Part 1: Noise
For many people, myself included, sound is much more than a modality of healing. Personally, I abstain from referring to it that way. I believe that when we name it, we negate it. In so much, when we attempt to identify something that is beyond words, we trap it in a profile we wish others too will fit it into. Sound can heal, but that is an aspect of the practice rather than the entirety. It is beyond the physical, thus it is beyond healing.
We are all drawn to certain things in our lives. Albeit relationships, interests, or spiritual pursuits, there is a gravity of curiosity which brings us into new experiences. Many people are initially drawn to sound to aid them in achieving some sort of resolve, thus the healing aspect is an attractiveness. My search and relationship with sound sprouted from what music had given me my entire life. It gave me solace and perpetual exploration. It offered me an ocean of creativity and was truly a feeding of my soul, so I dove into it. I knew there was something within sound which could teach me more about my body, my mind, the world, as well as that which is beyond the stars.
If it heals in the process, that is great. My approach was simply, if sound heals regardless, why should that be my focus? If I am attentive to peoples needs, emotions, physical responses, then I could hold myself in a state the embodies healing, rather than simply offering it. I do believe we all wish to see a new world in a new light, so we must break our notions of what something is, as well as continuously redefine the subject as to not pigeonhole both the individual and collective experience. For something to be great, it must be free from language and live within the world of direct experience. The old adage, if you love something you must set it free is paramount in understanding not only sound, but the world in general. That which is beyond words can only be taught with experience. If you love yourself, you must set yourself free. Sound is a way life and an understanding to live peacefully within it.
Within sound, we must give greater attention to the aspect of silence. Which we tend to feel as free auditory stimulation. Well, I hate to break it to you…it’s just not going to happen. For the mind is funny. We can see with our eyes closed and listen without our ears. Inner dialogue often beckons us to ask, who is speaking and who is listening? Within our mind the sensory experience continues, for that is the nature of the mind. Silence, to me, within the realm of sound is simply stillness. It is more akin to a feeling or emotion in the human form. For one to experience true silence the argument could made that it is impossible, that it will only occurs in death. Even that is an assumption which may be incorrect. Being that sound transcends the physical, it can be used to circumnavigate the notion of the experience. In small doses I have had glimpses of nothingness. I have embarked on this journey of sound to achieve the impossible. Oddly enough, when you reach the state the mind often jumps in and notices the state, taking you away from it. It reminds you that you are human and that your time in silence is a visit and one day you will be home, but not now. You steal the experience of nothing from yourself, but become grateful for the glimpse of peace. That glimpse…that moment that exists for a fleeting moment, allows you to understand that you are peace, it is not something you can become but rather something you return to. As you continue the practice, that state follows you through the day and it holds your hand, you then understand the well of solace is silence within you.
Silence is like an open space, it is nothingness. Sound begins to landscape silence in an auditory sculpture, and ones individual response to the sound creates a menagerie of thoughts, images, sounds, and more. This is the art, in healing arts. We create subconsciously from our past through auditory stimulation. Thus, if in a group setting, we share sound but interpret it in many different ways. Yet, some people have been known to share an experience in the plane of sound. The dotted landscape creates a moment in time reflective of all the experiences you have carried into the moment.
Life is noisy. Our health is noisy, our emotions…blah blah blah, my God it never ends! I believe like treats like. In my personally healing journey, I only healed pain with more pain. So when we use sound, we begin to negate and cancel the noise. The perpetual movement of conscious replacement of stimuli cancels the illusory noise of life, and often at end of sessions people will finally reach a deep state of mediation, even samadhi in some instances.
This is the first of three articles and they will build upon each other. But yet, this series is the tip of the iceberg. It is a gentle dusting of truth, but yet can be powerful enough to reflect upon your experience and look at your experience in a different way. The only aspect of this whole offering is dependent upon you. You are responsible for understanding yourself and how the world works. Sound is an active state of sovereignty that gives one responsibility for what may have happened to them. Yes, tragic things happen in our lives and we would be better off without them. Yet, we cannot change our past. We can only find resolve in moments which follow us. Sound works as an alchemical process to create power from trauma, cultivating a state of solid sovereignty.
To be continued.