From Jewish tradition, a niggunim is a spiritual prayer through repeated melodies and sounds that act as a way to ground the group and move between worlds. There are four distinct spiritual “worlds” in the Kabbalah: the Atzilut, the world of emanation, the Beriah, the world of creation, Yestzirah, the world of formation and Asiyah, the world of action. Throughout life, the world of action leads our bodies and thoughts. It is the “to-do” list of our understandings. But in times of meditation, it is important to escape this and move to more formative, emotional and creative worlds to find peace in the hectic.
Jack Leopold, the program director for Unifying Meditation in Boulder Colorado and a longtime Wilson Center participant, led the Nov. 22 “Dinner and Dialogue.” The Wilson Center organized “Dinner and Dialogue” sessions are held weekly to serve home-cooked meals to the community and engage civic minded discussions or thoughts. The Wilson Center itself is a multifaith, spiritual non-profit organization on College Ave. Their mission statements are to encourage peace, build interfaith programs, celebrate religion and spirituality and create healthy communication beyond borders of sexual orientation, ethnicity, culture etc.
These weekly dinners have been immensely popular within the community, providing home cooked meals and a safe space. While there are scattered University of Maine students as participants, there are many who are not affiliated with the University but wished to participate in the dialogues. With the Friends and Family Feast being organized at the same time, the turnout at the Wilson Center was particularly intimate.
After being served with butternut squash pasta and ambient lighting, the close-knit community gathered in a circle for the dialogue portion of the event. Led by Leopold and his acoustic guitar, the pointed arches of the Wilson Center echoed back the charming chant of the niggunim.
“We are often very stuck in the world of action and the conscious world, worrying about the past and the future and we rarely allow ourselves to experience our emotional worlds and feel the processes of our emotions,” says Leopold.
These worlds are important to the understanding of the Kabbalah in general, but their power is also understood through the lens of grief. Niggunim as a practice can come in three general types. The deveykut niggunim is traditionally in a slow tempo, performed by individuals to focus on reflection. Dance tunes are more simple with faster paces organized by groups. Finally, the tisch niggunim are slower and complex, used during events such as holiday dinners or at Sabbath. Regardless of the types, the melodies are used for the same purpose; to elevate the soul in a form of devotion or meditation.
“We move ourselves into that body through prayer and meditation and music, singing and dancing,” Leopold says
In order to feel a little deeper, Leopold began the rhythmic chants of the niggunim, lulling the participants of the circle to join in. The repetition and swaying was a sort of trance, clearing the mind and welcoming peaceful somber.
The process of healing grief through meditation is particularly poignant for Leopold at this time. As the world gets more scary and unknown and divides of opinions and beliefs spur violence and hate, the daily grief of the intuitive modern American is harder to process. Living in a state of sorrow without output is painful, so Leopold offers the niggunim as a method to release the harbored negativity and begin the process of greater healing.
