music, a master manifestor
Music can be understood as more than an aesthetic or emotional experience.
It functions as a perceptual medium that engages the body before the mind begins to interpret.
As Maurice Merleau-Ponty suggests, perception is fundamentally embodied and pre-reflective.
This means that sound is not simply something we hear—
it is something we experience through the body,
often before we have words for it.
When listening in this way, music can give rise to spontaneous imagery.
Scenes, moments, or impressions may appear without effort.
These are not necessarily memories.
They often feel unfamiliar, yet recognizable.
This aligns with Gaston Bachelard’s understanding of imagination as a valid mode of knowing,
where images are not random, but meaningful in their own right.
What is particularly interesting is that these images do not always point to the past.
They can carry a sense of something not yet lived.
This reflects Henri Bergson’s idea of lived time as fluid rather than linear—
where past, present, and future coexist within experience.
From this perspective, music can be seen as a catalyst.
It does not simply reflect who we are.
It can reveal emerging versions of the self—
states of being that are not yet fully integrated, but already accessible.
This way of understanding music is also present in the work of Brian Eno,
who describes music as something that shapes environments for thought and perception,
rather than something we passively consume.
Similarly, R. Murray Schafer emphasizes how sound structures our experience of reality,
not just our experience of listening.
Taken together, these perspectives point toward a different way of engaging with music.
Listening can become a form of directed inquiry
that allows us to enter into contact with different parts of ourselves.
The process is not analytical, but perceptual,
giving rise to images that can help us identify hidden dreams and desires
—or the next developmental threshold of our personhood.
In this sense, music does not bind us to who we are right now,
but may open doors and pathways to new and different versions of ourselves.
When paid attention to, these experiences can guide us toward what is not yet fully familiar—
or not yet fully known.
A simple way to work with this
Choose a song—or notice one that appears on its own
Listen without distraction
Let the music take you for a ride
Notice what images, scenes, or versions of yourself appear
Don’t interpret—just take note
Return to the same song again later and see what repeats