Listen to the Stone—Searching for Spiritual Harmony in Polyphonic Coexistence

Chapter 8 takes this book into the depth of our humanity—exploring harmony amongst the multiple (polyphonic) natural and human themes of our existence. The search is practical and inspired by ancient history, returning to the historic place before the Bronze Age when a very special stone, ‘sanukite’ was used in ceremonies and on special occasions because of its extraordinary two-minute resonance and acoustic range—including inaudible high frequency waves more than 500,000Hz which some believe have a healing effect. Based on very extensive wider music performance experience in both classical and contemporary worlds the author has developed a unique percussion instrument from this stone, and plays it in ceremonies that bring people and religions together in celebrations of peace—including prior to each of the International Kyoto Symposia from which this book was constructed. The Chapter shows how it is possible in a dialogue with the harmonies of the stone, to hear the vast timelessness of the world which surrounds us and thus to live in relation to it. Contrasted against today’s increasing dependence on the limited acoustic range of digital (sampled) music, the Chapter argues that, with the increasing universality of digital sound and the consequent loss of connection in consciousness to the harmonic breadth and depth of natural sound, there is a decline in multidimensional thinking and originality, an ongoing loss of cultural diversity in a globalized world. The main contribution of this Chapter is to take the reader through quite practical experience to the depths of what is humanity’s spirituality within our wondrous cosmic world, the most basic of platforms from which this book constructs the Kyoto Manifesto for Global Economics.