The Imaginal and Musical

Musings #4

The Imaginal and Musical When the world of words fails us, we give expression to the soul’s moods through songs, shouts, and sighs. At times, language is neither universal enough nor adequate enough to convey joy, sorrow, reverence, and rage. Sometimes a scream says more about ecstasy than any eloquent communicator could convey, and does so instantly.

Beyond spoken words and uttered vocalizations, there is another way to commune and communicate with the unspeakable nature of our inner life. As shamans, artists, poets, and modern day trancemakers have demonstrated, the soul eloquently articulates itself through the language of image. It may seem odd to be focusing on seeing in a course devoted to hearing. The truth is, outer sound is the portal to inner vision.

Not any old sound will provoke the imaginal or summon the archetypal. The shaman’s journey, wherein a person envisions helper allies, healing symbols, or mystical apparitions, requires a specific concoction of sonic ingredients. In this chapter, we will explore how we may sculpt sound in a manner that courts and heightens our imaginal potential.

Becoming proficient in our ability to imagine, intuit, and assemble pieces into patterns is a lifelong pursuit. Especially during our adolescent years, there is a strong developmental thrust concentrated in the sixth chakra. (Teachers frequently chided me during my teen years for being “such a dreamer.” I had very clear visions of my life as a musician and being able to recite the periodic timetable did not align with the image of where I was headed).

Following puberty, it is not uncommon for a teenager to gaze outwardly on the world with different eyes, as if a veil from childhood had dissolved. As my sons passed through their teenage years, I remembered how the perspective of an adolescent could shift from day to day. The ordinary world may not change substantially yet the teen can view it dramatically and differently. Depending on the mood, outer life appears artificial, awesome, mundane, or magical. Inwardly, the urgings of the soul equally come bursting through in bold, cinematic colours: dreams of fame, visions of grandiosity, projections of heroes, dramas with enemies and allies, plus unedited sexual fantasies.

A client of mine, who was raising a teenage daughter single-handedly, once blurted out, “My daughter is starring in her own movie and I’m just an extra on the set.” If that statement is true for others, we do know that it is definitely not a silent film. Plugged into computers, iPods, or cellular phones, teenagers can select a non-stop soundtrack to their epic life.

Gary Diggins copyright 2009 1 Just as it has been so in previous generations, the music a teenager consumes is not a casual matter of preferences. What goes in the ear is a huge statement about tribal values and how the individual wants to be seen. Hip-hop chants and rants may take one group of listeners into an interior realm lit with the fires of passion. Heavy metal, power chords and pounding drums will transport other listeners into a realm dimmed with sullen atmospheres and brooding dispositions.

Of particular interest to our focus in soundwork is the ability for adolescents (including our own “inner teenager”) to create, not merely consume, soundscapes that access either primal or imaginal currents. Thanks to the availability of computer technology, both music and sound manipulation has become a commonplace skill to millions of people.

Tucked away in home studios and bedroom laboratories are legions of innovative DJs, electronica composers, and sonic sculptors who mix together musical textures, ambient sounds, and even environmental noises in order to fabricate new, fictional worlds. Drag a mouse, hook up a MIDI source, throw in a sampled groove, and behold: you have merged the imaginal with the aural.

Through file sharing, podcasting, or burning CDs, a global party of young innovators can communicate with members of their clan, those who speak the same language. A definitive type of bass sound set against a certain style of drumbeat immediately says, “I am a member of the Deep House tribe. Anybody else out there listening?”

The brewing up of sound and psyche has resulted in new concoctions that do not pour well into familiar musical categories. Terms such as ambient dub, deep trance, and possible futures music merely hint at a massive field that resists traditional definition. At times, it is not even accurate to categorize these genres as music since, in certain recordings, the sonic journey can include conversational snippets, urban pandemonium, and an array of sound bytes sampled from the airwaves. Perhaps the only common element is that the end product is intended to stir up imaginal juices.

There are powers of “seeing” that are sorely needed in our technological culture and specific types of sound can effectively transport to the gifts of the archetypal and imaginal domain. In corporate teambuilding I co-facilitate, I increasingly hear consultants and trainers talking about the benefits of intuition and the wisdom of imagination. In social movements, leaders and lobbyists repeatedly use phrases such as “envisioning a new future” or “foreseeing where we are headed.” Any way you look at it, this is a time for individuals to dream of unprecedented possibilities. This is a time for visionaries who are able to guide meaningful action from a place of renewed perspective.

It may seem naïve to think that something as accessible as sound can take us into profound shifts of attitude or action. However, as John Lennon indicated in

Gary Diggins copyright 2009 2 his song Imagine, we have to first divine what is possible before we can move closer to those ideals. Soundwork can serve us moderns as we learn to soften our deductive minds, open to our intuitive nature, and access the gifts of our imaginal minds. Impressionistic music and innovative soundscapes also help us to become more conversant in the language of the soul and develop an ear for how wisdom is periodically communicated in non-verbal ways.