Hallelujah

Praise the LORD with harp:
  sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
Sing unto him a new song;
  play skilfully with a loud noise.

- Psalm 33:2-3

The authorship of the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament is classically attributed to King David. They consist of poetic lamentations and exaltations for all of Life’s ups and downs, and thankfulness simply for the fullness of Life’s experience.

Or at least that is the light in which I have come to interpret them. The stories of the Bible, near as I can tell, are just about jam-packed with stories of wanderers and weirdos who struck out on their own according to some call from God, or simply The Open Road. Whether they were high or nuts is irrelevant: no group, individual, worldview or neurotype has ownership over what the authentic human experience is all about. The people who know are the people who are feelin’ it. You know them when you meet them on the road, when you hear them speak, when you hear them sing…

As indicated by the line from Psalm 33 above, the Psalms were originally intended to be sung in accompaniment by an instrument called a psaltery, which is similar to a harp. Stringed instruments similar to this - in some form or another - are common throughout the entire world, pointing to some kind of universal base experience of the human condition.

Maybe it is simply mathematical: wave forms undulating upon the physical mechanism of the ear. Or maybe it is something more: the patterns and vibrations of the Universe itself, the song sung by All Creation In Exultation And Thankfulness for Simply Existing In the First Place™.

Pythagoreans and other Greco-Roman weirdos saw mystical correspondences between the two: between mathematical forms, and the rays of existence emanating forth from the Godhead. The Musical Spheres which old philosophers (Lovers of Wisdom, not collectors of data or mere knowledge technicans) envisioned surrounding the earth, and through which the soul ascended in order to reach God. Aligning oneself with the Tao, the fundamental flow of existence, wherein your life is drawn into perfect harmony with your surroundings, wherein you become a vessel of God’s Grace, walking the face of the Earth.

What were the Apostles after Jesus death? Who were the Evangelists? The Book of Acts is a handbook for traveling minstrels, itinerant troubadours and ramblin bluesmen, griots who lift their voice in praise, for the upliftment of the human spirit, for the enlivenment of the human experience.

Esoterically, Shabd is the “Sound Current vibrating in all creation. It can be heard by the inner ears.” [1] Variously referred to as the Audible Life Stream, Inner Sound, Sound Current or Word in English, the Shabd is the esoteric essence of God which is available to all human beings, according to the Shabd path teachings of Eckankar, the Quan Yin Method, Sant Mat and Surat Shabd Yoga.

Adherents believe that a Satguru, or Eck Master, who is a human being, has merged with the Shabd in such a manner that he or she is a living manifestation of it at its highest level (the “Word made flesh”). However, not only can the Satguru attain this, but all human beings are inherently privileged in this way. Indeed, in Sant Mat the raison d’être for the human form is to meditate on the Sound Current, and in so doing merge with it until one’s own divinity is ultimately realized.

Poetry is the substance of the universe. The vibrating string is of the same substance as the human voice wavering between vocal cords. The ululation of the mouth is the sound Hallelujah, Alleluia, the Alhamdulillah of the Arabics, meaning “Praise unto God”, the sound of every tongue lifting itself up in song, whether they are sad songs or sweet songs. Orpheus and his lyre, the song that soothed the savage beast. Music, the language of the Muses, the gift of inspiration, of being breathed into, of being sung to and sun through, the chords played in music bring people into accord. In harmony, we accompany one another as performers and audience.

That David became King is no small statement within the Judeo-Christian story-system: through music, he became a resonator for God, an instrument of harmony, the leader in song for a nation of wanderers and weirdos who had just blown in from the desert not too long before that. To become a King is to become filled with Wisdom, Joy & Strength, and it is the true birthright of not just those with a certain color blood skin or bank account, but to all men and women.