One of my favorite books I’ve ever read is “The Songlines.” In it, author Bruce Chatwin chronicles his visit to the interior of Australia, tagging along with some blokes who were planning to build a transcontinental railroad. Since the tracks would cross through Aboriginal territory, they had to make sure that none of the proposed routes interfered with the songlines of the natives.
And that’s the cool part of the book – the songlines. Also known as dreaming tracks, they are seemingly invisible paths that cross the land and sometimes the sky. They are recorded in song, stories, dance and paintings. Some aboriginals believe that the world is sung into existence and if the songline isn’t sung correctly, nothing will exist just beyond the horizon.
The songlines themselves have been passed on by their ancestors. They serve as a map for a journey across the land. But they can also be, on a larger scale, a map for a journey through life.
And that is why I love the idea of songlines. I like to think that all of us have a songline to follow in our own life. We already know what they are deep down. They are that inner voice that guide us to our ultimate destination and literally scream at us when we won’t listen.
Like the aborigines, we all have landmarks that guide us along the way. They can be the strangers who become our lifelong friends, the opportunities that present themselves, seemingly out of nowhere, and the events – good and bad – that shape the direction our life goes.
Each event, each occurrence, becomes the notes on a sheet of music – they become the melody of our lives, the high notes and low notes of a symphony of experiences that is uniquely ours.
If you think about it, music is a universal language. It exists in all cultures. We are connected to music in an almost magical way. It flows through us and all around us, as if heaven sent.
As such, the idea of songlines shouldn’t be so farfetched. We all have songs that take us to a particular time or place, or helps us remember a special moment in our life, such as when we walked down the aisle for the first, second or third time or welcomed our child into this world.
Because everyone comes across different signposts along the way, each song is different. It is written only for us. And if we let it, it will take us where we need to go, just like the songlines of the aborigines who can cross an entire continent by simply singing the way into existence.
Now, we could argue who actually writes it, whether we’re on our own or whether or not we have a divine collaborator. I happen to go with the latter idea, since I know that some of the melodic passages in my own songline couldn’t have possibly been written by me alone. I could have never fashioned such amazing rhyme and verse without help.
I love the concept and it’s how I visualize my own life. What lies over the horizon – my future – remains unwritten, yet I am laying down the basic tracks as I go every moment of every day. But the song isn’t done… it is always a work in progress.
That is the beauty of the songline. We reach each signpost along the way, not knowing its significance. It could send the melody of our life in a whole new direction, one that leads to other markers along the way, some significant, others inconsequential. Often we don’t even understand their importance when we’re right upon them. But as we move on in our life’s song, we begin to put them into context and give them meaning.
One of the most magical things about songlines is when two or more of them intersect. Think of a good friend or a love in your life. When the two are complementary, you can get such beautiful harmony. In music, combining three voices together can actually create a fourth voice, if the harmony is done correctly. The same can be true of songlines, I think. When they are complementary, harmony results and the music is simply divine.
As with anything, however, an opposite effect can happen. This is known as dissonance. It’s when the notes combine to create unrelieved tension and require resolution. It can cause you to feel unsettled or uneasy, such as when you’re in a bad relationship.
Such is the way with songlines. Depending upon who we meet along the way, we can create incredible harmonies or get caught up in unpleasant dissonance that seems as if it will have no end.
When this happens, we have two choices. We can recognize that we are creating dissonance instead of a sweet harmony and move on. Or we can force ourselves to sing the parts someone else has written for us in their own song, even though it isn’t ours and never can be. This never works in the long term . You have to sing your own song, following your own songline. The goal is harmony in life, not dissonance.
The notes have to fit together, not only in their melody, but in their volume as well. They have to blend. One part can’t cover up another. If it does, you end up with chaos and disorder.
So, the question for today class is: Are you still following your own songline, or are you singing someone else’s tune, one that will inevitably make you very unhappy in your life as your own song remains incomplete.
Out on the Treasure Coast, humming a happy tune that is all my own,
– Robb