AngelSong --Foreword

ANGEL SONG |

Foreword

When I was still in college I got a job as choir director of a small Methodist church. 

One Sunday the choir was underrehearsed; the chance of success with the number we were supposed to perform was quite slim—it might go well, it might fall apart.  I knew that I needed to create some kind of inspirational moment, to coax the right energy and concentration out of the singers (to make them sing better than themselves), so I decided to play a game on them. I asked for a prayer from the congregation. I didn't believe any of that religion crap, but I figured they did, and it might make them sing better to put religion in the music. I don't remember any of the prayer except the words, "Let them sing with the voices of angels." When I got up to conduct I was dumbfounded to hear them sing the opening chords with angel voices. They sounded just like I might have imagined angels to sound: sweet, pure, selfless, perfect. This experience changed my life. I ultimately became a professing Christian and, at the point where this book begins, I went further than that

This book is written for many reasons: its main value is as a testament of a skeptical man who, through music, came to understand the power of spirit consciousness. Also I cannot deny that it fulfills a need in me to tell my story, which, to me, seems not typical; I think I have some insights which deserve to be written in one place for the benefit of those who will read. It's too bad that no one can prove spirituality in the laboratory; the proof must always in the consciousness of each individual. Still, when a person tells his story, people respond to, and internally duplicate the experience, especially when tangible effects are visible

This book tells about my encounter with the supernatural, the Satanic, and the experiences which led to my knowledge of the Godwithin. It tells about demons, and spirit guides, and angels; about Karma, chakras, and Christconsciousness. But mainly it tells about music, about how God revealed Himself to me through music, and how I have begun to learn how to teach other people to discover God through music

I am not a fundamentalist Christian, a medium, or a wierdo. My psychic experiences have left me with a few unusual abilities, but they nothing compared to the talents of many others I have known. I am not especially saintly nor even that highly evolved—I am merely a musician who stumbled onto a certain kind of knowledge and became a man of God. Although my main purpose in life now is to find God and lead others to God, I have nevertheless stayed a musician and have written this book so that other people might see how it is possible to approach God through music.

* * * *

The main thesis statement of my book is this:

Higher dimensions of reality are accessible through the technique of music; 

furthemore, there are procedures to be followed which reliably produce in the subject 

1.) a state of expanded consciousness, and 

2.) an enhanced sensitivity to the God-presence within.

The first nine chapters lay the groundwork for understanding my main thesis. Many insights and concepts are described, and much terminology/jargon is introduced. Moreover, there is also a lot of autobiographical information about me which it was necessary to detail in order to properly convey a sense of the context in which I experienced my discoveries. I do not say anything, or refer to anything in this book which I have not personally experienced, and it is this experience, and no other intellectual affiliation, which establishes the authority from which I speak.  It is not strictly necessary to read these first nine chapters to acquire an understanding of the techniques for teaching spirituality through music, which are the subject of chapter ten. Readers familiar with the religious concepts found in publications of the SelfRealization Fellowship, the Theosophical Society, Eckankar, or the Summit Lighthouse may desire therefore, to skip over my tale of personal growth and just focus on chapter ten, ''The Techniques"

In any case, this is a book about what God has done for a humble musician, and what he has already done and will do for others.

Laus Dei July 15, 1986