Singing the World Awake
Article adapted from the film, Song of the New Earth.
Music and sound are the language and architecture of the cosmos.
When I was a youngster, I clearly remember reading a book, The Boy Who Sang to the World, although I later learned it doesn’t exist. I read it in some other realm of consciousness and that’s what I became.
I sang to the world, sun, moon, stars and all life. I sang in church and choirs and later took up guitar and piano. One day, a visitor to our house said, “You’re going to heal many people in this world with that voice.”
When I attended the University of North Carolina I discovered that neurophysiology could be used as a language to explain mystical experiences. The whole time I was engaged in scientific training, I was also going deeper into the mysticism of the East, the yoga of India, Taoism of China, Egyptian alchemy and Tibetan Buddhism. I was practicing every meditation from every tradition, sometimes for five hours a day. Without realizing it, I was changing my neurophysiology.
Brain research shows that when we experience pure sound without language, the right side of the brain lights up like a Christmas tree. I’d worked in brain research for about 13 years when, while meditating, I received new information about brain geometry that I recognized as the geometry of consciousness in its relationship to sound and emotion.
I understood that if I taught this to others, I would observe rapid change and improvement in brain function and creativity, which took place when I conducted three beta test sites. One day I was in California doing a workshop when these sounds just came through me. That’s what spawned my current sound work.
I become like a tuning fork to the information that is coming to me. In shamanism, this is called being the hollow reed. I step out of the way. In terms of brain frequencies, I go into an alpha state in which I can attend to what I need to do vocally, but for that moment surrender my voice to the energy.
Sound opens consciousness. If consciousness is higher, life on Earth will change.
When I work shamanically with drums, animal spirits come through my voice as do beings from other traditions. I feel like a doorway, or a chauffeur looking in the back seat to see who I’m driving. I live in two diametrically opposed worlds. I’m logical in how I look at things and am fascinated by brain neurology. Then there’s this other side that’s off the charts.
I never know when the whales are going to appear. As I operate in an altered state, I can see humpbacks psychically approaching, until one of them enters my energy field. Subjectively, I become as large as a whale at the same time I’m aware of my physical body. I have dual realities, and then the whale sounds emanate through me.
In a visionary experience on my 40th birthday, the question arose, “Will you sing the song of the new Earth? I believe that we’re not going to survive much longer as a species if we don’t change how we are living, and that’s what my work is about. Many people are having spiritual emergences, yet we don’t, as a culture, have a place to harness its potential. What I do with groups is a type of sound healing, working collectively with the energy of a large gathering. Each person responds in ways unique to them, breathing into some inner emotion and making a sound that matches how it feels inside.
Something happens with people that attend these events. It’s about the transformation and beauty of being able to step into the unknown to commune with a knowledge and intelligence that’ll sing through my voice. Together we’ll see what will come forward.
A major message I’ve received is that if we are to survive, we must raise the feminine out of the ashes created by millennia of cultural traditions, and have the male and female meet together, not one above the other, but in equality, and with that union, create a new world.
The boy who sang to the world has grown up to sing a space that allows people to create their hopes and dreams into existence.
Psychologist and musician Tom Kenyon is trained in Ericksonian medical hypnosis and whole brain learning. His 25 years practicing psychotherapy led to the formation of Acoustic Brain Research to scientifically study neuropsychology and psychoacoustics. He teaches Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Egyptian high alchemy and esoteric Christianity. He has authored Brain States, many CDs and the new documentary about his journey, Song of the New Earth (SongOfTheNewEarth.com).
Filmgoers Respond
“This is the first time I have felt like I have experienced a film, rather than just seen it.” ~ Seattle, WA
“I feel this film has the song of the trees, waters and mountains in it. I teach kids to sing and I hear coming through them what I heard in this movie.” ~ Port Townsend, WA
“My 8-year-old daughter has experiences that you might say are mystic. She was excited to see that other people have the experiences she has.” ~ Bellingham, WA
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About the Author
Tom Kenyon Psychologist and musician Tom Kenyon is trained in Ericksonian medical hypnosis and whole brain learning. His 25 years of practicing psychotherapy led to the formation of Acoustic Brain Research to scientifically study neuropsychology and psychoacoustics. He teaches Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Egyptian high alchemy and esoteric Christianity. He has authored Brain States, many CDs and the new documentary about his journey, Song of the New Earth (SongOfTheNewEarth.com).
