Ritual as the performed expression of our 'deep': the King's farewell

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This year my time in Thailand coincided with the cremation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.(1)  What an experience.  Although I was not among those who were privileged to gain places along the route, I was still glued to the televised coverage from 9 am until 10.30 pm, by which time the focus had turned to traditional and other performances and I gave up and went to bed.  The next morning while visiting a friend, I was fortunate to catch the morning parade of the King’s relics and ashes from the royal crematorium back to the grand palace.

It was an once-in-a-lifetime event; one which encapsulated the deep love, trust and respect the people of Thailand had for their king.  It was especially touching to see how carefully his body, and then ashes, were guarded and protected every step of the way. This huge ritual pageant, with both Hindu and Buddhist elements, was magnificent and very moving. I could not help but compare our attitudes to our democratically elected leaders and other dignitaries in Australia.  There is no-one, I think, that could engender that depth of feeling on a national level.  Certainly no-one we love, respect, or trust enough.

During his lifetime King Bhumibol Adulyadej was a great humanitarian.  He did not seem to directly influence the political processes.  Rather he focussed on the people and their needs with the aim of uniting Thailand and moving it towards self-sufficiency.

He implemented and financially supported many projects all over Thailand, based on his philosophy of:

•      sufficiency economy and sustainable development for agricultural areas as well as cities; a middle path with ethical business practices and without greed or harm to others;
•    the importance of continuing education and education without discrimination, including for the poor and needy.

Ideals like these seem to have been lost in our ‘profit-is-all’ and ‘the-greater-profit-the-better whatever-the-cost’ world.  It is not surprising that respect for our political and business leaders is also missing.

Watching the outpouring of love and grief, and the magic of the ritual performance over the five days, illustrated that there is more to life, more that we need and can experience, than just profit and balancing the books.  The event would have been enormously expensive.  But it spoke to, and was for, all Thais, not just a few elite.  

During the day of the cremation Thai people also had the opportunity to place a white funeral flower at a local memorial to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, which was burned at the same time as the King’s cremation in Bangkok.  I was told that the king’s remains were to be divided into two urns, and placed in two temples so the public could visit although I’m not sure about this, and I missed this last part of the journey, having to journey on myself.

We in Australia lack much as a nation by not having someone to represent us who we can respect and perhaps grow to love; someone who will work for the good of the people, not just for profit.  It would probably need to be someone outside the political system.  I have been interested in the swell of interest in moves for Australia to become a republic and elect an Australian Head of State.  I do think it is well over time for us to become a republic but perhaps this is not enough.  An elected Head of State is still a civic functionary and somewhat removed.

I’ve also toyed with the alternative idea of an indigenous ‘royal couple’, elected by the indigenous community.  There would certainly be more flexibility in their role.  Is this an answer? Apart from being ‘the right thing to do’ I don’t know.  I do know it should be someone who loves this country, can respond empathetically to those in need, and guide the nation towards a better future for individuals as well as a country.  Idealistic?  Yes, but so what.  To have a leader who we can love, respect and trust...that would be a great gift.  Thailand had the People’s King, Britain had the People’s Princess, Australia....?

(1) The details and photos of this event can easily be found on the internet so I have not included them here, eg. Bangkok Post, Friday October 27 2017

c. Annette Maie, 2017

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'Are you gunna be banging them drums again?': healing, spirituality and the space between

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Recently I read The Eye of the Reindeer by Eva Winter.  One of the many themes woven through the work is a search for a sacred Sami drum.  The drum was believed to have been hidden by an old Shaman to protect it from being taken away and destroyed by missionaries.  The fictional story touches on a number of issues in relation to sacred beliefs and practices of indigenous people and the drum’s role in healing.  It also brought to mind another book I had read years ago, The Healing Drum: African Wisdom Teaching by Yaya Diallo and Mitchell Hall which is the story of Diallo’s early life in Mali.

Although The Eye of the Reindeer is set in the early twentieth century there are echoes of attitudes still held today. Some are behind comments I have received during the time I have been involved in West African-style drumming and dance, rare though they may be.  One I have used as the title of this blog, ‘Are you gunna be banging them drums again?’.[i]   Others are evident in the times the police have been called to shut us down when we have performed at functions because of noise complaints from the locals. 

  

Comments like these reduce percussion rhythm and drum music to ‘noise’.[ii]    I’m not sure if other bands or orchestras would suffer from the same fate.  Would kit drumming be more acceptable?  Judging by one of the current advertisements on TV, I guess not.  So is there some sort of cultural elitism at work, or is there something about percussion and drumming which challenges us on another level?

