The Direction of Intention

“Education in the true sense is helping the individual to be mature and free, to flower greatly in love and goodness.”~ Krishnamurti

I like to think that Barney-the-piano’s flowering-in-love-and-goodness began the day he was moved into our backyard. For decades he was held captive in a dark church basement boiler room. Not only was he forgotten but the dry heat from the boiler destroyed his soundboard and, therefore, destroyed the purpose he believed was created to fulfill. We caught the junk man just in time. Instead of hauling Barney off to be dismantled and discarded, we paid him to bring Barney to our house.

Barney lived into a second purpose. It took a while for him to settle in, to learn that making music was not his exclusive talent or destiny.

As he lost his keys to weather, as his veneer curled and fell away, he became a refuge, a safe spot for birds and squirrels and chipmunks. The critters rest on his lid, build nests in his sound box. Each day the birds mingle on Barney and sing. Although he himself is not making the music, he knows that the sanctuary he provides gives the birds reason to sing. He inspires a purer music.

We have watched Barney flower-in-love-and-goodness. We have had the good fortune to witness his transformation, no longer resisting the forces of nature but moving in harmony with them. He is free and most certainly mature, no longer bound by a too-narrow definition, no longer invested in how he looks or what others might think of him. He is content. The dark times no longer define him nor does he bother to hold onto those memories. They get in the way of the birdsong. They distract him from enjoying the moment. He knows that distractions of the past interrupt his other newfound purpose: teaching us, his students, the power of letting go of all that we cannot control.

Kerri’s music is available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about BARNEY

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Filed under: Gratitude, KS Friday, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, education, goodness, grateful on as it is, Gratitude, Jiddhu Krishnamurti, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, music, purpose, story, studio melange, the melange, transformation |