Hawk Henries’ Philosophy

Over time, I’ve developed a deep sense of relationship with, and responsibility to, the flute and its ability to remind us of our Sacredness and our interconnection with everything in Creation. I love to use music to inspire understanding and awareness. I think of musical instruments as important tools that can open doors. They voice certain tones, and combinations of tones, that create vibration which affect us physically. They create a space of openness or, at least, a willingness to be in that moment.

When the flute is created or when I work with the flute, it’s my intention to articulate these ideas. To use the flute is my way of remembering our place as a part of everything else in nature and honoring our common source of Life, while celebrating our individual and cultural differences. To me, the greatest gift of the flute is its power as a tool for prayer and the healing that comes from remembering.

The flute’s body and voice remind us of the interrelatedness, interdependence, and sacredness of all people and all of Creation. Flutes have a long history of articulating certain ideas for which words might not be adequate. Their bodies and voices are a profound manifestation of the life-giving power of the relationship between masculine and feminine energies – earth and sky, water and fire, humans and nature. When I’m looking at nature – trees, insects, birds, stones, all the other things we live with – they seem to be engaged in the activity that they’re intended to be engaged in. There’s a relationship that exists between those things, and what we could consider to be a respect for that relationship. Each tree in the forest is unique and uniquely important to the well-being of the forest as a whole, yet also shares profound commonalities with all other trees.

I feel that it’s important for people to look beyond the exteriors of what we look like and what we do, and try to recognize the divinity that lives within every person. When the flute is created or when I use the flute, it’s my intention to try to articulate these ideas through the sound and vibration, and physical building of the flute. The flute can help us to remember the Sacredness within each of us and the relationships that exist between us and all of Creation. Like everything in Creation, music and sound vibrates, and vibrations emit energy. Through vibration, this thing we call spirit, energy, goddess, god, whatever it is – this Great Mystery – moves through objects, tools, and things. To use the flute is my way of remembering our place as a part of everything else in nature and honoring our common source of life while celebrating our individual and cultural differences. To me, the greatest gift of the flute is its power as a tool for prayer and the healing that comes from remembering.

Common humanity, when I think of it, doesn’t mean that we’re all the same. Instead, it speaks to our origins, the source or place, before our manifestation in this bodily form. I think that we all come from the same source. Our culture can limit how it is that we see ourselves, even when we’re physically out of its usual context. Whether it’s conscious or unconscious, it’s a safe place because it’s what we’re familiar with – we think we know it, so we’re comfortable with it. We might be physically in another space or place, but we carry that box with us. Common humanity allows us to see outside of that box. When people engage together in creative energy and creative activities, they can transcend or move beyond the definitions – the boxes – that we call culture.

Sometimes we exclude others’ way of seeing or doing or believing because we don’t avail ourselves of their way of being in the world, feeling that our own traditions or beliefs are better than others’ ways. We create chasms in our relationships with each other, which can perpetuate a hurting cycle. It’s my experience that a respectful exchange of music and musical traditions allows us to communicate with each other about our own ways of life, in ways more powerful than what we can share with words.

Music can be a way to dialogue among and between Native and non-Native peoples. In my experience, these kinds of dialogues are critical to the preservation of Native traditions and to improving the world for future generations, through raising awareness and mutual understanding.

“Every breath, word, action, thought is sacred. Washing dishes, going for a walk, cleaning the car; it’s all a part of the same whole.” ~ Hawk