The Intuitives(38)

“The test that you took was designed to identify the young people of your generation who have the strongest ability to do this—to become aware of the thoughts of the unconscious mind. I believe that by studying what you can do, by learning how you do it and by helping you to fulfill your potential, we will eventually be able to teach others to do it as well. The unconscious mind is perhaps the greatest untapped resource of the entire human race, Daniel. To learn to communicate with it is to unlock the genius that exists within us all.”

Daniel couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed. Him? A genius? He was good at music, sure, but he wasn’t Beethoven, for heaven’s sake. He wasn’t Mozart. But Ammu wasn’t done speaking, so Daniel kept his thoughts, and his doubts, to himself. As though sensing Daniel’s discomfort, Ammu smiled encouragingly.

“Do not worry,” he said. “I am not asking you to write me a symphony!” He laughed out loud as though they had just shared a private joke. “No, no. I understand that you are still in the nascence of your ability. You all are. My task is to help you see what you can do. To help you understand what you can do, and to build upon it. OK?”

“Uh… sure,” Daniel agreed, shrugging a little.

“Ha! I see your skepticism! But it will not matter. I ask only that you be honest with me, that you answer my questions to the best of your ability, as thoroughly as you know how, and that you attempt any exercises I give you with the intention of accomplishing the task, even if you are not certain that you will be successful. Is that a fair request?”

“Sure,” Daniel said again, nodding his head slightly.

“Wonderful!” Ammu beamed at him in obvious delight, which Daniel couldn’t help but smile about since they hadn’t even done anything yet.

“So, Daniel, there are certain things we already know, from modern science, that the unconscious mind is especially interested in. If you are consciously trying to solve a problem, your unconscious mind will work on it as well. If you are not trying to accomplish anything in particular, then your unconscious mind is still at work, nonetheless, always scanning your surroundings for things it considers important.

“For example, it is always looking for danger. If you walk along a path in the woods, and you see a stick that looks like a snake, you might jump backward a bit before you realize that it is only a stick. Your unconscious mind identified the threat and responded to it before your conscious awareness could react, to tell you that the stick was nothing to worry about. Do you see?”

Daniel nodded.

“The unconscious mind also watches the people around us, for signs of trouble or stress, for example, or for a smile from a pretty girl, hmm?”

At this, Daniel blushed.

“The unconscious mind watches for danger, and it watches for opportunity, and it tries to get our attention if it identifies either one. It is instinctively interested in the facial expressions and body language of the people around us. Do you have any questions so far?”

“I don’t think so. Not really,” Daniel said.

Ammu nodded enthusiastically. “So, then! Daniel, we are looking for ways in which the music you connect to may, in turn, be transmitting these signals from your unconscious mind to your conscious awareness. Have you ever, for example, heard frightening music that warned you of a danger you had not yet seen?”

Daniel thought for a while, but he couldn’t remember anything like that ever happening to him.

“No,” he said, sounding a little disappointed. “No, I don’t think so.”

“That is fine,” Ammu said, his tone reassuring. “We are only just beginning, yes? Perhaps you have not been surrounded by much danger in your life. That is a good thing! Or perhaps your unconscious mind has been more interested in something else. Do you find that music ever tells you things about what people are thinking or feeling?”

“I don’t know about telling me things, but I do imagine songs when I look at people a lot. Like if they’re mad I might think about a song that sounds angry.” He thought about Jared and Alyssa back home and grinned a little. “Or if I know my friend likes a girl, and I see him looking at her, I might imagine him, you know, kind of singing about her in his head.”

He thought about Rush and Sketch hearing him singing and winced a little, but no matter how honest Ammu had asked him to be, he wasn’t going to talk about that.

“Good, good!” Ammu said. “And do specific people tend to inspire the same kind of music every day? Or is it always different?”

“Both, I guess? Like, my mom always sounds kind of like her yoga music. You know, chimes and flutes and stuff. But my friends tend to change more—happy or sad or angry or whatever.”

“Excellent, Daniel! This is truly excellent! Can you play for me what your mother sounds like, do you think?” Ammu waved a hand toward the guitar, but Daniel hesitated.

“Not really. It isn’t that I don’t want to. It’s just… the guitar is the wrong instrument for my mom. That’s funny, you know, ’cause I never thought about it before. I really like guitars, but that isn’t what I usually hear around her. I can’t imitate a flute with a guitar. I mean, I could play the notes, sure, but it wouldn’t be the same at all.”

“I see,” Ammu said, nodding sagely. “So who sounds more like a guitar to you?”