I spent this past weekend attending the 13th International Forgiveness Day, conveniently held in my home town, on the first weekend that I wasn’t out of town in many weeks. I’d like to take a moment to explain how this ties in with healing work of all kinds, and with healing music as well.

     I’ve always been interested in healing modalities of all sorts, from ancient traditions and the latest insights of quantum physics, I am especially attracted to techniques that I can do myself, and that are easy, effective and inexpensive. So I was intrigued to learn about the leading edge research conducted by Dr. Frederick Luskin, Director of the Stanford Forgiveness Project, which has measured and documented the healing effects of forgiveness intervention.

     Up to this point, the best rational reasons I had heard to practice forgiveness was to compare it to the alternative: If you are still angry over something that happened years ago, holding onto that anger is like drinking a glass of poison and expecting someone else to be sickened.

     For many people, this concept was generally relegated to the “Oh, it’s nice to do, but does it really make a difference?” file. For many people, this file is also where concepts like the power of prayer and intention are stored. Well, there’s a whole new world of research that is proving, more and more, that these concepts, and related techniques like subliminal audio recordings, really do make a difference. You can see it in the brain scans. You can measure it in the blood.

     The research on the subtle energies of forgiveness synchronistically supports the research that was presented at the recent ISSSEEM conference.

     Honorees at this year’s event were U.S. Representative John R. Lewis, of Georgia, one of the principal figures in the Civil Rights movement. As a young man, he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, and has continued to work tirelessly for peace and equality.

     Honored with him was Elwin Wilson, a formerly unabashed racist, Ku Klux Klan member, and part of the mob that attacked John Lewis in 1961 that left him bloodied on the ground.

     Forty-eight years later, Wilson set up a meeting with Lewis to apologize for what he had done. When they met, Lewis offered forgiveness without hesitation.   

This reconciliation stands in sharp contrast to the recent “Beer Summit” at the White House, when both Gates and Crowley made a point of stating that there neither of them apologized. If only the healing power of forgiveness had entered into that conversation.

     There were two other honorees. One was Christopher Rodriguez, a twelve-year old boy who was paralyzed by a gunman’s bullet from across a street, while Christopher was inside a house taking a piano lesson. The mind reels at the statistical impossibility of that happening, and of the karma, etc. But it did. Chris is stuck in a wheelchair every day of his life.

     And yet, he showed up at the sentencing of the gunman to tell him that he forgave him. I doubt that there was a dry eye in the place. How he could do that is beyond my intellectual understanding. Which is precisely the point. We can’t get to that place with our mind, only our heart, and our soul.

     The final and most outspoken of the honorees of the 2009 Champion of Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Peace was Marianne Williamson. Many of us know her through her best-selling books and appearances on Larry King. Marianne is an internationally- acclaimed spiritual activist, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance, which is working to establish a United States Department of Peace. That concept was floated in many circles in the l960s. It’s more than a “pipe dream” now.

     Her New York Times #1 bestseller, A Return to Love, is considered a must-read in the new spirituality movement. It is from this book that Nelson Mandela took her famous quote that he included in his 1994 inauguration speech that begins: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure ...”

     At the event, Marianne gave one of the most stunning and soul-stirring speeches I think she’s ever given. And I’ve been blessed to be present at many of them. (In fact, the afternoon workshop ended with a surprise invitation to join her onstage for a heart-opening meditation that lifted the roof.) Happily, both events were filmed, and I encourage you to bring this energy into your life. Information about the live DVDs and the work that 84 year old founder Robert Plath does is available at www.forgivenessalliance.org.

     Marianne often quoted passages from A Course in Miracles to amplify a number of points. I was reminded how relevant these messages are, and how, about thirty years ago, I wished there were an easier way to get into that material than reading the thick book with smallish print.

     My wish was granted shortly thereafter when I was brought together with Beverly Hutchinson, who has become one of the leading voices in the work. She and I co-produced a series of recordings that blends her readings of edited, easily digestible portions of the Course with my music. The series has never been effectively promoted, so it is one of the best-kept secrets in this field. If you're interested, visit www.miraclecenter.org to listen to samples and add these uplifting CDs to your spiritual sound library. For this re-release, I enhanced the original cover art, so the CD looks better than ever.

