The Dance of a Thousand Veils

... And it turned out that I was invited to the ball...
It wasnt just any ball though, it was "The Grand Ball" and it was the biggest event I knew of. But I had no real idea about who it was that hosted the event or who those "powers that be" were... Id never even met anyone that moved in those elevated circles, so I was more than a little surprised to find that Id been invited!
This was truly a great honour and I felt humbled and proud at the same time because I thought I was fairly insignificant in the scheme of things and yet somehow I had come to the attention of "the Powers that Be" and more; Id been deemed worthy of attendance at this special event!

And so I found myself at the ball... And as expected, there were many many people there and I knew very few of them. In fact there were so many people there that it took me quite a while to find anyone that I had any sort of connection with.
Id expected there to be lots of people but this was so much bigger than my limited imagination had allowed...
And the people...Well, at first I was a bit surprised at the types of people there... There were so many and all so different to me... In fact, initially I was not at all impressed... Some of the other attendees "personalities" seemed downright offensive to me and I decided I didnt like them at all and wanted nothing to do with most of the people there.
But then, I got to thinking about it a bit and I thought well, "The Powers that Be" invited them too, so they must be special in some way... Who am I to judge the choices of "The Powers that Be"... I mean, after all, I made the list, so why not them... Just because I dont have the "vision" or "perception" to appreciate others for their worth... So, perhaps I should not be quite so judgemental of the other people here...They must have their value even though its hard for me to see.
So, after that things were a bit easier for me... I still didnt necessarily want to hang around at the ball with many of the other guests but Id decided that they all deserved my respect and deference none the less.

And besides, there was the Great Hall to distract me happily enough from the "challenges" of interacting with many of the other guests...
The Great Hall was of course the venue for this grand event... And I have to say that it was an absolutely magnificent venue! The place was enormous, and as far as I could tell, absolutely no expense or effort had been spared in preparing it with decorations and furniture and the catering and "all the trappings"!. Everywhere I looked there were amazing details and features, and there were so many different themes going on that it was dazzling... But nothing clashed!... It was a master-work with everything fitting together perfectly and one theme blending with the next...
The harmony and complexity was incredible and yet it wasnt dominating or intrusive to the mingling of the guests, rather it provided a perfect "space" for us all to meet and interact and enjoy ourselves.
And for someone like me who is a bit less sociable than many, the Great Hall provided plenty of interest for me to spend my time on so that I didnt feel lonely or left out when I couldnt find a group of other guests that I wanted to chat with...
Truly an amazing place... Did I mention that the place was huge? Of course it had to be to accommodate all these guests, but the scale of it was staggering to my little imagination... There was just no way that I was going to get around to seeing most of it before I left... Initially I started out like many of the guests and I was going from space to space in wonderment just trying to see as much of it as I could...it was such a wonderful place! But after a while I accepted that I couldnt see it all and that was fine because it was privilege enough to spend the time I had seeing just the few parts that I got around to...Honestly there was just so much to see and do!
But, again I was a bit disappointed by the behaviour of some of the other guests with regard to how they treated the Great Hall... They were partying away and not caring what damage they did to the place with their antics... really not showing much respect I thought... I felt it was a real privilege to be here and that I should respect the place... Im fine with everyone enjoying them selves in their way, but I dont think its fine for some people to have their fun and then leave the place all damaged and messed up for everyone else while they go party somewhere else cos this spot is all messed up! But, again, thats just my opinion... But rather than dwelling on the few negative aspects, Ill move on to some of the other amazing stuff :))

And the event its self didnt really seem to have a schedule either... It was a bit unusual in that it was a sort of an ongoing event! Some people had got there early and were in fact leaving when I was just showing up, and Im sure there were still others who would just be arriving when I was leaving... There was a continuous stream of people coming and going throughout my visit, and actually it made it all that much more interesting. There was always someone new to meet and get acquainted with, and there were always other people there who had been there longer than you and who'd been to some of the other spaces, so you could get all sorts of ideas from them on where to go and what to see or do next if you wanted... Or you could hang out with your group of friends that you'd recently made and do your thing and figure it out yourself if you wanted to.
Likewise, there were always plenty of new arrivals who didnt really know what it was all about and you could see that they were just like you had been when you first got here... All excited and frenetically trying to "take in" as much of the place and the activities as they could... Quite cute really :) Sometimes they asked your advice, but mostly they wanted to "discover it all for themselves"... Yes just like I had been and in many ways still was.

