The Ultimate Element

"When I was born, the nurse told my mother that I was going to be a musician. Now, I don’t know if she was one of Dionne Warwick’s psychic friends or if she had the gift of prophesy, but there is something mystical about that. Therefore, I’m not uncomfortable with the mystic.

Jesus Christ was the Master mystic. You can’t rule that out in music - you know that’s part of life. I knew throughout my life that some things in life are mystical, like our relationships for instance." - Bernard Wright during a conversation in 2003 with John Anthony Martinez in Dallas, TX [1]


I want to make it clear that when Bernard uses the terms “mystic” and “mystical”, he is in no way using these words in the sense of their occult meanings. He is using these terms as defined in Webster’s as having a spiritual meaning or reality that is neither apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence, or involving or having the nature of an individual's direct subjective communion with God or ultimate reality.

During the height of British Empiricism from the 17th Century through the late 18th Century, many artists either lost their Divine connection or simply refused to acknowledge the source of their talents. Empiricists asserted that the only thing one could be certain of was what happened in the laboratory.

Here is what author and apologist Dr. Ravi Zacharias had to say about one of the most respected Scottish philosophers of the 18th Century in his lecture on “Apologetics and Worldviews”.

David Hume (1711-1776) said, “If we take in our hands any volume of divinity or school of metaphysics for instance, let us ask:

• Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No.

• Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No.

Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.”

Humes’ suggestion that meaningful statements are either mathematical or scientific raises a question right from the beginning, because his definition itself is neither mathematical nor scientific. It is a metaphysical pronouncement about these certainties.

I am examining the seven elements of music as an art and a science, while never forgetting that there is a spiritual or mystical side to it as well. Whether this happens to be your paradigm or not, I have concluded that music is ultimately a gift from God.

Here is a good example of what I mean. As a boy, Mozart was able to write out from memory every note of the elaborate “Miserere” upon hearing it only once during a performance at the Vatican. This composition was protected by papal decree and by law this work could not be performed anywhere else. The only copy was closely guarded by the Vatican. Any attempt to copy it was punishable by excommunication. Mozart’s punishment for this feat of phenomenal genius was receiving the coveted Golden Cross of the Order of the Golden Spur, the second highest Papal Order of Chivalry, from the Pope himself.

I recognize, as the Pope did against his own decree, the gifts of God. When I examine the world around me, His fingerprints can be found in the heavens, in nature, and in the endowments that He has given men and women to think and act creatively. When natural abilities go so beyond the usual, as was the case with Wolgang Amadeus Mozart, the spiritual element in music becomes increasingly difficult to deny or ignore by anyone that is willing to be honest.

I highly recommend the book, “Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers” by Patrick Kavanaugh for further study on the subject.


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[1] Bernard Wright a.k.a. Nard (born 1963) is an American funk and jazz keyboardist born in Miami, Florida. Wright was offered a slot touring with Lenny White when he was 13, and he played with Tom Browne at age 16.^[1] GRP Records signed him in 1981 and released his debut LP, 'Nard, tracks from which have been prominently sampled by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Skee-Lo,and LL Cool J among countless others. He followed with Funky Beat on Arista and Mr. Wright on EMI. The latter of these albums included his biggest R&B hit, "Who Do You Love" for which a video was made. Wright has also appeared on recordings by musicians such as Cameo, Bobby Brown, Pieces of a Dream, Charles Earland, Marcus Miller and Miles Davis. He attended the Fiorello Laguardia High School of Music & The Performing Arts in New York. Classmates included writer Carl Hancock Rux, gospel recording artist Desiree Coleman Jackson, rappers Slick Rick and Dana Dane. He recorded three of the most influential Gospel albums during the late 1980s and early 1990's: "Brand New Gospel Format", "Fresh Hymns" and "Fresh Hymns 2". His new approach to sacred music paved the way for artists such as Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammon, and Isreal Houghton.