Somewhere in my past academic life I vaguely remember the notion of the harmony of the spheres. There was a belief, as I recall, in ancient Greek philosophy that there existed the perfect order of sounds, which would then result in most lovely music. The planets and stars they observed the heavens were also felt to exist in a sort of harmony, a perfect order, which allowed for them and our earth to exist in balance, a beautiful balance of physics. This harmony was then extended into the area of our daily lives, where if we only could realize it, we could be in harmony with one another as well as ourselves.
This idea of harmony came to my mind recently as I saw the quote by Nikkyo Niwano, founder of Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhism: "The secret of the Buddha Way is harmony with those around you." It was one of those moments where something I had read many times before (the quote) recalled something I had learned long ago (the harmony of the spheres). Connecting those two thoughts made me see not only the interconnection of all, but also that the way we live our lives affects the universe. Living in harmony with those around us creates a world of sharing, compassion, and peace. Not living harmoniously creates the world we see most often, a world of fear, hate, greed, and war. The world of harmony, just like musical harmony, is balanced and beautiful, making one want to experience more of it, maybe even trying to create some of that harmonious music ourselves. The world of discord, like the music of discord, is harsh, unpleasant, and we want it to stop.
We all have our own conceptions of beautiful music. For some it is classical symphonies, operas, concertos. For some it is rap, heavy metal, or disco. We don't have to dance to the same music, but we all like to get up and move with joy when we hear "our music." We feel the harmony in the music we love. How wonderful it would be to feel that same harmony in our daily lives: with our family, co-workers, friends, neighbors, all political parties, all countries, all religions, all genders and lifestyles. And so on. I guess I see a world that really can exist with all of us in harmony with one another, with all living things, and it would be that lovely harmony of our favorite music playing everywhere.
