The Many-Stringed Instrument of Gold©

…a story about the music our hearts make when we have the ears to hear

Long ago, before humanity had been given physical form, the goddesses and gods came together in the Great Meeting Hall of the Heavens to once again attempt to decide upon the True Form of the Soul.  The Celestial Council had been debating on this topic for millennia.  “It should be a flower!”  “No, it should be a rainbow!”  “Definitely not.  It should be a tree!”  And on and on.  They had formed many planets and stars, suns and moons, dimensions and doorways in time, yet they had not been able to agree upon the True Form of the Soul in order to complete their vision and creation of humanity.

On a particular, fateful day, the goddess Ananna came to sit quietly at one end of the long golden table in the Great Meeting Hall of the Heavens, and closed her eyes.  In the midst of the ongoing, clamorous debate,  Ananna wore a face of simple loveliness.  Affected by her tranquil presence, a pregnant silence fell over the members of the Council like a warm, gentle mist.  They noticed the even fall and rise of her breath and the serene absorption that generated a soft glow all around her.  They were quiet together for a long while.

Then, streaking through the crystalline silence like a shooting star, Ananna began to sing.  Her wordless song lilted colorfully in tone and multi-noted in hue, echoing sonorously through the Great Hall.  Ananna’s song rang out for many, many years, each goddess and god joining with her in celestial harmony.  At last, the Great Song came to an end, and a deep knowing had settled into the hearts of the Council.  There was perfect, attuned agreement when Ananna announced, “The True Form of the Soul will be a golden instrument with many strings.  This instrument can be found only by those who whose minds have become still, whose breath has become even, and whose hearts have grown ears for True Listening.”

With meticulous and tender care, the Council set to crafting the many-stringed instrument of gold.  They gathered wood from a sacred tree, sparkling shells from the sea, and plucked hairs from their own godly heads.  Their powerful hands cut and chiseled and polished.  They hummed and chattered excitedly, exuberance filling the Great Hall.  Finally, when the instrument gleamed and glinted like a tiny sun, they passed their creation from one to the other around the Great Table, and each member of the Council lovingly strummed the instrument, issuing a unique and sublime music.  Thinking themselves clever and feeling deeply contented, the goddesses and gods tucked their creation into the hearts of each human being and thus sent them forth onto the Earth, a planet of great adventure, wisdom, and beauty.

Throughout the history of humankind, many people lived and died without ever finding their instrument.  Many looked far and wide, ignorant their instrument was housed within them.  Some found their instrument but made dissonant and unskilled music.  Others tried to play instruments that did not belong to them, and so lived dissatisfying lives of frustration, confusion, and despair.  The True Form of the Soul waited ever-patiently at the heart of each person with eternal hope for discovery and expression.

After long years of adventure for humankind, a young girl of eight named Munigh sat in a field of laughing yellow daisies.  A playful breeze kissed her cheek and tousled her hair.  On this particular day, Munigh first heard her music.  Its tones were soft and faint and so lovely that Munigh drank in her breath like nectar, and sighed sweetly with her first taste of the music.  The ears of her heart perked up and rejoiced.

Over the years, Munigh became familiar with both sorrow and joy, and her sorrow was always eased by the notes of her heart’s music growing louder and more sonorous as she listened.  One day, now grown, lines feathering out from her eyes that had cried many tears of both joy and sadness, Munigh once more came to sit in a field of bright yellow daisies.  A familiar breeze kissed her dimpled cheek and playfully tousled her graying hair.  Her breath deepened, easing into a rhythm like the beats of a bird’s wings.  Bon-shhh.  Bon-shhh.  Bon-shhh.  The thoughts in her mind gathered like geese into a single flock and flew swiftly away, and her mind became perfectly still.  Her heart leaned forward, cupping a hand around itself, as though waiting expectantly to hear the music of the heavens.  Munigh, suspended now between the planets and the stars, the suns and moons, passing through dimensions and doorways of time, heard the music more clearly than ever before of her many-stringed golden instrument, The True Form of her Soul.  And as her heart leaned ever further forward to hear, the goddesses and gods began to sing, accompanied by Munigh’s music.  As Munigh’s heart grew its ears for True Listening and the strings of her golden instrument played more skillfully, the Great Hall of the Heavens rang out with music never before heard, so uniquely was it played.  The music rang out through the heavens , flooding the plains, mountains, and deserts of the Earth, easing the hearts of many who had been filled with sorrow.

Through Munigh and many others, the goddesses and gods learned that each time a person hears the Music of their Heart, and discovers the True Form of their Soul, an infinite ripple in the Universe is generated, a vibration in the pool of Creation that will never cease, and the gods and goddesses are well pleased.