Theater of the Imagination
Join award winning composer Peter Link as he presents his life's work in 'Theater of the Imagination.'
Theater of the Imagination
Seres 1, Episode 8 Part 2: A Matter of Life and Death
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A Matter Of Life and Death -- And The Probability of Life Eternal was written and assembled for all who, in one way or another, have been touched by the Pandemic of 2020. That’s an audience of billions.
Through the grace of music, moving on is looked at through a myriad of lenses as an eventual door that we all will pass through at one time or another. It is my hope that for those questioning life, in mourning, fearing for their own life or even wondering why we have all come to this, will find some solace from the enlightenment of these songs and the gentle nature of the content of this episode.
Episode 8 is presented in two parts. Listeners should always start with Part 1, knowing that Part two brings us to a greater clarity on the subject of Life Eternal.
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Scattershot Symphony #8
A Matter Of Life And Death
and The Probability Of Life Eternal
Part 2
Beethoven Music
Welcome to Part 2 of a matter Of Life And Death and The Probability Of Life Eternal.
Mindy Jostyn knew it was coming. She prepared for it, the way she would have prepared for a recording session. She got her life in order, got clear on her priorities and moved through it with grace and a determination to make the best of it. She prepared the event in song. When it came time, she simply stepped down off the stage and went home. Her album, entitled “Coming Home” that I produced, was a testament to that. It is her prayer to her guardian angel to show her Heaven’s door. She made ready. She accepted her fate and somehow left a record of her transition.
So this next song was not just happenstance. No, she wrote this song for this final moment in her life with us. Then she asked Carly Simon to join her on the song. Mindy’s last tour as Carly’s musical director ended the day before she passed away. She had it all planned.
Angel of the Darkest Night
Music and Lyrics by Mindy Jostyn
Angel of the darkest night
How did you find me here?
Just when I had lost the fight
And cried my final tear
I only prayed for peace of mind
You gave me so much more
Angel of the darkest night
You showed me heaven's door
Like a ship tossed on the sea
Far from any land
Her sails torn by fearful storms
And waves to dwarf a man
No chart to plan the journey home
No compass point, no guide
Why must we be so far gone
Before we see the light?
Angel of the darkest night
How did you lead me through despair?
To let me see the sky again
To let me breathe the air
Angel of the darkest night
I never could have known
You were just the answer
I was seeking all along
And though I prayed for peace of mind
You gave me so much more
Angel of the darkest night
You showed me heaven's door
Heaven's door (4x)
On Grieving ...
For some people, grief is a very important part of getting through a loved one’s transition. It’s a process of letting go and coming to terms with the future ahead with the deceased no longer present, physically. I, personally, am not a griever. I’m not sure I understand why. I just know that in facing the losses of my loved ones, I am one who just moves on. Grieving is a personal choice that I completely respect. In the AIDS epidemic several decades ago, I lost over a hundred friends. Perhaps that may have dulled my senses to a certain degree. That added up to about a friend a week over a two year period. I made up my mind that I just couldn’t be grieving all the time.
Julia and I have two great Italian friends, both now in their eighties, Franco and Silvana Rossi. They’re like family to us. Their son, Maurizio, died in the Swiss Air plane crash off the coast of Newfoundland many years ago. His parents were visiting in the United States at the time it happened, and spent some time with us soon afterwards. They were both still in shock and in deep mourning. Franco, his father, could hardly get through a paragraph without some word or moment triggering a memory and causing him to break down and weep. It happened so often, we were getting used to it and would just wait it out until he recovered.
Once as we sat at dinner, he came upon a trigger and began to tear up. But then he did the strangest thing. He pushed his chair back, stood up still wearing his dinner napkin tucked into his shirt, walked over to the nearest bare wall in the room and stood facing the wall just 3 inches away from it and commenced to shake and sob into the wall. We all, at the table, just sat, dumbfounded and silent, watching him and waiting for him to return to the dinner table. No one said a word. Everyone simply understood the depth of the tragedy and his titanic remorse.
I wrote this song for Franco and Silvana and my wife, Julia, who loved them so, completed the experience for me.
In Silence
Music and Lyrics by Peter Link
When one you love disappears
Like smoke they blow away
The heartbeat rings in your ears
In silence
In silence
You lose your place with it all
And life goes hollow
You turn your face to the wall
In silence
In silence
But I am here for you
I will see you through
And if you weep then I will weep with you
And if you mourn then I will mourn with you
And if you die then I will live for you
In silence
In silence
[Interlude]
The bells they toll on the wind
They sing of sadness
The mending soul must begin
In silence
Begin in silence
And as you bear your pain
Your loss will be your gain
But if you brood then I will brood with you
And if you grieve then I will grieve with you
And if you break then I'll be there for you
In silence
In silence
We will weep
In silence
We will mourn
In silence
We'll remember in silence
We will heal
In silence
We will mend
In silence
We'll go on in silence
We will love
In silence
We endure
In silence
And we carry on...
