Beyond Words

I spend a lot of time using words, like writing, teaching, reading --every day. But this week I encountered two reminders of the power of non verbal activities. Is there something beyond words that connects all of us to life beyond human?

The first experience was a seminar at AgeSong Institute in Emeryville, led by Natalie Rogers (daughter of Carl Rogers), about her practice of Expressive Arts Therapy. Some things in our lives lie in our unconscious so they can't be put into words in conversation or in talk therapy. We can draw, sculpt, collage or paint images that reveal feelings, thoughts, dreams or ideas we didn't know we had. Rogers told us that engaging first in movement and dance helps us to access these images. I know that I respond emotionally and intellectually to paintings, photographs and film, but I rarely draw or do visual art and I rarely remember my dreams. I also know that we only use 10% of our brains, the rest lying in the unconscious. Ms. Rogers' presentation raised the question: what lies in that large un-used part of my brain that might surprise, delight, terrify and enlighten me?

Earlier in the week I'd heard an interesting conversation on National Public Radio about the brain. A scientist recounted the case of a patient whose brain was almost completely destroyed, with only a small part of the brain stem remaining. The person lay paralyzed in a coma, slowly dying and unresponsive. But someone accidentally played music in his room one day. Miraculously, the dying man moved his eyes and showed the doctors he "heard" the music!

Which leads me to my second non verbal experience, when I attended a Good Friday performance of Bach's St. John Passion at St. Paul's Episcopal Church,Oakland. My whole body trembled afterwards from the emotions of three hours in the presence of Beauty. Especially a cello/viola da gamba line, really an equal duet with the mezzo soprano soloist, in the aria "It is Finished." The cello melody wove and sang, umber, amber, tremulous, pure, soaring, cradling, dark, bright, flame, spirit, heart, consoling, dancing -- the words fail. I wanted to hug the musician, a Yo Yo Ma clone, to thank him for an experience that was somehow like being loved by a new parent, a better parent than any parent could be. My heart is full still.