Since I can remember, there was an innermost intention to express in art and music what I perceived of the world small and at large. I started drawing when I was three and playing music wherever I could find something that would make a sound. When I was able to write I started creating poetry and short stories, starting at the age of nine. This urge to express never ended. I was able to overcome many challenges in life through my gift to express, which was a blessing.

When I was eleven years old I had a piano teacher who introduced me to a method called “The Inner Hearing.” This method was a process of awakening to the reality of inner dimensions and the recognition that “The World is Sound—Nada Brahma” as the Indians say. I started composing music.

The love and gratitude I received through this process was much more than one could expect on a personal level and the effects on others of my art, writing, and music had was another wonderful gift and experience. I always felt that if one person could be reached and touched deeply, I had accomplished my goal. I was able to reach many beings and sharing my creative expression was much more gratifying than I ever expected.

One personal incident of how music can facilitate forgiveness was when I had a very traumatic experience when I was very young. It was the attempt of a rape which I escaped with a blue eye and a broken finger. The man who did this to me became a very famous writer and many years later I found myself at a party where he was present. I was asked to sing a song and there was this man in this small audience sitting in front of me. I felt a lot of pain and anxiety, but I took my guitar and sang a song I composed to a poem of Rudyard Kipling. The poem is called “IF.” After I finished, the man started crying and weeping, and came to me asking for forgiveness.

So, yes—I know deep in my heart that whatever works through us and enables us to express love and beauty comes from a non personal place we all share and that’s why we feel so deeply touched, whether we are “creators” or “perceivers”—it is ultimately the same. We all share this together. This is why art, poetry, and music brings us all back to our true nature, which is love, forgiveness, joy, and peace.

Harmony—balance and freedom—is at the core of all beings. Music as the most transparent form of art has a divine quality which is in it’s nature spiritual and transcending. I hope that music and art will bring humanity to a recognition which allows everyone to become free from feeling “separated” and where everyone feels consciously connected and will not harm other beings out of fear and confusion.