Missing Wavelengths?

The sound of the sea soothes. Its rhythm a mighty solace. When calm its frequency is slower (1/10) than the beat of the human heart. No wonder being beside it is such a source of comfort. Just like the baby in the womb is soothed by the thump, thump of their mother’s heart we too are comforted by the sea’s rhythm. We are bathed in such a noise from conception but it is only when we develop sensory organs do we properly hear them. Mind you, even without working ears the deaf can feel the vibration of sound through bone/floorboards/a balloon held in their hands so perhaps even before audio organs were fully functioning perhaps we felt the vibration in the womb of the nearby heart. As the ears developed in the womb the baby grows to recognise the mother’s voice and is found to respond to certain external music.

Sight too is developed in the womb and, like sound, we humans have a limited spectrum in which we can operate. Bees can see the magnetic field, bats can use sound in order to navigate. Visible light is our piece of the electromagnetic spectrum. We may feel the heat of an infrared wavelength or suffer the sunburn of UV rays or even use devices to enable us to hear radio waves or microwaves but the visible spectrum is where our eyes excel.  Everything we see is due to this tiny fraction of the whole spectrum. If the whole of the electromagnetic spectrum was laid out before us as 100 toilet rolls (with each roll having 1000 sheets) we can only see three and a half sheets (0.0035%).

We pride our ability to see our surroundings, perceive and then understand. We see the rain clouds, understand we may need our umbrella and take it with us. So closely entwined is this with understanding that we even use the phrase “I see” interchangeably with “I understand”. To see or perceive to take in information, process it and make use of that knowledge is almost too seamless for us to even notice. 

Humans are sufficiently adaptable to allow one sense to help another. Some blind people have taught themselves to use echolocation to understand their surroundings via sound waves. These waves can produce reflections which tell them how close obstacles and structures are. This ability can be taught relatively quickly especially to children. Because we as sighted individuals learn about our environments using vision, we often do not readily perceive echoes from nearby objects. However, with training, even sighted individuals with normal hearing can learn to avoid obstacles using only sound, showing that echolocation is a general human ability.

Our intelligence has permitted us to make use of other areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Our WiFi, mobile phones, radios etc have helped us to make inroads into other sheets of those rolls of toilet paper we spoke of earlier. X-rays in medicine give us the ability not to see our surroundings but our internal body structures.  Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is another type of scan that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body.  Our ingenuity has allowed us to glimpse how other creatures hear and see. Elephants can hear very low-frequency sounds, we cannot hear, through their huge feet and can pick up such invaluable information as the early low-frequency rumbles of an approaching tsunami or earthquake. Dolphins can hear a much broader range of frequencies than we humans.  Our ears can only pick up frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 kHz whereas dolphins can hear from 20 to 150 kHz. Their hearing is up to 7 times more sensitive than the human ear.  Perversely, the humble moth has the best hearing of any creature (The greater wax moth's hearing goes up to about 300 kilohertz). Eagles have better eyesight than humans. They can see eight times further than us and see shades of colour we cannot.  They can even see ultraviolet light which helps them see bodily traces left by their prey. 

We may have extended our ability to function in other spaces of the full sound spectrum or electromagnetic spectrum but there is a range (a bit like the range of musical instrument) that we are designed to see and hear with our own faculties. Even our eyesight was designed to see not only close-up but also the distant horizon. Perhaps to distinguish close up edible seeds from toxic ones or to discern prey or spot predators approaching from afar. If we deny ourselves the full panorama of life around us we can damage our eyesight. So, too much screen time sacrifices our farsighted abilities.

The frequencies we hear and see have consequences in our brain. Not only in how we interpret but what feelings they engender. Beauty in nature awakens emotions within us not just factual realities. A wonderful piece of music can elevate our spirit or soothe our distress. If we could understand the lasting impact what we see and hear has on human beings we might be more refined about what we tune our ears to or focus our vision on.

The senses are doorways to mind, spirit and body. They can be extended and developed or curtailed and deformed. Our daily choices decide what benefits or deficits we experience therefrom. To be in nature surrounded by its sounds is a source of healing. Music does indeed soothe a troubled breast. This world we were born into is a feast for us both acoustically and visually. But when depressed we can sometimes not even see the beauty around us.

Spirituality is the ability to walk the path that nurtures your real progress. Our senses guide us but it is in understanding what we hear and see that our real development takes place. If we choose not to investigate the truth with heart and mind then we impede our progress and that of the society around us. It’s as if our physical senses are merely portals to investigate reality. The real magic happens when and how all that is processed and acted upon.

If we see the suffering of others we have some choices.

1.   Avoid - make sure we are not exposed to such sights again. news/disaster/coverage/tragic events. Akin to the ostrich hiding its head in the sand. Or choosing to See no evil, hear no evil or see no evil.

