The Numinous Ear: Autistic Listening and Aural Diversity as a Gateway to the Divine and Sublime

Xsara Helmi
5 days ago
1 min read

I recently presented at the transdisciplinary conference Sacred Arts 2025: Exploring the Spiritual Dimensions of Artistic Expression and Ritual, hosted by the London Arts-Based Research Centre at the University of Oxford, as part of the Sacred Soundscapes section.

My paper, The Numinous Ear: Autistic Listening and Aural Diversity as a Gateway to the Divine and Sublime, explored neurodivergent auditory perception as a site of relational and numinous consciousness.

Drawing on Rudolf Otto’s mysterium tremendum et fascinans and Carl Jung’s notion of the numinous, the presentation reveals how autistic listening – marked by heightened sensitivity to sonic textures and intricate patterns, disrupts conventional auditory paradigms, uncovering sound’s deeply affective and transcendent qualities. These paradoxical sensory experiences suggest a dynamic, co-creative interplay between sound and consciousness.

Grounded in philosophical frameworks from Merleau-Ponty, Ihde, Nancy, Chalmers, Goff, and Whitehead, my research considers whether sound operates merely as a stimulus or as an ontological force shaping lived experience. Through practice-led methods, integrating music composition, poetic inquiry, and documentary film, I aim to reframe aural diversity as a rich epistemological resource, rather than a deficit.

This presentation is also mentioned on:

Comments