Magazine Feature
I was featured in The Relatable Voice magazine. Below is the write-up, and I’ll include links at the bottom.
Title: “Let’s Vibe, Together”
Publication Date: July, 2024 - Issue #23
Read Time: 3 mins
….
It all begins with the vibe. At least for me.
We feel vibes, sense vibes, catch vibes, and give off vibes. We vibe with each other, and we vibe on that bar, restaurant, or cafe. Some things are vibey while others are vibing. We vibed last week but couldn’t find our vibe last night. We caught a good vibe at the gym, a bad vibe at work, and a chill vibe at the beach.
I vibe, you vibe, we all vibe. But what does it all mean?
My fascination with vibes started in my late teens while participating in various subcultures and countercultures. Raves, concerts, jam bands, roving carnival-like music festivals, wild after-hours clubs, and ecstatic underground house parties.
“The vibe on the dance floor is lit!”
“The band really vibed last night!”
“The crowd is vibing to this song!”
Everyone talked about vibes. But no one was explaining or defining it. And that’s when it hit me. What, exactly, is this thing we call the vibe?
This began my journey as “intellectual vibe guy.” I was in my late teens with sweaty rainbow-colored braids and a ruffian neo-hippie look. I was probably standing on some dark, crowded, ear-piercing dance floor or roaming some dusty concert parking lot filled with balloons and hula hoopers. “I’m gonna figure this out,” I thought. I am still on that journey thirty years later.
I wrote my first paper on the vibe in a college class on nonverbal communication. I then went on to use my master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation to create my own philosophy of the vibe referred to as bodily emanation.
The body emanates or radiates a tangible energy that is experienced and felt by other bodies. This bodily emanation (aka, vibes) can be detected on multiple levels. One on one conversation, small and large group settings, city and town vibes, regional and cultural vibes, etc. It can even be detected on a global level. The body emanates a vibe, and there are bodies all across the planet. Therefore, there must be a global vibe.
In simpler terms, the vibe is the exchange of energy between you and the world. A mind blowing first date, the comfortable silence of best friends, family dynamics, a work environment, a sporting event, a musical concert, sitting at the beach, and hiking through the forest. There’s always a vibe.
But for me, vibes are not about abstract navel gazing. Instead, vibes are about envisioning a different society and a different humanity. “Um, how so?” you might be wondering.
The world would be a different place if each person embodied their own true, authentic vibe. Yes, vibes can lie and manipulate. Liars, con-artists, cult leaders, and overzealous salespeople attest to that. But those aren’t true, authentic vibes. They’re lies.
So the question becomes, Who are you, truly? Remove the fear, worry, hurt, insecurity, and socially conditioned expectations and ask yourself, Who would I be if I embodied my true, authentic self? Who would I be if I removed the voices? Who would I be if no one was judging?
This type of authenticity evokes a vibe that is infectious and contagious. Beauty is not just within, but also radiates outwardly, inviting others to do the same. “Be the change you want to see,” Gandhi said. Let’s tweak that to, “Be the change, feel the change.”
Now envision eight billion people feeling their own change, emanating their own vibes of inner authenticity. The world would become an improvisational jazz ensemble without capture or fixation. A different rhythm of life would emerge and we would dance toward a different future.
I am not as idealistic as I was thirty years ago. But I am still fascinated by vibes and still believe in a better humanity.
Let’s vibe, together.