A good friend of mine had a t-shirt that read, “Music is a force of nature.” I think about this beautiful metaphor every time I listen to an uplifting song, a passionate melody, or an emotional piece of music. If I was ever a pure rationalist, my life and views have been drastically altered by the power of music. To create music, to share and inspire with it – such is a gift of humankind whose full and mysterious nature penetrates beyond the physical world into the realm of the spiritual.
Seriously. To think that a song sung from one’s soul and heart could come to epitomize another’s message or purpose in life. But I hear it in Bob Marley’s voice – life is worth much more than gold. And one of my deepest desires in life is to be surrounded by those who recognize this, and who are not afraid to part with the purely rational, mechanical, robotic, sensible half of the world every now and then and dance around a bonfire and sing their hearts out in tribute to the vast, the unknown, the holiness of the Infinite. In this sense, music has been empowering for me, even a defining force in my life. Because to listen to such a song, and feel in my gut, “this song is about me, my place in the world, and my role in humanity” really is an experience not to be taken lightly. If you stick to your rationalist notions and find this silly, we will always be strangers at heart. But understand this, and you will not find understanding me much harder.
To think that jamming was a thing of the past!
