S O U N D T H O U G H T S
IT'S NOT THE BOWL, IT'S THE BOWLER
I am the instrument being played, just as much as the gong and bowls are. As the wise Mallethead told me "It's not the bowl, it's the bowler." I turn myself over to the Great Musician. The Creator is ready to bowl with me. The Divine is on my bowling team." Personally, I have created myself as the Possibility of Creative Love. Emily has created herself as the Possibility of Healing. As such, the gong & bowls sing tonight of Creativity and Love, and of Healing. I beg you, get your small self out of the way. Allow the sounds do their Sacred Work of vibrational alignment.
THOUGHTS
BREATH/BODY/THOUGHTS/COSMONAUTS
So we are about to begin. Tonight we journey, alone and together. At times, be aware of your breath. Feel your body. Sense the other cosmonauts around you, the community we now co-create. Let your thoughts float by like leaves. Pay them no heed. Take 7 deep breaths at your own pace. Sound will then arise from the silence. Lie back and watch the movie within your imagination. Whatever is available to you is yours, and yours alone. Let us enjoy this extended Sacred moment, together.
GONG PITCHES= THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Gongs are not a pure, single-tone instrument like a flute is. Just the opposite. My customized 36-inch HEART GONG releases many notes and overtones simultaneously, many pitches in unity, but not unison. As such, it represents the Spiritualised human's heart. With the bowls I may focus on single pitches at times, but the gong is the Heart of the Matter. That is to say, the human is the Heart of Matter. And the gong represents that Sacred Heart.
TOOLS+ME= TOOL
The instruments I use are tools. To the degree that my ego is involved, they are tools of (small-s) self-expression. To the degree I deactivate my monkey-mind ego, they are tools of (capital-S) Self-expression. The Divine realizes Its own Beauty best through the complex richness and inner life of self-reflecting humans. As an artist, my discipline is to become one with Beauty. Not that I become beautiful, but that I become more-or-less transparent to the artistic Grace of Spirit, allowing that Beauty to use this body's heart-mind to shine through. It's a bit like an out-of-body experience. The me that I call "I" is somehow still present, but more as a witness to the Beauty being made manifest. Just like you, when in the zone, I get to hear the music being created.
SURRENDER/WONDER/MYSTERY/EARS
As neuro-psychologist Oliver Sacks' states in "An Anthropologist On Mars", Wonder and Mystery are present for each of us, in every moment, if we allow them to be. I ask that you hear with fresh ears, which means a clean and uncluttered mind. Surrender to the Wonder, so that you enter the Mystery. Be a Yes!
MORE MUSINGS
POSTURE/COMFORT
Some say you should lie with your feet toward the gong, others say your head. I say trust your instincts :: do what you want. Take care of your comfort. Feel free to move about as needed, to sit or lie, but do so with utmost respect for your fellow travelers. As many of the sounds are subtle, please be quiet.
INNER= BEAUTY/TRUTH
Evolution has recently empowered the inner dimension in humans, the life of the mind. The heart-mind is where Beauty and Truth lie. So enjoy tonight with your animal-body instincts, and/or with your imagination, your contemplation. There is no single right way to experience this ceremony, and you have creative choice in the matter.
CHAKRAS
People ask me about chakra activation. Here's the way I see it : The less-conscious embodied animals A-scend toward Spirit; they activate the lower 4 chakras, starting with the base/earth, ending with the heart. Contrast that with the Super-conscious but dis-embodied angel-spirits. They DE-scend toward matter; they activate the top 4 chakras, starting with the crown, ending with the heart. ONLY fully healthy humans, especially the emerging Homo Illuminatus, or Luminous Ones, are in touch with the full range of 7 ascending and descending currents, from crown to toe, toe to crown. With 3 above and 3 below, the heart chakra is the center of the energetic/symbolic universe. It is the locus of Heart-Wisdom. The healthy heart is the Sacred Chalice, filled to overflowing by the 3 ascending and 3 descending energies, the upward forces of evolution and the downward forces of involution. The human being, when healed and unfragmented, when whole and complete, when fully realized and wholly awakened... this human body/mind/heart/soul is the Divine made manifest. Also, the manifest made Divine. The Word made flesh, the flesh made Word.
