I found this in my diary from 23 months ago and I still can relate to and appreciate it. That encourages me to let myself still be guided by these ideas.
29.01.17
Silence is an unquestionable authority, both gentle and relentless. It can be deafening like an endlessly breaking wave or soothing like a warm embrace. It takes courage to be tested by silence, because it knows the truth and reveals everything in its clear gaze, though it never judges the tested. In the realm of Silence Curiosity and Patience are the gate keepers, the wise guides that help to navigate through the labyrinths of perception, gardens of surprises and temples of tranquility. Every listener sooner or later discovers this healing realm with its invigorating fountains. They suddenly get there in a blink of an eye, sometimes even without noticing. At other times the delicate architecture of silence might dissolve like a sandcastle in the tide, impossible for the traveller to recall its shape. One can enter anytime and anywhere but at times its gates seem to be hidden.
I am learning to listen with every word and every gesture.
I enjoyed many years of musical training in different schools and conservatories with supportive and inspiring teachers. Great lessons were not those when I learned to do certain things, but the ones when I realized how I undo and let go of things which numb and distort awareness for myself, my body and my surroundings. I learned to value slowness, to love tone exercises and to breath effortlessly.
But the most valuable and simultaneously most difficult lessons I learned from Silence.
I would consider myself a listening artist. My work and the vision connected with it focuses on awareness for the space around it and all the creatures within it. I want to create a simple space filled with attention for one another where it is safe to experience yourself and others as we are. Might that be in a pedagogical context or at a performance or simply in a conversation. Unlike a magician I do not want to project illusion with sounds, although that might be a great skill to possess.
Intimacy is created by true listening and we people are driven and guided through our lives by the narratives we choose to tell and concentrate on.
My goal is not to make anyone happy by suggesting what I think is right, but to invite people to perceive what is going on right now, to find out what their own story is. I do that by sharing what I find beautiful, which is everything that makes me feel thankful and encourages me to be kinder.