An Accidental Songwriter and Moors, Music and Meditation. A couple of songs exploring “Aloneness” and “Togetherness”.

It strikes me that our human journey on this planet is characterised by many archetypal states, two of which can be characterised by the polar opposite conditions of “Aloneness ” and “Togetherness”. There is a kaleidoscope patterning of divergent futures and emerging futures that bring these qualities more into the limelight as we move forward at this time. Covid, and an environmental unravelling are creating a pressure cooker of human experiences- climactic imbalances, land degradation and disappearance, species erosion, human hunger /poverty and movement of peoples, global economic disturbances and increased digitalisation of business to name but a few! Our potential futures are a combination of personally navigating these uncertainties whilst trying to collectively find what will allow human society to function best.

The strands of my own life have caused me to consider the quality of “Aloneness’ and what it means. We all have repeating patterns in our lives of a state that we have as a playback condition. One of mine is ” Aloneness” whilst being in a state of “Togetherness”! Partly because of my disability, partly because of the way I see things, partly because that is people’s response to both these above things whilst working with me, and partly because of how I work and where I live. So, aloneness and just getting on with things all by myself is a common reoccurrence. As someone who is a total people person and has far too much of a generous big heart, this is something of an anathema to me!

But, I view my life here as a place of learning, a human playground where I can evolve through life’s rough and tumble and perhaps end up leaving this human experience a little wiser, a little more evolved than when I came in.

So, to frame it in a positive way: “Aloneness” allows us to be the spiritual warrior who engages with life and adverse conditions in an alchemical way. To see each difficulty, challenge and heart pain as a means to grow, shine brighter, develop wisdom and grow a little more. The “Aloneness” gives you time and space to step back and look into the patterning so you can bring new colour, texture to evolve the pattern and learn from life.

I believe ” aloneness” is a common human experience which is perhaps also one felt acutely often by artists, healers and in the past shamans and philosophers. It might be what allows empathy, the ability to see differently and articulate that in a particular creative way. It is maybe even be needed for us to individually and collectively grow. Perhaps Mother Nature gives us this so we do just that! It is a state that we all maybe need to travel through in different forms to know ourselves, grow new skills and give back in a more informed and whole way.

So, here is my song written recently about”aloneness”. I started the piano in lockdown and have only just been managing to recently afford a few lessons ( twice a month), so my progress is slow. However, I am loving it and already improvising and going into flow with it, with the small amount I can do. I have partly written this song as a challenge to myself to be able to eventually accompany myself. (At the moment I have some clanky chords for just the refrain). The song will evolve as my skill grows so there is only yet a melody for the refrain! The piano is a perfect choice as an instrumental accompaniment as there is something so introverted about sitting by yourself with a keyboard ! A perfect aloneness instrument! It is in D minor. Murmuration, by the way is when a flock of birds fly in synchronised collective flight.

Aloneness

Refrain

Alone, alone

is a sea of uncertainty.

To fly, fly fly on my soul’s directed flight.

To find my way into the light, alone.

V1

We would fly in murmuration

Together in our flight

But life directs our souls growing

A singularity of flight.

repeat refrain

V2

We can not see our journey

Or patterns in the winds of night

The forming, storming and dissolving

Patterns of pain and light.

Repeat refrain

V3

We seek to interweave our flights

Like patterns of geese in northern light

The sea of windblown currents

Takes us alone, into our flight

A piano interlude ( that might be quite a while in arriving …it might be an imagined thing for quite some time!)

V4

I would fly with honesty

and a warm, brave, loving heart

Others may come and others will go

A pattern of endless meetings and partings

In our/my trajectory to the light.

It is a very spacious melody, with a lot of sustained tied notes. The imagery I realise on reading this back, is informed by where I live; the sea, the sky, the northern geese in the sky, the rural isolation. I wrote it in a cafe after a wild walk where I was processing something of this….I hope my quiet humming was not terribly audible to the tea drinkers a table away from me!!

And then there is “Togetherness”……

There are many of us on this planet. Most people live cheek by jowl and we are social in our make up. We thrive as a herd creature and we would flounder in isolation. Yet, in the twentieth and twenty first century, the free market economy and the boom and bust of an oil rich age has allowed humanity the luxury of a view of ” each man for himself” of the pleasing and development of the individual. Some of this has allowed for people to think for themselves and to grow and to express but it has also caused selfishness, a lack of understanding as humanity as a co-dependant unit and how in the end we all serve each other. We are all just parts of the same entity having different experiences. The “I” want, “I” believe etc has become the paradigm by which modern man/woman often lives by.

We have forgotten the “Us” principle of life and survival. This is a personal view and no doubt will cause raised eyebrows by some of my friends, but I believe the current societal dilemma of to Vax or not to Vax represents this. Covid is here and can only be controlled if we take a very collective stance on it. It will go on causing tragedy and mayhem unless we all tackle it together- around the whole world. The whole world needs to be vaccinated. People protest about this suggestion and about putting toxins in their bodies and about the human right to choose and how Anti vaxxers are discriminated against, how their freedoms are curtailed. There are toxins all around us the whole time; in our food, in the air, in our homes.

I would also like people who rail against their freedoms being taken away to consider this story:

Once there was a beautiful small girl who came into this world with many a difficulty. She was largely blind, had a heart condition and was also type one diabetic. She was also a sunbeam girl who brought joy and sang like an angel. She had few freedoms and her life was curtailed by bells- telling her every few minutes to eat, measure her insulin. She could not jump and play like other children or even go to school for a whole day at a time. Friends could not come and play in the way children do. Then came the pandemic and this childs life began to resemble that of a fairy tale princess locked in a tower. The highlight of her life was her singing lesson each week online where she could sing with her teacher, to her little hearts content- sending out her sunshine in her own sweet particular way.

I would guess, reading this, that you would want this child to enjoy her life, to have freedom, to enjoy what she can in difficult circumstances and to have a normal childhood as possible. This is actually the true story of one of my wee pupils. Her freedoms are dependant upon the rest of us thinking of people like her and realising we need to vaccinate in order to help our vulnerable. We need to think”Us” not “me”. it is not about conspiracy theories and government control but about helping each other.

I am sorry if this causes a flurry of anger but I believe mother nature wants us to grow in many ways from this pandemic she is giving us and just one of those is to start thinking collectively. This ability will also allow us to rethink how we interact with our planet too. We need to think with love for each other and love for the world.

With this in mind I give you a song I wrote a long time ago called “What is Love?”. It examines the many faces of love and brings us back to what it is in essence .

What is Love ?

Refrain

Love, love

Step into the light

Tis what we do when we love

Tis what we do when we love

So, step into the light

And all around us it will shine and all around us it will shine.

1

Love is desire

To hold and entwine 

You and me together 

sharing our journey to the end

Repeat refrain

2

Love is your baby smile 

Our hands held in childhood years

And returning , as you are set free.

Refrain

3 

Love is a helping hand 

To neighbour, friend and stranger

And to our world of flowers, fields and mountains

All around the world, all around the world.

Instrumental section

Love is the spirit of life 

A ribbon of light from each being 

Shining into infinity

A ribbon of light 

Shining into infinity.

https://soundcloud.com/abigail-rooley-towle/what-is-love?utm_source=abisworldofmusic.com&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fabigail-rooley-towle%252Fwhat-is-love

I believe that is the link to it!

So, “Aloneness” and “Togetherness”…..our human condition and journey. May we navigate it well, in all it’s manifestations, individually and collectively. And, may we all give each other a little light and considered togetherness this coming Christmas and new year. Happy Christmas.

Abi