Sleeping at Last: Understanding Our Humanity

There are few artists that can match the lyrical or compositional virtuosity of Ryan O’Neal, who makes music under the moniker Sleeping at Last. O’Neal has an elegantly organized series of themed EPs sharing the name Atlas, each containing songs that explore the nature of our universe. His second installment of the series (being slowly released track by track), Atlas: Year Two, focuses its attention on the origins of humanity, and the innate qualities that unite humans. O’Neal divides the EP into the categories: Life, Senses, Emotions, Intelligence, and Enneagram. He examines these deeply psychological elements through poetic verses inlaid with expressive strings sections and piano. What is attempted here is a psychoanalysis of Ryan O’Neal’s musical psychoanalysis.

I will focus on the Enneagram song set. It refers to the Enneagram of Personality: a psychological tool that defines nine different personality types. O’Neal praises it as a wonderful tool for teaching empathy, and for deepening understandings of others and ourselves. It is not just another superficial generalization of personalities based off of a 5-question quiz, however. In one of the Sleeping At Last Podcasts, it’s explained that each type is characterized by people’s subconcious “coping mechanisms for dealing with childhood wounds.” This is a quite Freudian idea that persists in modern social and cognitive psychology. Early experiences and pains are internalized, and can later influence character on a subconscious level. This affects how we deal with stress, how we relate with others, and how we perceive ourselves and the world.

Each song on Enneagram honors each type. O’Neal takes serious care to represent the types and appreciate their specific qualities. He writes from the perspectives of these types, not simply to dissect their subconscious minds as Sigmund Freud might, but to compassionately feel as they feel.

“Spend my whole life searching desperately, to find out grace requires nothing of me.” This lyric is from the song “One,” and speaks of the general Type One belief of not being, never being, enough. They are known for perfectionism. Before O’Neal mentions this grace, he sings “the list goes on forever of all the ways I could be better in my mind, as if I could earn God’s favor given time.” Through a very refined “theory of mind,” a psychology term referring to the ability to understand the emotional and mental states of others, O’Neal voices their subconscious fears. “As if I could earn God’s favor” speaks to the tendency of Type Ones to believe they are inherently bad, and unforgivable. He extends an offering of unconditional acceptance despite their insecurity.

In “Five,” O’Neal psychoanalyzes a more intellectual personality type. These individuals are discoverers, and sharers of discovery. They want to understand everything, making them passionate knowledge seekers. But these desires actually stem from a subconscious fear of not knowing. The Enneagram (and certainly Freud) might attribute this to an early experience of feeling academically inadequate or unintelligent. Their defense is trying to know everything, so they will not fall short again. O’Neal approaches this with sensitivity. He writes “and now I can't put my mind to rest, and I can't help but second guess.” He empathizes with their intense subconscious need for answers.

A final thought is on the cleverness of O’Neal’s incorporation of non-instrumental sound effects (laughter, crumpling paper) in Atlas: Year Two. This is reminiscent of the Golden Record. NASA created the record as a compact representation of Earth and its inhabitants, then launched it into space aboard the Voyager spacecraft. Among other things, it contained sounds of heartbeats, of chirping birds, and familiar earthly sounds. This intertextual-like reference pays homage to the record, which has inspired many artists (for example conceptual artist Dario Robleto). This intertextuality also shows how ordinary sounds can convey human meaning.

Sleeping at Last creator Ryan O’Neal more than describes the psychology behind the Enneagram personality types. He respects their uniqueness, and respects the beauty of the individuals in them. He has also articulated these things for us, the audience, so we might know and love others and ourselves better.