Forever Light is one of my favorite CDs.
It truly is a CD of Light! Having been raised in a strong Roman Catholic
tradition, some of my most fond memories had to do with the tradition of
the mysteries of the Holy Rosary and the Gospel story of salvation. As I
grew into an adult, I realized that, while the Rosary itself was pretty
much (though not exclusively) Catholic, the prayer form it represents is
not. In fact, meditation it turns out is central to the good practice of
almost any spiritual discipline or inner search and growth. Forever
Light is a result of the coming together of my own understanding and
piecing together of the story of the salvation of humankind and the
essence of the meditative spiritual form.
One of the truths that has come to me as I
continue on my own never-ending growth journey as an adult is the fact
that almost all human cultures and faiths have elements of a salvation
story in its ancestry and traditions. The basic most fundamental element
that all of these salvation traditions have in common is a human-kind
that is in darkness and in need of the light of salvation. Darkness in
pure Christian traditions for many has meant being in the state of
original sin in some fashion. Yet on a higher level, it means to me
being literally in a state of darkness, that is- being in a state of a
lack of full understanding, or having less than complete connection to
the universal love that sustains everything in this existence we call
our universe. In most traditions salvation comes from an extraordinary
being or "savior". Again in a higher context, no matter your
belief, be it in Jesus, Mohammed, Confuscious, Bhudda, or any other, it
occurs to me that what the savior brought to us (humanity) is the
wonderful light of understanding and divine connection. This is the
Light that ultimately comes from the one divine source, God, creator of
all light in all its forms.
Forever Light was born out
of my desire to honor, understand and manifest the beauty of this savior
tradition in its deeper context. Using the Catholic Rosary (relative to
meditative prayer and the salvation story) as a starting base, and
extending that base beyond religion and across cultures, I searched my
soul and poured out musically the story of humanity's salvation. It is a
story in music that is told from the point of view of light, love and
increasing divine awareness and connection. From First Light or
first understanding; through to acceptance of ourselves as we are, Hope's
Birth, in understanding that there is more for us; on through to the
embracing of forgiveness and the Healing Rains, that follow; to
love and commitment that grows and is tempered in the Fire and Grace
of pain and joy; through to a more complete understanding of love and
the willingness to sacrifice old understandings, old ways of loving,
replacing them with the new Touched by Love, onward toward the
new Morning Glory, the dawn of new light and understanding;
reaching out beyond our fears and the limits of our previous
understandings... reaching all the way to our original home, Back to
the Stars (to the Universal Love and origin), until finally we are
in full acknowledgment of, and completely connected to, the eternal
light (that is God), the Forever Light.
On the lighter side, my initial interest
in composing the music that makes up this CD was sparked by a
conversation with a friend who confided in me a truth that came to her
in a prayer meditation. So profound was her experience in this
particular meditation, that she readily convinced me that this should be
the very next CD that I would record. She was aware of course that I was
already thinking of the Rosary meditative prayer tradition, and that I
planned to eventually produce a CD incorporating this tradition in some
fashion. However, at the time, my next CD was planned to be another
Christmas CD, or perhaps a CD using a musical style similar to that used
on Stained Glass - to make a companion CD as it were. When I sat down to
layout this CD, the music just poured through me- melodies, ideas, even
old melodies written on scrap paper that was retrieved and dusted off.
The music flowed, and the whole CD was recorded in less than two weeks,
working several hours at weeknight only. Forever Light to
this date is the only CD I've recorded where the music was recorded in
the exact order in which it appears on the CD. Talk about your divine
synchronicity and inspiration. The music energy and rhythms of this CD
capture and resonate with your soul. I have heard from scores of
listeners who have said the music of this CD literally reached out and
touched them, in ways I can't explain except to point to the hand of
God...The energy given to the listener in the last song, Forever
Light, is particularly strong and uplifting in a way that even I
dare not try to investigate. It is what it is- for reasons beyond my
talents to create...the whole really is more than the sum of individual
parts. All of this only serves to further confirm in my heart that this
was meant to be and that this truly was meant to be a CD of Light, and
of love that is that Light. Just perhaps this is why I am so fond of
this CD
Final Thoughts: You might ask -
"What of the songs on this CD? Does each of them have a story to go
with it? Will I hear of their stories?" Well, certainly they do,
and I would be happy to share those stories with you, for each and every
song - and I will... perhaps ...in my own way...on another day...
