Category Archives: Music and Spirituality

A Gift Of Love: Deepak & Friends Present Music Inspired By The Love Poems Of Rumi

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A Gift Of Love: Deepak & Friends Present Music Inspired By The Love Poems Of RumiApril 23, 2009

It never ceases to amaze me how things have fallen into place since my mystical experience at Sammy Hagar’s concert in 2003. I take one step and the next already seems laid out for me. I can hardly not stay on this path. It’s as if the Universe has dictated its certainty since longer than the concept of time.

Last December, I happened upon this CD–selected writings of Rumi read aloud by celebrities such as Madonna, Deepak Chopra, Blythe Danner, Demi Moore, Goldie Hawn, Debra Winger and others. Rumi was a 13th century poet, Sufi and mystic who composed over 30,000 amazing verses.

As I listened to the online sample of this album, I heard Demi Moore’s beautiful voice reading one of Rumi’s poems, “Do You Love Me?”

The words took my breath away. My intellectual mind told me that the poems were written by a man for his lover, but when I listened, the words perfectly described the mystical experience I’d had years earlier. They sounded like something I wish I would have written to illustrate the connection with God I’d felt so fully.

Where does God end and lover begin?

God does not end. God is the ultimate lover, as my experience was the ultimate high. I saw profoundly in that moment, that love, lover and Beloved are one.

God is a constant that permeates and comprises each grain of sand, each human being and each note of music.

In the following video, Jared Harris reads Rumi’s poem “Looking for Your Face.” It is the best example I can give you of how I felt during my soul’s revelation one hot night in Mexico; my entire being floating in the ecstasy of discovering my truth in the “face” of God:

Video by: DrBillRamos

Thunder in Our Hearts

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May 12, 2010

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We be shakin’ the walls, baby!

It was like an explosion roaring up from the center of the earth and flooding the hearts of everyone in the room. The drum journey was led by professional drummer Gayan Gregory Long and attended by Harley people, rock ‘n’ rollers, writers, homemakers, accountants—those from all walks of life. Wonderful!

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Gayan and I became friends several years ago, when he taught the music portion of a grief workshop I attended after my parents died. The experience was magical to me and it showed me the role music played in my mystical transformation through Sammy Hagar’s concert in 2003. Since then, it has been my goal to help others find this magic for themselves.

Which is why I wrote my book. And also why Gayan and I wanted to present this workshop. There will be many more to come.

 

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I wanted to give people an experience they might not normally have, invite them to step outside of their comfort zones, because you never know where your truths might be hiding. I had hoped that people might lose themselves and rediscover themselves through music like I did. I wanted to show them how sound can open our hearts and teach us new things about ourselves; because you see, I have learned that the avenues to self-awareness are as varied as the stars. So how do we know what’s right for us and what isn’t, if we don’t take the time to look in other directions? You just might discover a new star that no one has ever seen before. Even better, you just might discover that YOU are that new star.

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I watched the faces of the participants as they entered the room and sat down behind their drums. Some looked intimidated; most looked bewildered. But the more they drummed, the more I saw their faces change as their spirits began to integrate some of the drum’s lessons into their hearts.

 

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Then I witnessed smiles emerging, confidence building and warmth spreading throughout the group. Yes!  

The experience was also personal. As I drummed, I felt myself becoming entranced in the beat—so authoritative, so strong, so real. When I quit worrying about whether I was supposed to be using my left hand or my right, or whether there were two bass slaps and one tone or two tone slaps and one bass, my body somehow knew exactly what to do. Apparently this is something I still need to work on—quit trying to be perfect and just be. The more I allowed the rhythm and the sound to take me, the more I recognized that I should be proud of my imperfections, because by struggling to be something I’m not (perfect) I’m not being true to Who I really Am.

I also realized that I’m already perfect in my imperfection, and I should celebrate that fact. I did—through the drum. It was like sending a prayer of gratitude through the vibration, up to heaven.

Gayan taught us simple beats and assigned everyone a job, to sing, shake bells or keep the rhythm. All of us somehow all melted into one hypnotic pulse. And when I became conscious of how good we actually sounded, my soul soared even higher.

 

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During Gayan’s solo, I felt the vibration from his playing on the head of my drum in front of me. Isn’t this so like life? As human beings, we interact with one another and send vibrations between us. Only this time I could actually feel them with my hands, like tangible proof of feelings, as if to say, “Here I am, take me or not,” offered to anyone who needed to claim it without the duality of acceptance or non-acceptance.

 

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 Gayan talked about the sensation of holding the drum between our legs. I was surprised that he addressed this because the first time I held a drum in this manner, I thought something was wrong with me since it felt sort of sexual. I wrote about this in DANCE OF THE ELECTRIC HUMMINGBIRD. But it’s also symbolic. By holding the drum so close to our bodies, we acknowledge the fact that we are bringing it into a very personal space within us. Maybe that’s why it was so magical—its rhythm entered me in a way I’d never known before—just as it had done in the past.

These lessons continue to grow within me and the more I allow myself to go with the flow, the more I learn about life and myself. So I have to ask, “Am I playing music or is music playing me?”

If you fall far enough under its spell, you won’t be able to answer this question.

Spill

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July 28, 2010

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Passion.

Emotion.

It’s what makes music so intoxicating…

And I’m convinced that when we are in the throes of being intoxicated with music and emotion, that’s when we open the door to the world of spirit and endless possibilities. (Many who experience Nirvana do so through music—there was even a band by that name.)

I’ve been to more than a few live concerts where the performers seemed merely to be going through the motions, as if they couldn’t wait to finish the job and get off the stage. That made me feel cheated because they weren’t giving it their all, especially since I’d spent my hard-earned dollars to see the show.