By cultural elitism I mean a mindframe which determines what is considered to be ‘ proper music’ and what is not, what is ‘real religion’ and what is not, what is ‘proper behaviour’ and what is not and to take it further, what is ‘proper’ art, performance, writing and what is not when compared to cultures not our own.  Whether cultural elitism is at work or not I wonder if our rejection is also driven by something more;  something to do with fear of ‘other’, the unfamiliar, an unwillingness to be open to what we don’t understand, haven’t learned, and perhaps unable to control, so we are unable to respond to it.

When performance, ritual, writing, art, and meditation ‘work’ they draw us in. When we engage fully with the work or event we are lifted out of ourselves and have a sense of becoming one with it.  We are happy to be drawn along the evolving journey.  Even performers and artists can feel themselves being drawn along for the ride when a work ‘works’ and takes on a life of its own.  It is no longer ‘us’, ‘them’, and the work.  The work and us exist together somewhere in the middle, in ‘the space between’.

Neuro-scientists suggest we go somewhere else in our brains.   It is our brains which allow or inhibit and our brains are constrained by our experiences and knowledge. So if we are familiar with the style or content of the ritual/performance/artwork our brains are quite happy to engage and do not fear the outcome.  However, if we are unfamiliar it is often much harder to let go and follow the flow.  In some circumstances this reluctance keeps us safe but at other times it can stop us being part of situations that could be a lot of fun and give us something special in return.

Scientists are also researching the potential benefit that rhythm, music, meditation, ritual and artistic practice have on our wellbeing[iii]:  something that practitioners have believed and experienced forever.  In The Healing Drum, Diallo and Hall write, ‘In the Minianka villages of Fienso and Zangasso, the musicians were healers, the healers musicians.  The word musician itself implies the role of healer.  From the Minianka perspective, it is inconceivable that the responsibilities for making music and restoring health should be separate, as they are in the west.

In the Miniankan view and practice of music, harmony is the central concept...interaction of parts in a whole.  The encompassing whole...is the Minianka cosmos...visible and invisible.  The entire  Mianianka village social structure and culture seek to sustain the lives of the people in harmony with one another, the Creator, the ancestors, the spirits of the bush, and nature....This is the cosmos in which Minianka musicians play their instruments and heal.’

I would extend this potential to all artistic and spiritual practice.  So do we fear that by being part of particular forms of art and music our own ‘selves’ and beliefs may be challenged and we will be ‘corrupted’?

What also interests me is that we so-called ‘educated elite’ do not believe what we are told by traditional practitioners, or think we experience, until it has been pinpointed, tested and enough evidence found to validate it, and even then only by a percentage probability.  Yet research is also showing in relation to the placebo effect, that if we believe something will work it is possible to be halfway there, if not all the way.  So if we let go our disbelief and engage, our brains may well readjust and allow healing to take place, even if, as Chanda & Levitin suggest, there may be multiple, including social, factors at work.

The other enticing concept is reflected in Dan Seigel’s and Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington’s[iv] writing on the mind and consciousness.  Seigel views the mind as the seat of consciousness, which he positions beyond our physical selves.[v]  It is a self-organising system which links, integrates and ‘regulates energy and information flow within and among us’.  Eddington’s seat of consciousness seems to be an undetermined place and system through which the world interacts and transmits messages, and is continuous with our conscious and/or subconscious mind.  Both position this system somewhere in a type of ‘space between’.   It sounds to me a bit like concepts of a ‘cosmic god’ and similar theological explorations of the nature of 'god'.  Lipton, on the other hand, extends the 'mind' and consciousness to cell membranes which react to the environment (energy, 'spirit') and are responsible for controlling cell function, including changes to DNA. [vi]

 

Be that as it may, there are parallels to the potential for art, including drumming and ritual, to take us, our brains or our minds, to a similar place.  What I am hedging around here is a concept of ‘spirituality’, and the potential link between art and spirituality.  It does not mean that if we engage in art practice we will lose our particular religious or spiritual bent, if that is what we are afraid of.  It is more likely that our beliefs and experiences will influence our response to the work and our use of the medium.  It is also possible that our unconscious and subconscious selves go to all sorts of places we cannot control anyway, especially if it is through these ‘selves’ that we communicate with the rest of the material and immaterial world and cosmos.

When we open ourselves to, and are challenged by, the variety of art forms available to us, including from cultures not our own, and unfamiliar modes of expression, we can partake at any level we wish as well as enjoy the spiritual and healing benefits which historically have been part of them. 

 c. Annette Maie, 2017

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[i] In my and our audiences’ defence, positive responses like, ‘that was fantastic’, do outweigh the negative.

[ii] Anyone who has learned African-style drumming is aware that there are many layers of rhythm in each piece, all with high and low sounds, traditionally with voice and other instruments, so creating melodies which speak to each other in an integrated whole. 

