Beyond The Wall

The Common Beat

by Charles “Tom” Brown

Copyright 2006

If we were to place two living heart cells from different people in a Petrie dish, they would in time find and maintain a third and common beat. This is cellular proof that beneath any resistance we might pose and beyond all our attempts that fall short, there is in the very nature of life itself some joining force. This inborn ability to find and enliven a common beat is the miracle of love. For if two cells can find the common pulse beneath everything, how much more can full hearts feel when all excuses fall away?

The drive toward a common beat is the force beneath curiosity and compassion. It’s what makes strangers talk to strangers, despite the discomfort. It is how we risk new knowledge. We find a way to sing the one voiceless song.

It feels incredibly uplifting that without ever knowing each other, there exists a common beat between all hearts, just waiting to be felt.

Perhaps this is the secret – that every time we dare to voice what beats within, we invite some other cell or heart to find what lives between us and to sing.

10-2-06

I just received the fall issue of Seasons of the Soul, and my how I have enjoyed it! Each issue is getting better and better. Your various articles, Stanley Peele’s “The Block of Granite” and Hal Manogue’s poem, “Simultaneously” are excellent. Hal has been writing to me and I am enjoying connecting with this kindred spirit. Stanley and I have developed a close friendship over the years and I feel richly blessed to have him in my life.

You asked for some articles so I am enclosing “The Common Beat” and “The Inner Light.” More will be sent soon.

You and I have always been interested in the various spiritual and self-help groups and I wonder if you have heard of the self-help group for people who never stop talking? It’s called ANON ANON ANON.

My little buddy, Ralphie*, has been introducing me to some family members and friends. I think I told you about his dyslexic brother, Freddie. He’s the one who barks by going “Wow Bow!” “Wow Bow@” Well, he also introduced me to his two cousins. One is named Rolex and the other was named Timex. I asked Ralphie, “why would anyone name dogs like that?” He replied. “They’re watch dogs.”

(I should have known better than to ask him that. When will I ever learn?)

Ralphie and I have been discussing whether it’s better to have a wife or a dog. He brought up the following points in favor of the dog…

1. The later you are, the more excited your dog is to see you!
2. Dogs don’t notice if you call them by another dog’s name.
3. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor!
4. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across!
5. You never have to wait for a dog; they’re ready twenty-four hours a day!
6. The dog never gets listed on the census questionnaire as “primary resident”, even if it’s true!

I’ll have to admit he has some points there. (smiling face). As you can see, I’m in a light-hearted mood. I discovered something interesting about the word “silly.” In the English of Chaucer’s day, “silly” meant “blessed.” I’m not sure when we strayed away from its original meaning, when blessedness took on a churchy aura and silliness became the realm of Monty Python and The Three Stooges.

We too often lose the gift of letting go, for delight in simply being. We persuade ourselves that every moment must be lived productively; like the busy little bee, we feel a holy obligation to improve each shining hour. We would do well to take very small children or big silly dogs as our teachers.

(when I mentioned “big silly dogs”, Ralphie jumped up and started dancing in total abandonment…)

Wishing you a day full of euphoric exhilarations! (I hope you’re duly impressed with the phrase. I don’t use it very often)

*Ralphie is Tom’s imaginary companion. When he writes letter, he has cartoon images he draws of Ralphie in different poses – sometimes waving signs – and always quite cute. He looks a bit like Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon.

9-23-2006

These storms of life seem to be raging more than ever today. I have the mixed feelings of wanting to know what is going on in the world and yet not wanting the steady diet of murders and chaos. More than ever the world is full of fear and the “us versus them” mentality that separates us and feeds that fear. It’s a constant reminder to go within and to be instruments of peace wherever we are.

If I begin my early morning writing with an intention that the words that I write be words of peace and love, then my nervous system responds with a sense of focus and clarity I do not otherwise have. If I begin my writing thinking about being published or the good opinion of others, then I am trapped in the illusions of the ego, where my thoughts are fragmented and my focus limited. Only when I begin with an intention that something I write be of use to someone does a greater light infuse my thinking. My mind springs free of its bondage to fear-based thoughts.

You mentioned that Planetlightworker.com  was going to serialize Vision of the Grail in its entirety. It feels good to know that now many more will be touched by its message. You wrote, “It does no good sitting in folders, molding with time.” I feel the same way about anything I write.

When I began writing, it offered me an altered state of consciousness, an escape from the confines of this prison. It was a threshold to a deeper way of being and feeling. It offered me a safe place to practice truth. But after many years of being rearranged by life, my non-writing time and my writing time are finally becoming the same. All my becoming is turning into being. Now, more and more, there is only just living.

You and I are very aware of the power of words so when I read the following story I just had to share it with you…

One day there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: “I AM BLIND. PLEASE HELP.”

A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in more coins and without asking permission took the sign and rewrote it. He returned the sign and left.

That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins. The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if he was the person who had rewritten his sign and what he had written on it. The publicist responded, “Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently.” He smiled and went on his way. The new sign read: “TODAY IS SPRING AND I CANNOT SEE IT.”

The first message was a general appeal for help. The second one was more personal and it touched the heart. And what a difference that made!

In the classroom recently, I led a discussion on words and we discussed pet peeves and euphemisms. Among my pet peeves are the constant use of phrases like “you know,” “I mean,” and “you know what I mean.” Sometimes I hear these phrases (“word whiskers” is what I call them) in almost every sentence. It gets so absurd I can imagine a conversation like this –

A: “You know what I mean?”

B: “I don’t know. Or at least I don’t know if I know. And I don’t even know if I care to know if I know.”

A: “I don’t know what you mean.”

B: “You know. I mean, I don’’t know what I mean. You know what I mean?”

A: “What do you mean you don’t know what you mean? I don’t know what you mean.”

B: “I mean, you know, I don’t know.”

A: “You don’t know? You mean that?”

B: “I don’t know.”

HUH?

We also had few with euphemisms. These are words that soften and shade the truth. They obscure real meanings and they’re constantly used by politicians, advertisers, and the media.

For example, having no money these days is easier than ever. I can remember when I was young that poor people lived in the slums. These days, the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner city. It’s so much nicer for them.

Many of these people receive public assistance – once known as welfare. Before that, it was known as “being on relief” or “being on the dole.” But public assistance? That sounds good. Who of us hasn’t benefited from some form of public assistance?

There was a satire on this subject in a Jules Feiffer cartoon –

“I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy. They told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy. I was deprived. Then they told me underprivileged was overused. I was disadvantaged. I still don’t have a dime. But I have a great vocabulary.”

Oh, how we play with words!