This goes for writing as well.

Over the course of working on DANCE OF THE ELECTRIC HUMMINGBIRD, I struggled with how much to reveal in my book. How did I maintain my privacy and still get my message across? I’m just an average person—this book is my soul—did I really want to let the whole world into my soul?

To say this is frightening would be a gross understatement.

The song “Pages,” by 3 Doors Down, explains it perfectly. What a great song.

My solution was simply to be vague about the things that were too personal or painful to talk about.

But my editor said, “Uh uh, sorry, you have to spill.”

Oh man, okay. Reluctantly, I added a little detail.

To this, she said, “Nope—take us there with you—give us all of it!”

I didn’t want to. Speaking out is an enormous responsibility. Once my words are out there, there’ll be no changing them—they’ll be public property forever.

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As I fought my internal demons, I came across an article that dealt with this very thing. An author who wrote about her relationship with her daughter, also struggled with how much to say in her book—would she be betraying her daughter by telling the truth? After a lot of deliberation, she decided to be honest. The publication of her book was met with mixed reviews. Some criticized her for exposing her daughter’s personal information, but many more went to great lengths to thank her, saying that her story helped them improve their relationships with their own daughters.

It made sense to me that this was what I should do too, because the purpose of my book is also to help others improve their lives—but even reading about that woman didn’t completely convince me.

I trusted my editor’s professional opinion though, and worked diligently at dredging up horribly emotional and personal subjects like the deaths of my parents whom I adored, and the physical and sexual abuse I endured at the hands of a young man I married when I was no more than a kid myself. It was like pulling pure bile from my liver and splashing it on the page because I had to relive every detail all over again and analyze each one.

There’s also a candid sex scene in my book, and many instances where I question religion, the existence of God, supernatural phenomena, aliens, angels and the power of the mind and spirit. I know that some will criticize me—I may even lose a few friends over what I’ve said—but I just might gain a few too. In any case, I didn’t want to offend anyone.

Then I heard the song “Hooker with a Penis,” by Tool (warning—explicit content on this website). The song is about a fan who tells his idol that he thinks he’s selling out. But the idol says that he sold his soul long ago—just to make his music…

That truth sunk into me like rain into parched earth. Tool was right—it is about selling one’s soul. And my book is all about finding and living one’s truth. How could I sufficiently convey that message if I was too afraid to speak my truth—and yes, sell my soul in the process?

Because if artists don’t sell their souls, no one will be able to relate. It’s a tremendous price to pay—look at what happened to Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison to name a few—but it’s also an area where there can be no compromise. The audience knows instantly when the artist is withholding something.

Soul is the difference between “outstanding” and “mediocre.” And in this instance, if one wants to make an impact, there’s no room for mediocre, because in the end, the audience will either feel inspired or cheated.

Depends on how much guts the artist has.

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Mysticism, Music and Ordinary People

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September 23, 2010

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When I first began to write about the strange and wonderful experience that took place in my life nearly seven years ago, I had no idea that such things happened to ordinary people.

But as my volumes of notes began to amass about the mystical events that were occurring in my life on a daily basis, I wondered if anyone else had ever had a similar experience.

As far as I could tell, no one had.

I was confused, frightened and starting to entertain the notion that I just might be losing my mind.

As I neared completion of the writing of DANCE OF THE ELECTRIC HUMMINGBIRD (previews coming soon), I came across a few others who, although their experiences were somewhat different, were also precipitated by famous musicians and contained an element of the same mystical gene as my experience—something inexplicable, spiritual and wonderful—something the world needed to hear about because, if these things were happening to some of us, perhaps they were happening to many more of us. And maybe if a few of us were bold enough to share our stories, it might give others the courage to come forward as well.

Is it possible that something somewhere or someone was trying to tell us something through music? Music is a universal language that transcends words, perhaps providing a bridge to the world of spirit and other worlds we sense the existence of but can’t prove.

Over the coming months, I’d like to introduce you to several people who have had mystical awakenings similar to mine through music and famous rock musicians. Although our experiences are eerily similar, especially given that these incidents opened our eyes to our individual truths, each of us has explored a slightly different path because of what happened. These people are ordinary people like you and me. Ordinary people who, while going about their daily routines, suddenly became struck with something profound and wonderful that they never saw coming.

And if you, or someone you know, has had an experience like this, please contact me, as I would love to include your story as well.

Stay tuned…

This is What I’m Talking About!

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October 19, 2010

I just got back from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and spending four nights watching Sammy Hagar perform at the Cabo Wabo Cantina, with Michael Anthony (of Chickenfoot and formerly of Van Halen), Vinnie Paul (Pantera) and Steve Harwell (Smashmouth), not to mention Sammy’s band, The Wabos, who totally kick ass.

It was more than a musical experience though, especially since after the first two shows, Sammy got sick, postponed the third show, and played the next two nights despite the fact that his voice was pretty much gone.

There’s something about Cabo.

It’s magic.

And many times when I go down there, I become infused with some sort of supernatural light that keeps coming out of me for months or sometimes for years. It’s as if that light attracts even more light into my life, like it did this morning, when I came across this article.

It’s about Carlos Santana’s spiritual connection with music, with God, with life. And it’s not written in esoteric concepts that the average person can’t understand–it’s presented in down-to-earth language that anyone can relate to. In other words, it gives us hope.

It’s interesting to me that I’d just returned from Cabo, met some wonderful people with whom I hope to work in order to get my message of hope out to more people (through my book), and then I come across this article. Coincidence? Not a chance. Light attracts light.

Enjoy.

Carlos Santana: Coltrane, Mysticism and Human Nature.