[iii] Among the exponentially expanding writing on these topics are: Anastasi & Newberg, ‘A Preliminary Study of the Acute Effects of Religious Ritual on Anxiety’; Bensimon et al. ‘Drumming Through Trauma...’, Chanda & Levitin, ‘The Neurochemistry of Music’;  Cossins, ‘A Brain for Rhythm’;  Davidson & Lutz, ‘Buddha’s Brain: Neuroplasticity and Meditation’;  Doidge, The Brain’s Way of Healing;  Chapter 8; Halpern, ‘Brain Entrainment’;  Harvey, ‘Healing Rhythm’ in Mindfood;  Maxfield, ‘Brainwave Entrainment to External Rhythmic Stimuli...’;  Moss et. al., ‘Effects of an 8-Week Meditation Program on Mood and Anxiety in Patients with Memory Loss’ and the work of Andrew Newberg.

[iv] Seigel is a professor of psychiatry and Eddington was an astronomer, physicist, mathematician and philosopher.

[v] https://qz.com/866352/scientists-say-your-mind-isnt-confined-to-your-brain-or-even-your-body/
[vi] Bruce H. Lipton, The Biology of Belief

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Why do we create 'sacred'?

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(adapted version Eremos, No 130 March 2015, pp.27-30)

What is it we seek when we create sacred?  What are we attempting to do or experience?  Is it just a pragmatic, conscious attempt to honour life, or are we simultaneously desiring to experience, or hoping for communication with, the source of life...and how do we know when this occurs?

After my return to the city I was motivated to find opportunities and spaces in the city environment where I could create and imprint ‘sacred’ as I had done while living in the mountains.  However it did not seem to want to happen.  Finally, in 2012 I went to a local park and took a few hesitant steps.  It seemed to work.  The sun shone, the birds sang, and it felt ‘right’.  A little more confident, I began to search for another suitable area the following year and found, what I considered to be, a potentially ‘perfect’ sacred site (below).

When I returned sometime later to prepare I found that the ground was scattered with needles.  I had been aware that the area was used by locals for the weekend Bocce (an Italian bowling game), and had seen their bags hanging from the trees and clothing scattered over the rocks.  But the needles were something else.  It made me question what I was trying to do, and in the end I did not follow through.  This year I noticed that the area was cordoned off and an upgrade was in progress.  The park is now being transformed into a leash-free area for dogs.   Already owners and their dogs are using the park, while other locals are relaxing on the grass and enjoying ‘time out’.

The park with its circle of trees and rocks continues yet the area has obviously served a number of different functions.  It hasn’t changed, but the people who have used it have viewed its potential with different eyes.  The common thread, however, is that all of us, the drug users, the Bocce players, the dog owners, other locals and me, have all been drawn there.  It does offer a refuge away from the direct view of the traffic and of the neighbouring sports park...a time out...an opportunity to withdraw from the distractions of daily life...perhaps also a time to reflect, or a time to enjoy the experience of just being...and for some, to indulge in the euphoria of non-being.

After all, this is what our sacred spaces, churches, temples and rituals create for us.  They create a place already set up, where we are preconditioned to expect and experience a sense of withdrawal, calm and reflection.  Where these sanctioned sacred places differ is that we usually take the next step of inviting or opening up to ‘other’/god/dess.  We prepare our minds and bodies so that we are receptive for communication.

Research into how the brain functions in these circumstances has been undertaken by a number of neuroscientists.  Andrew Newburg has used measurements of the changes in blood flow to indicate increased and decreased activity.  In his research whereas a number of different parts of the brain are seen to be active in subjects engaged in prayer and meditation, the common element seems to be a disengagement of the area which orientates us in space and time.  This disengagement is common across Buddhist meditation, atheist meditation and Christian prayer.  There is a sense of an eternal present.  Obviously other parts of the brain must be active to allow us to recognise, read and interpret this sensation.  Similar research is being undertaken on people engaged in artistic pursuits.

Using fMRI scans, researchers in Neuroplasticity are exploring how the brain can be educated to be receptive to certain types of experiences, including different types of meditation, and in the process can change itself. My interpretation of the research is that meditative practices seem to allow the brain to more easily communicate with itself, set up transient networks to help order information, focus on more than one task, and screen out distractive ‘noise’.

Educators are well aware that the brain teaches itself.   That is how we learn.  To take this a step further, we could say one part of the brain teaches another part about our reality, including our spiritual reality.  Similarly the brain is able to create new and imagined realities.  In the art world this was once called ‘creativity’;  the inner ideas and images pool used by writers, choreographers, visual artists and composers, etcetera.

