A friend, recently introduced me to award winning singer/songwriters Jan Garett and JD Martin because she thought their song, The Spaces In Between Us, weaved perfectly with the theme of my blog, Enter the Between.
When I heard the song for myself, I said, “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
For over a year, I’ve been trying to articulate the spirit behind my novels, the force behind this blog. But all I managed to come up with was a post called A Word From My Protagonist.
Sure, I’ve talked about The Between as a bridge that connects, a place (behind the scenes, between the lines) where one’s creative and spiritual lives overlap, and a place where one’s true self dwells.
I’ve compared The Between to Deepak Chopra’s Hidden Dimension of Life, Robert Butler’s White Hot Center of the Unconscious, Kabir Helminski’s Threshold Between Two Worlds and Janet Conner’s Intersection.
I have talked about how we are suspended between an outer world and the mystery of the inner world and how it pays to expand the size of this meeting point and the frequency of our visits there.
But I haven’t been able to pin my message down.
And then, when I heard the song, The Spaces in Between, and read its background story, I felt that at least two others understood–and had put into words–much of what I was trying to say.
Today, with Jan and JD’s consent, I share the song and its back story with you (Italics and bolds added for emphasis).
The Spaces In Between Us
Sensory overload. Too-much-information. Tweets, blogs, spam, 24-hour news cycles, friending-defriending-defending-spending, everybody’s 15 minutes of fame….constantly, simultaneously, extraneously, crowding, clouding, comparing, contrasting.
We love this quote: “If the under-examined life is not worth living, perhaps the over-examined life is not worth reading.”
In the midst of all this madness there is a Heart of Harmony we are all longing to tune into. It’s the direct experience of remembering, with great relief, who we really are. This unfathomable mystery is everywhere present and always available, the lovely voluptuous emptiness that gives rise to everyone and everything. Deepak Chopra calls it pure potentiality, the field of all possibility. As vast and un-knowable as it sounds, it also feels very familiar and benevolent, an infinitely personal gift: The spaces in-between us.
JD and I are very fortunate to have a brilliant cranial sacral osteopathic healer. I think he’s a genius, but he insists that for the most part he doesn’t really DO anything. He just gently tunes us into the universal open space….and then that invites the mind-body-spirit-heart to relax and come into the natural still point where it remembers its original divine blueprint. Then everything re-configures beautifully from the inside out. I have absolutely no idea how it works, but it does, and I feel incredibly grateful.
Artists are completely comfortable working with negative space. Musicians know that the silence that gives rise to the sound. Rests are as important as the notes themselves. You can’t have one without the other. Hopefully even the best of friends and the most passionate of lovers are wise enough to cherish their alone time, and generous enough to offer that spaciousness to themselves and each another on a regular basis.
Deep space. There are galaxies millions of light years away, dazzling the night sky. And when we try going inward to pin down the atom, the energy keeps whirling into smaller and smaller orbits until we realize that ultimately there’s nothing there. Just energy, information, and consciousness. Apparently there’s no such thing as solid matter, anywhere. Stardust is really just a bright idea in the mind of God.
We might as well make ourselves at home.
Einstein is rumored to have said that the most important question anyone can ask, and answer, for themselves is this: “Is this a friendly universe?” Hopefully this song will help nudge us in the direction of a resounding YES.
(We wrote this song with Lisa Aschmann, a very talented and prolific award-winning songwriter from Nashville. Visit her website.
Here is a link to the complete song, The Spaces In Between Us. You might want to listen in as you read the lyrics below.
The Spaces In Between Us
Lisa Aschmann, Jan Garrett, & JD Martin © 2011
“There is a Heart of Harmony we are all longing to tune into.”
“This unfathomable mystery is everywhere present and always available, the lovely voluptuous emptiness that gives rise to everyone and everything.”
“The Spaces In Between Us.”
Thank you Jan and JD for your awesome perspective.
I do believe there are a lot of mysteries between the spaces of our lives. You never know what will come to change what you will do.
Hi Dorothy. I'm reading a wonderful book right now called "Inspiration," by Dr. Wayne Dyer. He talks about a "point of union with the Source" and a place where your "mind transcends limitations." There are so many ways to define the mysteries of the between. I love the part where the above song says, "the breath I take before I sing," and "the vast potential of the heart."
Great blog. I am also reading a few different books that discuss the mysteries of life and the here after. They are giving me so much insight.
Hi Judy. Yes, there is so much material available these days with fascinating perspectives on life's many mysteries.
This is lovely and stirring.
Hi Judy. I so agree.
Beautiful – Touching – Soul-stirring. That's all I can say.
Yes, Ed. You summed the song–and its back story–up well.
The lyrics are awesome, very moving.
Hi Self Sagacity. I just read in today's paper that psychologists are finding a "significant trend toward narcissism and hostility in popular music." How sad. Just when we need to emphasize harmony and togetherness. Guess that's another reason I like "The Spaces In Between Us" and old songs like "Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney and