I thought for the longest time hardly anyone realized the spiritual impact of rock 'n' roll. I was the Fool on the Hill for writing a book about rock music's spiritual impact. But recently, I read on Blabbermouth.net about a book project called The Spiritual Significance of Music. The Spiritual Significance of Music website offers over 500 free downloadable PDF responses from musicians, authors and healers who answered one question: What do you believe is the spiritual significance of music?
The answers run the gamut from, “Music helps to unlock doors in our hearts that we never knew existed. It brings out emotions in us that have been sometimes locked away for a long time” by Michael Franti of Spearhead, to “Music is a powerful entity that possesses humans temporarily to produce the necessary elements for the spiritual evolution of the collective unconsciousness,” by Bobby Bray, guitarist and vocalist of the cathartic noise band, The Locust.
Lots of authors and musicians I knew contributed including sound healer Jonathan Goldman (I've studied with Jonathan and have taken his "Vowel Sounds as Mantras" home correspondence course), Kurt Leland (classical musician and author of the awesome book Music and the Soul. He also wrote an endorsement for my book I Found All the Parts) and sound therapist Vickie Dodd (I did a sound healing session with her while she was in Boulder and a robin kept slamming itself into the basement window where we were working...weird synchronicity that had deeper meaning for me).
What's cool is the brainchild behind this project, Justin St. Vincent, received numerous replies from Heavy Metal musicians, not just Christian Rock or alternative sound healers. Though metal is not usually my cup of green tea, the genre has a huge listenership. However, metal fans often get a bad wrap and are often thought of as Satan worshipers, or tattooed, multiple body piercing (anywhere goes) deviants. Some metal fans may follow the red pitch-fork wielding dude, but most would probably agree that that's not what the music is all about. On my journey of self-discovery with rock music, I came face to face with my own shadow, the dark, and concluded that heavy metal must fill a spiritual need or help the fans become conscious of what they need to heal in this lifetime, just as any other musical genre does for its listeners (IMHO). It's all about vibration, and what our soul needs to help us awaken to our true spiritual identity.
The music of the rock band I follow isn't "spiritual" at all, but it has a powerful spiritual effect on me nevertheless. Their music beckons me to awaken, to remember I'm a spiritual being having a physical experience and that there is something important, a mission or higher purpose to rock music that can help the masses heal. Well, that's the way I see it right now. But my perspective constantly changes as the deeper levels of how music impacts my consciousness unfold.
What are your thoughts about the spiritual significance of music? Feel free to write a comment and let me know.