The soul has many windows. When one is shut, one or two more open in the name of survival.
German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven developed a hearing loss. He became depressed and wrote a suicide note to his siblings but never gave it. They discovered it only when he died. Partial deafness did not stop him from composing songs that would awe millions. Can you imagine a composer who is deaf?
eastwind journals, July 8, 2021
By Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
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In spite of deafness, he would walk through the nearby woods and write symphony music as he watched trees swaying in the wind. He would watch the incandescent moon playing hide and seek with thin clouds and compose instantly without thinking an evening sonata. It is the heart that composes, not the mind, not the ears. What he could not hear, he could see and would transform it to music. He was forced to let his heart turn to his eyes when his ears were failing in the name of spiritual survival.
His impairment closed a window in his soul, but a new irresistible window opened wide, the energy of the soul to survive and surmount great hurdles. Rather than suppress him, deafness made Ludwig more resolved and more creative in composing his greatest works.
Maria, at 78 years old, turned blind because of degenerative cataracts on both eyes. She was in protracted depression. She prayed to the Lord for strength and it was given to her. She realized she could see with her hands, so she continued sewing and gardening by groping, the only things she could do in her old age. If she failed to open a new window of her soul, she would perhaps think of suicide. Her granddaughter asked her to stop and rest, and she would reply, “I am resting, my dear.” She was happier blind than when she still could see. If you turn deaf, you can hear. If you turn blind you can see. Maria turned her deep darkness to blinding light through the help of the Lord.
There is a saying, “Walls do not a prison make.” If they jail you, you can let your soul wander endlessly in the woods or in the books you read. To fight madness, an inmate at Alcatraz memorized dozens of books on grandmaster chess games. He had a photographic memory wherein remember almost every move of every game grandmasters played against each other. Yet, he never played a single game in his life.
A visiting journalist heard about his feat, interviewed him, and wrote a story in a chess magazine. When a grandmaster read the article, he visited the Alcatraz denizen and challenged him to a game. The Alcatraz inmate played the very first ever game in his life against a grandmaster, and won. From memory, he based his moves on particular grandmaster chess games from his books without having the skill to play, just pure memory. The grandmaster hugged him from sheer admiration.
After his victory, another inmate in a protracted depression, an environmentalist, suddenly realized he could do the same, open new windows in his soul. One night, he ‘left’ his cell and roamed the rainforests in his mind. He could hear clearly the birds and monkeys calling out to him. Then, he remembered the days he roamed the tropical rainforests in the Philippines, and started writing. His book won acclaim in a science journal. It was on how monocrop tree plantations triggered the spread of a worm borer that destroyed thousands of hectares of trees propagated for making paper. The only solution was to burn the entire plantation. No one can stop a prisoner to roam the Earth if he wanted to, or an astronaut from visiting galaxies.
There are many stories of paraplegics who defied impairment, and became track stars on wheel chairs, swimming champions, basketball stars. Wheel chair races became regular events. For them, impairment became a blessing in disguise.
The soul has many windows, so that if one is slammed shut by the violent wind, another is opened by the gentle breeze. Nothing can suppress spiritual energy. It has a powerful primordial cosmic force all its own that cannot be contained. It is inside you when you are still in our mother’s womb. Remember that before you get depressed when you feel helpless.
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Comments to Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
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Blogger – ex-Columnist (Inquirer) – Healing Ministry – ex-Professor (Ateneo U) – Documentary Producer-Director (freelance, ex-ABS-CBN) – ex-Broadcaster (Radio Veritas) – Facebook “Bernie V. Lopez Eastwind” / Pages “Eastwind Journeys and Journals” and “Mary Queen of Peace”.
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