Silver Anniversaries in Sound and Spirit

     The synchronicity of this event segues harmoniously with the leading edge conference I wrote about last month exploring the latest research in subtle energy medicine and healing. If you missed last month’s newsletter, let me invite you to check out my reports and comments on the recent ISSSEEM conference.

     Just about 25 years ago, I was in the recording studio with the legendary Paul Horn. It was the culmination of a ten year invitation that I extended to him right after I released my first album. The timing was finally right, and the magic of the moment was captured on an incredible recording, Connections, that came out in 1984 on my independent label.

     It’s been essentially out of print for years, but the incredibly positive response to his featured tracks on my latest CD, Drive Time Rx, encouraged me to digitally re-master and release this classic. As one critic wrote, “If the Grammys^® had a New Age category when this album first was released, it would surely have been nominated that year.”

     I bet you would love it, too, if you had ever heard it. What makes the recording extra special is that it was recorded live, without rehearsal. All improvised, and yet, extraordinarily congruent. The first half of the album features duets, one on one. Before the first song, we meditated for a moment, then I said, “Let’s do the first song in D Minor. Follow me. The next song, I’ll follow you.” And that’s how it unfolded. It was a conversation without words, which is what makes jazz such an extraordinary art form.

     Even at that point in time, Paul and I were already being heralded as the “founding fathers” of New Age music. His “accidental” recording Inside (the Taj Mahal) which was never intended for public release, was perhaps the first album to highlight the elevational effects of deep reverberation and “space.” Paul was already a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, and we tuned in together to a similar wavelength of the music of the spheres.

     As I wrote in the liner notes of the album, my band in Buffalo was experimenting with tape recorders to create deep space ambience in our concerts. In fact, when we first heard Inside on the University radio station, we thought someone had bootlegged our concert ... at least until we heard the security guard’s vocal. (If you’ve never heard this album, let me also recommend that joy to you. The CD is hard to find, but copies are available, and of course, you can track it down in the digital world.

     Back to Connections. On the second half of the album, we agreed that it would be more musically creative and evocative if we added bass and percussion, since we shared a love of world music and jazz as well as New Age music. We were joined by two extraordinary musicians, George Marsh and Marc van Wageningen (you may have seen him on TV on The Wayne Brady Show). They created some of my all-time favorite grooves, and the creativity wellspring was flowing freely.

     You’ll hear the luminous tone of Paul’s signature golden flute, and know why he is considered one of the all-time best on that instrument. He also is featured on alto and (the very rare) bass flute, as well as soprano sax and Chinese flute. I play grand piano, Rhodes electric piano, and synthesizer. I also add a little bit of my former main instrument, trumpet, on one song. It’s a short solo, because my lip split, since I was so out of practice, and my embouchure showed the effects of years of inactivity.

     Having said that, I cannot finish without a special comment about Paul Horn’s stunning soliloquy in sound, on the track “Fantasy Flight.” I had just made a melodic suggestion to him about a phrase and echo setting I was hearing in my head. He took that vibe and expanded upon it far beyond what I had imagined. He used his foot pedal to enable him to play with himself, melodically that is, and it all happened live, in real time. He takes you around the world in a few minutes, to many of the exotic locations in which he has recorded on other albums in his illustrious career. This composition has my vote as the most amazing meditative flute solo of all time. If nothing else, sample it at my website or at your favorite audio sample website. Close your eyes, and let the music transport you.

     Be sure to give yourself at least twenty seconds to let the music resonate in your body and soul after it’s over. I’d love to hear from you via email, and I’m sure Paul would love hearing your experiences as well.

     Next month, I’m re-releasing the new digitally re-mastered thirtieth anniversary of another of the all-time icons of New Age music, Ancient Echoes, which I recorded with harpist Georgia Kelly. Tune in then for some behind the scenes stories that I think you’ll enjoy.

     Georgia has transitioned from her recording career into also working internationally for peace. She is currently organizing an innovative conference on “The Economics of Peace” with James Galbraith, Dennis Kucinich, and others. Visit www.praxispeace.org for more info.

     Until next time, keep some good music in your life.

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Steven Halpern is an internationally-renowned composer, recording artist and producer, whose healing music radiates energies of light, love and joy each time his recordings are played. His latest best-seller, Drive Time Rx, takes sound healing to the streets, in a very practical and spiritually accessible manner. Hear samples of this CD and Steven’s recordings at www.stevenhalpern.com.

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