Singing and Participatory Spirituality (original) (raw)
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES Giorgos Tsiris, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy at Queen Margaret University and Arts Lead at St Columba’s Hospice in Edinburgh, UK. Exploring the performance of spirituality in everyday music therapy contexts, his doctorate research has introduced new conceptual and methodological approaches to spirituality and its understanding in music therapy. [gtsiris@qmu.ac.uk] Prof Gary Ansdell is Professor at Grieg Academy of Music, Bergen; honorary Professor and Senior Research Fellow at Exeter University; Adjunct Professor at University of Limerick; an Associate of Nordoff Robbins, UK, where he is Convenor of the MPhil/PhD programme. Gary is author/co-author of seven books on music therapy/music and health and joint editor (with Tia DeNora) of the book series Music and Change for Ashgate Publishers. [G.Ansdell@exeter.ac.uk] Publication history: Submitted 11 Nov 2019 Accepted 14 Nov 2019 First published 24 Nov 2019
PREMISE: How can music allow a man to see the face of God? How can music direct the spirituality of those creating, practicing, and listening to it? Music and sound have played a significant role in religious practice throughout and across human history and culture, but this sonic aspect of religious and spirituality has been significantly ignored. This thesis attempts to explore spiritual manifestations of people, both generally and specifically, through musical and sonic experiences, redirecting the focus of study in religion and spirituality from the visual to the aural, creating a concept of Spirosonance as compared to Theosonance. METHODS: Part One of this dialogue begins by deconstructing and reconstructing notions of religions, religion, and spirituality along with music, sound, and noise to first lay a foundation of definitions for the study, while also questioning common notions of these human constructs. This section hopes to begins creating better tools to define, discuss, and understand these constructed notions, employing subjectivity as a priority to objectivity in forming definitions. This sections ends by outlining the general concept of Spirosonance and how it can be used to better understand people's spiritual experience of sound. In Part Two of this discourse, a particular case study is used to demonstrate concepts discussed in Part One, outlining Christian monastic practices and experiences of music as related to their spirituality. Further in this section, outsider's experience of this same monastic music is examined to understand how people outside this tradition are also gaining spiritually from this same music. CONCLUSION: Many possible reasons can be given as to why monastic chant is so popular among such wide varieties of people as a spiritual enhancer. The reasons given here are just a few, focusing on the most cited characteristics of chant that people find attractive or exceptional. Ultimately, why someone is moved or attracted to the chant is personal and could be for any reason. What was attempted here was to show how, in a few ways, people are perhaps experiencing something personal, something spiritual, within this chant that does not necessarily tie itself to religious practice. There is clearly something about this music that speaks to people beyond the terms of religion, moving into more "spiritual" realms. Most importantly, what was attempted here is the creation of better tools of understanding music as both a tool of religion and a catalyst for spirituality, forming spirituality as a character of those experiencing the music, not a character of the music itself.
MYSTICAL POETRY AND IMAGINATION: INSPIRING TRANSPERSONAL AWARENESS OF SPIRITUAL FREEDOM
2008
This study evaluated the inspiration of transpersonal awareness of spiritual freedom through an imaginal response to selected mystical poetry. The imaginal was viewed as a bridge between spirit and cognition. The experience of transpersonal awareness of spiritual freedom was defined as recognition for that which extends infinitely beyond one’s personal boundaries (including oneself, others, the visible and the invisible, known and unknown); a participatory, cocreative experience—intentionally enacted, cultivated, and lived. Intuitive inquiry—a hermeneutical method—relied on the researcher’s intuition, conceptualization, and imagination. Participants, ages 30 to 80 (20 women and 4 men from 4 cultural backgrounds—6 from minority cultures), took part in 1 of 5 group sessions. They responded to mystical poetry recitation through a process I called imaginal resonance—a series of imaginal processes, such as mental imaging and creative art expression. Additional data was gathered via 2 follow-up questionnaires, after 1 week and 1 month, regarding shifts in habitual patterns and interpersonal relationships. Analysis included observation of phenomenological qualities in mental imaging oral and written reports, hermeneutical analysis, and creative synthesis through the researcher’s own imaginal resonance with the data. Hermeneutical analysis uncovered symbolic expression of intentions for awakening and development; imaginal directions, such as introversion and expansion; and depiction of actions, like connection and liberation. Participants’ reception of the mystical poems and imaginal experience varied (e.g., rationalization and self-judgment; degree of recollection and integration). The presence of transpersonal symbols within the participants’ images did not always translate into transpersonal action. Whereas, imaginal resonance with mystical poetry provided inspiration for transpersonal awareness of spiritual freedom—creative, post-experience reengagement with the images increased degree of integration. Future research might consider influences of group dynamics, as well as the value of ongoing practice of imaginal resonance as a vehicle of transpersonal development.