The women around the table exchanged heartfelt glances as we watched my beloved niece, four years old, moving lyrically to the music playing in the room. The moment only sweetened with her authentic exclamation, “I’ve never felt like this before!” She was alive. An inner light shone through her face. We scarcely said a word, simply sharing in the sacred moment.
The natural flow from music to ear to heart to embodied response is so innocently exhibited in childhood humanity. When what we hear connects with us deeply, in the heart, there is an inner spiritual resonance that, if allowed, will find outward embodied expression, reciprocating and amplifying the original signal. Or perhaps we should say Original Signal proper, but more on that later.
Let me explain my ponderings by first examining the concrete human experience of sound. A brief internet search can inform you on the process, but I want to consider five aspects for our purpose here: signal, integrated cognition, frequency, resonance, and harmonics.
The Pattern of Hearing is a Hearing of Patterns
Sound begins with an initial force of movement, creating vibrations that travel among adjacent particles, moving out like waves in a pool. The signal pattern reaches the liquid in our ears which ripples accordingly, sending electrical information to the brain to be interpreted into meaningful perceptions. The brain uses a series of complex neurological processes to do this, which I’m calling “integrated cognition.”
The rate at which these waves of vibration travel determines their frequency, perceived by the brain as pitch (high or low notes). More complex still is the hierarchy of harmonics, which are fixed, multilayered frequencies at higher integers corresponding in exact relationship to the base frequency and resonating along with it. These overtones are the factors coloring the quality of the sound we hear and helping us distinguish the difference between instruments and voices.
So, summing up, hearing is essentially a process of receiving and deriving meaning from incoming layered patterns.
These empirical realities are exciting in their own right, but I’d like to suggest these material forms themselves exist as the “base note” on a hierarchical harmonic scale of transcendent reality and meaning. Consider Jesus’ curious invitation in Matthew 13:9, “He who has ears, let him hear.”
Patterns, Parables & Poetry
In Matthew 13, where he says that he is communicating meaningful information about the Kingdom of Heaven concealed in the form of parables, Jesus implores his listeners to really “hear,” implying there is more to the story than a literal interpretation. Here the parable acts like a “base note,” serving as an entry point to hear “higher frequencies” of meaning. Already, just like with harmonics, there are three layers resonating in this example. Physically, Jesus creates sounds using his voice as signals to be interpreted as language. At the next level, the words Jesus sends out are the signals to be interpreted as a story. Simultaneously, at a higher level still, the patterns of the story are the signals sent out to be interpreted as the meaning. It is a progressive movement from the concrete to the increasingly abstract. One must listen beyond the rudimentary level to get closer to the heart of the message.
Ah, but this is not the first time Jesus did this. Creation begins with a still and formless blank slate, devoid of meaning, until the Word himself sends out the very first Original Signal, a vocal vibration stimulating movement (the basis of what we hear) and form (the basis of what we see), and infuses them with symbolic meaning. You can almost imagine the ripples on the water. Interestingly, kinetic theorists have found that all matter consists of particles that are constantly in motion. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus “upholds the universe by the word of his power.” How intimate to consider that all within and around us is still resonating from those originally spoken words! In Psalm 19, the Psalmist marvels:
1The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
When Jesus instructs his audience to listen well in reference to his parables, is he also commenting on something profound about the entire cosmos; that all of creation, at the sound of his word, unfolds in a glorious hierarchy of meaning through layered and corresponding patterns, forms, and images? If we start to understand creation as a profound act of artistic expression, we can begin to tune in to its purpose and listen more intently for its meaning, a principle highlighted by the insights of Orthodox icon carver Jonathan Pageau, who guides his audiences in the practice of seeing how the world “lays itself out symbolically.”[1] In this way the entire cosmos can be understood as poetic and sacramental because it is rife with sacred meaning— sacred because of its source: the very heart of God.
Listening for the Heart with the Heart
It follows then, that what Jesus is actually asking of us is to listen through the frequencies of layered imagery for the concealed meanings contained in them, in order to connect with his heart. The process of hearing itself underlies this invitation. If, physically, God designed sound to move out from originating signals and then made sure there were both a portal through which to receive them correctly (the ear) and a center of integrated cognition capable of exquisite perception (the brain), did he then equip us with spiritually equivalent means to receive and perceive his efforts to connect with us from the heart? Let’s listen in to what Jesus explains further in Matthew 13:13-15 when he’s asked why he is speaking in parables:
“… because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”
Not truly hearing, Jesus says, is a sign of a heart that’s grown dull. This speaks of a higher form of hearing where all the cognition of the mind acts as the ear, transmitting its findings to the ultimate seat of integrated perception, the heart. It’s the vitality of this vessel that is key to deciphering meaning and to hearing the heart of others and of God.
