Peter,

Since you invite response to your thoughts I would like to pass some recent ideas by you for your reflection. You have a special talent for writing musicals so I hope these thoughts find some resonance in your thinking.

I have recently been elected First Reader for our little branch church in Clearwater, Florida. For the two months preceeding that event I underwent some very unusual spiritual illuminations which began with looking at some of the structures within Science and Health and reordering them. One consisted of extracting the Translation of Mortal Mind from page 115 on to my computer and placing each degree side by side rather than up and down. In so doing i came to see that my every day consciousness has three aspects and I can judge which one is taking precedence by looking for those descriptive qualities in my consciousness or a proportional per centage mix of them. Thus I have
a clearer reference for gradations of light (spirituality) in my thinking.) The next exercise was to place the various names of biblical persons given in the Glossary of S&H into their temporal order rather than leaving them in their alphabetic order. From that effort
comes a kind of sinusoidal emergence of the Christ through time. I was prompted to do
that and I have a kind of analytical bent. If you are not so prompted, you may not find the
effort as inspirational as I have.

Moving on….I also found myself reading large chunks of the Old Testament and really
getting excited about the narratives I found there. I was especially touched by the stories
of David and Jacob as read in their entirety rather than as piece meal in the lesson sermons. These became real people to me rather than simply mythic biblical characters.
They had real lives with struggles, heart break, tragedy, triumph, and exultation. I would
love to see a musical movie done about the lives of these two remarkable men in two
separate films. In analogous terms the vehicle which conveys these stories might be described as Fiddler on the Roof meets Jesus Christ Super Star. With one major exception instead of just a deeply moving story about these members of the family of man the script would develop
their characters from the point of view of those 3 degrees of mind moving away from
the mortal model of the time and circumstance toward a greater closeness to God
evidenced by their speech and actions with special emphasis of certain poetic moments
in song. The life of Jacob presents so many wonderful dramatic moments I don’t know why someone hasn’t tackled this before. There is humor …think of the father in law jokes
that could be developed around the character of Laban yet in some ways he did assist
Jacob’s spiritual growth and he (as wise parents often do) knew that the less physically
and personally appealing Leah would eventually make a beter wife than the charming
but somewhat spoiled/pampered Rachel. Each of these ladies also had 3 degrees that she was dealing with. (This is where the servant girls each one had becomes an extension of the wife’s personality in a certain way.

Now what becomes clear by reordering the names of Jacob’s sons in
the glossary is that they constitute a ladder of spiritual growth constituting the outward manifestation of Jacob’s upward climb on the ladder of spirituality from sense to soul…degree 1 to degree 3 in 14 steps….yup the grandkids are part of the pattern
just like Paul and the replaement for Judas added up to 14 Apostles that included
Matthias and Paul. Look at the competition for Jacob’s favor between the wives. A great
love triangle there. Consider the moment of Benjamin’s birth where the baby is
given two names one by his mother who lost her mortal sense of life in the birth
moment while Jacob evidently was coming into top form and acknowleding his
spiritual growth and power even though he had not yet become Israel his
connection with his fundamental spiritual innocence represented by his wife
Rachel (ewe, sheep, innocence) now had a second witness to confirm it. Despite his questionable beginnings he was now a man of rightousness, a prince of this world and ready to receive the spiritual blessing that transformed him into Israel. A blessing which Issac (spiritual joy) could not have given to his unregenerate son Esau despite the custom of the time.

Think of the musical opportunities that could develop as Jacob contemplates the heavens
and his love for Rachel during those 7 years of watching the herds for his father in law.
though good weather and bad through lambing season and in the presence of predators
along with other shepherds whom he may have had to train to do the job right.
Jacobs story on the ouside is a rags to riches human success story, but on the inside it
is an even more gripping tale of spiritual transformation. This has all the appeal of a “disguised character” that Shakespear knew all too well how to capitalize on in his plays
and the audiences loved being in on the secret. Ah…yes….The Secret!

The story of David and Bathsheba has been done. Still there is a lot more material
to be worked with in terms of David’s relationship with Absalom, his other sons, wives,
and especially Soloman who would be handed both the throne and the spiritual
responsibilities connected with it What would have been the relationship between
Solomon and Absalom? Maybe there will be some archaeological evidence come to
light that will help set the stage for a renewed interest in David and Solomon and
that time in Hebrew history. The market for musicals hasn’t been as good as it used to be, but maybe something like these stories that everyone thinks they are so familiar with
would be delighted to come at them again with fresh eyes and eager ears. There is also
an interesting point to make if you do both these stories. jacob saw angels. David and Solomon talked with God and had prophets and eventually the temple, but it is not recorded that they ever had any contact with angels. How curious!

Have you actually read….This is your Brain on Music? I liked it very much, but
am only about half way through it. Your link doesn’t go to that book on Amazon.

I have also been fascinated by the mathematical work on chord relationships that
is being developed at Princeton. A bit more intellectually challenging.
Not light reading.

I really liked your compositions of “The Prodigal” and “Gloria” that’s partly why
I thought you would be excited about the suggestions for Biblically based musicals.

its your turn to riff….

David