What this also suggests is that the brain is able to view the world through whatever lens it decides to employ and is able to change the lens if it doesn’t work, or at will, and find a more suitable alternative.  I remember a religious leader speaking about guarding the ‘heart’ against doubt and questions.  In light of current research it would be more accurate to speak about guarding the brain against itself if we do not wish change to occur or evolution to take place, that is, to remain ‘close-minded’.

If the brain is able to view the world through whatever lens it decides to employ, and is able change lens at will, once the brain decides to become more open to alternative experiences, ways of living and ways of believing, it gives itself permission to view and question ideas and experiences from multiple perspectives. This process explains, in part, the impact the feminist movement and theory had on many women's lives and beliefs.  It also allows us to hope for cross-cultural and cross-religious understanding and harmony, addressed in my previous blog.

Therapists have long known the value of encouraging their clients to shift their self-and-world-view and create a more appropriate lens for themselves; one which will assist them to live positively in the reality of their daily life.  Motivational life and business speakers have also incorporated this idea, directed towards achieving greater work-related and financial success.  It seems that one of the current trend is TEDx, described by its promoter, ‘the idea with TEDx is that you change your perceptions...It’s about starting from a new base to make a better world’ (Inner West Courier, August 26 2014, p. 30)

While brain research can describe to us how the brain functions during religious and creative experiences, it cannot prove if a god/dess does or does not exist, nor how much our spiritual and sacred experiences are real or imagined.  What some of the research does support is that sacred practices, such as religious prayer, meditation, ritual, as well as engagement in the arts, can move us into feeling a sense of no place, no time, and release tension and stress.  This is something practitioners have long known through experience.[i]

So what does this mean for our sacred experiences:  those surges of energy that seem to come, or those times of synchronicity when time, space and nature seem to be in harmony, and support or take part in our rituals and performances?  Are we just allowing ourselves to see and experience ordinary events through different eyes, or is there something more?  Unfortunately these are the questions that science cannot yet answer, though not for want of trying.  Science has certainly moved beyond certainty, and towards complexity, chaos, self-organising systems, time-no-time, space-no-space, empty-is-not-empty, false-vacuum-true-vacuum, parallel universes, and something(s) scientists cannot quite put their finger on but suspect is(are) there. [ii]

What we do know is that life is a question and an answer, and humans are an integral part of, and play a vital role in, creating and adapting to that answer.  We also know, from experience and research, that creating sacred is healthy for us and one in which we are wise to be engaged.  We may seek the experience in many ways and view it through different lenses but what we are doing for our brains is very similar.  Even if it is just a conscious decision to take time out, or to honour life, or to create something more, we allow our minds, our brains, to experience a sense of eternity.  Perhaps in some way we enter into and communicate with whatever is behind, or weaves in and out of, or is, at least at this stage, an invisible and integral part of the reality of the temporal and spatially defined world we know.

c. Annette Maie, 2014

Some books and articles I’ve read around this topic include:

Matthew Anastasi & Andrew Newberg, A Preliminary Study of the Acute Effects of Religious Ritual on Anxiety.

Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics.

Dan Cossins, A Brain for Rhythm.

Richard Davidson & Antoine Lutz, Buddha’s Brain: Neuroplasticity and Meditation.

D’Aquili et al.  The Spectrum of Ritual: A Biogenetic Structural Approach.

Paul Davies, The Fifth Miracle:  The Search for the Origin of Life.

Paul Davies & John Gribbin, The Matter Myth: Beyond Chaos and Complexity

James Gleick, Chaos, Making a New Science.

Brian Greene, The Hidden Reality
Barbara Bradley Hagerty,  ‘Prayer May Reshape Your Brain...and Your Reality’.

              ‘Are Spiritual Encounters All in Your Head?’

Leon Lederman, The God Particle

Charles Lineweave.  The Origin of the Universe.

Bruce H. Lipton, The Biology of Belief
James Lovelock, Gaia:  A New Look at Life on Earth.

Melinda Maxfield, Brainwave Entrainment to External Rhythmic Stimuli.

N. David Mermin in Nature, Vol. 507, Issue 7493, pp. 421 ff.
Moss et. al, Effects of an 8-week Meditation Program on Mood Anxiety in Patients with Memory Loss.

Andrew Newberg, www.andrewnewberg.com/research/

David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance.

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[i] Educators have also noted the role tension plays in hindering learning.  I have recently heard of research being conducted which attempts to assess the benefits of meditation and involvement in the arts in this context. 
[ii] Science still has difficulty it seems in addressing the human experience of 'the now' in their space-time theories.  Mermin offers OBism as a way of putting the scientist-observer and human experience back into science. Lipton uses quantum physics and his experience as a biologist researching how cell membranes react to the environment to control cellular life, including changing the DNA, to postulate energy, or 'spirit', involvement.

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