David George Haskell writes: “A tone clear and warm as sunlight sounds from the giant bronze bell. The ring contains no hint of clang or jangle, just a single frequency, sweetened and fattened by overtones, pitched a few notes below middle C, exactly at the midpoint range of human speech.
His words create a sound. I imagine listening to this bronze bell while wondering where it might be.
Haskell continues: Although I stand two meters away from the bell, the sound seems to emerge from within me, a calming, centering glow that spreads from chest to extremities, then flows outward into my perception of the park which I stand.
Haskell reveals he’s standing in Hiroshima Peace Park listening to the Peace Bell, which visitors can ring. The resonate sound of the peace bell arrived in my imagination and awareness. I heard it. Here’s a different version of place making and peace making—of cultivating sound and a sense of peace.
“A child stands on tiptoe and reaches up to haul on a rope dangling from the beam. She pulls back, then releases, and the wooden striker swings onto the bell. The sound rings again. Pure and steady toned, with a slight pulsation, a swelling of amplitude that comes at a pace just slower than a calm heartbeat.”
David George Haskell writes about the Peace Bell, it’s maker, Masahiko Katori and introduces the 100 Soundcapes of Japan in his book, Sounds Wild and Broken—Sonic Marvels, Evolutions Creativity and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction.” He notes the ringing of the Peace Bell is Soundscape 76.
The 100 Soudscapes of Japan is a government program launched in 1996 to combat noise pollution, to honor significant soundscapes and to prompt people to rediscover the natural sounds around them and encourage deeper listening.
Haskell reminds us, “The wonders of human culture and the living world come to us through many senses. To only honor material objects and spaces is to exclude much of what gives life joy and meaning.”
I pause to recognize how much sound gets cast into the background, and yet, it’s often the sounds of nature that give life joy and spark a sense of wonder.
Wikipedia: 100 Soundscapes of Japan
Read an excerpt from David George Haskel’s book that’s repurposed as an article in Spirituality and Health: 100 Sounds and a Culture of Listening
creative meander 
Leave a comment