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“The Phantom of the Opera” music by Andrew Lloyd Weber reflects a deep archetypal consciousness with which you connect daily when you sleep. The popularity of the Phantom of the Opera began with its first London performance on October 8, 1986, at 8:00 pm. It continued on Broadway in 1988 and proved to be a phenomenon of great cultural depth. In January 2005, “The Phantom of the Opera” was released as a motion picture.
The relatedness to layers of awareness, touching deeply into the souls of individuals without conscious direction, changes cultures in evolutionary ways. These changes come from deep within the consciousness of the collective soul. Humans touch each other through all kinds of art, music, and theater. This level of understanding is not generally discussed or accessible in words.
My work with Noble Sciences taps into a map of how Consciousness functions. It shows that humans can translate archetypal images and symbols between worlds; through this movement of information between layers of consciousness, humans gain insight and awareness. Noble Sciences maps lay out the structure through which perception and dimensions of awareness reach cognitive organization – the mind and affect behavior.
I had this viewpoint in mind recently when I again listened to the soundtrack of “The Phantom of the Opera.” I recognized many descriptions of the worlds of awareness. Yet, these worlds of awareness are usually unconscious, i.e., remain beneath the surface of the mind. Recognizing something beyond how humans generally grasp information explains a great deal about the archetype of the story. It taps into a structure deep within the psyche that can easily be understood through the lyrics.
The first stanza of the “Music of the Night” says:
Night-time sharpens,
Heightens each sensation…
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defences…
I translate these lyrics as follows: As you move from waking daylight consciousness to consciousness present during the nighttime hours, you find a heightening of your sensations; you move through a transition zone in yourself. You move from the world outside yourself to the world within yourself. This inner world of darkness mirrors the outer world of darkness, the world of the Moon. There you find your imagination active and your senses without the defenses you usually use in the personality or persona of the outer world.
In a sense this movement from the personality world to the world of inner life shifts you dramatically in your ability to perceive; in this realm, or dimension of the self, you perceive things not perceived in your daytime world.
Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour…
Grasp it, sense it – tremulous and tender…
Turn your face away from the garish light of day,
Turn your thoughts away from cold, un-feeling light –
And listen to the music of the night…
The transition process between worlds, or dimensions of consciousness, is slow and gentle. Slowly and gently, you find a new world full of darkness. In that world, you attempt to grasp and sense something elusive as you make your way inward. You tentatively move within the depths of your awareness. You tune in to a dimension far from the light of day and far from the usual way you perceive or think. The world of daylight is foreign in this world within the darkness of the Self. It is here that you can listen and begin to perceive the music of the spheres, or of the night world.
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams!
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before!
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar!
And you’ll live as you’ve never lived before…
When you close your eyes and begin to move into the Realm of Sleep, especially deep sleep, you surrender your known self to another way of being, i.e., to a part of your self you only partially remember and know when you awake. No thoughts of the world, of reality, of third-dimensional time and space apply in this world of dreams and/or of your deepest sleep.
Symbols from this world emerge into waking consciousness through your recollection of dreams. However, in the world of sleep the limitations of your worldly life dissolve. Here you are free of all boundaries and of all mental limitations that constrict you in the daylight. Here you are free to soar into space to a world never seen or known consciously.
Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you…
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind,
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight –
The darkness of the music of the night…
This stanza describes the way you move into the world of sleep and dreams. It is as a whisper in your own being, very gentle, and fascinatingly mysterious to your waking mind. You slowly let your mind unwind. In letting go of the linear model of daylight thinking, you surrender to your deeper Self where fantasies move freely and where anything is possible and does indeed happen. You can be, in that world, all things and all beings. In that world, you are unfettered by the constraints the three-dimensional world of reality. In this alternate world, you speak another language; in this world you find a symbolic language with no words, with just sounds and music of its own.
Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world!
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before!
Let your soul take you where you long to be!
Only then can you belong to me…
This segment describes a process as you experience it from an outer perspective. You allow your mind to wander as you send it your intention to “go to sleep;” you must allow yourself to release your mind and emotions from the outer world you know in your waking state; you must surrender to the deeper plane of your soul. This surrender allows you to enter a realm, secret to your outer mind and always in the dark of this outer world. It is here/there that you belong to the Phantom. The Phantom lives in another dimensional world; the Phantom loves a part of you never experienced fully when you are in wakefulness. The worlds remain separated from one another albeit connected by your very versatility of awareness.
Floating, falling, sweet intoxication!
Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation!
