“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing. Love is knowing I am everything, and in between the two my life moves.” ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

Do you share a sneaking feeling the world is out of harmony at the moment?

This is a photo of a double page from my journal called “Harmony”. 

“Who am I?” – I’ve drawn the flower of life on the left with all the examples of ‘Trimurti” (three great ones) in every ancient culture, showing how we are all simply intersections of two other points.

We are the intersection in space of our mother and our father. We are the intersection in time of our parents and our children. We are simply a space in time – Nowhere and everywhere:

On the bottom right is a quote from “The Secret of the Golden Flower” (This is one of only two books translated and brought back from China to Germany by Richard Wilhelm and published by Carl Jung 100 years ago. The other was the I Ching):

“Words crystallize the spirit,
In the place of power,
The deeper secret within
the secret:
Land that is nowhere,
That is the true home.”
~ Lu Dongbin

ie. Crystallized being is an illusion. The secret is the land of nowhere, where we are nothing and everything.

I’ve hidden this message in the flower of life in the penultimate right column of the flower. I’ve drawn the DNA strand showing the two DNA protein pairs that make up our 64 codons of DNA, adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine (in the same way the flower of life contain 64 tetrahedra when it is seen in 3D as a 64 tetrahedra grid of time, which link to the 64 hexagrams of time in the I Ching).

At the bottom the DNA strand turns into the Chinese lion. This was a mythical creature in Ancient China as the nearest real lions were in Africa. The Chinese Lion was always in pairs, guarding sacred gates, signifying the guardians to the gates of our lives.

This lion is the one that guards the Forbidden City in Beijing, with a ball with the 3D flower of life engraved in it. The lion has always been my spirit animal. The symbol of two lions and a gateway which is “nothing” (the door) and “everything” (beyond the door) is the same symbol of the triangle in architectural form.

“Harmony” – On the right hand side I wrote a column of text to reconcile my own journey through the human condition of being everything and nothing (When we think we’re everything, we feel ego. When we thing we’re nothing, we feel the abyss),

With a quote from Bucky:

“Sometimes I think we’re alone.
Sometimes I think we’re not.
In either case, the thought is staggering.”
~ Buckminster Fuller

Have you had these same experiences? Where everything is awesome, and then nothing is working? Sometimes in the same day? Or in the same hour?

To me, the word that brings all of this together is “Harmony”. The Chinese character at the top right is “Harmony”. In its original form, the left hand character is “yuè” – A bamboo flute. The three parts of it are “jí” (assemble), “pǐn” (add holes), “cè” (in bamboo). The right hand character means “grain” or “whole” and together the characters are also similar to “and” and “peace”.

When I meditate on this page, it helps me see myself as just an intersection of the lives of others – like a little bamboo flute where I find my place when I tune in (or others tune me in), to create harmony and flow.

The 1,2,3 on the bottom right are the intersection of how I conduct myself (the Golden Mean – the middle way…), my conduct with others (the Golden Rule – do unto others…) and how I witness life (the Emerald Tablet – as above, so below…).

On the bottom right are the 8 musical notes in an octave, and my own quote about being both something and nothing: “I am a note in the music, the silence in the symphony.”

There’s plenty more little bits and pieces in the drawing but that gives an overall feel for the double page.

I’ve sometimes posted pages from my journal, but not with explanations. As I was looking at this page this morning, I thought of all the crises in the world today – The Paris and Mali attacks, the mean and petty fights that fill our politics and the media, the fear and distrust between nations. It made me want to express what I feel when I look at this page.

Sometimes it feels like we’ll never find harmony, and then in an instant, through a different lens, harmony is suddenly everywhere.

I’ve written this as much for me as you, as I’ve never explained or expressed my journal in words before like this. If you find this helpful and would like to see more, like / share / comment below and if there’s interest I’ll add more of the same in the future.

Thanks for reading and hope it’s helped to brighten your Sunday!