Walking with others in a journey of spiritual discovery can be disconcerting!
I just finished singing in a concert with a dedicated community choir. As good a choir as many of the choirs I have sung with over the years. Our conductor took his cue from the written music – crescendos, pianissimo, timing, harmonies, etc. Between the original writer of the music, and the interpretation of the conductor, we painted a beautiful aural picture.
That picture was invented by the writer and filtered through the conductor.
Many of us nowadays want to be the writer and make up truth and beauty all on our own. When I watch those types of people, I often find sadness in my observations. Our usual propensity is to move towards selfishness – which always ends badly. The melody is distorted and creates anguish, sorrow and destruction.
Now, if we take another tack, we start with truth and beauty as authored by the creator of truth and beauty. The melody line is not up for grabs – although there can be great embellishments which highlight the beauty of the notes. Then we put our own little twists on the recommended harmonies and emphases.
An open pilgrimage starts with the same author and melody. After that the theatre in which I perform may be slightly larger than yours. The harmonies may sound slightly different and the rhythmical flow takes us into different streams of beauty.
We may not always be in concert together (thus the disconcerting part). But our concerts are all to the glory of the same author.