At the very deepest place in me there is a conviction music is the universal language of healing. Music evokes an emotional response in people, and at the very core of all healing is emotion. If you feel better, you are better. Even in the face of terminal diseases, almost all people turn to music for solace and comfort. It is the one thing in the world I know of where the solitary heart can find peace.

Above all other art forms, music is the one form enabling the communication of emotion without dilution. I don't have to know what Pavirotti is singing to feel the depth of his heart when he sings. I don't have to know the story of Prokofiev's life, or what was thinking when he wrote his 2nd symphony in B flat minor to know how it feels.

That's the real beauty and timelessness of music. Emotion can transcend time, language, social mores, and personal history. No matter what has happened to someone, how they were raised, or what kind of social imperitives they have been taught, music connects to that mysterious and marvelous place of sacredness at the core of our being. It is part and parcel of the spiritual well in all of us and it calls on us to be true to ourselves.

For me personally, until I started answering that call, I was not whole, nor could I get whole without listening to the true song of my heart. As I started to hear that song, and learned to sing it, I began to heal. I was able to finally quit using drugs and alcohol to numb out my feelings. It was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes as I realized my emotions were my only connection to the sacred. Emotions would tell me when I was doing right, when I was out of balance, when I was doing wrong. Emotions commucicate these things to me musically.

When I am out of balance, or not doing the work my heart is calling for me to do, I can hear a discord in the true song of my heart if I am listening. When I am listening, I make better decisions, I treat people better, and I am more connected to what I need as well. By virtue of learning to hear and sing this song, I have become a more complete person and a much better man (in the fullest sense of the word) than I ever was before.

Once I learned to sing the true song of my heart, the real songwriter in me started to come out. Now, I had written some decent songs before this time, but it was more a matter of miracle than real intent. Today, the songs I am most proud of are the ones I have written since I came to understand how music connects me to the world and to myself. I have accepted I was given certain gifts and wounds for the purpose of saying things others with the same wounds cannot say for themselves. I understand I have a responsibility for these gifts. I believe it is imperative for me to write songs and to sing them whenever the opportunity presents its self. I feel the doing of this will bless me and those my gifts are intended for.

Alton Rex
Austin, TX — Aug, 2000

• Sacred Ground