Deep Reflection

This review of Chuck Wild's Liquid Mind VII: Reflection presupposes that you’ve read the earlier reviews in this series. If you want to know more about the eighth, or cosmic-consciousness, center, then you might want to check out the review of Liquid Mind III. If you want to know more about the seventh, or expanded-consciousness, center, then check out the review for Liquid Mind IV.

1. “Gently Down” (14:14): The beginning of this track is poised right at the transition point between the seventh and eighth center. It alternates between the world weariness of the crisis point between these centers and the compassion of lower 8. The result is a meditation on human suffering that stretches the heart and opens it wider. In this respect, it reminds me of the slow movement of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata (Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106), which has a similar centering, and is also a moving meditation on human suffering (even though it’s not always played this way). By the end, the music has arrived at the acceptance of middle 8 grace.

2. “Into the Silence of My Being” (12:33): This track hovers at the boundary between lower 8 compassion and middle 8 grace. Most eighth center music carries a strong sense of entering human consciousness (that of the composer as well as the listener) from beyond the human sphere. This piece, however, seems more like the tentative reaching of a human being--modestly, humbly--into the upper reaches of meditative development. It’s very relaxing, but its surprising harmonic progressions are like a series of little spiritual openings. It ends firmly in the grace of middle 8.

3. “In the Stillness” (6:30): This little lullaby mostly targets the first (arousal) and second centers (sensual quality of sound), with occasional comforting whiffs of the eighth center. The result is a very relaxing trance state, ideal as background music for a massage. The message seems to be: “Let go. Relax. You’re completely safe. Sleep.”

4. “Finding My Way” (9:20): The centering for this track is similar to that of the first, except that it spends a little more time expressing world-weariness, the seventh center crisis point side, than the compassion of lower 8. The movement of consciousness in the first track is down into the crisis point and back up to lower 8. In the present track, it’s up from the crisis point into lower 8 and back. This is a perfect illustration in sound of the experience many of us have of tentative spiritual searching, doubts leading to discoveries, more doubts, more discoveries, and finally a sense of peace (middle 8 grace) at the very end.

5. “Reflection” (8:18): This track is similar to “In the Stillness.” Once again the first and second centers are strong, creating the sense of a relaxing trance, with whiffs of middle 8 grace. The message is: sleep/quiet/peace. At about the six-minute mark the eighth center becomes more present (middle 8 again). There seems to be a push to get into the union of upper 8, creating a sense of uplift. But the music doesn’t quite achieve this goal.

“My Orchid Spirit” (7:40): This is another deeply relaxing piece, in which the same kind of trance that occurs in tracks 3 and 5 is the aim. The emphasis is on the sensual beauty of sound, the lower second center, which I call relaxation. Attenuating the other centers (3, intensity; 4, expression; 5, well-being; and 6, analysis) is one way of truly quieting the mind. There are whiffs of hymn-like middle 7 devotion or nobility.

1 plus 2 plus 7 is one of the patterns for what I call transcendental longing. Yet the piece seems more human, secular, than spiritual in the sense of reaching for the divine. Instead, it seems to express a longing for a closer relationship with nature, or with natural beauty, as expressed in an orchid.

From Jury Duty to Union with the Divine

Shortly after the beginning of the year, I was called to serve on a jury. The trail lasted six days. It was an interesting process: a county court was on trial for age discrimination in the workplace. But it put me behind on my reviews. What a relief it was, after all the contentiousness of deliberating for about seven hours on the verdict, to turn once again to the music of Chuck Wild so that I could review Liquid Mind IV: Unity.

Like Liquid Mind III: Balance, which I reviewed in my previous post, this is an excellent CD to use as a meditation aid in the Yoga of Listening outlined in my book Music and the Soul. My purpose in writing these reviews is to provide a tutorial in how to use various currently available CDs to experience higher states of consciousness, perhaps achieving what I call a transcendent musical experience (TME).

Achieving TMEs--peak or mystical experiences that result from composing, performing, or listening to music--are the main objective of the Yoga of Listening. Chuck Wild’s Liquid Mind series is one of the best introductions I know of to the possibility of experiencing higher states of consciousness through listening to music.

One key to achieving TMEs is exposure to what I call eighth center, or cosmic consciousness music--a relative rarity. Like Liquid Mind III: Balance, Liquid Mind IV: Unity contains quite a bit of eighth center music. (For detailed information on the eighth center, please see my review of Liquid Mind III.)

More so than the previous CD in the series, Liquid Mind IV draws on the seventh, or expanded consciousness center as well. The seventh center may express itself in two forms. The sacred form reaches up to the eighth center, reaching for oneness with the divine; the secular form looks lovingly back toward the physical world.

The levels of the seventh center are:
Lower 7 (sacred: fear of God, spiritual mystery; secular: awe or the sublime)
Middle 7 (sacred: love of God; secular: nobility)
Upper 7 (sacred: praise of God; secular: ecstasy)
Crisis point (spiritual disillusionment or loss of faith)

The crisis point is where people end up when they’re not able to raise their energy enough to cross over from the seventh center to the eighth. (There’s no crisis point music on Liquid Mind IV, but you may be able to hear it in “Laguna Indigo” from Liquid Mind III.)

