With all the hatred, violence, wickedness, shocking, discrimination, terror, grief and on and on, that surrounds us seemingly every day, I awoke this morning with this reminder from an online friend, Paul McGowan, that music soothes the soul.

This is what he said:

The arithmetic of music

Reader Per Borgen from Denmark was kind enough to send me this quote:

“…Musik ist die versteckte arithmetische Tätigkeit der Seele, die sich nicht dessen bewußt ist, daß sie rechnet.” – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Music is a hidden arithmetic exercise of the soul, which does not know that it is counting.

Isn’t that gorgeous? And what fascinates me even more about music is how it communicates with each of us without barriers of language.

The songs we enjoy are received by each of us in our own way—speaking a unique language, our souls calculating meaning in the background.

How cool that all of us reading this blog are into the same thing, inspired by the same notes, calculating our own answers, using our own math.

I never thought of music as an exercise in arithmetic—but how awesome is it the answers are all different for each.

END

When I am in despair I listen to music and it always works for me. And it is not just the music. Often the words the singer sings to the music helps to sooth my mind or makes me think.

One such piece of music I heard only recently and I now play it every day. The music is beautiful and the words give me much comfort.

Ancient Words

By Michael W. Smith

Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart
Oh, let the ancient words impart

Words of Life, words of Hope
Give us strength, help us cope
In this world, where e’er we roam
Ancient words will guide us home

Chorus
Ancient words ever true
Changing me and changing you
We have come with open hearts
Oh, let the ancient words impart

Holy words of our Faith
Handed down to this age
Came to us through sacrifice
Oh heed the faithful words of Christ

Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart
Oh let the ancient words impart

Chorus
Ancient words ever true
Changing me and changing you
We have come with open hearts
Oh, let the ancient words impart
.
END

I pray that all of you reading this will find some comfort today, as I have done.

I leave you with a quote from the late, great Caribbean musician Bob Marley:

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”