And then there was the orchestra... Wow!... I can barely describe it. It was nothing like Id ever experienced before... Now of course it was huge too but it was not just a big group of musicians all in the one place all playing the same tune as directed by a single conductor with the audience silently paying wrapped attention... No no, This was completely different...
Firstly, yes there were a huge number of musicians there but they were distributed throughout the venue (which actually made perfect sense because the Hall was so enormous and there were so many people there that it would have been impossible (and quite dull to set it up in such a limited way). So, the musicians of the orchestra were distributed throughout and their music permeated the whole place... And they didnt just play a single tune or even a single theme, and there was no conductor at all... At least not one that I could see.
But, all the musicians knew what they were doing, and it was very complex and very clever!... Each little group of them seemed to be playing their own little tune in their own little style for the group of guests that were near them...
And of course this meant that there were many many different musical themes in progress all at the one time... And youd think that would clash horribly and wouldnt work at all, but actually it did work very well. When I stopped and paid careful attention from time to time and tried to here what "the orchestra" was playing (listening to more than just the nearby tune) it was amazing, all the themes seemed to work together in a sort of a big operatic theme... it was too hard to get the full picture because I just couldnt hear all of it at once, but there did seem to be some overall theme to it and it was progressing in some direction or other, so perhaps there was some sort of "conductor" involved... Hard to tell really but undoubtedly part of the overall intent and concept for the event!
Oh, and the local musical themes were not at all fixed!... They responded to the mood and style of the guests in that space... And yet it all still seemed to stay in harmony with the rest of the orchestra and all the other local themes... Amazing! And so, as the mood of the guests would change so would the local music (or maybe it was the changing music that altered the local mood?) and as new people arrived on the scene and changed the conversation so too the music would change... And this was actually really quite helpfull for me as I moved about the place because I could sort of tell what the local groups of guests were like by the style and tempo of the music in the area and I could decide if I wanted to hang around and chat with them, or if Id rather move on and listen to something different so to speak... again, very clever!
Now, of course there would be times when one group of guests were right next to another group of guests who were very different, and you could definitely hear the disharmony in the local music but it seemed to self correct in that either the groups would polarize and move apart or harmonise and move together... It was like the music was manipulating the guests and the guests were in turn manipulating the music...I dont know how it all worked or was controled, but it didnt mater that I understood or not, it just worked :)

Ahh, and another thing about the music and the guests is that we were all sort of moving with the music... sort of dancing if you will... You couldnt help it... It was that manipulated/manipulating effect that I mentioned... Every ones body language and movement seemed to be in rhythm with the music... Maybe the music right in the place where you were at the time was not "your style", but there were always other musical themes nearby that were different and it seemed that I could always find some sort of rhythm to follow, and again, when I was "in rhythm" with the local music, I was happier and I liked the local group of guests more, and I was inclined to stay in that space and "dance", but if I wasnt really liking the "local beat", then I wouldnt really want to hang around and Id drift on to another space and find a "beat" that I did like.
And so, everyone was sort of dancing in their way. Some people were dancing alone, and some in couples and some in really large groups that looked more like a rave or a mob to me... But they were having fun and I didnt have to stay and dance there if I didnt want to, so it was all all right really.
And some people of course seemed to be absolutely natural dancers and put on magnificent performances (as individuals or as couples), but other people, like me, found it much harder and we'd stumble and sometimes even fall when we tried something more complex! And then Id feel really embarrassed and not want to dance any more... And Id then go find a corner to stand in or some other peple to talk to... But really I was just being silly because evrey one stumbled from time to time and it was just part of the event. In fact, I eventually figured out that I was mostly causing myself to have problems by trying to fit in too much! I was trying to dance to tunes that I didnt really connect with, and I was doing that because other people in that spot were dancing really well with that style of music, and I just wanted to "fit in" and make some friends... All quite normal really!
... But after quite a while of that, and with not much success, I eventually figured out what I was doing wrong, and I decided that what I really needed to do was to find my own rhythm in the multitude of music and not worry about what other people were doing...(Yeah yeah, I know, Obvious really!)
So, it took me a while but I slowly tuned in my ear and I was able to pick out a subtle theme in all the combined music that I really started to "connect" with, and that made all the difference!; And then I kind of already knew how I wanted to move with this music, and now I was dancing!, And not stumbling nearly so much (gotta switch off that brain and not think about it, and switch on that heart and FEEL the music instead!)... And now, I didnt care so much about fitting in with others and dancing like them... I was dancing my dance and it felt good, and I wanted to keep doing it... It almost seemed that this little rhythm was buried in amongst all this other music and people just for me :)
And I danced away happily, and if others wanted to dance their own special little tunes too, then that was fine by me...
Actually, Im starting to think that the purpose of this whole event is really for each of us guests to try to find our own musical theme and dance our special little dance...


... And so thats what Im doing here now... Im dancing my dance....
And I think if I had to give it a name, I might well call it "The Dance of a Thousand Veils"

... And while the orchestra plays on, Im gonna keep dancing :)))