Play Your Own Guitar

It is important that we remain true to our own ambitions, whatever they happen to be. If they are harmful or helpful to others, or ourselves, we will find out soon enough through the reflection of our associations.

Learning to play our instrument flawlessly is very important. We should be aware of the sound that it makes and how the sound affects others. Is it pleasant, soothing, putting others to sleep, is it harsh and abrasive, causing them to close their ears and walk away, or is it perhaps mysterious and intriguing, so that others become interested and want to hear more? But more importantly; is the sound true?

We should practice as much as we can, with our particular instrument. We don't have to play the same instrument that everyone else plays, that would be boring; we can play whatever instrument we love, but we must play it well. If we play it carelessly, then the music, that is our life, reflects how we play the instrument, not the instrument itself.

After we master our instrument, and after we perfect our technique and our performance, then we can think of playing in harmony with others. Imagine an orchestra where each musician only played his own song! That would sound terrible. Musicians, in order to create a beautiful concert, must compromise and cooperate as they come together to make beautiful music. If each instrument is played flawlessly, and each instrument is played in harmony with the others, the power of all these instruments together transcend the individual sounds and carry the listener into magnificent worlds of sound.

I play a guitar, and perhaps you play a piano. These are our instruments. If we must play together in front of other people, we wouldn't stubbornly insist on only playing in our key, or our particular songs. We would find songs that we could both play in harmony, because a guitar and a piano sound so beautiful in harmony.

I may be a white Buddhist and you may be a black Christian. E might play in indifferent keys and play different songs, but surely there must be a key or song that we can play together, because fundamentally, the keys and songs are all the same. Perhaps a good key might be the key of "love," and a good song might be one that we can tap our feet to and laugh about. Maybe we could even find a Jew, or a Muslim, that would like to play along. Who knows, we might someday create an entire orchestra and entertain the entire world.

Music beats war any day.