While on my way to dinner this evening I came across an incredible piece of music that was written by Henry Purcell, Keeper of the King’s Instruments and Organist of the Chapel Royal, to celebrate the opulent coronation of James II and his Queen, Mary of Modena, in 1685. If you close your eyes and release yourself into its majestic and sumptuous harmonies, you may feel as I did, a member of the privileged audience in the hallowed halls of Westminster Alley 336 years ago.

This was a particularly messy time in history, replete with civil, political, and religious strife. It was a time, in many ways, no different than our own. We’ve dialed back the violence a bit, but the conflict and disharmony among people seems the rule, rather than the exception. I suppose what stood out to me the most as I let this magnificent piece untangle my heartstrings from the din of so-called civilization is that we–human beings–have the capacity and I would venture to say the ongoing necessity of producing, performing, and participating in magical works of art such as these in our daily living.

We must, if our brief existence on this exquisitely beautiful spinning rock is to amount to anything, find the words that cut through the noise of our festering and persistent discord.

To do so we must allow ourselves to rest our opinions just long enough that we hear the faint but glorious sound of accord in our hearts and minds. Conversation, discussions, and debate should always rightly hold sacred a fundamental desire to find agreement in truth, rather than accepting, or worse, callously expecting our interactions to devolve into the painful and destructive defense and buttressing of opinion.

That music–the sound of accord–still resonates in the chamber of the human heart, but the heart must be regarded as sacrosanct for it to reveal the full glory and wonder that is found in the spirit of agreement. My heart is inditing of a good matter this evening, just as Purcell’s did centuries ago, and I hope that you find the space in your heart to join me in celebrating the inability of human opinion and strife to overcome the beauty and symmetry of truth and accord.

The truth is true and all is well.

Let this be the song the plays when you enter the room!