No spoken language. No words. No sentences, neither oral nor writing stories. No letters. Let us be taken by the mystery of the untold or unspeakable. Sometimes, there are no words to explain a great sorrow, as well also the experience of joy and awe. The true experience, the truth, in ancient Greek was called a-leziea, the not spoken about, since it not possible to put in words the nuances that we feel inside. Maybe accurate words do not exist yet. Maybe, we cannot find the proper words to express particular situations of life. And even more, to write about them.
In this “Chronicle of Narrative Medicine”, we are here to explore the Beauty of other languages, different ways able to produce that “Eldorado” of neurotransmitters that we are looking for wellbeing. Serotonin, for being acknowledged and to improve one self-esteem, dopamine, to develop resilience and project skills, oxytocin to feel loved and endorphins to get rid of physical pain and mind sorrow[1]. Yes, these neurotransmitters are the “Eldorado”, defined by some archaeologists as the golden man, and by some others as a the mythic land at the antipode, a sort of Eden, in which there are not only gold, silver and precious stones, but also peace and harmony among all members of the tribe are there. You will find inside the article and our journal of this month material for your well-being.
In this treasure chest, music, from classic one to pop, country to sacred style is contemplated as the first precious stone- a sapphire. Music releases endorphins and scientific literature has widely shown that it is extremely beneficial to many acute and chronic condition: this is a physical impact of music. However, I will quote June Boyde Tillman, of whom we will read an interview, from her book, Experiencing Music, Restoring the Spiritual. “At the end of the nineteenth century, Nietzsche declared God dead and the anima mundi became identified as aspects of culture which carries on today in the idea of memes. Chief among there for Nietzsche were the concepts of Apollonian and Dionysian. …They were opposing elements. Nietzsche associated music with the Apollonian. However, I will argue that by rethinking the musical experience in its totality, it too has the capacity to integrate the Apollonian and Dionisian aspects- the personal and archetypal, mind and body – the mysterious and the rational”.
Music, beyond the physical impact of producing endorphins, is one sort of language which has an intrapersonal effect, as evoking past memories, cheering up mood, softening harsh times of life, and interpersonal effect as developing empathy, interconnecting our minds and souls and evoking similar emotions, of course, depending on our contextual environment and on our taste. “Music fills the vacuum of the Death of God” quoting again Prof. Boyde Tillman.
However, can we move on, de-constructing music and going to sound, just sound with no particular complex “Mozart” harmony behind? Is sound a language, and if yes, is it a part of this Eldorado we are talking about?
Sound belongs to the Eldorado as well, and the gemstones discovered in this land are rubies and diamonds.
Allow me the analogy, but deconstructing music up to sounds, reminds me moving from complex languages to minimal language, so minimal as the Natural Semantic Metalanguage, which includes those kinds of word – a few- present in all the spoken languages of the world, or from complex molecules to atoms, or from complex numbers to the primes.
What is sound? Sound can be viewed as a wave motion in air or other elastic media. Sound is a stimulus. Sound can also be viewed as an excitation of the hearing mechanism that results in the perception of sound. In this case, sound is a sensation. Sound is a wave and that it spreads according different frequencies called Hertzs. There are strong connections among the sounds that we listen and our brain waves. Our brain functions also produce waves: these can be the Delta waves- with 0.5 to 3Hz, and occur in the deepest sleep, then Beta waves, 25-100 Hz, and this is in the arousal system (it does not mean necessary the awareness), the Theta Waves between 4 and 8 hertz, corresponding to light sleep and our REM (the dream phase) sleep. Gamma waves are the fastest of the brainwave frequencies and signify the highest state of focus possible. They are associated with peak concentration and the brain’s optimal frequency for cognitive functioning. Nobel prize winning scientist, Sir Francis Crick believes that the 40Hz frequency may be the key to the act of cognition. 40 Hz is the window frequency used in all Brain Sync Gamma and Beta wave programs. Last but not least interesting, the Alpha waves from 8-12 Hz, and when you are caught up in their midst you are likely to be paying attention to your inner experience, rather than what’s going on around you, therefore these waves are related to an inner meditation, a concentration on the inside realm. These are our Eldorado, the waves we are looking for: they are related to wellbeing state, those waves that we can achieve with mindfulness, and with meditation. How to go to this point? Using external sounds able to trigger these alpha waves, focused on the 10 Hertz. Susan Evan Morris, speech therapist say: “research shows that different frequencies presented to each ear through stereo headphones… create a difference tone (or binaural beat) as the brain puts together the two tones it actually hears. Through EEG monitoring the difference tone is identified by a change in the electrical pattern produced by the brain. For example, frequencies of 200 Hz and 210 Hz produce a binaural beat frequency of 10 Hz (The difference in 210 Hz and 200 Hz is 10 Hz). Monitoring of the brain’s electricity (EEG) shows that the brain produces increased 10 Hz activity with equal frequency and amplitude of the wave form in both hemispheres of the brain (left and right hemisphere).”
