Performance: Play Your Note

Imagine you awake from a long nap and you realize you're on another planet.

There are other people on this planet—lots of them. You can tell they're from different places, races, and cultures. As you explore this strange place you realize that you were selected, in the universe's largest lottery, to come to this planet. Everyone applies. Everyone wants to come here for some reason. And you were chosen.

As you keep exploring you realize that everyone on this planet seems to suffer from the same symptoms upon entry; they can't remember much before coming to this planet. They even forget they won the greatest lottery in the universe. The rules of this planet are muddled. Each group has different rules and manuals. The more you learn the wilder it seems. Most of the information seems contradictory at this point. Your head is spinning.

As you continue, you begin to meet people who seem to be more like you. You notice not everyone is the same.

Some people are on this planet as tourists. Some are workers on the planet, it's their job to keep it running. Some are not what they seem, and this is beyond your understanding. And then some, you discover, are here under a type of contract. Like you, they are here on a mission; these are the lottery winners. They were chosen to live on this planet for a reason and the whole universe is watching, like a galactic OG version of Reality TV.

As crazy as all that may sound, it gets more intense.

You soon learn that not only is this planet of great significance to the galaxy, but it's also at an eternal crossroads and you have front-row seats to one of the biggest planetary transitions in the universe.

After many side adventures, difficult learning curves, and exciting little discoveries you begin to ask more questions. You wonder why you're here. These questions do not cease; you explore them to find something beautiful but difficult.

You discover that you're not like the tourists, you can try to be, but you're not here to just look good or feel good or travel to the top destinations being fat and happy. This inspires you, for deep down you knew there was something more and that the tourism alone would leave you feeling like you missed the point of coming here.

You discover that, as hard as it is to believe, you have a role to play in the planet's transition. This is both awe-inspiring and debilitatingly difficult at first. You feel the pressure of the moment and the importance of your soul on the planet, but now the task feels more than impossible. Ever since you started entertaining these questions, life on the planet has become wildly unpredictable and untamble. You can't turn back now but do not yet know how to proceed with this knowledge.

The people on the planet have a unique relationship with their outer senses; they are obsessed with what they can see, hear, touch, and smell. They are so easily consumed by these outer senses that they see the whole planet, the whole universe even, through these very limited senses. They play a Game on this planet, everyone is in on it, or so it seems. The Game is all about gathering, winning, collecting, displaying and owning things you can see, touch, smell and hear. Most people don't even like the Game but everyone is playing.

As you explore the planet and ask your questions you discover a world within a world. You discover the inner world, the world of the Spirit and the Soul, the world inside of each person on the planet full of wonder, power, and pain.

The planet you've been exploring is under great duress. All seems turbulent. The outer systems in place seem to be crumbling, conflict appears to be everywhere, and instability grabs hold of the fabric of society on the planet. You and others like you wonder what can be done; the noise of the outer world grows and no one seems to agree anymore on the solution, no one can agree on the actual problem. The outer world game has the citizens of this planet divided, fearful, and paralyzed with pain.

When nothing is certain, everything becomes possible.

You are in a predicament. The beating of your own soul grows louder, it pulls you deeper into the inner realms, despite the noise of the outer world pounding from every direction. You slowly let go of those rules and you lose interest in the Game.

The inner realm reveals its ways to you and after many seasons you begin to see something. You notice it at first as a pattern emerging from the great stories of the planet, from the lives of those around you, from the stars and the ancient texts, from the whispers and dreams, from the songs and the art. You begin to see a pattern, a story within all the stories, a great mystery, and perhaps, a very simple way beyond the Game and the noise it creates.

You see emerging from all this, a different kind of sound. This sound started everything before this planet was made, before the lottery began, before your memory was wiped, before the stars in the galaxies from whence you came. There was a sound pushing all creation to dance and unfold: two sounds translated to 'light, be'.

Now everything is held together by sound, vibration, and energy. Each life, each object, each plant and animal is playing a note.

Not every person on this planet has the same mission as you. This thing you discovered, it's not for everyone, but it is for the others like you. And it's this:

You realize you are a note. You are a note to be played in a cosmic string of sound. You are an integral sound, an aroma, an inner world energetic frequency that when played and vibrated, in chorus with others playing their note- the planet is brought into subjection to the frequency of this sound. No weapons on the planet, no propaganda, no violence of evil can overcome these sounds, these vibrations, these chords played in an invisible realm buried deep within.

You realize that these notes are played by first being cracked wide open- the thing almost all on the planet avoid. Being cracked wide open is anathema to the Game. But this cracked wide open creates a pleasing aroma, it sets the stage for the beginning of a new sound.

As you, the planetary visitor discover this inner world, you begin to slowly untangle the ways of the outer world.

You go within, to discover your unique note. It's not always as easy as this, you now know, but you realize the journey to tuning this note, to playing it in synchronization with the others who are also learning to play their note, is why you're here.

The answer to the riddle was buried inside you and now you must crack yourself wide open until the note is finally free. All the things you do in the outer world, they are not the end goal, but rather how they crack you wide open, to discover the note you are to play. Then it's about the courage, the consistency, the dedication to loving that note, playing that note, tuning that note- being that note to the very best degree possible, til the curtain closes and your part in the show is concluded.

On this planet, the strange game within the game is to be the unique creation you are here to be, to play that note.

He who plays his note wins the game. He who plays his note finds the orchestra he's meant to play with, his team, his people. He who plays his note contributes in the most elevated way to honor one's journey to this planet. He who plays his notes moves the universal audience for "eternity is in love with the creations of time"- William Blake (an old planetary visitor who played his note).

Of course, this is all just a tall-tale of our time, a teeny trip through the land of stories. We're just tinkering with the pieces of the puzzle, playfully putting them together with a touch of imagination and metaphor.

But should things go south in your little world, or if the stage of the greater world burns, the best performance tip I can give is: be cracked wide open. Go out as your truest self, bold and playing your note.

Stay safe and keep the faith, Game Changers.