When grieving, we expect tears; we expect the deepest of sadness, but what I try to turn to as fast as possible is, to in any way I can, mentally support the consciousness of whomever it is who is going forward. To wish them grace, to joy in their life ... Not always easy, I know. The sudden ones are the toughest. Here yesterday; gone today. And oh, how can this be? And so begins the missing …
When I first heard Julie Gold’s heart-breakingly beautiful song, I just had to add it as the closer to my Goin’ Home album. I especially love her lyric,
Come to me as a bird
I will know it’s you
As you hover above the life we once knew
Though I can’t hold you now
I remain undeterred
And I’ll know you if you
Come to me as a bird
It’s a gorgeous and truly original melody, that I was unable to get out of my consciousness for months. And now, hearing it again, it’s back again.
And … How grand it is to have a wife who can sing so hauntingly such a farewell…
Come to Me as a Bird
Music and Lyrics by Julie Gold
Come to me as a bird.
I will know it's you
As you hover above the life we once knew.
Though I can't hold you now
I remain undeterred,
And I'll know you if you
Come to me as a bird.
Come to me as a bird,
Dancing in the trees.
When the last leaves of summer cast themselves to the breeze.
Now the season has changed.
Now the memory's blurred
But I'll know you if you
Come to me as a bird.
Come to me as a bird.
Come to me as a bird.
I will know you if you
Come to me as a bird.
Singing in my garden.
Winging through the rain.
I can tell you're out there,
Staring through my pane.
Come to me as a bird,
Keeper of the sky.
How I long to go with you when I see you fly.
Once I gave you my heart,
Now I give you my word
I will know you if you
Come to me as a bird.
Come to me as a bird.
Come to me as a bird.
I will know you if you
Come to me as a bird.
Come to me as a bird.
Come to me as a bird.
I will know you if you
Come to me as a bird.
Come to me as a bird.
Lately I’ve been reading and studying two life-changing books – Robert Lanza’s Biocentrism and his Beyond Biocentrism. In it, the author turns the tables on Physics, Mind and Matter and along the way opens up the doors of perception to the fact that everything that we have experienced in life begins, not with the Big Bang … but rather, in our Consciousness. It parallels another book I’ve been reading all my life, Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health. Where Eddy takes a spiritual approach to Mind and matter, Lanza takes a scientific stand.
Most importantly to today’s podcast is that both of them agree on the fact that Life Is Eternal.
I’m gonna hang my hat on this. Like I said, “I like being me.” I love being alive. When I’m done with this body, I’ll be done with it. It’s served me well, but I do know this: I am not my body. I know this to be a fact.
Thousands of moments that I’ve had in life have convinced me that the essence of me has nothing to do with matter … and everything to do with consciousness. I’m comfortable leaving matter behind, because I understand that the sum total of my being IS consciousness. I’m cool with that.
Dominion
Text by Mary Baker Eddy
Music by Peter Link
The enslavement of man is not legitimate.
It will cease when man enters
Into his heritage of freedom,
His God-given dominion
Over the material senses.
The enslavement of man is not legitimate.
Mortals will some day assert their freedom
In the name of Almighty God.
Dropping their present beliefs,
They will recognize harmony as the spiritual reality…
Entirely separate
From the belief and dream
Of material living,
Is the Life divine,
Revealing spiritual understanding
And the consciousness of man's dominion
Over the whole earth.
The Psalmist said:
"Thou madest him to have dominion
Over the works of Thy hands.
Thou hast put all things under his feet."
The enslavement of man is not legitimate.
It will cease when man enters
Into his heritage of freedom,
His God-given dominion
Over the material senses.
Life is,
Always has been,
And ever will be
Independent of matter;
For Life is God,
And man
Man is the idea of God,
Mind is the grand creator,
And there can be no power
Except that which is derived from Mind.
If Mind was first chronologically,
Is first potentially,
And must be first eternally,
Eternally
Then give to Mind
Give to Mind the glory,
Honor,
Dominion, and power
Everlastingly due its holy name.
The Psalmist said:
"Thou madest him to have dominion
Over the works of Thy hands.
Thou hast put all things under his feet."
"Thou madest him to have dominion
Over the works of Thy hands.
Thou hast put all things under his feet."
Dominion!
[Words used courtesy of The Mary Baker Eddy Collection]
In terms of life on Planet Earth, well ...
No, I’m not goin’ anywhere. Like I said, “ I like it here.” My tour of duty is not finished. I will never retire. I will work as hard as I can until it’s time. The great thing for me is that my work is primarily deeply involved in music. That takes the work out of work. And what’s left it simply the joy of creativity.
