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Some thoughts on Music Therapy in the Ecozoic Era: A Spirituality Journey

By Jim Couture, MT-BC, BM in Music Therapy, MA in Culture and Spirituality, United States, private practice. (Email: jimcmtbc@yahoo.com):

I am thankful that we have this forum to discuss issues of importance and interest in our global community. I have been reading all of the discussions but have been particularly attentive to the Community, Cultural and Spirituality topics. I feel compelled to contribute.

I have been passionate about Music Therapy for thirty years now with 23 years of professional experience behind me. (I always capitalize Music Therapy.) I have also been passionate about spirituality, quality of life, meaning, culture and celebration of differences, compassion, humor, and nature. I finally went back to graduate school and earned a Master's degree in Culture and Spirituality so that I could more fully integrate these areas into my practice as a Music Therapist.

Dorit Amir challenged us in her Nov. 11, 2002 VOICES discussion to share our spiritual experiences. "Introducing spiritual elements, principles and terminology in our work will give us a deeper understanding of our work and allow us to build theories that will resonate more fully with what we do."

In this year's AMTA conference program I see a few offerings listed in the area of spirituality. That is a good thing but what, I always wonder to myself, is going to be the context. Is it going to be anchored in religion? From the East or West? From a Judeo-Christian perspective? "New Age"? I submitted a proposal for a continuing education course, "Spirituality and Music Therapy: Expanding Concepts in the Emergent Ecozoic Era", that tackled the inclusion of Music Therapy in the context of a growing global movement. I would like to share some of my thoughts about spirituality and culture.

(The term "Ecozoic Era" refers to the promise of a coming era when humans live in a mutually enhancing relationship with the larger community of life systems. It could also be called the "ecological age." It is based on eco meaning house and zoic meaning life. Put together it means: "House of Life.") FYI - We are currently at the end of the Cenozoic era that began on Earth at the time of the mass extinction of dinosaurs.

Spirituality does not exist in a vacuum within a religious context yet, in my experience, it is usually something that is not only discouraged in discussions and treatment with clients but also prohibited. The Ecozoic concept may be broad and difficult to understand but it does give a context within which to discuss spirituality. That context is the Universe and the study or discipline is Cosmology. You may not understand all of it, and I may not explain it very well to your satisfaction, but it is a beginning, a journey. Expanding the concept of Spirituality is not so easy as we might like to think. Some may be content with a limited view that defines spirituality only in terms of a religious context. But there is so much more and it is interesting and exciting. The new context has such great potential for instilling much needed meaning and inspiration in our lives.

On the weekend of September 24th, 2004 I was privileged to be an invited participant at the first International Conference on Engaged Cosmology. Though you may not have been aware of it the profession of Music Therapy was represented at the gathering. The conference had delegates from many cultures and parts of the world including Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and the South Pacific representing such diverse fields as theology, biology, cosmology, astronomy, physics, social science, medicine, creative arts, women's studies, architecture, education, ecology, Earth literacy, social activism, politics, peace studies and Music Therapy.

Specifically we are looking at ways that all of our areas of inquiry can help to shape our local and collective cultures so that we can more effectively integrate care for our Earth home and all creatures both human and non-human. Our context for meaning is the New Story of the Universe - a fifteen billion year unfolding of creativity and life of which we are an integral part. This is a new context, an expanded framework within which to live a meaningful life in communion with the cosmos - all that we can know and experience - without exclusions. We seek to tell this story informed by science and including all voices. This is a deeply spiritual context. It is Spirituality in the fullest sense. It is also convergent with community or cultural Music Therapy that starts in one to one sessions - microcosm - and builds exponentially toward involvement with our communities and culture at large - macrocosm.

One of the primary outcomes of the conference was the creation of the Ecozoic Council. A key feature will be a website dedicated to sharing information and projects related to the transformation of our culture at large using all the wisdom of our respective fields of study as a Spiritual journey. Together we can be a prophetic community dedicated not only to the improvement of each person's quality of life but also of the quality of our Earth home with all its human and non-human inhabitants. This focus recognizes Earth as our primary context for life and meaning and helps us to understand goals, from a therapist's perspective, that go beyond the therapeutic setting to include the family, community, city, county, state, region, country, and planet as bioregions and socio-political constructs. Many of us treat clients in a sheltered setting where we experience wonderful results but I always felt bad about the kind of world to which they had to return.

"Improvisation is the saving skill. We play a crucial role in selecting the melody, setting the tempo, establishing the way and inviting the players - when it works we sit back amazed and grateful." -Margaret Wheatly

Organizations, groups and individuals not directly involved with the promotion of the New Story as the context for our evolution but that are nonetheless striving to integrate compatible principles and vision are considered Friends of the Council. Music Therapy as a profession, indeed all the creative arts therapies (though I have a particular fondness for music), is a perfect example of a friend. Music Therapists for Peace, Hospice Music Therapy and Music Therapy as a Response to Crisis and Trauma are fine examples of movements aimed at recognizing and healing our pain as a society. Music Therapists have many parallels with indigenous wisdom found throughout the world.

