Inspirations: Archives

Seeking ‘en-lightenment?’ Riches? Power? Peace? Love? Health? Consider the sounds/meaning of words uttered without thought. (“I’m so tired.” “I’m afraid I’m sick.” “There’s not enough hours in the day.” “If only I had more money.”) Consider what the ears are taking in, the eyes tracking. The unconscious streams of opinion, bullshit, and nonsense are having their way with us, and as the character Howard Beale shouts in 1973, in the movie Network, “I’m mad as hell and I can’t take it any more!” How many layers of meaning and understanding are attached to sound, to each word? More and more we are assaulted by vibrations of din, and (mis)information. Our core is mentally, emotionally, even psychically changed by this. It’s one thing to sit, swallowing pages of a book, munching pleasurably on each word, entirely different to listen to telephone pitches, TV ads, u-tube, Ipod, endless gameboys, never mind traffic, daily chatting, and kids yelling…the staff of life. Much of this is at high volume, often with dramatic emphasis and emotional rendering. You wonder why we ‘can’t get it together?’ Consider one word, “mom.” There’s the word itself, with its ancient seed sound, ‘Ma,’ and subconscious associations. There are emotional layers mixing past and present which confuses its generic worth. Then there’s context…ie how much of you is involved when hearing, “Mom,” and how much is simply outer contextual layering? What word did you actually hear when you listened to “Mom?” You heard something different than me, and therein lies some of the mystery, confusion, and magic of language. ‘The word’ is a beautiful thing, especially divine speech, or Saraswati. It is our direct link to creativity, and the mastery of much else in life. Our chakra centers are deeply affected by light and sound, especially when used together. In… Read more »