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MeditationsonMusic

Music, an indefinite power that brings about either the irruption

of overcrowded and long-restrained emotions or the subsidence ofoverly excessive passions, is an enigma the clue to its fascination isnowhere to be found. How music works into the passages of the soul,no-one can ever claim to know. That is, the arduous attempts toanalyse the different workings induced by music in the human self isa waste of time because music is innovated primarily as beingmysterious and inscrutable. Intangibility takes its throne in themighty court of music and is bent on perishing all rebellious attemptsthat venture to break through the court and uncover the eternal

secrets making up its majestic pillars. Such vain attempts are to belooked at as a struggle against reason, which keeps crying out theabsurdity of imposing logical analysis on the Delfic magical impact ofmusic. Indeed it is a wonder how one is suddenly driven to be in arapt attention the moment music penetrates his ear, how thisenchanting power drives him to abandon himself to its unfailing will,and how he is thrilled, bewitched and eventually made captive of itssoul-stirring and soothing nature. Nothing but this living mysterywould stir imagination aglow; nothing but this prodigy would endow

cure and rest to care-worn man; nothing but this mystification wouldset free the imprisoned noble feelings and compel the rolling tides ofstrong passion to recede.

Music is the first of all arts to capture fancy and releaseimagination to extend beyond time and space, beyond the restrainingboundaries of actuality to reach the heavens in its sublimity. Itkindles imagination, takes hold of one's senses and makes himbenumbed to every pain, relieved of care and unaware of the

existence of all those who fall out of the beautiful visionary worldcreated by marvelous heart-melting music. The mere overhearing ofthe celestial musical sounds captivates the soul and makes it roam ina world of fantasy, a paradisiacal world full of glamour, grace andromance, a soft supernal world adorned with all that bringscontentment, gratification and pleasure. Sweet is the music thatbrings contentment; sweet is the music that breeds imagination;sweet is the music that crowns our souls with the most precious senseof tranquility. O music! How sweet! How glamorous!

Just as an oasis that provides a delightful relief amid a drearyvast desert, just as an inn at which a weary worn-out traveller can

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make a stop and regain his vigour, just as medicine that sweeps awayall pain and sorrows, so music bestows rest, comfort and recoveryupon whoever submits to its most welcome authority. It is euphoricmusic which at times of distress and utter desperate depressioncomes as a god send, as a remedy for all illnesses and as a rescuer

picking man up from the filthy waters of life. This great healingpower pours a new reviving spirit into those who are lying almostdead in the monstrous barren battlefield of life.

In addition to its being a sight for sore eyes, music reveals andpolishes some of our screened- off sensations lying dust-coveredbehind a veil of daily worry. Through music our dead emotions arebrought to life again; through music our lively senses are furtherexcited and elevated to the skies; through music our sensitivity,

blunted by the inescapable battles with the detestable hardships oflife, will be completely restored to its original health, soundness andgood condition. Nothing else is more capable of setting the soul inorder and of taking one's mind off his misfortunes than music, whichpermanently invites man to be absorbed in its overwhelming realm.To mend tattered feelings and tormented selves is music nobleobjective; to devise a matchless illusory world unspoiled by care ismusic noble objective; to give a remedy to incurable diseases ismusic noble objective; to charge one's soul with a multitude of

indistinct pleasant feelings is music noble objective. O music! Howimpressive! How delightful!

Natheer A. Allabbad 1994