There were many renown participants* at the conference giving us updates on the global level and sharing their research and ideas for bringing spirituality to the forefront of their respective fields. And they all heard from me speaking about Music Therapy as a creative art used in the service of healing others. My ongoing research over the past few years involves the use of music in and as therapy applied to culture. It is interesting that I began my studies in earnest at about the same time but before I first read about Cultural and Community Music Therapy as new models.

The profession of Music Therapy is poised to make a tremendous contribution to the current transition into this new era where the institutions of society as we know them must change drastically if we are to thrive as a species, an era characterized by compassion versus exploitation and including historically repressed wisdom traditions and a deeper trust in the creative process. Music Therapy has been a part of the expanding consciousness exemplified in trends in the literature with such minds as Carolyn Kenny, Ken Aigen, Gary Ansdell, Barbara Crowe, Brynjulf Stige, Dorit Amir, Joe Moreno, Helen Bonny, Edith Hillman Boxill and others.

There is an ongoing discussion as to whether or not Music Therapy in a cultural or community context can be considered a legitimate application. I say, of course it can be. And like a quantum particle-wave it is not an "is" or "is not" but a "both and". I have mentored many Music Therapy Interns over the years and I like to think I gave them all a gift by enabling their independent thought, by advising them to listen to their own inner voice and not to listen to anyone tell them they can't do something, and by reminding them that anyone can create and develop a new theory, technique, method or model. I represent the Universe when I say go ahead, give it a try, let's see what happens. The MTs noted above are also unique voices poised to embrace and nurture a vision of therapy with music outside the traditional medical model "box".

Music Therapy can become a focused tool to aid in the expansion of consciousness and help create a story wherein all VOICES, human and nonhuman, are heard and of equal value. Community or Cultural MT in this case refers to the use of music to effect cultural change on the whole. It is the directed use of music with our exterior material structures and interior dimensions. Lesley Blunt wrote of Telling Our Stories in VOICES. It is, actually, another way we as MTs can tap into the new cosmology by finding a place for our personal stories within the context of the stream of evolution. Of particular interest for us is the importance and revelation of music in our lives. What is your earliest connection with music? How did this come about? What inspired you to become a music healer? How does music sustain and inspire you?

All of this is a movement toward an engaged cosmology - a functional, viable context for everything - and finding our place. It involves the integration of the wisdoms of our classical traditions (e.g. educational institutions, religions), women's voices (historically repressed yet so necessary for balance), science (fantastically interesting, significant and beautiful discoveries) and indigenous cultures (interconnected with Earth in a meaningful cosmos, belonging, healing). Ultimately our entire Western culture would become indigenous, balanced, and wise in its ways. Actually, we are already indigenous to our planet but we have not fully recognized this fact or we might not have plundered our limited resources over the years to the point where our home is fast becoming so toxic that our time on Earth as a species is being cut short. We have been taught over and over again that we are in exodus, but when do we get to go "home"? And worrying about the afterlife is no way to live through this one. I don't recall who said that but I like it.

Religions are pertinent to spirituality because they exist primarily to serve spiritual needs, motivations and questions. But think of all the voices over the years that have been repressed or excluded in the name of belief and dogma. Any religion that excludes diversity in its scope is limiting its potential growth and ability to incorporate ultimate wisdom that may develop from such diversity. When all voices and perspectives are not heard - including those of our voiceless non-human companions - we are depriving ourselves of the full range of human expression and wisdom. Diversity is a key principle of the universe and as such the number and variety of different "things" is an integral part of what is so special about what we know to be our world. It is also much more interesting.

Think of the pattern whereby we repeat - over and over again throughout an entire lifetime - the lyrics to hymns that may be holding us back from inner growth, aiding us to be set in our ways. It is time to break the pattern, just as one would do following a cognitive-behavioral approach, because we are losing our home environment and it is essential to understand that it is not just beautiful nature but also our primary connection to the epic story of life, our story, our place. Who better to get involved than a Music Therapist? Breaking and rebuilding are essential aspects of the creative process and as therapists we can help to give a direction to this creativity. Music is a perfect tool since it is not static but dynamic and process rather than product oriented.

Religions are not static either; they have grown and changed over time and continue to evolve today. One of my mentors was fond of reminding me that our worldview at this particular time in history, with all of our unique perspectives, is only "somewhat adequate for now". This basically means that we will gradually come to know and understand our predicament in history and come closer to resolving our dilemmas but we don't really know how to now. Our societies function, we are aware that there are problems, and we attempt some solutions but, generally, we get along as best we can. This same frame of reference applies to any image of God - or any term for a higher power - you may have in that the image we have or need changes over time in relation to our maturity and wisdom.

