had carried with me from the age of 16. The manic way in which I looked everywhere for these pictures, and the unbelievable grief I felt for days when I could not find the album made me realize just how attached I was to the past, to memories and also to inanimate objects. Those photographs will never be a replacement for the actual memories in my mind - and more importantly, the memories will be just that once all the people in those pictures are no longer alive. So actually being able to give everything up, to walk away from all that I knew, in favour of spending time with the people in those photographs (who are now very old, ailing and who look very different from those happy childhood images) was incredibly cathartic in a way. When I gave half my music books to a very dear friend, former student and teacher, I knew she would gain great enjoyment from them, and she would also be able to use them. And yet, I hope that she too can part with them just as easily, with little or no sentiment when she has to. The other half went to a local library in the middle of nowhere in Ireland - a library that had never seen so many beautiful music scores. I just thought about how impossible it was for me to have access to music scores growing up in Poona - if some kid in the West of Ireland who has an interest in music sees these scores at her library, imagine what this will trigger in her mind! Imagine the joys she will discover! I thought of the piano student who would benefit from having a top notch piano to practice on - suddenly it was no longer "my dear piano" but "A" piano - something that would have zero value or meaning unless there was a living, breathing person to play it and make beautiful music.
Today, I was reminded of just how unimportant possessions can be, and of just how quickly everything becomes irrelevant - read the story of Dawn, a talented, beautiful and very athletic young nurse............
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-malaria-part-twonov27,0,1675381.story?page=1
In my case, I admit, that I have always had an almost unhealthy obsession with my childhood, with my past, and have always used these memories as an escape when dealing with any stressors, or upsetting circumstances. Despite the way my life has evolved in the past ten years or so, I have always carried the same childhood toys, some photographs, a couple of items of clothing from my trip to the Himalayas, an LP of Glenn Gould, and my little diaries (amongst all the music books that were left to me by my teacher, and all the books that I accumulated over the years). As a result, I have always been able to escape into a different world, when the real world was too ugly or difficult to comprehend. Spending so many hours as a child in isolation (with animals or practising piano) or with just one sibling would have only reinforced the ability to drift off into flights of past nostalgia and fantasy. Attachments to certain things are common, they signify certain moments in your life, certain events, life changing occurrences and what not. Then there are the things...the books, the records, the CDs, the clothes, the piano, cards and letters, souvenirs, concert programs, trophies and medals, collectibles and photographs. I remember feeling utterly distraught and devastated some time ago, when I had to sell my piano. It was an inanimate object - a musical instrument, yet I was grieving for it as if I were grieving for the death of a person or animal... how ridiculous! Even after that, in the process of packing away stuff, I lost an album of photographs from my childhood - with my grandparents, parents and animals - a thin album that I had carried with me from the age of 16. The manic way in which I looked everywhere for these pictures, and the unbelievable grief I felt for days when I could not find the album made me realize just how attached I was to the past, to memories and also to inanimate objects. Those photographs will never be a replacement for the actual memories in my mind - and more importantly, the memories will be just that once all the people in those pictures are no longer alive. So actually being able to give everything up, to walk away from all that I knew, in favour of spending time with the people in those photographs (who are now very old, ailing and who look very different from those happy childhood images) was incredibly cathartic in a way. When I gave half my music books to a very dear friend, former student and teacher, I knew she would gain great enjoyment from them, and she would also be able to use them. And yet, I hope that she too can part with them just as easily, with little or no sentiment when she has to. The other half went to a local library in the middle of nowhere in Ireland - a library that had never seen so many beautiful music scores. I just thought about how impossible it was for me to have access to music scores growing up in Poona - if some kid in the West of Ireland who has an interest in music sees these scores at her library, imagine what this will trigger in her mind! Imagine the joys she will discover! I thought of the piano student who would benefit from having a top notch piano to practice on - suddenly it was no longer "my dear piano" but "A" piano - something that would have zero value or meaning unless there was a living, breathing person to play it and make beautiful music.
Today, I was reminded of just how unimportant possessions can be, and of just how quickly everything becomes irrelevant - read the story of Dawn, a talented, beautiful and very athletic young nurse............
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-malaria-part-twonov27,0,1675381.story?page=1
