“Music is the universal language of humankind”
A border is a geographical and political concept that affects human life every day and the same gets reflected in our business organisations in one or the other. Be it needing Visa when we fly to other countries or having heavy defence budgets, we are constantly reminded of the borders that divide us. Human civilizations have evolved by trading and the exchange of resources. With every era that passed, it became all the more restrictive to trade across the borders and establish businesses in a different nation-state.
The intent of humans to make this world borderless is that of a stellar one. But it stands true only in theory and not in actuality. As realistic and pure as the intentions might be, applying it to the horizons of the world has a great deal of challenges.
To make reality the idea of a borderless world requires the divergences and biases to melt down. We may not be able to make the world borderless geographically but we can surely feel the unity of the world in our minds.
This raises the question of how one could bring in this unity and convergence. What could be the possible ways to achieve convergence? Can we do this by delving deep into the spirit behind Arts? Does intersection with arts enable us to have a dialogue with ourselves? Can the spirit of musicians and artists help us dig into our fears, question our notions and expose us to be comfortable with our vulnerability? Art and poetry bring us the closest to our true selves and melts the biases we have on ourselves and hence, others too.
The magical notes of music, be it in Hindustani form of music, Arabic or Karnatik form, all have 7 notes as the foundation of music. However different the music may sound, the base of these musical forms is the same. Is this a sheer coincidence or the unison of the universe? One need not bother to know too much here but needs to just surrender to this divine unity.
If we have to make the world borderless, we need to take lessons from music and poetry because they are truly borderless. A sonnet written in England appeals to a simple man in India and a chant of Veda written in Sanskrit peaks the curiosity of a german in the current world.
Our greatest strengths have been to seek hope from music, sculpture and fine arts during dark times and settle our minds from chaos to calm. In a painting or a photograph, one can feel the universe speaking to them, exposing them to the vulnerability to soak in the novelty of ideas and shedding old ones.
Can we really create a world without borders by investing our attention into the healing spirit of music, poetry and arts? What are the ways to soak ourselves into a mindset that enables deep love for building agile and inclusive organisations?
How Music and Arts can influence leaders?
A good leader always knows that it is good to be proven wrong as that exposes them to something better and bigger. When they try to explore the meaning of multiple aspects of life, they seek inspiration from the richness of literature that is left behind for our wisdom.
We gather our core values based on the literature we have heard, seen or shared. These core values become the foundations of our actions personally and professionally. Art forms influence our belief system and our belief system guides the path we take in life.
A world with endless possibilities and a non-existent border comes from a place of understanding and accepting diversity; the act of knowing the differences and accepting them gracefully, to create a better world for one and everyone. Can Music and Poetry really help our intent to build
Inclusiveness?
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A publication of Kabir Learning Foundation – Centre for Excellence in Knowledge Management