Music Therapy is also needed to help staff within what might be termed the medical model box of our western culture, one of the only systems left in the world that is still thinking from a Cartesian perspective and not very well integrated. Hospice is perhaps the best model so far of a balanced system: clients are not helpless but empowered, family and significant others are involved, holistic medicine is practiced and, perhaps more importantly, thought, emotions and intentionality are essential considerations.

Creative Arts Therapists are caught in the same dysfunctional medical system but like all true artists, many of us know it and are able to express our frustrations or ideal view of culture through and with our medium. We as therapists can also have a profound impact, albeit gradually, on the system as a whole. From the quality of our work with clients to the empowerment of staff to express themselves and start to think outside the box, to discussions and activities with our families and friends to the transformation of our communities and so forth. Along the way we bring beauty as a companion in the form of music. We seek to create it, to help others to connect with it and through it, and to use it to enact some greater influence on our world around us. We have no choice. We are compelled by a primary revelation from deep within and this inspiration is interconnected - in communion - with all that we know to be our Universe, our true home.

We live in an urgent time of change. Destruction and depletion of our Earth resources, violence in the name of God and religion in the form of genocide, terrorism and ongoing struggles for land and ideas, world hunger (soon thirst) and discrimination. All of these are symptoms of disease, disease of thinking, of belief, of spirit - the shadow side of existence. And we are therapists who use music, this same creative energy of the universe, to help in the healing process of, essentially, itself since we are the Universe, too.

We humans are the best source for alleviating our suffering but, conversely, also capable of creating the bulk of it. The recent focus of Music Therapy and Trauma is a good example of a new way of thinking about how we can aid not only suffering individuals but also a suffering community in a very direct manner. To be sure, bringing therapy to marginalized people who need it in facilities and institutions is, and has been, our primary and noble focus but to bring therapy to our communities and broader institutions may be our work of the future. Know this: our future is here and many therapists alongside thinkers in a variety of fields are already mindful of the emergent consciousness required for this new journey, the journey into the Ecozoic era. We are at the threshold.

"In a way, we could say that the practice of geo-justice is an improvisational practice. It is the work of the cultural artist." -James Conlon. Perhaps a new role for us will be as Cultural Arts Therapists.

As old institutions and ideas fall apart and die, making a way for newer forms to rise, hospice workers will be necessary to ameliorate the suffering and pain, therapists to ease the transition and help us to remain connected and functioning, and artists to nurture our creative impulses, remind us of who we are and challenge the direction of emergent growth. We are the hospice workers, therapists and artists. If the only thing you understand, the only thing you can do is to help another to heal and to make beauty, that's great! The direction is positive, embraces an evolving consciousness and targets compassion as its highest aim. But you can have a deeper understanding. And that is why we are now as a profession sensing a need to give spirituality another look. That is why I created a continuing education course: to help others to continue their education.

The direction of the Universe seems to be to discover your creativity and find ways to express it. To follow this impulse is awfully difficult in our current society; there are many obstacles, distractions, and aspects of our lives that need to be unlearned. To recapture the sparkle of life as viewed from the perspective of a child is not so easy as an adult when most of our creative energies have been suppressed or ignored. But once again, who better to get involved than a Music Therapist? Someday we will explore together a language and an understanding of the New Story of Music Therapy as a spiritual journey at a conference or workshop. I hope to see you there.
"In the future, there is certain to be dire need for leaders and citizens who can cope with the never before experienced challenges and opportunities of the changing local and global contexts. The level of consciousness demanded in this moment of our evolutionary history goes beyond that which we have inherited from any of our ancestors. We are in uncharted territory. In my view, we urgently need new institutional forms for accelerated social learning that can simultaneously expand individual consciousness at the same time they could expand group and societal consciousness." - Carl Rogers in O'Hara, Maureen (2003). Cultivating Consciousness: Carl R. Rogers' Person-Centered Group Process as Transformative Androgogy. Journal of Transformative Education Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 64-79.

There, I wrote God, religion, wisdom, cosmology, ecozoic, spirituality and Music Therapy in the same article. Are we still talking?

*Some of the participants at the Conference on Engaged Cosmology: Thomas Berry: theologian and ecologist who gave the Ecozoic Era its name, James Conlon: sociologist, educator, spiritual activist and founder of the Sophia Center Graduate program, Steve Dunn: founder of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology, John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker: coordinators of the Harvard University Forum on Religion and Ecology, Patricia Mische: founder of Global Education Associates and Professor of Peace Studies Antioch College, Sr. Helen Prejean: author of "Dead Man Walking", social justice and youth activist, Richard Register: Eco-City Builders of "green" architecture, Rosemary Radford Ruether: foremost author and educator of feminist theology, Brian Swimme: cosmologist, educator and author of "The Universe Story", Charlene Spretnak: educator and founder of the Green Party.

Some thoughts on Music Therapy in the Ecozoic Era: A Spirituality Journey

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