Probably you have heard the expression “open-hearted.” Standard dictionaries define it as frankness coupled with kindliness. The authoritative text Buddhism for Dummies identifies it with generosity, which is the global expression of kindness. Frequently, the quality is associated with children, who have not yet been conditioned to guard the free expression of their emotions. Ronald Aronson describes the emergence of his awareness of open-heartedness in describing his experience with open heart surgery, of all things.
To open the heart is to open the emotional core and let it express, so that the core reaches outward. Going far beyond mere willingness, the emotional hands stretch as far as they can to embrace others, life, and the world. In this metaphor, we can see the beginnings of spirituality.
Real
True Narratives
- Tracy Dougherty, The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion (St. Martin’s Press, 2015): “As Daugherty’s overheated book sent me racing back to the cool relief of Didion’s prose, I was struck by a fundamental and counterintuitive generosity in her work. What Didion preserves of herself is her quick reactivity, her canny collection of images, her scraps of memories — all this translated into the most rigorously clear language. Style is how she makes herself available to us: by allowing us to borrow her extraordinary vision, by communicating it in an American speech that is really a melody — a sturdy and beautiful folk song.”
Imaginary
Visual Arts
- Mary Cassatt, The Child's Caress (c. 1890)
Film and Stage
- The Little Kidnappers: one way or another, the heart opens
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Music expressing open-heartedness:
- Schubert, String Quartet No. 7 in D major, D 94
- Paul Ben-Haim, Pastorale Variée, for Clarinet, Harp and String Orchestra, Op. 31B (1945) (approx. 16 minutes), “started life as the last movement of a clarinet quintet, composed shortly after the symphony which follows here. Some years later, Ben-Haim arranged the last movement on its own for solo clarinet, string orchestra and harp and renamed it. It is a set of variations on a theme which evokes sunlight and the Mediterranean.”
Count Basie: an open-hearted musician
- Sixteen Men Swinging, 1953, 1954
- In 1955, with Lionel Hampton and Sarah Vaughan
- Live at Birdland, December 30, 1956
- On CBS in 1957
- Live at Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, 1959
- Live in Milan, 1960
- Live in Belgium, 1961
- Live in 1962
- “Frankly Speaking” album (1963)
- “Show of the Week” in 1965
- Live at the Sands, 1966
- “Basie’s in the Bag” album, 1967
- Jazz casual, 1968
- “Standing Ovation” album (1969)
- “High Voltage” album (1970)
- “Afrique” album, 1971
- Live in Copenhagen, 1972
- Live from the Dorchester Hotel, 1973
- Oscar Peterson and Count Basie live in 1974
- Live in France, 1975
- Live at Tivoli, 1976
- “Prime Time”, 1977
- Live in Tokyo, 1978
- Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival, 1979
- Basie boogie
Albums:
- Paul Bley, “Open, to love”
- Sonny Sharrock, “Guitar”
- Vusa Mkhaya, "Vocalism": this a cappella singer from Zimbabwe wears the heart of humanity on his vocal cords.
- Joel Ross, “The Parable of the Poet”: “Ross’ vision for the music is at once explicit and mysterious. He seeks to express themes present in parable tellings and retellings, while leaving each story’s particulars open to interpretation.”
Poetry
Poems:
- Rabindranath Tagore, 57