Phonons

“Phonons are the tiniest particles of sound. Phonons are to sound as photons are to light. It takes billions of phonons to make up a sound. Phonons oscillate, echo, reverberate etc. at the sub atomic level in the quantum soup.” -Pauline Oliveros*

It takes Pauline Oliveros, a musician, to explain a complex subject (phonons) in a simple, straightforward manner. I am not allowing my complete ignorance of physics and phonons to deter me from feeling that the sub-atomic level of sound is where schizophrenia can be healed. Browsing the web has turned up an article from the European Society for Pigment Cell Research, of all places, linking schizophrenia to phonon activity. http://www.espcr.org/espcr/b_iss/Dis-8a.htm

According to our shaman of sound, phonons are a relatively recent discovery and the Big Bang actually lasted, best scientific guess at the moment, 300,000 years. That’s pretty darn close to a hundred thousand times pi. (Martin A. Armstrong take note!)

I don’t plan to wait for the phonon-related blockbuster drug that might emerge in twenty years or so. (A new drug “Fanapt” that works on a “more relevant set of neurotransmitter receptors” as the company describes it, will be on the market in 2010.**) Chris and I are getting to work now in the relaxed offices of shamanic healers and therapists who understand that to be of “sound mind and body” means paying attention to the vibrations of sound and emotions.

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*Pauline Oliveros is a musician who has developed a theory called “sonic” awareness, which is a focused musical and environmental consciousness.
**http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110101846.html?hpid=moreheadlines
***See also http://www.answers.com/topic/phonon