Getting to Carnegie Hall

Closing my eyes, it takes only a second for me to remember walking down the hallway of the music department at Incarnate Word College. On a busy day, all eight of the practice rooms would be full and the cacophony of sound was like a music store gone mad. Students would practice their piano lessons with an occasional flautist, vocalist, or violinist joining in. The rooms were soundproof so students wouldn’t hear their neighbors. In the hallway, however, one could hear all of the muffled music at the same time which could be very disconcerting.

Many days, I was one of those students spending hours in one of the practice rooms preparing for a recital or exam. Sometimes, I would play the same brief series of notes over and over again until my fingers and brain worked together to produce the perfect sound.

One of our professors loved to remind us of the story about the fellow who was visiting New York City for the first time and who didn’t know how to find Carnegie Hall. He asked a nearby man how to get there. The man looked at him, smiled, and said, “Practice. Practice. Practice.”

The same is true of spiritual aspirants. How often have you learned a new spiritual practice or technique and expected it to work wonders for you immediately? How often have some people told you their technique or teaching would produce instant results with little to no effort on your part? Did you believe them? And did disappointment follow soon afterwards?

For some reason, we have no difficulty believing that musicians, artists, pilots, and surgeons need to practice many hours if they want to be good at their craft. Why do we think the same doesn’t apply to our efforts to pray, meditate, make changes to our lives, and understand spiritual mysteries and texts? Any musician will tell you that the first time they play a piece of music, it is just to get a basic understanding of the piece, sort of like reading a speech through the first time. It is only then that they actually begin to learn the piece. After they have learned it technically, then they can begin to add the nuances that make a performance great.

So it is with us when we want to learn something new. We must be willing to practice, practice, practice if we want to play at the spiritual Carnegie Hall. Yes, this requires commitment and patience but the results are worth it. There’s nothing like performing a piano piece you’ve worked on for hours, days, and weeks. The audience might give some applause, but that is nothing compared to the sense of accomplishment and joy you feel. So it is with our spiritual practices. When we finally incorporate a spiritual teaching or method into our daily lives and experience the results, the feelings of joy and accomplishment are sublime.

Living in Grace and Ease,

Krysta