compas

As I finished that last entry, I was thinking about the origin of the word compassion, and I was reminded of a flamenco term: compas. I didn't remember what it was, so I looked it up.

That description is perhaps a bit too technical, so let me break it down. Compas is the strict beat of flamenco music. Those who know flamenco know that it generally uses an unusual time signature, that of 6/8, somewhat like a waltz but doubled. Sometimes they do 12/8, which is like a 6/8 plus 3/4. It is beautiful and eerie and completely mesmerizing. I remember sitting in a crowded bar in Sevilla, drunk on sangria and trying to clap along to the complicated beat of compas. That beat is born into native Spaniards, but as I was a transplanted Americana, I couldn't quite figure it out. Maybe that's not a very flattering description, but believe me, it was an ethereal experience.

The point of all this is that compas is the beating heart of flamenco. Just as the heart of our existence is our compassion for others. And yet again, I am enamored with the poetry of Latin.