The Secret Power of Music (Video)

 "All music, based upon melody & rhythm,
 is the earthly representative of heavenly music"
 Plotinus (AD 205 - 269)

One evening in London I attended a concert of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Seating myself, I exchanged some words with my companion, and took pleasure in glancing around at the marvelous Royal Festival Hall as it began to fill up. It was only as the players came out and took their bow, and as they tuned up, that I dimly began to feel it. Something very different and unique was lurking about. It could not be seen or heard, but I could feel its presence, and it seemed to be approaching!

And then, as the players prepared to begin and as the audience hushed, this unknown something saturated the air with a crackling pregnant potential of which none other seemed to be aware.

Then, literally from the first note , the timeless moment was upon me. Yet I was already far beyond the ability to reflect consciously upon it, for the experience was totally engulfing and all-encompassing. It left no scope whatever for any other mental activity other than to be the perceptions to which my mind now seemed to have been opened.

My body seemed to come alive with light; my heart was a fire which flared forth to consume the dross of my soul. My perceptions were opened as though they had always before been firmly closed. Never had I heard music in that way! What previously I had often listened to as abstract sounds were now Sound -- a tangible, living filigree lattice-work of mathematical precision which I could almost reach out and touch, and which I could virtually see as it flowed form the leading violin. Every note hung suspended in the air, timeless and immaculate beyond all powers of verbal description. My body froze into a coma-like rigidity as I hung my consciousness upon each next chord. For several long minutes I lost all awareness of myself. The sheer beauty of it all was quite indescribable. From the first bar, silent tears ran from my staring unblinking eyes.

The Fifth Brandenburg Concerto had opened the evening, and just as the sublime vision seemed about to wane, there began the concerto's unique harpsichord solo. Again I was whisked quite beyond myself, and saw the music in a way never perceived before. The long, fugal arpeggios trilled through the air like visible, emanating waves of divine essence, one behind the other, filling all the hall and passing beyond its walls into the city. I cannot say that I saw the music-waves, for the process did not involve my eyes; yet nevertheless I somehow did see them. I saw the music!




As the other instruments came in once more with indescribable loveliness, this impression of emanating waves of a tangible goodness became reinforced still further. It felt as though the music possessed a definite and very real energy , and that this was radiating out beyond the hall in all directions. My consciousness seemed to encompass the entire city. For a few moments I felt as though I were looking down from a viewpoint which revealed to me the entire urban spread; and not only the visible, physical city, but also the underlying, causative forces which shaped and moulded it. The understanding came that this music, as it radiated forth, was somehow acting as a sustaining, invigorating force for the whole surrounding area.

As the awareness of my body returned, sitting in its seat in the Royal Festival Hall, the impression was left with me that the concert was in some way a glowing light amid a great, chaotic sea of darkness. The darkness threatened to encroach upon the flame and extinguish it forever. I shall never forget this sensation: one not of fear, but of the deepest, gravest concern; of the vast importance of the music which I was hearing, of the deepest gratitude for the opportunity of experiencing it, and that it should at all costs be preserved for the humanity of the future.

Mystical experiences have been a subject of debate for centuries among philosophers. Up to the present day no general consensus of opinion has been arrived at as to the reality of such experiences. Are they less real, equally real, or more real than our usual experience of everyday life? Each must judge for himself. But it is interesting that visionary and mystical experiences are known to have provided the initial inspiration behind many of the world's greatest inventions and scientific breakthroughs; even those of such giants of the mind as Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla."

Seeing I'm now in a space of musical energy I'll be posting an ecclectic mix of music to listen to. Here's one to start off with. I enjoy the music of Robbie Williams and will place some more on here as time allows with a short bio along with others. Enjoy.