Here’s a center-by-center analysis of Liquid Mind IV:

“Unity” (9:48): This track begins with upper 8 (union with the divine) and cycles through the other levels of the eighth center in long, slow, leisurely waves. The different levels can be identified by the states of consciousness they engender.

When the music is quiet and reflective, the resulting state of consciousness is spiritual peace, an expression of upper 8. When the music has more forward motion, the resulting state of consciousness is grace, a dynamic lifting or push toward the moment of arrival in union, or a sense of gently falling toward or into balance. When the music seems wistful or sad, the resulting state of consciousness is all-embracing compassion (lower 8).

This track seems to portray the Divine Mind timelessly ruminating on the spiritual states and needs of humanity.

“From the Silence” (8:30): This track is similar in many ways to the previous one. It begins in upper 8 and ends in middle 8. My image for it is the Divine Mind meditating in long, slow breathings in and out.

Here, the sad moments once again touch the compassion of lower 8. The noble moments touch the grace of middle 8. And the serene moments touch the union of upper 8.

“Gold in the Shadows” (8:37): This track is like a spiritual journey that begins with the call of the Source to return to it, a mysterious sound of bells that targets lower 7 (spiritual mystery, awe).

One way to tell the difference between the seventh and eighth centers is by the degree of human longing. The seventh center is suffused with transcendental longing for union with the divine. In the eighth center, this longing is satisfied.

Thus, the seventh center always conveys a sense of reaching toward something higher. In the eighth center, there’s a sense of arrival, and often a feeling of being filled with the energy of cosmic consciousness, descending from above.

In “Gold in the Shadows,” there are moments of devotion that derive from middle 7 and a constant sense of travel or upward movement. This is uplifting music, in the sense that it lifts you up toward the eighth center. The best way to listen to it is to allow yourself to surrender to its flow and be drawn along. By the end, it has arrived at middle 8 (grace), a sense of resolution after all the work of rising up to meet the divine.

The human element (longing) is much more present in this track than the earlier ones, which seem to lie beyond our daily pains and sufferings. In the first two tracks, the sad moments are more objective, as if experienced on behalf of humanity. But in this track, they’re more subjective or personal. This is another way of telling the difference between the seventh and eighth centers.

“Society of Dreams” (15:24): In addition to targeting certain centers in a piece of music, the composer may write the music from a higher center, which suffuses it, giving it a richer and more subtle spiritual savor. The center targeted by this track is the point where middle 7 shades into upper 7. The music takes the form of a hymn (devotion, middle 7) of praise (upper 7). But it’s composed from the center of compassion (lower 8), which suffuses it with a whiff of cosmic consciousness.

The note of human love is sounded--the kind of love in which a beloved is perceived as an object of devotion, an incarnation of the divine.

Once again there’s a strong sense of upward motion, a feeling that the music is taking you somewhere. It reaches up to touch lower and middle 8 at several points, then returns to the starting point of devotion and praise. The end result of these motions is a sense of spiritual joy at being in the world, a balance of the sacred and secular aspects of the seventh center.

The music finally arrives in the eighth center and circulates between lower 8 compassion and middle 8 grace. Toward the end, it returns to the music of the beginning, the hymn of praise and longing (middle to upper 7).

“Wrap Me in Your Love” (7:49): The chakra centering of this piece is the most complex on the album. It begins with a duet in which the first (arousal/rhythm), second (desire/sensual quality of sound), and sixth (analysis/intellectual play) centers are present. This pattern often appears in music intended to relax the mind, creating the musical equivalent of a massage.

Gradually, the composer adds in the fourth (melody/expression) and seventh (expanded consciousness) centers, bringing in the qualities of love (fourth center) and spiritual devotion (middle 7). The resulting texture is once again hymn-like, and includes a strong upward push. The addition of spiritual depth to the earlier mind-quieting music is quite noticeable.

Here, the hymn seems to be offered up to the Beloved, which could be another person, God, or oneself (composer or listener).

“Take Me Tenderly” (6:54): This is yet another hymn to the Beloved, solidly in middle 7 (devotion). It’s very like a spiritual, a bit more solemn and God-centered than the previous tracks.

There’s no upward motion toward the eighth center. But the piece has been composed from lower 8, and exudes a deep sense of compassion, conveying the message that we, the listeners, are the Beloveds of God, or of some divine presence like an ever-watchful, deeply caring Bodhisattva.

If I were to rearrange the tracks on Unity to reflect a constant upward motion from the lowest to the highest centers, this would be the order: “Wrap Me in Your Love,” “Gold in the Shadows,” “Take Me Tenderly,” “Society of Dreams,” “From the Silence,” and “Unity.” Such an arrangement can be a useful way of gently introducing yourself to the higher centers, rising (or being lifted up) from level to level so that you’re fully prepared to receive the eighth center’s infusion of cosmic consciousness.

I sometimes find that I need multiple listenings to eighth center music in order to let it all the way in. I suspect that most of us are not used to a direct experience of being loved by God, or some superior spiritual or divine presence. I’m deeply grateful to Chuck Wild for bringing me such an experience--and I hope you will be too.

In my musical meditations, I like to use this CD in the same way that I do Liquid Mind III. I play either the first three tracks, for a session of about 28 minutes, or tracks 4 through 6 for a session of just about 30 minutes.