A Merging of Conceptions
Sound. What is it's nature? Where does it come from?
For the purpose of this blog post, I'll talk about sound, but you can easily substitute whatever art or endeavor you are involved in.
For me, sound is often the medium I work in, but it can just as easily be words, like right now. I also work in various other areas like design, music production, composition, and various cross collaborations. There was a time I saw all these as separate from each other: right now, I'm a writer. Later I will be a musician. Tomorrow I will be a graphic designer. But as I evolved along the practice, I came to see that everything was actually the same thing. The same ideas and energy can be manifested in a different outer forms. Once I realized this, I was just me. I didn't have to become the writer, or the musician, or anything else. I am just me.
But what about the sound (or words, or designs, or photos, etc.), where does that come from? In our Western view, we are usually taught that the things we do, or think of, come from inside. They are internal creations of our own thoughts and mind. But this is only one way, one direction: inner to outer. But what about those times when we produce works without thought, as in improvising.
I know that when I'm improvising, things seem to flow through me. Part of this comes from years of work developing ideas which are filed away in my mind, until needed, when they spring forth without what would appear to be any conscious thought. But I would suggest that there is some sort of thought, perhaps at a more unbridled speed, not held back by conscious choice/decision.
But what about those other times when things just happen. Things that are so startlingly new and different, not just a rehash of learned patterns stored deep in the brain? I experience this on a daily basis. And it comes from the practice.
My work/art is the spiritual practice.
My breathing is the spiritual practice.
My thinking is the spiritual practice.
My connecting to all things is the spiritual practice.
I am the spiritual practice.
And this practice connects me to the Universe. It also has taught me to open up and allow the flow of inspiration in. Too often as humans, we do our best to get in our own way. Once you can step aside, to allow a clear path for direct communication with the Universe, you reach a state of flow. I often feel more like a conduit for energy/information. This is especially true when I'm in a deep sense of work. It may be writing, or playing the Gongs, or improvising music with others in the moment. This is outer to inner. Things come through me that have no prior basis with anything I have done.
So there is a flow of information both ways: inner to outer, outer to inner. Connecting to your art as a spiritual practice can help open up the flow both ways, not just the usual inner to outer form.
Practice and flow
~ MB
For the purpose of this blog post, I'll talk about sound, but you can easily substitute whatever art or endeavor you are involved in.
For me, sound is often the medium I work in, but it can just as easily be words, like right now. I also work in various other areas like design, music production, composition, and various cross collaborations. There was a time I saw all these as separate from each other: right now, I'm a writer. Later I will be a musician. Tomorrow I will be a graphic designer. But as I evolved along the practice, I came to see that everything was actually the same thing. The same ideas and energy can be manifested in a different outer forms. Once I realized this, I was just me. I didn't have to become the writer, or the musician, or anything else. I am just me.
But what about the sound?
But what about the sound (or words, or designs, or photos, etc.), where does that come from? In our Western view, we are usually taught that the things we do, or think of, come from inside. They are internal creations of our own thoughts and mind. But this is only one way, one direction: inner to outer. But what about those times when we produce works without thought, as in improvising.
I know that when I'm improvising, things seem to flow through me. Part of this comes from years of work developing ideas which are filed away in my mind, until needed, when they spring forth without what would appear to be any conscious thought. But I would suggest that there is some sort of thought, perhaps at a more unbridled speed, not held back by conscious choice/decision.
But what about those other times when things just happen. Things that are so startlingly new and different, not just a rehash of learned patterns stored deep in the brain? I experience this on a daily basis. And it comes from the practice.
My work/art is the spiritual practice.
My breathing is the spiritual practice.
My thinking is the spiritual practice.
My connecting to all things is the spiritual practice.
I am the spiritual practice.
And this practice connects me to the Universe. It also has taught me to open up and allow the flow of inspiration in. Too often as humans, we do our best to get in our own way. Once you can step aside, to allow a clear path for direct communication with the Universe, you reach a state of flow. I often feel more like a conduit for energy/information. This is especially true when I'm in a deep sense of work. It may be writing, or playing the Gongs, or improvising music with others in the moment. This is outer to inner. Things come through me that have no prior basis with anything I have done.
So there is a flow of information both ways: inner to outer, outer to inner. Connecting to your art as a spiritual practice can help open up the flow both ways, not just the usual inner to outer form.
Practice and flow
~ MB
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