The World Is Sound: Nada Brahma: Music and the Landscape of Consciousness

by Joachim-Ernst Berendt, Fritjof Capra

Scientists have only recently learned that the particles of an oxygen atom vibrate in a major key and that blades of grass ‘sing.” Europe’s foremost jazz producer takes the reader on an exhilarating journey through Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, exploring the musical traditions of diverse cultures and reaffirming what the ancients have always known--the world is sound, rhythm, and vibration. Berendt’s book is alive with his experiences--living in Bali, studying at a Zen monastery in Kyoto, and encountering budding jazz stars in Indonesia, Japan, Europe, and the United States. Drawing from his friendships with composers and performers as well as his knowledge of new physics and Tantra, cybernetics, Sufism, and the works of Hermann Hesse, he reveals the importance of sound in shaping cultural and spiritual life worldwide.

A tribute to the work of many of the greatest figures of our age--including Hans Kayser, Jean Gebser, Sufi Hazrat lnayat Khan, musicians John Coltrane and Ravi Shankar--Berendt’s book suggests that hearing, rather than seeing, is the key to a more spiritual experience of consciousness. His discussion of sound in relation to mathematics, logic, sacred geometry, myth, and sexuality is practical as well as theoretical, offering readers a variety of techniques for developing the ear as an organ of spiritual perception.

Genres: Music, Science, Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Psychology, Spirituality

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first six chapters are very fun, a capricious romp through "Music and the Landscape of Consciousness." But, oh, dear god, what happened to the editor?? After chapter six, the book goes off the rails with ridiculous accusations about the domination of the visual sense over the hearing sense being the root of all that is wrong with the world today. It is quite a contortionist stretch to get from the lack of harmony in the body causing cancer to the "cancerlike spread of cities and suburbs". (Cue Pete Seeger's "Little Boxes".) He even alludes to nonsense like children becoming psychotic from watching television. Come on. My favorite quote from the book:

"The person who gives first priority to the ears among the senses, who is primarily a hearing and listening individual, this person—we may logically conclude—will be much less aggressive than someone who perceives the world primarily and initially through the eyes. For that reason, the modern television culture is a breeding ground for aggressiveness. Day after day, in millions of middle-class living rooms, aggressions are being bred—with all the “nest warmth” that is necessary for breeding

Good grief.

Never does Berendt consider the perspective or even the existence of a deaf or hearing-impaired person. If sound IS life, what is the deaf person-- the walking dead?

Also:

the ruling eye-people are trying to divert our weakened glance from the simple conclusive realization that arms lead to war

and he quotes:

"The eyes have become an Adolf Hitler"

Paranoid much?

I'm just going to go poke my eyeballs out with a tuning fork.

An interesting book until he starts his vulgar ranting about the evils of modern life. It cheapens the book and makes the author look just plain silly. Excuse me while I stumble back to my warm middle-class nest of aggression. In my cancerlike suburb.

P.S. "Epitome" is repeatedly spelled "Epitomy" in the book. I guess it works better as an audio book. (See what I did there?)

[bertrand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mind blowing compendium of Philosophy, Metaphysics, Quantuum Mechanics,Maths, the physics of Sound and omnipresent Harmonic proportions.
Written by a musician practicing Buddhism, this book offers an experience as well as a powerful platform to revise our perception of Time and Space and Harmony.
The end is a lecture in details about the fusion of Jazz and Music from India and the spiritual aspects of that phenomena.

[Pradeep Ullal · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing as expected

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second reading of this challenging book. I was a bit lost in the science, but the spirituality and religion parts I get. Music is everything; it is religion and god. My music listening has become richer and deeper and varied due to this book. The chapters end with listening recommendations from which I created a Nada Brahma playlist of jazz (mostly Coltrane especially the compilation titled Spiritual)and Indian Classical.

[Jürgen De blonde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just excellent. Amazing insights into the nature of music, the nature of nature and the cosmos. Extensive thoughts on how everything is vibration thus sound and how that interacts with our being and thus consciousness. How all this leads to communcition and links to improvisation.

Great thoughts. Interesting names. Quite unique.

[Sanjeev]

One of my favorites. It's a book I'm going to read over and over to get the most out of, but I can say this is one of them that allowed me to think about the world through sound, proportion, and unity as opposed to the conventional fragmented way we currently approach it.

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing, opened my eyes and ears to myriad of possibilities.It has taken me on a journey of discovery that continues. Thank goodness for Inter-Library loans who made it possible to borrow a copy.

[T.S. Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those rare books that changes everything...as a Musician, I assumed I was a good listener. I didn't know the half of it. So thankful to have found this book!

[Alistair Conwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book. Interconnects so many different domains - spirituality, music, science to name the key ones. Inspirational. The book that inspired me to write my first book.

Alistair Conwell
The Audible Life Stream: Ancient Secret of Dying While Living

[Fernando Mortara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the Portuguese translation, and probably it already did some damage to the text. I could not get the line of thought of the author, reaching to conclusions after making arbitrary explanations of meaning of words in different languages. Also, there is no clear narrative, with some ideas just dropped in the middle of nowhere.

[Filip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely astonishing book. Diving into the roots of sound and the origins of language, the author underlies the importance of its existence.

[Abha Aggarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of my favourite reading experiences.

[Elisabeth Millenaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting though dated and biased towards the development of Western music, classical and traditional folk. Still an interesting mustread for musicians. Make up your own mind and seek inspiration.

[Christof Zürn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ground breaking book

[Silvio · Rating 4 out of 5]

I 100% agree with the 2-star top comment by Melissa.

Apart from that, very interesting, but really overwhelming, like mixing all existing spices together and creating a masterwork of... messiness. No real structure, and I am very open-minded with esoteric opinions, but this was just too much cherrypicking. Maybe all of his claims and coherences are true, but I was not impressed nor convinced by his explanations.

Nevertheless, the topics are super interesting and this book opened me up to many new ideas (I was googling something every few minutes), which I appreciate.
Maybe I just wasn't ready for the book yet. I will probably read it again some time.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The interesting fact about this book is that it is also available as the first of three 13 hour radio program / CD's with numerous, beautiful sound examples. All are available at zweitausendeins.de as CD's (German only). Amazing musical examples, Berendt is narrating himself though and his voice is a little unpleasant.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a difficult read for me. I am very much interested in mantras and sacred sounds from shintoism meditation practices and I was hoping that this book would have shed some light in some areas that I had questions. It didn't !!!! Never the less it was a good read.

[Grig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exceptionally well written and contains enough inspiration for a lifetime! I need to read it again!

After I finished this, I wanted more, so I read more, but no other book on the esoteric perspective of music really satisfied me like this did.

[Robin Boudreaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book, sweeping in scope, truly a world music perspective without the marketing hype and assumptions...

[Tony]

Reading this very closely for a long time: needs digesting. Phenomenally good.

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful exploration, difficult to classify, but well worth the time. Enlightening and inspiring.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the section on planets