Is your spiritual life all that it could be? Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion”
Have you or one of your friends been diagnosed with AIDS? Springsteen’s “Philadelphia”
Have you lost a parent? McCartney’s “Let It Be”
Do you have financial problems? AC/DC’s “Down Payment Blues”
Do you feel an oppressive sense of loneliness? Schubert’s “Winterreise”
Every one of us must confront painful setbacks, difficulties and mistakes, invariably with serious consequences. For each such life-changing event, #music offers profound balm. Listen to each verse.
Recognize that your reactions and individual suffering have been experienced countless times by your neighbors, friends, family… and much of the planet. Listen to each verse.
Seek out those people who have lived through similar experiences. When you have a broken leg, those around you will be sympathetic, they’ll offer to help, they’ll give support, but then they’ll leave without broken legs of their own, unable to truly understand. Music speaks to widespread human circumstances from a position of innate comprehension. Listen to each verse.
Music provides lasting rewards, and has done so for countless years. The risk is to remain closed, to be unresponsive to common experience and ready fellowship, to allow yourself to become frozen when life forces its inevitable snowstorms. Open yourself. Become receptive. While there are often no easy answers, comfort abounds through shared encounters in the company of those who have had to confront the very issues you’re dealing with. Your MP3 player contains abundant solace and wisdom upon a single touch. Listen to each verse.
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