UNDERSTANDING THE SOUNDS OF ALL BEINGS

Have you ever found yourself listening to the unspoken sounds of another person . . . or to your own self for that matter? In these moments we listen not so much to the outer communication but to the silent force that drives the expression. This form of listening is instinctive, much like a child or animal when they sense the real forces hidden beneath a facade (a dark mood behind a smiley face, for example). Young children are very perceptive and not easily fooled by outer appearances; they sense directly what is going on even though they are unable to express what they see. The wakeful child is a wonderful mirror and we can learn a great deal about the power of listening from them. Have you noticed this?

Many of us instinctively register the unspoken sounds in others and also within ourselves, but we don’t acknowledge them most of the time; perhaps we are too identified with the outer expressions and so lose sight of the inner reality. It is a good practice to step back and listen with the inner ear, watching inconspicuously at what is actually going on in and around us. Sound is a mighty force in the universe and plays a determining part in our everyday living. It is wise to acknowledge the subtlety of sound, to see where they come from, and to note the effects they have on us.

Our challenge as human beings is to steer clear of the ubiquitous tendency to take everything in the universe for granted, for there is much still for us to understand about ourselves and the worlds in which we live. We don’t have to be an Einstein or a Plato to ask those pertinent questions which lead to a clearer understanding of the forces and energies operating in our world, and of the continual effects on us as we live our lives in this time/space continuum. Intelligent observation of what is happening in and around us can take us a long way on our journey of discovery; inertia alone is our main impediment to success, for it is far easier to lie back carelessly and allow the sounds in our habitual world to use us.

To understand the power of sound we have only to observe, as an example, the overriding effect that music has upon our three bodies. The sound of music can transport us through the imagination into realms of intense glamour and fantasy; it mesmerises the mental, emotional and physical bodies, depending on the type and quality of music we listen to. Romantic music, for example, can create very strong feelings in the emotional body if we are not awake and cause us to act in a manner that is beyond our control; rock music and hip-hop can have a powerful effect on the physical body, as the rhythm stimulates the instinctive parts of our being; classical music may affect the higher emotional and mental bodies depending on the calibre of music: it creates peace, gives much needed rest to the emotional body and structure to the mental body. There are other types of music also that seem to awaken more mystical chords in our being, reminding us of something that we long for deeply but which is not of this world.

There is no criticism intended here whatsoever towards any form of music, for all have their part to play in man’s creativity and experience. The point being made is the need for objective awareness of the effects of different sounds on our beings. Think of the thousand and one sources of sound we create as a collective whole in our daily rounds: the casual criticisms in social discourse, the sincere or insincere compliments paid to others, the meaningless babble of chit-chat conversation, the sound of dark brooding behind deceitful speech, the rays of affections we share in honest, straightforward communication, and last but not least, the incessant sounds of our noisy circulating thoughts that go round and round in our heads, day in and day out . . . these are just some of the sounds emanating from us in our daily living and they have an enormous effect within the collective melee! I wonder sometimes, in light of the tremendous power of sound, how we ever manage to retain some semblance of collective sanity . . . maybe we don’t!

Here’s an interesting quote from the Wise:
“People give very little attention to the Invisible World. It is necessary to consciously learn to understand its presence in everything. One can look upon space as upon the passageway to invisible worlds, which are observing us.”
There is more to life than what meets the eye. Mankind stands at the midway point between That Which stands above and that which gropes below. His purpose is to sound the higher notes.