I Can't Go Home
Music and Lyrics by Peter Link
And now I can't go home
No I can't go home
Got too much to do
So I can't go home
There's a song in sight
And there's all this light
Beckoning me still
No I can't go home
There's a reason
I am standing here today
In my skin
I've not honored
Nearly all I could have been
Still I am tryin' to find
Tryin' to find peace of mind
So I just can't go home
No I can't go home
Close that open door
I just can't go home
Let the watch fires burn
Leave no stone unturned
Till I find my stillness
I just can't go home
On this passage
Through this strange uncharted land
I have come
To the mountain
Back to where I started from
Living from year to year
Wondering why I'm here
And still I can't go home
No I can't go home
There's far to much untold
In this world unknown
Till I'm satisfied
It's a wondrous ride
Far too far to go
Till I go back home
Till the seed is sown
Till the truth be known
I just can't go home
However, in the end, if it must be, then here’s the way I want to go out. Give me a parade! Make it a celebration! Wish me well … and get on with your own wondrous life!
It seemed only right to set this last song high in the clouds on Heaven’s Highway as the saints from all religions march by, arm in arm in oneness.
Maybe I could march behind them, waving goodbye with a grin on my face.
Yeah, why not an apocalyptic New Orleans style parade, as our Channel 7
girl on the spot reports this mind-blowing event. Stand there with her, wave your flags, pick out your favorite Saints and blow them a kiss or two. If you’re lucky, you might even get an autograph. Look! Here comes Louis Armstrong leadin’ the parade …
And oh … oh look, there’s Pete!
When the Saints Go Marchin' In
Music by James Milton Black
Words by Katharine Purvis
Additional Words and Music by Peter Link
Saints!
Saints are a'comin'
Saints!
Saints are a'comin'
I can see
All the saints from Philippi
All the saints from Ephesus
Saint John the Baptist
Saint John the Divine
All the saints of Buddha
Milarepa the saint of Tibet
Confucian saints and Jewish saints
Arm in arm in line
Mahatma Ghandi
Zhang Zhongjing
Paramahansa Yogananda
Saint Tukaram and the Muslim saints
All the saints of all mankind
Walkin' in step with Hindu saints
And Taoist saints
And Sufi saints
With Mr. Louis Armstrong on trumpet
Leadin' the way
Walkin' in step with the Hindu saints
And Taoist saints
And Sufi saints
With Mr. Louis Armstrong before them
Blowin' his horn
And none get left behind
They are traveling in the footsteps
Of those who've gone before
They will all be reunited
On a new and sunlit shore
There is hope that goes before them
And its banners fill the sky
With a thousand million footsteps
Echoing on high
And oh Lord I want to be in that number
I got to be there
When the
When the
When the
When the
Oh when the saints go marching in
When the saints go marching in
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in
And when the sun begins to shine
When the sun begins to shine
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in
Oh on that hallelujah day
Yes on that hallelujah day
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in
And when the revelation comes
Yeah when that revelation comes
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the revelation comes
Oh when the trumpet sounds the call
Oh when Louis Armstrong sounds that call
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in
Oh, when the saints go marching in
Oh, when the saints go marching in
Lord, how I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in
Oh, when the saints go marching in
Oh, when the saints go marching in
Lord, how I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in
Saints!
Saints are a'comin'
Saints!
Saints are a'comin'
Saints!
Saints are a'comin'
Saints!
Saints are a'comin'
Saints! (saints!)
Saints are a'comin'
Saints! (saints!)
Saints are a'comin'
Saints!
Saints are a'comin'
So there ya’ have it. Scattershot Symphony - Episode #8
Part 1 & 2
Next, Episode 9
Sacred Sunday Morning – Volume 2
In Volume 1 we looked at many of the various approaches people take to their Sunday Mornings. In Volume 2 we’ll take a look at and listen to
Moments From The Bible – An Exploration in Song
With Guest Artist Julia Wade
Also, please rate and subscribe ...
A grateful nod goes to Mary Baker Eddy for her prose lyrics on the song, Dominion.
And thanks to all who sung on the Goin’ Home album – Margaret Dorn who also did vocal arrangements,
Angela Clemmons, Keith Fluitt, John James, Kevin Osborne, Catherine Russell, Vaneese Thomas and Darryl Tookes,
and of course, Jenny Burton and Julia Wade.
And also the ladies of the cast of Is Anybody Listening?
who joined Julia on How Are We Raising Our Sons.
And thanks to Watchfire Music, Nathan Burgdorff and the entire staff for all your work in producing and promoting this podcast.
A very special thanks also to Stuart Barefoot, our Associate Producer for all your invaluable knowledge and good vibes.
And a posthumous thanks to Ludwig Van Beethoven for your opening 4 bars.
Julia
(over playout music)
This podcast is presented with loving care by the staff at Watchfire Music. If you liked what you heard, we got lots more where that came from. In the meantime, you can find the songs you just heard on watchfiremusic.com. There you can purchase the singles or albums and have access to all the lyrics. Also, there you will find all previous podcasts and future scheduling.
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