In preparing a memorial service for someone in whom music was an important part of their life, I was struck by the teaching that says, "the ability [to play music] does not have its origin in the natural world but in the spiritual world... harmonious sound and the various forms it takes correspond to the states of joy and gladness of those in the spiritual world" (AC 8337). Albert Einstein once said, “if I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. I get most joy in my life out of my violin.” Ever since the dawn of time, music has been an expression of the heart, affecting us all deeply (whether or not we can sing or play an instrument). So, it shouldn’t surprise us that music features strongly in a person’s transition from this world to the next.
There are a number of popular books like Proof of Heaven and Heaven is for Real that recount the “Near Death Experiences” of people who underwent some type of physical trauma that triggered temporary clinical “death” which, in turn, allowed them to witness the beginnings of their transition from this world to the next (only to return later back into their physical body). Many of these accounts mention the sound of indescribably beautiful music. Don Piper, in his book 90 Minutes in Heaven, said, “music was the single most vivid memory I have of my entire heavenly experience. I call it music, but it differed from anything I had ever heard or ever expect to hear on the earth.” He goes on to say, “it was the most beautiful and pleasant sound I’ve ever heard… I felt awestruck, wanting only to listen… I felt as if the heavenly concert permeated every part of my being.” And “I didn’t hear such songs as The Old Rugged Cross or The Nail-Scarred Hand. None of the hymns that filled the air were about sacrifice or death. I heard no sad songs.”
The teachings of the New Church confirm the presence of music in the afterlife, describing it as an indescribably beautiful form of music, being both instrumental and vocal, flowing into the very soul of the listener (see True Christian Religion 745). Another teaching says the singing in the spiritual world fills the mind with such gladness that it feels to the listener as if they have been taken up into heaven (see Conjugial Love 81). This helps explain why music in all its forms is such an important part of our life here on earth.