In his book, What is health? Peter Sterling recounts an Oliver Sacks tells story of ‘the lost Mariner’ – Jimmy, a former seaman, a man in his forties who has lost all his memories going back to 18. Jimmy could not form social bonds and was depressed and agitated. The only place Jimmy experienced peace was in chapel, where the sacred music and ritual seemed to soothe him. Gardening did the same.
Sterling argues that this points to the deep human nee for sacred experience and its power to heal. Sacred refers to ‘reverence for the ineffable’. It is that which cannot be expressed in causal speech. Different culture have created sacred practices ranging from sex, music, art, dance, stories, jokes and the construction of monuments. They also include the ceremonies around life transitions of birth, puberty, marriage and death. These experiences evoke powerful emotions like awe, joy and grief – cathartic releases that ease pain. Sterling notes that the large investment in our neural circuits for these practices and the processing of music and art suggest that they are important to our functioning and well-being.
What is about music that is healing? Sacred music mimics the tonal qualities and intervals of the human voice expressing joy and sadness. The music links us to our ancestors and unifies neural circuits that evolved for this particular purpose.
We are all mariners, writes Sterling, in constant danger of becoming lost. We need charts and channel markers to guide us through life. Otherwise, we risk drifting, unmoored, into the many addictions that our society offers us.