In his book, Human Being and Becoming, David G. Benner confirms this notion of the heart as the “organ of perception that lies at our deepest center.” He goes on to say this:
In the wisdom tradition, the heart, not the brain, connects us to what exists beyond us. The heart has the bigger perspective. It can see further than the mind because it draws its data from all levels of reality, including but never limited to the mind. The heart is our spiritual centre because it is the seat of imagination and intuition. It is the heart that dreams and, through our deepest desires, leads us forward on our journey of unfolding. It is the heart that senses wholes, “gets” poetry and art, and gives us our expansiveness—stretching out beyond our individuality to connect us to the very heart of the universe.[2]
Here I’m reminded of anecdotes shared by married friends whose husbands insist things be taken at “face value,” while their wives insist on “reading into” situations more deeply. While somewhat humorous, it does lead to real curiosity about whether the archetypes of the masculine and feminine might unlock further understanding on how to unlock further understanding. Is it mere coincidence that wisdom is so often referred to in the feminine? Does a heart seeking intimate connection know to look beyond the surface of things to find that kind of depth? In as much as femininity is associated with “heartfulness,” it may do us well to consider this realm.
Looking at the physicality of the sexes as a cue to more broadly gendered symbolisms, masculinity can be associated with the exterior, visible, concrete body in forward linear movement. Conversely, femininity corresponds more to the interior, hidden, abstract soul or spirit in receptive, enfolding movement. When joined together as a whole, it is the feminine that incorporates the masculine and then after a period of secret processing, life may emerge from her womb. The incarnational fruit of the masculine is only realized when hospitably received, contained, and integrated within the depths of the hidden feminine.
This pattern is exciting to explore and can be found repeating throughout the cosmos. For instance, at the personal level, within every human being, in the relationship between head and heart (understanding the head as masculine, objective, literal, sensing, thinking, reasoning, rationalizing and the heart as feminine, subjective, abstract, feeling, intuiting, hosting, connecting), consider what Benner has to say about their relationship:
The core of the transformational journey is aligning the heart and mind. The longest and hardest journey humans will ever take is the short distance from the head to the heart. Ultimately, all spiritual practices center on helping the mind enter and take up residence in the heart. Like a bird going back to its nest at the close of the day, the mind winds up all its activities as it settles into its home in the heart.[3]
Here we see the heart as the integrating center, incorporating the mind’s endeavors as a valuable part of its generative mission, a very different interpretation than that usual trope of masculine headship, with everything bowing in subservience to it for what seems like its own sake. In this way the head serves a greater purpose beyond itself and is most effective when integrated into the heart. This principle is key to our flourishing, where our task is to understand the heart as the central essence of who we are, seeking to integrate the signals of our human experience (mind, body, emotions) within it, and thereby enable its capacity to truly perceive and engage the deeper, more meaningful connections we are meant to enjoy, especially with our Creator. The wisdom of the feminine is intimately related to Jesus’ call to listen well if doing so is a matter of listening through the concrete to perceive the abstracts of heartfelt meaning. The existence of empirical, explicit, objective, fact-based information is detectable and transmitted by the masculine, but its meaning is perceived intuitively by the broader integrative subjective power of the feminine. That is to say, it is the heart that must listen for the heart. Minds may exist to connect observations and ideas, but hearts exist to connect beings.
Recentering the Heart
In our post-Enlightenment, Protestant, western contexts, after histories of ignoring, devaluing, and abusing the feminine, we are conditioned to an unwarranted dominance of masculinity, disproportionately prioritizing empiricism, objective rationalism, materialism, and literalism, with an idolatrous dependence on certainty earned by their means. On its own, masculinity breeds an attitude of entitlement that insists on straightforwardness and immediate consumption: “I want to engage with things the easy way. I don’t want to do the hard (insert “risky”) work of connecting on a deeper heart level.” But finding the heart of God takes more effort and risk, precisely because of its worth. Treasures are hidden and those who see their value will use the means and the maps meant to find them. Restoring the centrality of the heart as prescribed by contemplative wisdom traditions and mystics may enable us to forge deeper connections, restore holistic alignments, put an end to “the meaning crisis” and manifest divine life in the world.
It was never good that “man” be alone. Jesus tells us there’s more. Will we retune our hearts to the frequencies of meaning, sounding in all that he’s made?
Let those who have ears, hear.
Talita Jolene lives out her human quest among the shores, forests, and fields of the Lakehead region of Northwestern Ontario in Robinson-Superior Treaty territory, the traditional lands of the Anishnaabeg. An aspiring wildcraft artisan, occasional songwriter, vocal performer, audiobook narrator, sister, daughter, and “Auntie,” Talita is committed to growing in the contemplative spiritual practice she calls “Sacramental Theorology,” embracing the breadth of human experience as an opportunity for curiosity, connection, and communion with the Sacred in all things. More can be found at Talita’s website, www.talitajolene.com.
[1] Pageau, J. (2021). Retrieved 2021, from The Symbolic World: http://thesymbolicworld.com
[2] David G. Benner, Human Being and Becoming: Living the Adventure of Life and Love (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2016), 88.
[3] Benner, 91.