The Romance of Sounds & Senses, by Ken Feit
The Romance of Sounds & Senses
Henri Bergson once observed that the measure of success of language in understanding matter is the measure of its failure in expressing the nature of life or of penetrating into dynamic reality. Language, he said, since it is the creature of intellect, is bound by the demand for clarity, simplicity, economy. But life and creative evolution cannot be approached through the channels of clarity and distinctiveness. And herein lies the superiority of instinct....... Bergson seems to be telling us that there must be a hazy distance between sounds and meanings which respects the sounds. Our minds want to arrange and abstract sounds into ideas while our instincts are submissive to the sounds themselves; they watch and listen to them quietly as they approach us or form within us like cats by the fireplace. There is self-surrender to such sounds and our intuition receives them, feels them and shares them with others. This is the secret of man’s creative impulse, the unformed hint that trickles a pen or a paintbrush.
Kenneth P. Feit, SJ
1st printing: Spring, 1969 2nd printing: Summer, 1969 3rd printing: Summer, 1970 4th printing: Summer, 1971