I am a musician and love to use musical analogies to bring out spiritual points.
Today, I was thinking about how each of us is a great musical melody being discovered.
Some great composers of music, such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach have been quoted as saying that they “heard the music.” They did not create the melodies they wrote down. They heard them in mind and then did their best to jot down in notation what flowed through their consciousness. The better they listened, the more beautiful and complete the final musical piece was to share with the world.
I find it fascinating to realize that the music they wrote down had been complete in Mind long before they heard a single note. They heard what divine Mind had been playing for ad infinitum.
Christian Science explains that each of us is a complete whole individual offspring of the divine Mind. The human senses barely glimpse the profound, intricate and fabulously beautiful individuality each of us possess as children of God, but nonetheless, as every musical melody exists in Mind, our complete self exists in Mind too, whether we’ve fully realized it yet or not.
When I learn a new piece of piano music and hit a sour note, I stop. I look at the music closer to see where I erred in interpretation. I fix my mistake, and play the piece correctly. With enough practice, I eventually play the piece beautifully as it was originally heard by the composer.
I find the same rule applies to daily living.
If I ever hit a “wrong note,” (for instance, say the wrong thing, err, misjudge, feel ill, etc.) it’s a sign that I need to go back to the “musical score” and see where I misinterpreted.
The musical score for me is the moral and spiritual guidelines for living and thinking found in the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. What Jesus Christ and Mary Baker Eddy heard in Mind, and shared with others, tells me about my true self. And what I read in those books, is, that I am a healthy well whole complete child of God!
My true selfhood is a melody of Mind flowing through spiritually inspired consciousness, and unerringly so.
My daily prayer is to discover more of this “melody of Mind,” that composes my individuality as a reflection of Soul.
You are a melody of Mind too, a beautiful piece of music filled with harmony and richness, without a single mistake or error in the composition.
Enjoy the music!
Thanks for this happy insight and uplift, Evan. It reminds me of a lecture I attended years ago entitled “You Are God’s Song.”
I can’t think of anything more beautiful than to think of myself and others as a beautiful melody. This is a nice “note” to retire on. Thank you for the wonderful thought.
Ooohh–that’s cool.
Here are a couple quotes from a book called “The Music Lesson” that feel like they might go along with your analogy. Maybe…
“You should never lose the groove in order to find a note”
“An instrument offers different forms of expression and allows others to hear how musical you are, but you don’t have to play a note to be musical. I know that Music is not found in my bass guitar. It cannot be found in any instrument. … An instrument laid on the ground makes no sound. It is the musician who must bring music forth, or not.”
This is true. The music I play on my accordion comes from Soul and people can tell it.
thanks, Evan.
As a composer, I learned early in life that the music doesn’t come from a person. The music really is in Mind waiting to be discovered and when we really listen we hear that music and then do our best to use the tools we’ve acquired in the study of music to accurately and fully notate what we experience. Sometimes it takes lots of rewriting to get there, but the ideas are never lost.
I feel closest to God when I hear Her music – I feel the love, the joy, the beauty and it brings tears to my eyes. Although, I’m finding that same closeness and love when I have a healing, or pray for others, which is kind of cool.
Lots of songwriters that I have worked with figured out that the music doesn’t come from them-and when they are blessed with that perfect musical idea, they call it a beautiful moment and then others get to experience that same beautiful moment when they hear the song.
It’s neat to think of ourselves as those beautiful moments of God – as Mind’s melody.
Thanks, Evan!
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I like all these ideas! Thanks for sharing…
What a beautiful orchastra we are!
Thank you so much. Beautiful music brings tears to my eyes, too.
As a decorator I find this same beauty in color combinations and how they work together and play off one another, too.
Maggie