Reprinted witht he Kind Permission of The Dreamtimes, the newsletter of The Dreamtime - Numerology Astrology Readings Free and Detailed
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The Gift of Gabe, by Brian Joseph
Reviewed by: Brett Simpson
A fascinating journey through the poetry of Blake, Gibran and the song lyrics of popular songs by the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, the Police, Nektar, Supertramp, George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
This spiritual soul searching guide to awareness through Eastern thought, physics and poetry is played out through a chance meeting with an "old man in the woods" on his way home from work. Gabe is his name, and he turns out to be even more than the author could ever imagine.
Gabe gives the author many things to think about, and hands him a book (usually a deep thought-provoking one by Carl Jung, Richard Bucke, Einstein, David Bohm, Krishnamurti or Joseph Campbell) every time he visits.
Through Gabe's intellectual improvisations we come to understand that the songs we thought of as 'pop gems' are really also hiding spiritually awakening/thought provoking messages and philosophical concepts played out in music and lyrics.
Gabe also waxes philosophic about the masterpiece rock songs of Jimi Hendrix (Purple Haze and Little Wing). He believes that Jimi is someone that was going through a deep awareness experience - similar to samadhi, or kundalini rising.
Also included are songs by Nektar, Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here, Breathe), Jethro Tull and the Police (especially Sting). Overall there are over 90 songs that Gabe shares, and each one is a deep experience involving awareness, and our place in the universe.
Eventually a friendship grows as Gabe shares more of his own 'personal philosphy' on consciousness and our enculturation (see The Crack in the Cosmic Egg by Joseph Chilton Pearce) process. Through it all simple appetite pleasures: blueberry pie, donuts, pizza or strawberries dipped in chocolate segue into deep discussions between the author and Gabe regarding everything about our human condition and our own spiritual awareness in the 20th century.
I wished that the discussions would have went further and gone even deeper into the material - including the exact lyrics and book sections - but copyright issues probably created problems here. Some of the poetry that Gabe shares is from past students and friends and is not as well written as the Blake material, but it does fit in with the story.
My only complaint is I wanted this to last longer and go more into the lyrics. According to an interview at the website this is part 1 of a trilogy, the next book will go into even more Beatles tunes such as Penny Lane among others - we'll have to wait for that... and would hope that book and the third spend more time on the concepts in context with the actual song lyrics (if possible).
This genuine thought-provoking (and conversation stimulating) book deserves a place on any shelf, especially for Beatles or Jimi Hendrix fans who are also interested in going further with the message(s) in the songs, messages that even the musiciansand artists were not aware of!
Rating 4/5 - Any music lover or 60's fan is going to love this book. If you crave deep thought, especially about the rock songs of your past, this book deserves to be on your bookshelf right next to your albums. Any Beatles fan will also find it to be a mosaic of rich and intuitive thought gems. Recommended.
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