2.     Cynical self-interest - Feel no sympathy with those ‘others’. As long as one’s own family is fine why be perturbed by those of others. Train yourself to be selective about who you will respond to, particularly those in despair or need.

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3.  Feel helpless - Watch so much of the news, what’s going wrong with this world that you become angry and feel both despair and hopelessness.

None of these choices ends well.  We do need to become informed of what is happening in the world good and bad. When suffering and injustice occurs it helps to take some steps to remedy it. It could be small but taking action puts power back in your hands. Inaction fuels your own helplessness. Your actions, however seemingly futile, can inspire others. If mistakes happen you can learn to adjust and correct. Progress can be made through action.  From the good you observe in this world best practice can be absorbed. Inspirational accounts (factual and informed) can give powerful examples of how others have already perceived a problem/injustice/wrong/suffering and acted. They fan your flame to take action as a response to what comes. Not reinforce acquiescence and acceptance of the status quo however damaging.

If life can be likened to the electromagnetic spectrum we need to recognize the source is abundant. We are bathed in this constant pouring out of energy from above. It fuels our food and fills our bellies. It warms our body and enables our eyes to see. All of that is designed to benefit the human race and all the creatures that share this planet with us. To be selfish with resources, money or acquisitions is the opposite of this demonstrated abundance. To abuse, this planet and people for individual gain is to reduce one’s spirit to the lowest level of existence.  We can bury ourselves in materialism to such a degree that we no longer see the sun or feel its heat. We have burrowed into dark places that take us down not up.

The electromagnetic spectrum and the wavelengths of sound demonstrate our limited ability to even see or hear what is actually out there. The fact that other creatures can hear and see more than we can is a mighty reminder that this world is not just for us human beings. It is filled with living entities who are designed like us to inhabit this wondrous planet. They hear and see things beyond our reckoning. Some can even see the polarization of light. Many can use the Earth’s magnetic field to orientate themselves on this sphere. If this is so, is it not cavalier to pollute this world so beautifully designed for all species, not just the human race.

The sad thing about this preferring ourselves over all living creatures, our nation over other nations, our tribe over the next valley’s tribe or even our family over our neighbours is that this process of self-interest causes even further fractioning. Until the very members of our own families can become ‘others’.

Hearing is indeed selective! If this world was designed to function in harmony then just like music we need all the various notes and resonate frequencies to come together.  To recognize that each of us is only a part of the whole. The principle of oneness must be owned if we are to turn the clock on this ‘otherness’. 

If oneness of humanity is the pivot then the further we move from this principle (that point) the more unbalanced that moment becomes. The larger the distance the bigger the destabilization that takes place.

Once we have a vision of the world as one then the model of the human body illustrates that there are many different organs with remarkably varied functions within it. The unity it exhibits underscores the need to grasp the whole. Every part working together for the health of the human body. Fuelled by a mighty muscle, the heart, beating the lifeblood through intricate tubing but coordinated by a brain that feels, senses and responds to your needs, urgent or long term. If this is the model then humanity has to be seen as one system. No part can be allowed to become infected, malnourished or damaged without fundamental injury to the whole. Every action whether it be marshalling immune defences or controlling temperature has the good of the whole as it’s overarching goal.

Our upset at the chaos and turmoil around us is not a thing to be ignored or suppressed or be distracted from. When we see the suffering of others and feel distress it is because you know at a vital level there are no ‘others’. You subconsciously feel united with this world you live in. You may not see every wavelength or hear every frequency but you feel your connectedness. Celebrate this intuitive knowledge and hold it close.

blah, blah, blah.....

I was complaining bitterly about my chronic sleeplessness on my 60^th birthday this year. I talked of my worries to my older brothers over the Christmas table groaning with goodies. They both confessed to having poor sleep themselves and blamed it on being over 60. “It’s just one of those things”, one said, “that comes with age like a dodgy ankle, bigger stomach, poor eyesight, a stiff back or arthritic thumbs”.  I was shocked. A lifetime of being a sound sleeper was no preparation for these long dark nights of ceiling inspection. It was my brothers’ knowing resignation that frightened me most. I thought insomnia was either in your genes or not.

My father had suffered his entire life from insomnia so I had naïvely thought that either you were born a poor sleeper or are one of the lucky ones like me. To find after six decades you could turn vampire like into a non-sleeper was a total betrayal of who I thought I was.

So, I have complained long and hard through this new way of living to all who have the patience to listen. Some proffer herbal drinks or bedtime routines as possible cures. Late night walks, banishing the laptop or avoiding taxing conversations all have been suggested and eagerly embraced by this pathetic night fugitive.

