The Power of Music

The universality of music is astounding. Songwriters link hundreds of individual tones into a pattern and pair that with pictures crafted from words to both express themselves and to draw an emotional response from their listeners. Sometimes the notes alone convey so much emotion that words are unnecessary.

Music can be joyful and spirited, a celebration of life. It can be sad or angry, a rage against the hurt or injustice we’ve suffered. It can express a political stand to inspire us to action. And it can simply tell a story that speaks to the human condition—no right or wrong; simply what is. 
Consider what role music plays for you. Are you a listener, a musician, a composer? How does music affect you? Is it a means of expressing your spirituality? Do you use it to enhance your mood? Is it background noise? 

“The art of music is divine and effective.  It is the food of the soul and spirit.  Through the power and charm of music the spirit of man is uplifted. . . . Thank God that thou art instructed in music and melody, singing with pleasant voice the glorification and praise of the Eternal, the Living.  I pray God that thou mayest employ this talent in prayer and supplication, in order that the souls may become quickened, the hearts become attracted and all may become inflamed with the fire of the love of God!” 

-Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

“Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been received by thee, as intoned by them who have drawn nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of thy melody may kindle thine own soul, and attract the hearts of all men.” 

-Baha’i Prayers

“And those that chant the verses of the Merciful in most melodious tones will attain thereby unto that with which the kingdoms of earth and heaven can never compare. And they will inhale therefrom the fragrance of My realms which none discerneth in this day save those who have been granted vision by this sublime Beauty.  Say, verily, the verses of the Merciful uplift the stainless hearts unto those realms of spirit which cannot be described in words or expressed in symbols. Blessed are they that hearken!”  

-Bahá’u’lláh

“The highest goal of music is to connect one’s soul to their Divine Nature, not entertainment.”   

-Pythagoras (569-475 BC)

“Music... will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.” 

-Dietrich Bonheoffer

“The musician’s art is among those arts worthy of the highest praise, and it moveth the hearts of all who grieve.  Wherefore, O thou Shahnaz, play and sing out the holy words of God with wondrous tones in the gatherings of the friends, that the listener may be freed from chains of care and sorrow, and his soul may leap for joy and humble itself in prayer to the realm of Glory.”  

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha

“It is the music which assists us to affect the human spirit; it is an important means which helps us to communicate with the soul.” 

-Baha’I Writings

“Sound or vibration is the most powerful force in the universe.  Music is a divine art, to be used not only for pleasure, but as a path to God-realization. Vibrations resulting from devotional singing lead to attunement with the Cosmic Vibration … Words that are saturated with sincerity, conviction, faith, and intuition are like highly explosive vibration bombs that have power to remove the rock of difficulties and to create the change desired.”  

Paramahansa Yogananda, Cosmic Chants

“The power of music to integrate and cure is quite fundamental”, Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist and author of Awakenings wrote.  “It is the profoundest non-chemical medication.” 

Dr. Oliver Sacks,  Musicophilia 

“Get yourself a drum.  When you sing a song and play the drum, you’ll be surprised how your mind, body, and spirit will react.  Everything becomes calm and joyful.  Our bodies love the songs.  The songs allow us to touch the hand of the Creator.  When we sing and touch the Great Spirit’s hand, He gives us power. Songs are another way to pray.  My Grandfather, teach me a song today”. 

 –Ethel Wilson, Cowichan Tribe 

“Chant is a devotional practice, a form of heartfelt prayer.  We call out to God, we honour God, we thank, we beseech, we invoke, we bow, we bless, and we celebrate. . Whether you are an experienced singer or the person who was asked not to sing in the class play, you can share in the wonder of chant. Chanting is not “singing”—it’s about breath, about heart, and about Spirit, and we all come fully equipped to participate. In chanting with groups . . . disparate voices begin to touch each other, their multitude of tones searching for a common vibration.  We breathe together and the silence in between the musical phrases grows quiet and crystalline.  Securely held in the repeating forms of the chant, we become free to let the Spirit of the chant take us where it may. As we give ourselves to the chant, we let go into an ever-changing river of melody and movement, patterns weaving and disappearing, feeling and emptiness, sound and silence.  And if we are so graced, there are moments seemingly out of time when something happens—when the boundaries that separate “me” from “you” disappear.” 

-Robert Gass, Chanting: Discovering Spirit in Sound 

“The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion.  Herein lies the gems of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man.  To know that what is impenetrable for us really exists and manifest itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, whose gross forms alone are intelligible to our poor faculties – this knowledge, this feeling . . . that is the core of the true religious sentiment.  In this sense, and in this sense alone, I rank myself among profoundly religious men.” 

-Albert Einstein

“Through art, mysterious bonds of understanding and of knowledge are established among men. They are the bonds of a great Brotherhood. Those who are of the Brotherhood know each other, and time and space cannot separate them.”  

-Robert Henri

“Let us investigate a song which is above all songs: one which will develop the spirit and produce harmony and exhilaration, unfolding the inner potentialities of life. “ 

-Abdu’l-Bahá  

“Music sets up a certain vibration, which unquestionably results in a physical reaction.  Eventually the proper vibration for every person will be found and utilized.”  

-George Gershwin

“To chant but one verse with joy and gladness is better for you than reading all the Revelations of the Omnipotent God with carelessness.” 

-Baha’I Writings

“. . . singing and music are the spiritual food of the hearts and souls.  In this dispensation, music is one of the arts that is highly approved and is considered to be the cause of exaltation of sad and desponding hearts.” -Bahá’u’lláh

“Chanting can awaken and guide humanity now”. We are “sounding a new world into being.” 

-Chloe Goodchild, The Naked Voice, p. 146 & 257 

“Give the world music that comes directly from the soul.  Soulful music is the music that immediately elevates our consciousness to the Absolute, to the Highest. Soulful music is next to meditation, and it carries the beauty and fragrance of silence, the message of the inner and higher worlds.” 

-Sri Chinmoy, The Source of Music