MUSINGS
RAISING THE GRAVITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness, not matter, is the basis of life. Everything swims in a field of consciousness. Some beings are more awakened or conscious or more realized than others. My goal is to raise your consciousness by purifying your Heart-Mind, and aligning your body to the Sacred. In so doing, we raise the center of gravity of Consciousness Itself.
SACRALIZE
Nothing in life is sacred, NOTHING - unless we humans make it so. Our goal is to sacralize this extended moment together, to make this music sacred. And in so doing, to let this sacred sound wash over us, and enter us deeply, thereby sacralizing us in a reciprocal resonant ritual. The bowls are Spirit Expressing to the degree that we add consciousness to matter via the quality of our listening.
FASCINATION IS THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE OF MYSTERY,
MYSTERY= LOVE
In philosopher/composer John Cage's composition named "4:33", the pianist sat down at his grand piano, raised his hands, and played... absolutely nothing. For 4 minutes and 33 seconds. His intention was that any incidental or ambient sound the audience heard became the "music" of the piece. In that spirit, if you hear a siren or a door opening, welcome any sounds you hear tonight as part of the sonic landscape, not an intrusion. There is sufficient Mystery to keep you fascinated just in the act of hearing. Fascination is the human experience of Mystery, which is a form of Love.
IDEAS
BIG BANG/STARS/GESTATION
You and I and we were all together billions of years ago at the beginnings of time, as potential in the Heart of Consciousness. It's true! "Each part of our bodies originated in the energy of that original hot soup. It took this long for stardust atoms to eventually gather and organize themselves as you. How do I know? Because you are here, now!
THE BODY IS THE LARGER BRAIN
Our atoms contain ancient stories we are not conscious of. And our bodies carry the indistinct cellular memories of billions of years of evolution. Musician/philosopher Brian Eno puts it simply :: "The body is the larger brain." The cerebral cortex is a relatively recent addition, the body has a long history. We humans are 70% water, and tonight, our liquid bodies will organically resonate with the sonic vibrations of the OCEAN OF DEVOTION. So if you feel like moving/dancing, do so.
SOUNDS: HERE & NOW (SENSATION)
VS SYMBOLS (POINT)
In a real sense tonight's sonic vibrations are always in the here and now. The sounds will trigger sensations within us. In reality, the presence of the sound is all there is in any moment tonnight. But that truth has a flipside. In another sense the sounds are not merely themselves, but are also symbols. The sounds point... they point to that which is not - and cannot be - manifest in this realm. They point to that which is beyond, to that which is beyond the beyond. Whether you hear the sounds for the sensations they are, in reality, or as symbolic guides to your own inner life is of no concern to me. You have creative choice in the matter. Allow the sacred sonics to flow over you and into you. Use them, intuitively, to journey to other realms, and to heal. And let the sounds use you. Let the sounds borrow your body/mind/heart/soul so that they might embody in this psycho-physical realm, if just for a moment in time. It is reciprocal : the sounds honor you as you honor them.
EVEN MORE MUSINGS
ON SOUND VIBRATION
& HEALING
EYES (OUT) VS EARS (IN)
When we see music being made, we listen with our eyes; our eyes extend us out from our bodies to meet what we are seeing, and that is very beautiful. When our eyes are closed we listen with our ears; rather than out, we pull the music deep inside us. Our imaginations rule this realm. Both ways of listening are rewarding, and you have creative choice in the matter.
ORIGINAL BLESSING/PAIN/BLISS
Remember :: You were born with the Gift of original blessing, not the burden of original sin. Disempower your pain-body. Empower your bliss-body. Bliss... is our birthright.