The Mystery of Creation

There are trivial truths and the great truths.  The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false.  The opposite of a great truth is also true.” — who said this, I’m trying to remember… Life is full of mystery!  We should enjoy and appreciate the incredible mysteries of creation!

In fact, anything that we learn, we learn from our senses.  Anything we learn from our senses and/or the scientific instruments that extend our senses, in other words anything that we experience can not be said to be true with total certainty.  This dilemma is best expressed by one of my favorite observations by the great sage Chang-Tzu:

“Once upon a time, I, Chang-Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither when suddenly I was awakened.  Now I do not know  whether I was a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am a butterfly now dreaming I am a man.”

As a composer, I am not always sure where my melodies come from. I ascribe my creativity to weather,mood, lack of sleep, etc…but always to free will, whatever that is.

Thomas Schoenberger

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Music and Free Will

As a practical matter, whether or not there is such a thing as free will, and whether or not one personally believes in free will, one must live one’s life as if he or she does have free will. There is no alternative.  That is the way the rules of existence are structured.  What the modern advaitists, Balsekar and Liquorman point out is that if you intellectually and viscerally are convinced there is no such thing as free will you will be released from the pain of suffering from a sense of sin or guilt.  Such a person will be far less judgmental of others. Harris makes the same point.My sense is that Mozart personified free will the older he got, and Beethoven perfected the model by his 29th year ( when he started to grow deaf) More on free will and music in future blogs

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