Enlightenment in the Dark
It was a perfect evening. I felt one amongst the privileged few who had been invited to this esteemed event. You do not need to dress in formal attire, we were told. “Come as you are”, was inscribed on my mailed invitation. And as I entered what I assumed to be a magnificently decorated hall, at first I frantically searched for light, and it soon dawned on me. There was no light, we were in the dark, this is how it was supposed to be. I was ushered to my designated table. Somewhere across me, sat a brilliant conversationalist. He painted pictures of his times serving in the US military. And how he then went on to become a literary scholar in his later life. He spoke with exquisite eloquence as he explained the beauty of the white clouds reflected upon Lake Tahoe while writing the final chapters of his upcoming book. When he spoke, everyone fell into a silent oblivion, lost in his stories. I couldn’t see him but I drew a mental picture of a wise man in a suit, with thick-rimmed spectacles, a stubble, wrinkles on his face, and a twinkle in his eye. The signs of age and experiences in the military visible on his slightly sunken cheeks, and a permanent frown betwixt his forehead. Soon it was time for dinner to be served. The sound of clinking crockery could be heard, as someone made their way towards our table. The food smelled delicious, perhaps prepared by the maître’ de himself for this special evening. I took the first bite, it tasted like pasta. Creamy, garnished with cheese, it didn’t have varied flavors, but I liked the simplicity, the white sauce blended well with pepper and cheese. I sipped wine, in eager anticipation of the special musical performance. They had hinted it would be a renowned pianist who specially flew in from New York. Soon, another announcement was made and the everyone fell into a silence filled with anticipation. The first piece began prematurely I thought at first, but soon realized that it was part of the plan. The notes reverberated, touched and bounced from the high ceilings in the hall. We transcended into a world of oblivion, a world that only knew of the notes, the spaces in between and the melody. Champagne glasses clinked in the dark as he played one melody after another. Stripped bare from the wrinkles, crookedness, pearly whiteness, yellowed-ness and rosy lipsticks, the smiles gleamed, in the blind glory and reverberated in their fierce joy through the strands of the darkness. For that moment, man, woman animal were one, united by the notes of the music that flowed as a river into and out of our hearts. Life was boundless in the literal sense. The mind no longer paused to contemplate, explain, argue, question and perceive what it saw, because it saw only the blackness. The performance ended with an encore, my mind was so still, that I felt that the darkness had strangely enlightened me. It was a perfect evening. And then the lights were turned on…… On the stage, was a 10-year-old autistic child, beaming a toothy grin, bowing graciously towards the audience, after his brilliant performance. He was trying to maintain his balance, and someone rushed to his side, trying to keep him focused on the audience. I was surprised and looked quickly at the man at my table, the one who had told the stories. He was being pulled away by security, someone from a table at the far back murmured, “I remember him, he is eccentric, keeps whipping up stories from nowhere, I don’t know if he has a home, but I have found him trying to strike conversations with strangers on the street, only to be rebuffed and reported to the authorities, being locked down and released for insufficient grounds for conviction. I took another bite from my plate. And then I closed my eyes, for the rest of the evening, knowing how my preconceptions colored the world. I wondered, sometimes, perhaps the world could be different if there was no light; we would be liberated from preconceived notions and prejudices, and would open ourselves towards experiencing talent and beauty in its true form.
