Speak

I was sitting the other day with a thermometer in my mouth when I discovered something amazing. The most important trait of the human race is our ability to express ourselves.

I was sitting with my family and we were watching television. There was a program about a space shuttle that exploded during launch. Everyone was talking and I had the thermometer in my mouth and it was very distressing! I wanted to talk. I wanted to add my input but I couldn't open my mouth.

When I took the thermometer out it was a very liberating feeling. There was so much to say, so many comments that I had kept inside because I could not speak. But there was only one problem. The program was over. The moment to speak was gone. I missed it.

That must be how it feels to not be allowed to speak your mind. That is why it is the cruelest thing to rob that right from people. Humans are created to speak, interact and thus evolve. If you break that link then they merely become another animal gracing the face of the Earth.

Never pass on the chance to express yourself, to say what you need to say. If you learn to just shut up, eventually that becomes who you are. And then, many years later, you'd be willing to give up your whole life to be given the chance to travel back to every time you choose to shut up and to express yourself as an individual, as a human, as the highest creation on the planet.

The moment to act, the moment to speak, is always the "now". If you miss the "now", if you don't open your mouth. The moment passes, never to be regained.

The Symphony

I am in love with everything around me. I've fallen in love with life. I've fallen in love with everything beautiful. I've fallen in love with everything horrible and wicked.

I love the faces I see everyday – even when they are worn or angry. Every places I have visited on Earth has left its mark on my soul, scarring me forever. And I love it.

I love it all because of the harmony that exists in everything. Life – that wild, untamed monster – is so perfectly in harmony that it defies all reason. That is why it is so hard for us to really believe it is in harmony. We tend to think that it is unfair, wicked to some and kind to some. But that is not true. It is perfectly balanced. I'm not going to rant about how each person gets something and loses something – that is not what I am about. Even thinking in terms of humans only is a simplistic and insulting notion.

This is bigger than humans or animals or birds or whatever. This is about everything at the same time. How everything falls together and plays out the same tune.

It is my firm belief that – amidst all the different melodies of life – there exists a symphony. A symphony to bring all the melodies together. A beautiful creation of love, hate and everything else. If we can listen carefully, if we would take the time to listen closely, maybe – just maybe – there is a chance to hear that symphony. And if you ever do hear it, my God it is the most beautiful, liberating, invigorating feeling ever! It is like being reborn. It is the symphony of the harmony of life. It is the most beautiful sound ever created.

It is like finally understanding. It's like all the pieces falling in place at the same time. Everything might be falling around you but it'll still make sense. You would understand that – in everything horrible – there's beauty. And in everything beautiful there is horridness.

Have I ever heard that symphony? No. But I know it exists. And I know it is worth searching for my whole life. I have heard many of the melodies and I know that one day I will hear the symphony too. The question is, are you ready to search?

I would show you everything I know so far – but everything is too extreme. Maybe it is best to wait and see if you are ready or not. After all, the symphony is not going anywhere.