Touching the Universe From One Side

«Why do I even have to learn this?» my eldest son asks in frustration, staring at his instrument so angrily that there must be a scorch hole at this point. I swear, it was really smoking a bit too! I really saw it.

«Yes, mom! Why?» the little brother immediately follows up. They are like sharks, they immediately sense my hesitation like blood in the water.

Uh. Well. So! Because I said so?! No, not a good argument.

Whew. Good question.

Why learn vocabulary when all the translations are available online? And why draw when AI can do it now? Writing? You can just get all the text out of ChatGPT without any errors. It can now do emotional writing too. Apparently.

So why practise the instrument when you could download the songs played much more perfectly? What's the point of struggling with unwilling fingers and counting note values? What value does such a crookedly scratched note on the string of an instrument actually have? Surely there are people who can play it without scratching. And then there is also technology that can simply reproduce the sound. Rattling clear. And perfect to the nuance. The technique also counts correctly and has no intonation problems. Never. If that's not enough, you're just old-fashioned and «don't understand anything». Right?

I think frantically. An answer. Something pedagogically valuable, please! Or just the truth? Children can usually do more with it, even if you fear it might still be too difficult to understand. «Well, you have to learn that because it's the only way to achieve inner peace in this world,» I say quickly.

“Haha, mom! Peace my butt!”

Yes, yes, I am serious. Quite simply, listen ... When you look out into the world, you see everything, worldwide, everything. And although you see everything, it's somehow as if you don't see anything because you can't fully grasp it.

This ranges from wars that we do not understand, to technology that we do not understand, to conflicts and injustices that we cannot change and that are not ours. But that's not all. There are so many distractions and impressions coming at us and then so many issues that we should have an opinion on, but the right one and what is it anyway? There's so much that it's easy to lose track.

And not only that - we actually lose ourselves in it, torn between all the emotions, the fears, the anger, the antagonism and the feeling of helplessness in the face of the size and complexity of the entire world.

And then you can return to yourself, here, in this room, in your reality, in this moment and concentrate only on what you are doing. By practising your instrument or drawing or writing and going deeper and deeper, immersing yourself, your inner self clears and organizes itself. You devote yourself to something, not just for five minutes in a rush, but intensively, again and again, every day anew. And you feel that you can change something. Today, one part is difficult to play, counting is tedious, you fight against it and then you work your way through it and the next day or the next week it gets easier. You lose the feeling of being helpless. It's a conflict that you can resolve. You. With your strength.

And then there is the great order in these things, the universal order that we can feel when we make music ourselves, when we paint a picture or write a story, when we work in the garden or make something out of wood. We touch this universe from one side, so to speak, and are allowed to become a small part of it for that moment. It has an effect on us and puts us in order inside, allows us to catch our breath and feel ourselves again.

That's why.

That's why it doesn't matter whether anyone or anything in this huge world can do what you're doing better and faster. It's not about the result, but only about what it does to you. And that's exactly how it always is. You can't control the big picture, you can't penetrate everything and you can't turn everything upside down, but you can start with yourself.

Wearily waved off by the sons. Too much text, too much heart and soul, yuck. «Come on, Mom, that's nonsense!» grumbles the older one.

But then he continues practicing for a few more minutes. Then he does his homework. And actually seems quite composed and peaceful now that the storm has passed for the day.