dianavan, what a beautiful experience! Your story points out so well the awesome and mystical power of Music, of Sound, that mysterious "divine connection" between Music and Nature, where both are One. And the difference between what is "religious" and what is "spiritual". Thank you so much!   

I've had experiences like that only in dreams, where Nature is often so breathtakingly splendourous, and the beauty and perfection of the music I sometimes find myself creating makes anything I could produce here in physical reality sound like some kindergarten band ... (so how come I get to be so "perfect" only in my dreams huh? HUH???)

Making music is a spiritual experience for me. When I sing with others (or recently, play the concertina alone or with others) I am lifted out of myself and held in a place where there's just music. Whether I'm alone or with others, the music is what is being served ...

Allison, thank you for this too. When I am playing music, completely focused on the sounds and feelings I'm producing, it seems to carry me away from physical time and space into some other state of awareness where nothing exists except the music, the imaginations and emotions it inspires. I lose track of time, forget my surroundings, and sometimes when I'm finished I realize I've been so completely "lost in the moment" that I honestly cannot remember a single note I've played! That can be almost scary, sometimes ...

One way I've found to musically "bridge the gap" between what is physical and what is spiritual is to take a song that was written about a physical romantic type of love (and there certainly are a plethora of those!), and sing it with all my heart -- but sing it to "God", to the "Goddess", to Jesus, to my "Higher Power", to my "Guardian Angel", to Creator ... whatever my understanding is of that awesome Creative Power that is greater than myself, at the time.

Here's a song I used this way just a few minutes ago .... (with no-one else around but my cat!)

               
FEELS LIKE HOME

Somethin' in Your Eyes, makes me wanna lose myself
Makes me wanna lose myself, in your Arms
There's somethin' in Your Voice, makes my heart beat fast
Hope this feeling lasts, the rest of my life

If You knew how lonely my life has been
And how long I've been so alone
And if You knew how I wanted Someone to come along
And change my life the way You've done

It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from
It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong

A window breaks, down a long, dark street
And a siren wails in the night
But I'm alright, 'cause I have You here with me
And I can almost see, through the dark there is Light

Well, if You knew how much this moment means to me
And how long I've waited for Your Touch
And if You knew how happy You are making me
I never thought that I'd love Anyone so much

It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way the back where I come from
It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong


Words & Music: Randy Newman