Don't Know how I managed to wake up this morning

Don't Know how I managed to wake up this morning

given that I finally fell asleep around 4:30 or so. But I am glad that I did because I managed to catch This American Life. What a great program! This particular edition was the one where they try to interview everyone at the The Golden Apple in Chicago. I really enjoyed the texture of everyone's voices. I also liked the fact that the doors of the Golden Apple have no locks because the restaurant is always open. I also liked the impression that Donna, the night waitress, gave of how the diner changes as morning comes- how the morning crowd arrives like morning sunlight- slowly, with all freshness and hope of a new day.

But mostly I liked the voices. I am amazed at how powerful a force of touch sound, in general, and the human voice, in particular, is. It seems to me that as we lay in the relatively static enviroment of the womb, sound was our first introduction to the variety of physical sensation and to touch. I often think how amazing it is that I can reach out an touch someone by making the air vibrate between us in a way that is particular to me. I am amazed out how comforting, how physically comforting a familiar voice is. I like to think that birds, for example, with their constant chirping are really maintaining constant network of touch; I like to think of whales somewhere in the deep- alone, speaking and hearing the long slow words of whales.

This thinking explains the power of music. A group is bound together by a song because the group is literally embraced by the singing. This thinking helps me understand why a song, rather than an image, seems to to penetrate deeply into our us. It seems that The Hearing within us is far more ancient- for we heard long before we saw.