It's in my interest!

one thing this tour tought me is that music is not simply entertainment. it is a tool. at its best music is a tool of spiritual uplift and healing. that is to say, the communication that music affords can transform lives.

the other morning as i was mulling over this thought it occurred to me that it is in my best interests to sing the very song that will do the most healing. it is in my interests to do whatever i can to bring healing about. why? the answer is simple, when healing happens people are happier, they work together better, the world is more enjoyable to live in.

i had often before thought of healing as a work of selflessness- something you do because you just love other people so much. (it assuredly is selfless, in that it causes us to think of god more, and ourselves less). but it turns out that healing, giving, contributing to the world is entirely in our own interest - the more good you do, the more good you have!

so now i think, more than ever before, not, "what song do i feel like playing?" or "what song will they like the best?", but rather, "what song will communicate the thought that will heal?" This is the true riches of performance - feeling the heart and thought that is going on in the room and responding to it, meeting the hunger with spiritual sustenance.

so, what if we thought of our jobs (whether it be singing songs or working in an office) as the means by which we were going to heal people? it's in our own interest!