And this external sound, with a Hertz frequency included between 210 and 200 are those which can put our brain in meditation and peaceful state: more that this, they can produce serotonin, the Eldorado diamond we are looking for. In UK there is a certified British Academy of Sound Therapy: believe it, publications are stunning and in this research it is explained not only how “tinnitus” – a particular neurological condition is treated, but other neurological diseases, as depression and dementia. Furthermore, a selection of study of the British Academy of Sound Therapy tested possible “odd” outcomes using a tool which is a mystical experience questionnaire. This validated qualitative and quantitative instrument investigates the sense of belonging, the wholeness, the self-esteem, the oneness, the space less and timeless concepts, the sense of Divine and the sense of nature. The interconnection among people, but above all the fact that one is not isolated and lonely in this planet. This tool was set to investigate even the effects of psychedelic drugs, or alcohol, but it resulted clear that some “short effect” not creating dependency are produced by sounds, dance, walking, and doing pleasant activities. Well, coming back to sound, through this binaural frequencies- one per each ear, to be listened in headphones in the most complicated cases, results on this Mystical experience questionnaires are showing increase in inner quiet, peace, sense of wholeness and belonging in interconnection. All this can be summarized with on word: wellbeing. Easy to carry out and to apply in setting of care, easy and low cost.
Here, in this chronic of narrative medicine we would like to give you a try of this binaural experience and to collect your feedback. Please go to this link and have a chance.
In this Eldorado we would like also to fly over visual art: and if visual art is music, we will focus on the “sound” of visual art, as the language of colours. Neuroscientist Bevil Conway thinks about color for a living: he studies vision and perception at Wellesley College and Harvard Medical School. Knowing that humans might also be hardwired for certain hues could be a gateway into understanding the neural properties of emotion. Since researchers know that certain colors provoke strong feelings in people–blues and purples are more pleasant than yellows, for instance, while greens tend to be the most arousing–they might then work backwards to uncover the basic mechanisms for these feelings. If researchers can trace the neural circuitry that guides that distinction, they might enhance our understanding of how the brain categorizes things more broadly–relevant or not relevant, left or right. From there it’s a short step to the architecture of human decision-making. Whatever brain activity leads us to prefer colour televisions might tell us a lot about rewards and nonverbal communication. In that sense, says Conway, colour could become “a model system for something much more than color.” Anyhow, key mediating variables in terms of the interface between colour and human response include an individual’s personality, cultural experience and affective state[2]. Therefore, it is very important to know in different cultural context to know which colour is considered “good” for obtaining certain results; in some cultures, red is associated to best performance, in some others green. In some other context “green relieves the stress” and “those who have a green work environment experience fewer stomach aches”. Even if this is totally subjective: what counts, at the end, is to find for everyone the colour which is beneficial to produce neurotransmitters for our wellbeing.
Beyond colours, in this Eldorado, I could talk about the Beauty of Dance, of Yoga, of the Scents, and of so many others known and unknown languages of care. Nowadays, great emphasis is given on used words. Words as drugs, words as weapons, as blessing as poison.
Perhaps the spoken language has still to evolve- or to go back and regain their root meaning in which words were sacred. By synchronicity, just today, I stumbled into a poem which has a very captive title for my thoughts and feelings. “The unwritten”, by a poet, W.S. Merwin, who won the Pulitzer prize for poetry.
“The Unwritten”
Inside this pencil
crouch words that have never been written
never been spoken
never been taught
they’re hiding
they’re awake in there
dark in the dark
hearing us
but they won’t come out
not for love not for time not for fire
even when the dark has worn away
they’ll still be there
hiding in the air
multitudes in days to come may walk through them
breathe them
be none the wiser
what script can it be
that they won’t unroll
in what language
would I recognize it
would I be able to follow it
to make out the real names
of everything
maybe there aren’t
many
it could be that there’s only one word
and it’s all we need
it’s here in this pencil
every pencil in the world
is like this.
Why not trying other pencils to find the right words? And now silence. Perhaps the purest gemstone of the Eldorado.
[1] Habits happy brain. Loretta Graziano Breuning, 2015 – Adams Media
[2] Zena O’Connor, Colour Psychlogy and Color Therapy: Caveat Emptor, Color Research and Application, Volume 36, Number 3, June 2011,
