Sound Voyage

Dipping Into the Realm of Soundscapes As I lied on the ground and closed my eyes I immediately prepared myself for a state of deep meditation. However this takes time and I had to get rid of my basic analytical process of the situation. The sounds being played sounded familiar, having been familiar with i-Dosers, I quickly realized that these were binaural1 sounds. Sad that I was not hearing them in actual headphones, I quickly let these impeding thoughts go along with the rest of my concerns. I pictured myself in the classroom and proceeded to eliminate everything in my memory. As the sounds throbbed, I threw tables, chairs, and even people in to the abyss of a darkness that I sought to surround myself by. It was then that I was able to start meditating.

The music help facilitate this meditation2 and I began to see things. I saw a reddish purple creature of many tentacles flowing from the top of my vision. I then questioned why am I seeing this creature and that is when the realization about hallucinations seen on psychedelics came to me. It became clear to me that when I let my imagination run free there may be many different creatures and shapes that flow through my thoughts, that I simply choose not to add to my memory since they do not make “logical” sense. Which leads me to believe that under the influence of psychedelics3, the brain begins to see thing in a less bias manner allowing such never seen things or never realized thoughts come to fruition and allowed into the memory. This realization was complete and the sound voyage then took me to the top of a windy mountain where a ceremony was being led. However, my creative vision did not form any faces of people during the ceremony, I felt an outsider as if peering from behind a bush. Jimi Hendrix brought me back to analyzing all of the sounds, since his music felt abrupt in comparison to the other things played during the beginning. With Pink Floyd following I soon realized a trend in trippy music that was quintessential of psychedelic trips of the past. The techno in the end sealed the deal and I found my ears chasing after the rollercoaster ride of synthesizer keys and knobs. When it was all over the silence was the most exciting as my anticipation grew while I wondered it the voyage had ended.

1. Binaural-"pertaining to both ears," 1861, from L. bini "twofold, two apiece" (used especially of matched things) + aural. In ref. to electronic recordings, from 1933.
2. Meditated-Early 13c., "discourse on a subject," from L. meditationem (nom. meditatio), from meditatus, pp. of meditari "to meditate, to think over, consider," frequentative form from PIE base *med- "to measure, limit, consider, advise" (cf. Gk. medesthai "think about," medon "ruler," L. modus "measure, manner," modestus "moderate," modernus "modern," mederi "to heal," medicus "physician," Skt. midiur "I judge, estimate," Welsh meddwl "mind, thinking," Goth. miton, O.E. metan "to measure"). Meaning "act of meditating, continuous calm thought upon some subject" is from late 14c.
3. Psychedelic-1956, of drugs, suggested by H. Osmond in a letter to Aldous Huxley and used by Osmond in a scientific paper published the next year; from Gk. psykhe- "mind" (see psyche) + deloun "make visible, reveal," from delos "visible, clear." Psychedelia is from 1967.