In an interview with The Indigo Girls: Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, Saliers spoke at one point about the power of music to take us beyond ourselves into an experience that she could only describe as “God.” As soon as she said it, I knew what she was talking about. She went on to identify Black Gospel music as the kind that jolted her own life awake at some point and the kind of music that so often took her to that transcendent place.
What music–of any source–takes you to that beyond-yourself-place? I am easy to imagine that if you love any music at all, you immediately know of some pieces, some artists, some styles that take you there–to that place that is bigger than you, that fills you, that reminds of terribly important things that you only see clearly when music takes you there.
This kind of music–whatever it is for you–is sacred. It mediates an experience that drops down deep into the interior places of yourself called soul, and it draws you up and out into a universe that is more than yourself.
There’s really not much else to say here. Go find some of that music–a disc, a radio station, an online music source–and feed your soul. Let it take you to those sacred places that heal your heart and mind, that run through your whole body, that call you to dance, sing and laugh out loud. And when you do, let it be a sacred offering for the good of a world that sorely needs this kind of music. Sacred music.
Bob Patrick