Mystical Masters Collaborative for the Week of November 19 to 25

by nielskunze on November 24, 2014

Our topic this week is symbology and symbolism. For many more delightful and insightful perspectives from our Masters, please visit the Mystical Masters Facebook Group and/or the Mystical Masters Facebook Page. This is my contribution to this week’s gargantuan topic.

A Handful of Sand

We all surround ourselves with symbols, some of our own choosing, many not. Each of us participates in a reality where things, people, places and events are both exactly what literally “is” and figuratively something else entirely. It is a natural consequence of the subjective nature of our current Earth experience.

I am reminded of a very old song by Donovan (of Mellow Yellow fame) who insightfully sang “First there is a mountain; then there is no mountain; then there is.” It’s an old Zen thing. On one level, it seems blatantly nonsensical, but with accrued experience, it yields a deeper and perfectly valid understanding of our complex human experience.

You are ever free to live within the literalness of the world, taking everything at face value and denying any deeper hidden meanings. Most of us consider such a perspective to be unnaturally shallow… and for good reason. Who among us has never taken on the symbolism of a particular movie representing a pivotal time in our lives, or a TV show representing a simpler youth, or a song representing a deeply felt emotion or cherished relationship? Songs in particular come to represent so much more than their meager constructs, both culturally and individually.

Today, I would like to present to you one of my own favourite compositions. This song is called “Handful of Sand,” and lyrically I consider it among my best. The recording which follows has never been officially publicly released; this song has only ever been heard at our live shows.

Throughout the years of its existence, I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who have heard this song and immediately recognized the specific inspiration it was based upon. “Is that song about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?” Yup. That iconic, culture-bearing book by Robert Pirsig really grabbed me by the throat early on in my heavy-duty seeking days. It brought the concept and discussion of “quality as opposed to mere quantity” into the western mind in a very compelling way. I was already deeply disillusioned by our relentless culture of acquisition, and was looking for an inroad to leading a more poetic life. Perhaps this song was the beginning of something beautiful…

Link to SoundCloud audio version

Handful of Sand

The loneliness of being just one
Always looking for the two
Infinity opens for the few
Who try to cast away themselves
And live in the stillness of their minds
And know that the endless shore’s just a handful of sand
That represents a world
As long as you try and touch it all
It slips through your fingers so fast… this handful of sand

The blood of the sun falls down
The wind licks the tears from the sea
Time knows nothing of the past
So we stand apart from it all
As children through the hourglass fall
Crying for a new handful of sand
That never can be found– and Gods never raise a tired eye–
They cast their doubts to the sky in a handful of sand

The beach stretches miles to the West
The East is a drawing in the sand
The artist turns his soul to the Land
And he finds that his canvas hasn’t dried
He pines for the memories left inside
And knows that the world is just a handful of sand
Like a treasure growing old, he prays for the dust to turn to gold
But Silence stops the scream with a handful of sand!

(I’ve presented the lyrics here as they were originally written, not as Shane sings them. The last line especially, “Silence stops the scream with a handful of sand,” is a departure from the recording, but it was my nod, or tribute, to one of my favourite bands King Crimson. Crim fans will understand.)

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