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write –
The power of the music of the night…
The sensation of “falling” asleep is one of floating, falling, of being in another state of awareness. It requires internally touching of a part of your self, a trust of safety, and a sense of peaceful comfort. At night, to sleep comfortably, you generally like a warm comfortable bed, a temperature that allows your senses to be silent, and you fully to go within. It is at this place that dreams can indeed begin to soar, and the power of the “music of the night” becomes active and alive. You become the writer, the creator of your dreams and, hence, of your life.
In this place of sleep and dreams, there are creatures, symbols, concepts, and connections never made in your waking world. You “know” in this world without words, without voice, but you “know” with consciousness and power for transformation of your very nature and soul.
You alone can make my song take flight –
Help me make the music of the night…
As creator of your dreams, you become part of and create a wider universe. It is from here that you take flight into the heights of your potential realization. The metaphor of the Male and Female unity present in the story of “The Phantom of the Opera” speaks to the drive in you to find this unity in you. You experience this process daily and its completion is akin to the inner process of your dimensional worlds. It is up to you, as an individual, to allow the inner song to “take flight,” to soar; you internally allow “the music of the night” to come through to your awareness. You are a transmitter of energy and consciousness. The more you experience the union of opposites, of male and female, of day and night, of what is outside you and inside you, of the solar and the lunar worlds, the more you communicate harmony and union to others. From here, you soar beyond your boundaries.
The Phantom was a teacher in the night; he opened consciousness by being within a world of a different type and kind of communication. The “music of the night” speaks to you personally every day in/through the deepest layers of your sleep pattern. In the Dream state of your being, you communicate between your world of daylight and your world of night music. You translate as best you can. In this way, you bring your soul and spirit through into the light of your awareness.
When a play with its musical lyrics speaks strongly as “Phantom of the Opera” did to a whole generation of people, it is safe to assume that it speaks a language beyond the world of cognitive language. It speaks in a symbolic archetypal language of the Soul in ways you understand with no words. You understand with feelings familiar from some other dimension that you know well. You, as all humans and animals, must sleep and dream to remain healthy. Major health concerns would arise if you ever faced sleep deprivation. This fact demonstrates the importance of reconnecting not only with your individual soul daily, but also with the collective soul of which you are an integral part.
For the story of The Phantom of the Opera, go to: http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/musical/story/
The movie Phantom of the Opera may be of interest for you to watch. If you allow the experience fully, you may be transported through it to a new understanding of how your worlds come together in you and how you live in multiple dimensions.
The music of Andrew Lloyd Weber touches me very deeply. One morning, quite a while ago, I awoke with The Music of the Night “haunting” me. It went through my mind, continually preventing me from putting my attention anywhere but on it. I had listened to the music and lyrics many times before and always found myself deeply touched by them. But on this particular day, it went beyond that. I searched for the lyrics because I knew “something” was speaking to me; I had to listen.
Usually, when I feel the kind of pull I did, I write. When I write, the text is generally complete, without conscious thought attached to it. It is unplanned and spontaneous. And I write quickly. Yet, I never know where my process will take me. Nevertheless, I love the exploration and the expansion it brings to me and to my work. I always recognize the feeling of energy when thoughts and words want to take form. When this happens, I am always reminded of statement two on the Pattern on the Trestleboard: “Through me, its unfailing Wisdom takes form in thought and word” (Builders of the Adytum). It is a statement associated with Key Two in the Tarot and the Tree of Life. The passion of this kind of experience occurs often. Sometimes it allows me little rest.
When I copied the lyrics of The Music of the Night into a document, I knew what it said along with how and why it relates to Noble Sciences’ work. The Phantom of the Opera taps into dimensions and worlds beyond reality. As usual, Andrew Lloyd Weber’s work speaks a language completely parallel and explained in the maps and tools of Noble Sciences.
Since childhood, my interests have bridged multiple dimensions of time and space. I began reading the Collected Works of C.G. Jung when I was a teenager and spent many years after my doctorate training as a Jungian analyst. Thus, my background in working with archetypes, mythology, and dreams comes quite naturally to me. And out of my extensive work with many clients’ dreams through the years, I recognize the inner knowing you have to experience this dimension through your life experiences.
Read the lyrics. Listen to the music. Reflect. Enjoy the union of the self. And dream.
July 14, 2008
Pacific Palisades, California
The information provided herein is intended for your general knowledge only and is not intended to be, nor is it, medical advice or a substitute for medical advice. Coaching, spiritual work, and astrology are not psychotherapy or counseling and do not address mental health or DSM diagnoses. If we detect a medical or mental health condition, we will refer you for treatment to an appropriate licensed health professional.
