A VOICE OF PRAISE

Since the moment of our conception, each of us has been offered a multitude of life experiences – ranging from successes, triumphs, joys, happiness, and fulfillment...to griefs, tragedies, failures and embarrassments. While our culture encourages us to count our joys and triumphs as blessings, it does little to encourage us to embrace our failures…or our griefs. As a result, many of us view our more traumatic experiences as unfortunate pitfalls on the road to ‘happily ever after’. Yet – when viewed in this way – our psycho-spiritual and physical traumas can create blockages that impede the free flow of life energy within our Being – and often lead to cycles of dis-ease.  

In an attempt to relieve this dis-ease, some therapeutic approaches seek to heal the trauma through the cathartic release of the blocked energy. However, when we simply release the energy, we risk squandering the remarkable spiritual and creative blessings hidden within the original traumatic event.

As an adjunct to these therapeutic approaches, certain Poetic and Mystery Traditions suggest that spontaneous vocal expression can allow us to harvest the trapped energy to support our journey into a fuller participation in the miracle and mystery of Life. As evidenced in the life and art of the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke, by ‘singing out’ our pain and our trauma, we honor them as valid human experiences…and Life, in turn, honors us with a profound showering of blessings.

The transformative power of authentic, spontaneous vocalization has likely not received a wider recognition because the mere thought of vocalization often awakens fears and inadequacies associated with ‘singing off key’. Yet, according to Rilke, the esthetic beauty of one’s singing holds little significance on the Path of Self Realization. Rather, it is the authentic, unmodulated vocal expression of emotion and feeling that furthers one’s journey along this path.

Authentic vocalization thus differs markedly from all rigidly defined ideals of ‘what singing should sound like’. As a natural expression of human emotion and feeling, authentic vocalization requires no lessons…and is always expressed in exactly the right key: the Key of Life. To begin, often we need only open our mouths and release our breath. As Kukai – the founder of Shingon Buddhism – has counseled: through such an act of vulnerability, “the first sound ‘ah’ blossoms into all others…each of them is true”.  Our first authentic sound (be it a sigh of weariness or a cry of pain) thus initiates a blossoming of authentic sounds that become a true revelation of Self. Through this blossoming, we begin to discover that our life has been a beautifully choreographed interweaving of experiences and events – each gracefully shaping us and guiding us into the unique Being that we are in this moment.

In some mysterious way, this uninhibited vocal celebration of Self then begins to dissolve the veils between Self and ‘other’…opening a sacred gateway into the mystery of existence.  Through our vocalization we come into accord with the creative energy of Brahma, who “meditated for a hundred thousand years, and the result of his meditation was the creation of sound” - and all existence came from sound and through sound. From the Vedas of ancient India to the mythologies of the Aztecs, Polynesians, Eskimos and many others…and from ancient Egyptian scripture to the scripture of the Bible and the Koran…it is confirmed that the first act of creation was the creation of sound.  Thus, in the words of Sufi mystic/musician Hazrat Inayat Khan, the world is Nada Brahma: God-Sound.

From the infinite expanse of the cosmos to the quantum world of the atom, science also affirms that all existence is harmonic vibration.  The planets share a harmonic relationship as they orbit the sun – and similar harmonic relationships can be found in the structure of the atom. Each atom carries its own unique vibratory signature; each sings its own quantum song. All greater complexities of Life are thus sung into creation. From the scientific perspective, the long strands of our DNA - structured with an extraordinary harmonic precision - become the strings of a fine instrument through which God sings us into being. 

While the vibration of Nada Brahma may be inaudible to our normal awareness, authentic vocalization brings it into the audible range. The profound recognition of Nada Brahma within our own voice then begins to create what Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus call “a temple deep within our hearing” where all things, events and experiences are honored as unique – and essential - voices within the unity of Life’s Song. And as each of us offers our authentic voice to that Song, we truly become a Voice of Praise.

TO WALK IN BEAUTY

In the beginning of all things,
wisdom and knowledge were with the animals;
for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly
to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed
himself through the beasts, and that from them,
and from the stars and the sun and the moon,

man should learn. Tirawa spoke to man through his works.

                                                          - Chief Letakots-Lesa, Pawnee Tribe, c. 1904

Living in harmony with the rhythms of the Natural World is essential for all those seeking to fully participate in the unfoldment of our planet …and our Selves. However, in our fast-paced culture, many of us embrace lifestyles and belief systems that lack a harmonic resonance with Nature’s rhythms. This lack of harmonic resonance can be the source of physical, psychological and spiritual dis-ease.

For optimal wellbeing, our body’s overall vibrational frequency must be ‘fine-tuned’ moment-to-moment by Nature’s rhythms - by the time of day…the season…the phase of the moon. This fine-tuning is communicated to our bodies by the sounds in the world around us: by the songs of birds, by the sound of the wind and falling rain. The vibrations of these sounds impact our body’s frequency in the same way that a musical instrument’s vibrating string influences the vibrational frequencies of other surrounding objects.

A temple inside our hearing

Indigenous cultures maintain their harmonic relationship with Nature’s rhythms by consciously tuning in to her sounds. However, in this era of multi-tasking, we are often too busy talking on cell phones, sending emails, and listening to iPods, to be consciously aware of Nature’s sounds. To re-establish our natural harmonic resonance, we must begin to  create what the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke called ‘a temple deep inside our hearing’ - where the sounds of Nature will be received as divine gift.

While the creation of such a temple requires dedication, we can begin by simply going for walks in nature sanctuaries, parks…even a vacant lot. Not trying to hear anything…just gratefully receiving whatever sounds may be offered. And feeling their vibration reverberate through our entire body.

Over time, we may come to know the song of the robin, of the crow, of the chickadee, of the great blue heron…a unique beingness reverberant within each unique song. And we will discover that the songs we hear change as we pass through forest into open field…or onto sea shore. And that some songs fall silent as the day progresses…or as the seasons turn…while others vibrantly proclaim a new arrival.

Each step into Nature brings a subtle change in the songs we hear. If we tune in, these subtle changes offer to bring our beings into harmonic resonance with each moment of our existence.

Even if we lack access to a natural space, Nature offers us many opportunities to attune to her vibrations. A single birdfeeder transforms a backyard into a temple of sound. One flowering plant can orchestrate a symphony of bees…or hummingbirds. Each of Nature’s creations becomes a holograph through which we can attune to Nature herself.

As our ‘hearing temple’ expands, we will discover that the sounds in our day-to-day world can also attune us to Nature. In fact, an urban or suburban environment offers a wonderful opportunity to allow the collapse of the perspective that humans – and things ‘man-made’ - are somehow separate from Nature’s creations. For we too are the children of Nature…and thus perhaps all that humans have created is truly Nature-made…

The Song Of Life

By tuning in to Nature’s sounds, we come to experience Life as an infinity of unique melodies – one sung by each of Life’s creations. Yet the expression of such unfettered individuality does not create discord. Rather, the melodies unite in harmony. By attuning to this harmony, we will actually feel our body begin to vibrate…’humming’ with the radiance of being truly alive.

This radiant aliveness becomes a gateless gate that leads us into a fuller participation in the miracle of Life: we begin to feel a kinship with all of Life…and we begin to hear Nature inviting us to simply open our mouths and exhale our uniqueness…to allow our authentic voice to find its harmonic resonance within the Song of Life. Which is the song of our Selves. Which is the song of our humanity. Which is the song of all that is.

  Walk in Beauty Workshops 2008