The Music Takes Us Back…
“Joy, sorrow, tears, lamentation, laughter — to all these music gives voice, but in such a way that we are transported from the world of unrest to a world of peace, and see reality in a new way, as if we were sitting by a mountain lake and contemplating hills and woods and clouds in the tranquil and fathomless water.” —Albert Schweitzer
Preparing for tomorrow’s Summer Interlude session about pilgrimage, I am reminded of the power of music to carry us back to a transformational experience.
Since returning from the pilgrimage to Inishmore, I have listened to Making Sand by Padraig Jack at least once every day. Introduced to the song by our host, Dr. Kirk Webb, it has become a touchstone for me, taking me back to a cherished experience.
“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”―Kahlil Gibran
As the intensity ramps up in our lives with fall events, a presidential election, and holiday preparations, consider creating your go to “Peace, Love, & Joy” song list now. Sometimes a song that takes us back to a good feeling or a treasured moment can help us rest in the present moment and then move forward with more grace and ease.
May you be blessed by the music that lightens your spirit and sooths your soul.
A Magic Key
“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.”
—Maria von Trapp
The Gift of Music
“Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears – it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more – it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.”
—Oliver Sacks
Song Book
Tiny keyboard bearing the massive reverie of the past—
press one button, we’re carried away
on a country road,
marching with saints,
leaving the Red River Valley…
here is every holiday you hated, every hard time,
each steamy summer wish. You closed your eyes,
leaned your head against the wall,
knowing a bigger world
loomed. It’s still out there, and it’s tucked
in this keyboard too.
Now we are an organ, now an oboe,
now we are young or ancient,
smelling the haunted wallpaper in the house
our grandfather sold with every cabinet,
table and doily included,
but we are still adrift, floating,
thrum-full of longing layers of sound.
—Naomi Shihab Nye, Voices in the Air
