Ceremonial masks are used in healing, magic, telling of various creation stories, both spiritual and scientific. For observers, these masks might be seen as mysterious or even terrifying; however, the intentions of the mask wearer are greater than just acts of good or evil. Like most indigenous and traditional practices, masks are used for a sincere purpose.

Mask wearers are bound in responsibilities that include acts of love, faith, and hope.

Fear & faith are two fundamental juxtaposing principles that underline the spiritual realm. However, it is the overcoming of fear that the individual can more effectively accomplish their goals in life. The symbolism of masks, if not viewed as anything more, is the ability to conceal ones identity from the external environment.

“In nonliterate as well as in highly civilized cultures, (masks are_ expressions of the presence of supernatural entities. The person wearing the mask feels internally transformed and takes on temporarily the qualities of the god or demon represented by the mask.” (p. 218, Symbolism)

 

“The soundscapes of the world is changing. Modern man is beginning to inhabit a world with an acoustic environment different from any he has hitherto known. These new sounds, which will differ in quality and intensity from those of the past, have alerted many researchers to the dangers of an indiscriminate and imperialistic spread of more and larger sounds into every corner of a man’s life. Noise pollution is now a world problem. It would seem that the world soundscape has reached an apex of vulgarity in our time, and many experts have predicted universal deafness as the ultimate consequence unless the problem can be brought quickly under control.” (Schafer, 1977)

Is it me, or is the paradigm of the next century in due for some real change, whether we are aware or not. Real change that effects everyone and everything, from personal dreams to community issues. When that change happens is indiscriminate upon where, when, or even sometimes why, but it is certain it starts with you. The environment is enriched with both sounds and no sounds and in between, is all up to the way you choose.

In history’s past, the most salient sound signal in the community of town might be its church bell. “The church bell is a centripetal sound; it attracts and unifies the community in a social sense, just as it draws man and God together. At times in the past it took on a centrifugal force as well, when it served to frighten away evil spirits.” (Schafer, 1977)

If the world were to drastically change as to make us asses the need to start over, we argue that any society suggest a ritual of communication and progress. If done daily, the ritual throughout the day would be vital to success. If practiced individually, the routine would be the rhythm of success; relax, breath, think, and move. If done fluently, then the body and mind will be valuable to each other. This act is what separates the community from the mundane society that has no value of rhythm, but lead more authoritative control over the public.

“There is often a threatening note, something blatant and metallic, in the voice of bells, that I believe we have fully more pain than pleasure from hearing them; but these as they sounded abroad, now high, now low, now with a plaintive cadence that caught the ear like the burthen of a popular song, were always moderate and tunable, and seemed to fall in with the spirit of still, rustic places, like the noise of a waterfall or the babble of a rookery in spring.” (Robert Louis Stephen)

Shortly thereafter, the bell became a city beacon for the master of the consciousness; time. The invention of the mechanical clock would differ all other clocks in there time, i.e. “water clocks, sand clocks and sundials – which were silent.” (Schafer, 1977).

 

Create Your Own Atmosphere / Soundscape:

1.) “Mixed Media”

2.) “Film”

3.) “Live Event”

4.) “Studio Music”

5.) “Live Music”

 

“You posses a kind of inner force that seeks to guide you toward your Life’s Task – what you are meant to accomplish in the time that you have to live. In childhood this force was clear to you. It directed you toward activities and subjects that fit your natural inclinations, that sparked a curiosity that was deep and primal. In the intervening yeras, the force tends to fade in and out as you listen more to parents and peers, to the daily anxieties that wear away at you. This can be the source of your unhappiness-your lack of connection to who you are and what makes you unique. The first move toward mastery is always inward-learning who you really are and reconnecting with that innate force. Knowing it with clarity, you will find your way to the proper career path and everything else will fall into place. It is never too late to start this process.” (Mastery).

Pick a quote:

“Charisma is a sparkle in people that money can’t buy. It’s an invisible energy with visible effects.” – Marianne Williamson

“The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.” – H Jackson Brown Jr.

“The visible world is the invisible organization of energy.” – Heinz Pagels