Music: Always More than Sound

The other night, I was sitting cross legged on a meditation cushion in front of our natural gas fireplace, listening to jazz rock with my headphones for my daily meditation.  I imagined that I was breathing in the music and breathing it out again.  When a musical passage reached a high, I stretched my spine as far as I could, and I relaxed it again when the music quieted.  For one entire piece of music, I experienced a very pleasurable optical illusion.  It seemed as if the flames were flickering in time with the intricate percussion of the song.  I was delighted to have my musical experience expand beyond my ears, my body, and then—through my eyes—out into space.

I thought about this later.  Is music ever something I enjoy with my ears alone?  Can I ever deeply appreciate music without affecting my breathing, my heartbeat, and my emotions?  If I wear my noise cancelling headphones, they might cancel some background noise, but can they cancel me, the listener?  I feel I need to accept that, when I appreciate music, no sound system is so great that I can experience pure sound apart from myself.  I’ll always be part of the experience.  The same is true for appreciating art and nature.  I’m always part of the performance, part of the painting, part of the waterfall or the mountain that I’m appreciating with wonder and awe.