A deep meditative drone on the Divine Name Alef Dalet Nun Yod

This musical construction is designed to assist you in meditating on the Divine Name A/D/N/Y (Alef Dalet Nun Yod -usually referred to as the The Name Adnut) This name also serves as the pronounceable substitute for The Name Havaya (Y/H/V/H) which is never spoken aloud in traditional Jewish Practice.

As in the meditation on The Name Havaya, I began with the tonal alphabet, and found a three note unit to correspond to each of the four letters. These notes form a sequence of twelve tones in an ascending pattern. I played them on a nylon string guitar. In addition to this pattern, I chose two other sound forms to go along with "tonal letters" which I felt more or less harmonized with them. The first is a "Sawing" or "Grinding" base sound, which rises through four levels. The second is a whirling flute sound that also rises through four levels. As in the previous meditation on Havaya, I intended for the string notes to stand for the harmonizing center structure of the Divine Name which unifies diverse aspects of experience in ways understandable on some level to the human mind. The Name Adnut is very much present in the processes and dynamics of this world, expressing the Divine attributes of Judgment and delineation and well as power and redemption. The musical progressions in this construction came out with a significantly different kind of feeling to them; darker, more mysterious grounded in nature yet rising to liberation. (This construction is quite a bit longer than the Meditation on Havaya, which leads me to think that I need to return eventually to The Name Havaya and expand that construction, since in principle mediations on Havaya and Adnut should be the same length)

I meant for the sawing and grinding sounds to represent the aspect of the Divine process which cuts out and proportions life and existence for every being as well as that process which cuts through the layers of illusion to release the sparks of holiness that exist in this world. This is not always a pretty sound. The flute sound is meant to symbolize the joy of nature, flight, liberation and inclusion in the divine light. These notes are played on a very simple bamboo flute. Once again the string tones are the underlying unifying structure of these processes.

To use this construction for meditation, you should familiarize yourself with the four letters Alef Dalet Nun Yod. At the outset of the construction you will hear the four grinding sounds. For each phase imagine or contemplate one letter of the name; similarly when you hear the four flute sounds let you attention play over the four letters again. Lastly when you hear the twelve tones, you should bear in mind that each short sequence of three tones corresponds to one of the four letters and you should again let your attention play over the four letters in their proper order.

As the construction progresses, each one of the sound forms will be played over and against itself in a permutation pattern. You should still try to keep your attention on the letters, one by one, in keeping with the tone unit that is presented foremost at that moment. However, hopefully, you will also develop a sense of the letters interpenetrating each other. The same kind of permutation patterns will be heard for the flute sounds and for the sawing sounds.

After the three basic sounds are permutated, new patterns will emerge where all three of the sound textures (Sawing, flute and Strings) will blend with each other. At this stage the point is no longer to visualize the letters precisely, but to let them flow and to realize how all aspects, processes and dynamics are actually one reality flowing from the unity of Hashem.

Towards the end of the construction, a new theme will be presented, that of the "Pele Elyon" or the "Sublime Wonder" This is one of the meanings of the letter Aleph at the beginning of The Name Adnut. Deep within the divine processes is a wonderful transforming moment that cannot be grasped logically. In that moment of wonder but the lowest of the low can become one with the highest of the high. This is (of course) related to the theme of repentance and to the personality of King David of whom scripture states: "The stone which the builders despised has become the capstone!"

The "Pele Elyon" theme is introduced by four chords played on the guitar in ten strokes. These chords came to mind spontaneously, and are not related to the tonal alphabet. But they do reflect, I think, overall redemptive character and feeling which emerged from the music. Along with these chords, I set down a new base theme and a new flute theme, which come together with each other and combine in various ways until the end of the construction.

As you hear the interpenetrating sounds of the Pele Elyon theme you should sense yourself rising from the very depths to the greatest heights through the wonder of Divine grace which sweetens all judgments, releases all fallen beings, and calls everything back to essential reality.

May you be enriched! Happy listening!

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