Sounds in the Silence

Our senses bring us pleasure, he continues, and what I really appreciate hearing him say is that we can achieve spiritual connection as writers with our readers. (Earlier posts for this blog speak to that connection through knowing farmers and food – the relationship farmers have (some have) with their land and connecting to the story behind our food). It’s not unlike the music composer who needs an audience to listen to his music, otherwise it remains just a music score. Such a clever revision of what connecting can look like, especially when we no longer find belonging in our communities or are required to stay home.

When we experience beauty, when we use our senses in that way, a part of our brain lights up. As I have written about a lot over the past couple of years (unpublished, except for here), it is through the experience of awe that we can awaken the listener, the viewer, the reader, the witness, the observer, ourselves.

Can this be a remedy to the disenchantment and numbness that so many of us are experiencing? So that we may feel nourished and regain vitality? I think so.

Dr. Zach Bush, MD says that beauty generates the experience of love. We create beauty by creating ritual (and practices), by seeing beauty in Nature and each other, and being with. I believe we can also “create beauty” – indoors, in outdoor spaces and with “altars” of intention (see my website here). Because beauty impacts our nervous system in a good way, bringing calm and peace.

Haskell puts forth another idea, of how we tend to just push forth our own story when there are so many stories. He suggests we pay attention to themes and patterns, and to diversity and the unity that exists in that diversity, in the many different stories. When we sense into the Place where we are, we find a kinship with all the other stories and the lives unfolding there. This is to establish a soul of place – interconnectedness – so that we can know that we belong. We are welcome here in our Place, siting quietly and listening.

We still need connection with other humans, however. Perhaps many don’t know how much we need it or take it for granted, having never experienced the despair of not having it. (There is a difference between lack of connection or isolation, and loneliness). Perhaps we rarely experience being alone, and it makes us feel uneasy or lonely. To know solitude is soul-fulfilling but everything in moderation! I can speak to years of experiencing a lack of like-minded people and a community, cohort or congregation.

But this relates back to the disenchantment and numbness mentioned before. To explore more deeply this idea of isolation or separation, we often find shame – a cause for withdrawing further. People really don’t like talking about this, do they?! Which is a bit odd because it is normal to feel lonely and we will all experience it, so no one should feel embarrassed or ashamed. I know that my “culture” has attached the word ‘loser’ to the condition. And we learned that being a loser was embarrassing when we were young, because it alluded to how that person does not fit into mainstream society, mostly because they are unique and smart. So others neglected them for fear they would be labelled a loser as well! Coach Mellissa Seaman has a better name for them, giving them the archetype of the “lonely gifted.” It’s a good starting place for showing up differently!

Haskell wraps up the podcast by saying how listening leads to renewal, and that sound gives us the closest experience of being fleeting, like our lives. It helps us to feel alive! That’s what we want, isn’t it? Listening demands a certain attentiveness to capture the essence. (Inattention results in destruction of species). This leads to an experience of joy, belonging and then right action. It is also generative, because there is Guidance from our sensory experience of our ecosystem and Place. We are nourished. “Rich and fulfilled lives come from connection,” he says, and that connection comes from using our senses.

If, like me, you are feeling disenchanted -feeling the effects of being “under-stimulated” these past two years, join me in Nature to receive nourishment from sensory experience (details coming soon). Or, remember planning things to do?! Activities like socializing and listening to other people; attending events and taking in theatre, music or the arts; tasting delicious food? Our senses crave a smorgasbord of experience through all our senses!

Start however, by just listening. “We can’t save species easily but we can turn down the noise,” which I will write about in an upcoming post … about the ‘white people’ noise that never stops (until it did in March 2020).