Preserving life Chinese way

THE EDITOR: The internet has been a blessing to my life, allowing me to meet and learn from an old Chinese man who is today a very close friend. We both share a great passion for music and history that has been very positive for me because it he has taught me how to preserve my sanity and well-being through what I now share with you in his honour.

The Chinese have built some of the world's most awesome and ageless civilisations based upon their knowledge of the power of music. In ancient times the emperor would disguise himself and travel from province to province listening to the music being played in each.

If he disliked what he heard in a particular province he would immediately send in the army and change the leadership of that place until it suited him. This is because the Chinese believed that the quality of their music determined their very survival and prosperity as a people.

They knew the impact of music on our very soul and that this drives everything in our lives. And they believed that if they controlled the quality of the music it would not only benefit the people but all of China. Further, music would either positively or negatively impact the people’s will to live, based upon whether it was filled with fear to break them or filled with love that would build them up.

The emperor believed that music with too much fear would reduce the population's will to live – to dangerous levels in a province – and this would spread to other provinces and, if unchecked, to all of China.

On the other hand, he believed that enough love in the music being played in a province would make it prosper by simply making its people enjoy being alive and this would positively impact everything in that province and would spread throughout the empire.

The Chinese believe that one of the founding principles of a great human civilisation is that it would either be built up or destroyed based upon whether or not it was driven by the energy of love or fear from its music. They understand how to build empires based upon the belief that love is stronger than war, stronger than death, and springs eternal.

In this teaching my dear Chinese friend taught me how to preserve myself through the music that I listen to and so if music be the fruit of love, play on.

FITZROY OTHELLO

Princes Town