It was the next day weariness that wore me down. I felt as if I was operating on a half a tank and found simple tasks required stupendous effort. Typical sleep deprived mistakes included writing an entire set of appointments and meetings on the wrong week of my diary. That was followed by a confusing number of missed calls from furious people and knocking on my door by students while I was out doing anything other than what I was supposed to be doing.  “Sorry, sorry” became my new mantra that week.

That was also the week I started talking to myself on public transport. People began to give me odd looks as I gave myself a good stern dressing down for missing another important meeting. It’s fortunate that nowadays, I can pretend I have a particularly modern, almost invisible, headset to my phone. I have become cunning and when I would notice the glances of perplexed onlookers, as I blabber, I place an index finger in my ear and pause as if hearing a response from someone, then nod knowledgeably.

Some dark days when I see others talking heatedly into their hands-free phones I wonder have they lost it too but are even better experts than me at hiding their mental state?

They use sleep deprivation as torture and I know why. After three weeks of continuous poor sleeping, I transmuted into a different entity. When people spoke to me all I heard was blah, blah, blah. But for some reason, I was able to read their minds with particular intensity. Their mouth would be going blah, blah but the tiny muscles around their mouth indicated their anger or sadness. Not hearing their actual words, their body language seemed to shout more clearly. A particular nose touch indicating a lie, a quick pursing of the lips, dislike. I remember standing in front of one chap at a party hearing his braying blah, blah but seeing his eyes furtively dart to a young woman seated on the sofa nearby. His evident longing for her was louder than his braying.

After the fourth week of continuous disturbed sleep, a new dangerous state emerged. Now, I no longer heard or saw people. Acquaintances would accost me in the supermarket and I would examine them as if they were trying to sell me something on the phone. My response invariably would be “no thanks, no thanks” before I shuffled off politely.

Sleep deprivation finally ends in madness I can tell! Another week and I would begin rampaging through the shop shopping centre overturning goods while trying to undress myself in public. One more month of this and I would be a drooling, twitching, incontinent.

Thankfully and I do mean thankfully last night I had a wondrous night’s sleep. As a result, I have leapfrogged back to almost normality. I can keep appointments, hear what others say and have conversations again. I’m still scolding myself in public but the tone has become much more sympathetic like a firm mentor giving constructive criticism and I can actually almost pass for normal once more.  Miracles do happen!

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world

I have not written anything in weeks, perhaps months. Sometimes my lack of creativity is a result of anxiety, stress or upset. I usually find my mental state is in direct proportion to my creative output. But actually, this past period, Christmas and the New Year, has been a wonderful time with family and friends in Northern Ireland.

2018 was not a great year, I have to say. I lost far too many family and friends. I remember loved ones living or dead each morning and night. I write their initials down as they are recalled. The list is burnt into my memory with repetition but this year suddenly a host of new initials have been added.

I recall what my dad used to say in his 80s, “I have more loved ones in the next world than here, in this one”. It was a strange sensation, he said, to dream and be surrounded by those who have loved you and awake to find them gone. What is the mystery of this dream world where emotions run riot and our subconscious thoughts, past experiences and even future seem to flow together?

Because of such precious time over the festive period with loved ones I came back to Malta buoyed up with injections of energy and love. Wonderful conversations have worked their magic. Laughter quieted down the worries of this world. Instead of longing for all the things I don’t have there is a powerful sense of gratitude for all that I have been given.

Then, in the New Year this second week, news arrives of yet another loss. A dear friend who I visited only a week ago has died. When I called he had been in bed at home and was bone tired. When roused he lifted his head and opened his eyes seeming to recognise me. Then, he lay back into a deep restful slumber. Suddenly far, far away in a dream world and a better one. He was a Buddhist for much of his life and had meditated for an hour each day. It made him ever centred and calm.            

People brought him their problems because of that still centre. He was an excellent counsellor. Not one of the ‘new age’ bunch that prattle on “tell me more” without any valuable input of their own. Fear of litigation has created a new species of counsellor who say nothing for fear of doing harm. Given their lack of real experience and sometimes questionable motives it is perhaps not wrong for this to be their aspiration!

But real counsellors like him listened intently and then spoke to the issues raised. He never claimed the guru status or assumed he knew all the answers. The views he expressed were not channelled from a mystic source. Instead, they came from years of experience in healthcare, management and life. They were often insightful, at times unexpected, but always useful. The fact that his words never came from a desire for power or control but instead from a deep understanding and humility made them all the more welcome.

Utterance has the power to destroy or rejuvenate but real understanding can bring progress and healing. His honesty and humility allowed real consultation to take place and important truths to emerge.

For all those we have lost I find myself mourning their absence but also celebrating their loving presence in my memory banks and heart.  Today, when another dear friend’s funeral takes place in N. Ireland I am reminded of these heart-wrenching lines by a Pulitzer poetry prize winner.

“Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay