THE MAP > THE MUSE AUTUMN VOICE : VERSE 1 : RESONANCE & DISSONANCE
VOICE
Verse 2 : Resonance/Dissonance
The choir.
I ended last month’s Muse with the following invitational questions to our community:
Can we let ourselves be touched by the power of voice, and let others be touched by our own magical instrument?
Can we lend our voice to this world, and weave it in?
This month I invite us to look at the community of voices we carry within, to become intentional about which voices we let in, because they shape how we live.
As a psychosomatic therapist I have long been curious about which voices we allow to touch us in our intimate spaces (both personal and collective) and shape our choices and behaviours, whether we are aware of them or not.
This Muse carries the potential for shifts: by noticing first which voices we already give power to, which voices we house within ourselves and the human groups we are part of, and secondly by witnessing which ones are absent, that we want to make space for, empower, amplify and be nourished by.
This is the great re-weaving of HOW we bring WHICH voices into the great choir of our lives, thus which song we sing, and ultimately, how this song shapes our individual and communal present and future.
Which choir(s) do we listen to as human communities?
For most of our history we humans used oral storytelling to pass on knowledge.
Through cadence, melody and specific narrative elements, the accumulated voices of ancestors and their wisdom was kept alive, shared and spread to help our survival. Each storyteller took the freedom to add elements in order to make the story relatable and relevant to the specific group, and kept the storyline evolving as knowledge itself evolved.
This oral transmission took place in circles, increasing the spread, and enabling debate and reflection within the group.
With the appearance of writing and printing, and later other means of communication that don’t require gatherings, the communal aspect and the adaptive, fluid nature of storytelling started to wane. The result was that receiving the message became an individualised experience, and that the message itself took on a new fixed nature. As a consequence the knowledge shared developed a finality less inviting to evolution, community debate and discussion.
The many voices became the one, for one pair of eyes and one brain at a time.
Not only did few have access to the means of writing and printing, but the group no longer came together and had the occasion to question, discuss and reflect about what had been shared.
I don’t want to over romanticise a past about which we have relatively little archeological evidence, but a radical shift occurred that changed our relationship to knowledge, authority and worldview, and this shift still impacts us today.
It is often those who are considered others, different or marginal that are ‘silent’ or silenced.
The equivalent of what Ancient Greeks called varvaros, from which our word barbarians originates, and which meant all those whose language sounded like “varvar” to those Ancient Greek speakers. Their voices did not count because they couldn’t be understood.
Who are today’s varvaros that we don’t give a voice to because how they think, feel or perceive is incomprehensible to us, to the point of being gibberish?
Which are the voices that our communities and society neglect to listen to?
Whose stories, and ways of perceiving, feeling and understanding the world do we need to include anew?
It isn’t even about who might be right or wrong, but about giving their worldview a seat at the table. This reminds me of Wade Davis’ splendid work of amplifying the voices of indigenous cultures. He is driven by the conviction that biodiversity is best defended by saving a variety of species, AND by respecting and retelling as many ways of experiencing the world as possible. This man is a loving, stunning storyteller I can only recommend.
Maybe we can approach our quest for ‘silenced’ voices from these angles:
Which little-heard voices, however different, align with our core values and dreams?
Can we nourish them, and be nourished in return by the inspiration they offer us, in guiding our actions and interactions with wisdom and insight that will otherwise get lost along the way?
Widening whom we listen to can help foster debate and discussion on which worldviews to give authority to, and how many possible futures we can imagine.
Whilst we cannot change our childhood, as adults we can choose which voices we continue carrying within, and which ones need to be shown the door.
I am sure this will be part of the no doubt earthshaking work of CALLED that Naomi is birthing. But maybe a humble beginning can breathe life into neglected parts of our beings by shaking off some dust there?
The most powerful tool to gain clarity on this is the ability to listen intently. In my work as a psychosomatic therapist, active listening, intently paying attention to how people talk about what they experience (the words and images they use, their tone, cadence, body language), is very informative about how they relate (consciously and unconsciously) to their life, selves and issues. Active listening to others or ourselves (including paying attention to body language, such as bodily sensations and posture) helps uncover the programming that runs in the background; the voices with influence over us.
This is meditation at its mightiest.
So in a comfortable (maybe even comforting) position acknowledge one of those inner critic voices:
What is it actually telling you, which words, cadence and tone does it use?
Does it remind you of anyone you know or knew: a family member, teacher, friend (past or present), colleague…?
Is that influence actually helpful, relevant, and/or aligned with your core values?
If it isn’t, try to notice when it kicks in, and try to resist its influence, even a little. You can speak to it politely, but firmly in your mind. Or choose to listen to someone else you know, trust, and love that better aligns with your value instead. What would they say, with which words/tone/cadence?
This isn’t an immediate magical potion. It takes time to reweave the threads that nourish who and how we are in the world, to recalibrate the internal conversation or dialogue until there is more inner resonance. Until the cacophony becomes melodic.
That is why I practice the meditation I shared a few months ago with the community, because it helps me remember these voices and strengthen their presence in my everyday life.
Picking and unpicking which voices we allow to touch and move our inner tender self is a work of patient and dedicated love.
Some dissonant voices are so deep within us they feel like our own, entangling us so deeply in the spiderweb of their promises of safety and comfort zone, whilst some nourishing voices within us are so soft, discrete and hidden we might have almost forgotten them, and the parts of ourselves they can so beautifully enliven.
So gift yourself some time to reflect on:
Whom in your life gave/gives you a felt sense of being loved as you were/are, with whom you feel heard, seen, appreciated and safe?
How do their voices sound, and how does that make you feel?
Which words do they use when speaking with you?
Can you make space inside the cacophony for these voices?
Valerie Hartwich and Grace Farmer
HOW COULD THE WAY YOU FEEL BE EXPRESSED AS A SOUND?
Verse one of this 3 part Muse included an invitation to add your voice through a short recording for a collective voice tapestry, in which each of us expresses how we are feeling at the very moment of recording by using our voice to make sounds.
All of our voices will weave together in a collective creation that promises to be a wonderfully interactive and meditative experience to be revealed with the next Muse.
It can sound pretty, it can sound rough. It can fizz, whizz or burst. Be a buzzing, or a humming, or a scream. Whatever comes from your raw gut feeling. Let us hear the voices of our community express emotions and sensations through sound vibrations.
To add your voice to our Vocal Tapestry follow these 3 steps:
1. Set up your phone to record your voice, making sure you’re close enough
2. listen to this short guidance
3. Record the sound(s) that emerge through you send the recording to us using:
email info@thecollectiveenergies.com
or
WhatsApp to +49 151 209 066 87 (you can use the Audionote function for your recording)
The interactive tapestry will be revealed next month
LISTEN
Part 2 of the audio series created by one of our members.
Silent Noises by Sally Balfourth.
An investigation into voice, silence and the art of listening. Holly Jones joins to share her experience of working with community choirs.
A 22 minute audio experience.
Collective Energy:
One from the back catalogue and perhaps a vital reminder right now to ask:
Is it an opinion? Or is it the truth? And just whose truth is it?
Collective Energy:
One that was recorded back in December 2020. On the importance of staying connected to real person community and the discernment practice of recognising how regularly we allow external voices and opinions to shape how we live.
Heart Cave:
A 22 minute meditation on freedom. Make time for this, it is really important. You think you’re free but there probably isn’t a gesture, emotion, attitude, belief, thought in you that isn’t coming from someone else. And you don’t know it? Yet you want to be free?
