Day 305, Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Reflection
We are perpetually embraced and nourished by sounds and sights. The continuous film running in the mind about the stories of past or future keep us from living in the sensuous gifts of the present. We don’t accept the invitation to good listening or good seeing until we are made aware of these. So awaken to your hearing the way you return to your breath when thoughts abduct you from the focus.
When you give yourself entirely to hearing, passing thoughts are desperate to occupy the mental space. They want to bring the misery back. They grope and gasp. They are impediments to peace and tranquility of the present moment. Listen mindfully to the sounds and watch the thoughts melt away. Simply be aware of the “soundscape” with silences punctuating the sounds.
Then, in absolute quiet experience something about silence that is deeper than music or intellectual knowledge. It is a knowing that is felt and is intuitive.
Inspiration
Hearing
Listening to a favorite piece of music is the highest kind of hearing. Musical compositions are soothing patterns of sound that restore order to your consciousness. Therefore taking in organized and harmonized auditory information helps organize and harmonize the mind. Music restores order and reduces entropy.
For someone who does not intentionally listen to music but does so, it wards off anxiety, a negative mood, or boredom. But a music lover absorbed in listening can feel at one with his higher self, the singer and the world; a feeling of oneness overcomes them. They are not just listening to the music; they are living the music.
As with any arts, to fully enjoy music you must pay attention. Like writing or meditating with a group, by listening to a live performance with an audience you feel the “collective effervescence,” an aesthetic energy that throbs in the heart of each listener. The sociologist Emile Durkheim claimed that such an energy is at the roots of all aesthetic pleasure and spiritual experiences.
Journal Prompt
What kind of music do you like? What happens to your body and mind when you are completely absorbed in listening to a song or musical composition?
Today’s Practice
Meditation: “Body”
Lorraine
Sight is my most cherished sense. Listening to nature is second. I enjoy music – casually – and only on certain occasions (and with certain songs) does it sink deep. Maybe because I’m monotone, music doesn’t seem to reach my soul without intense concentration. I often sit in awe watching people transform when music comes on. Today, I will play music — and maybe even dance!
Madhu B. Wangu
Namaste Lorraine!
I’d love to watch you dance as the music plays. Have fun!
Jennifer D. Diamond
Good morning, Madhu! I grew up in a house full of music and I am so grateful for it. I love ALL different kinds of music and I constantly have tunes running through my mind while going about my day-to-day tasks. Today I will pay extra special attention to sounds other than the music in my head. When I sit for silent meditation, your voice, Madhu, and the music that accompanies your meditations often fill my mind until I bring my attention back to my breath. Thank you!
Madhu B. Wangu
Good morning, Jenn,
A musical family! How lovely! My daughters’ families are musical too because of Manoj. At times, he gets completely lost in a musical composition. Our children and grandchildren either play clarinet or piano or both and sing. Only thing I can do is to listen deeply, admire and applaud.
Thank you for listening to my meditations as well!