Inspired by 'Slowing down is fighting back' Rest by Half-Alive |
Everything is wild and confusing. Hands are flailing in the air, teeth snarling in joy, and bodies are slamming against each other in modern worship. It is a raucous of colour - purple, pink, blue, green, a flash of red - and light - sweeping over the crowd, blinding - and emotion. The whirlpool sucks every thought into it, no time for a breath, no time for a pause; just noise. And then... the silence of the beat: a thousand voices waiting with bated breath as the ritual ends - or maybe it hasn't ended? Maybe this is a new climax? When the music is silent, that pause between the last drumbeat and the cheering, the joy, the screaming. Silence. Complete command of the crowd. Complete command of the world, for a moment. The whole world in silence, breathing out, stuttering their movements to notice the nothing. Thousands of minds in unison, all thinking, all waiting. All in a second. Impermanence does not mean insignificance. A second is worth more than the thousand voices can say because one second leads to another new second and to another and to another, each second momentary and each second individual. No second, no drumbeat, no cheering voice, will be like the last. And even in their impermanence, no second, no drumbeat, no cheering voice, will be alone. |