Observations placeholder

recorded in Volume 1, of the book by Frederic W. H. Myers Human Personality, etc. The percipient and reporter is the psychologist, Dr. R. Hodgson, Secretary for the United States' branch of the "Society for P.R." He writes:

One of the most striking events in my life happened to me when I was 18 or 19. It was the hearing of transcendental music, which began during sleep and continued to be perceptible when I woke up; this lasted for at least fifteen minutes. That's why I can remember it perfectly. By the time I was subject to this experience, I clearly realized that I was listening to music "that was not of this world."

It did not remain imprinted in my memory a special motif, but I can affirm that the music was very complicated, rich in rhythms, very soft and that it gave the impression of an ineffable homogeneity, while it seemed to invade the whole atmosphere. I was awakened by the music itself and stayed listening, as in ecstasy. I remember as I listened, I looked at a star visible through the half-open shutters. The dawn was then breaking, and the music seemed to fade and die when the dawn began to appear.

Any intellectual enjoyment that I have experienced in life through the hearing of earthly music is not even comparable to the serene, quiet, heavenly joy that invaded me when I listened to this transcendental music. The effect it had on my mind was such that I decided to take violin lessons, and I persevered for four years. (Signed: Dr. Richard Hodgson.)