To All The Unknown Creators and Connectors
To All The Unknown Creators and Connectors
Think about this question:
What was your most impactful action for someone? What did you do that helped someone in changing their life? You may give advice or share something that has helped somebody find a new opportunity.
To answer this question, you will think about people you personally knew and what you did directly. You may remember what you told or works you did in any form. There's no doubt you had an impact on people you know. But are you sure that you had the effect just on people you know? Or, are you sure your direct actions with your awareness had that impact?
Well, don't be sure! The world is more connected than we think.
Story of a Lost Music
One of my recent calming activities on weekends (call it a kind of meditation) is laying down maybe for an hour while listening to classical music.
I was listening to Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.
The music which no one knows for sure why Pachelbel has written, although there are some guesses mentioned here in New York Times article.
It dates to the late-17th or early 18th century, and there's speculation that it was written as a gift for the wedding of Johann Sebastian Bach's older brother, who studied with Pachelbel.
You can listen to the music here. I guess you are familiar with the melody:
The Canon in D Major was a piece of lost music for years. Pachelbel was known for his chamber and church music at his time. Today we can listen to his music thanks to Gustav Beckman, a scholar. He included the score in his article "On Pachlebel's Chamber Music" in 1919. Ten years later, in 1929, Max Seiffert published his arrangement of the Canon in D Major in his organum series. It took more than 200 years for this music to find its destiny to millions of listeners. In 1940 it was recorded for the first time.
Pachelbel did the job in his lifetime. Ha hadn't had the chance of carrying fame for more than 200 years. One person, two hundred years later found his work again, and other conductors followed the path. The music was recorded, and it became a piece of symbolic music for the wedding. Today, listening to Canon in D Major results from different people's work, not just Pachelbel. Many things in the world are like Canon in D Major. None of the creations are the final product. They become mature during the time. They lost and be found again.
On Co-Creation of Life Meaning
We are in search of life meaning. But we, alone, are not all the meaning. The life meaning is co-created. The meaning is not somewhere waiting for us to be found. It's creating and re-creating while we walk the journey. We connect to people and make new meanings. Even our actions can re-create meaning for people we don't know.
One of my friends gave me three photo books of Abbas Kiarostami as an appreciation gift for 3 years of collaboration.
They are scarce books. My friend found them from Italy, France, and Iran. The money for the book came from Italy became the investment for an orphan youth to start her career in photography. I never know her. Even my friend who bought the book does not know her. We may never meet her. Maybe years later, I find the chance to see her photos but never know that I was part of her journey. We are unknown to each other. 3 years of collaboration in part of the world will help someone else follow her passion in another part of the world. This is the beauty of unknown connections. The beauty of co-creating the meaning even when we don't know each other. This is the reason I like writing. You put your senses to words and throw them into an unknown world. It finds its destiny. It's like music which always finds ears.
What we do in life is like planting a tree. The tree may have fruits or may not. But the tree is there. Sometimes, someone, somewhere, will use it.
In Praise of All Unknown People
I don't have doubt you have read several wise quotes from unknown people. You can find these quotes by a simple search. There are many here.
I'm always curious about the unknown individuals behind these quotes. There's a temptation to understand the story behind the word 'unknown.' When I see the quote from unknown people, I feel I have missed the opportunity to know one more wise person.
We can be one of those unknown people, who knows! Maybe a quote from us did reference from other people. Perhaps it has been written somewhere in a notebook. It takes just to talk and share; Or generally do our work like what Pachelbel did. He did the job. Maybe the rest is on others. Dots, find the connections. Things we do evolves in time and represent in different forms with or without our control.
Let's cheers to all the unknown people who are part of life's continuity. People who made dots and people who connected the dots. They are philosophers, artists, writers, and professionals who just do their job.
The world praise iconic individuals but needs to appreciate all the unknown people. All the unknown creators and connectors.