THERE HAVE BEEN MANY BIG BANGS. The star called Arcturus, for instance, has no relationship with our expanding Universe, but came from another big bang and holds its geometry within another expanding Universe. As the dying Hubble telescope continues to show us, there are galaxies beyond galaxies beyond anything that we can imagine. The idea that we are here on planet Earth as the sole conscious life form anywhere in Existence is ludicrous. We get excited at the prospect of the consideration that there might be water on Mars and construe that it might conceivably be able to support life forms. Scientifically one could propose that water means life, but science is based in reason, and reason is generally held as the most important thing by which we guide and live our lives. The fallacy of this notion is that reason only ever gives us a partial glimpse of our reality and does not allow us to see much beyond a limited understanding of things.

Another side of our grasp on how we place ourselves in life is through belief systems. We can become so attuned to a particular faith or belief that has probably been handed down to us in the first place by someone who had it all handed down to them from somewhere else, that we can consider a singular faith-based concept as equivalent to the whole of reality. A little objectivity and detachment from our belief systems can soon shake us into a more conscious state of reality. However, if we continue to surround ourselves with the people and notions that support these belief systems, and forget to reflect on our own realizations, we remain permanently sidetracked and isolated from our reality. Society has allowed itself to be misled through priests, who feed us religious belief systems and politicians and powermongers who distribute censored, televised garbage that keep us entrapped within tiny parameters. We listen to religious sermonizing and political discourse and for some strange reason expect to hear the truth. It is not there.

Truth can be approached through logic and belief, but it cannot be known through logic or belief. Truth can only be known through a deep silence and an inner sensibility. Meditation can give us access to these inner spaces and music can facilitate our sensibility by taking us between sounds and silences and rendering us into a space of inner stillness....where, we know. We are here in life to be splendid, abundant, conscious, expansive expressions of ultimate truth, and the only way we can be in this natural state is through being ourselves, standing in our own right as an unique, knowing Being.

One of the most extraordinary people to have lived on Earth was Ludwig van Beethoven. He was born to a mother who adored him and to whom he referred as his "best friend," and a father who had musical gifts along with a fondness for alcohol and a tendency, according to history, towards an abusive nature. From early days, Beethoven was expected to perform music, often playing a violin in time with slaps from his father. When it was discovered that Beethoven actually did have musical talent, he was quickly thrust forward as a child prodigy. In his lifetime, he suffered from deafness, the most debilitating of all things for a musician.

The Garden of Eden
Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany. He was born into the incarnation that we call "the Garden of Eden," in which during his lifetime he would always feel that he had knowledge of a higher plane of existence but limited access to it. Typically people who are born into this incarnation have a very blissful first few years of life and then have all their illusions shattered by someone, generally a parent, who betrays their trust. They then find themselves pursuing every conceivable avenue in life in an attempt to regain their previous blissful state. Often people with the incarnation of "the Garden of Eden" enter into various love relationships, mostly of a disastrous nature, since they are equating the experience of love as the closest thing attainable to their previous blissful state. In the end what someone with this incarnation must know about themself is that bliss is an inner experience and that when they experience this bliss they are actually returned to the space within themself that equates with "the Garden of Eden."

The generator
In design terms, Beethoven has four centers defined including the sacral Center, otherwise known as the generator center. People who have the generator center defined have access to almost unlimited sources of life force energy. When they get involved in something they have the energy to continue with it until either the project is completed or they become exhausted. Inevitably, if they get involved in a project that is not suitable for them in terms of what is healthy for them in life, they can find themselves pouring their energy into something that will never really bring them any satisfaction. Consequently, generators are very prone to being frustrated people.

There are three defined channels in Beethoven's Design chart. The 2-14, the channel that is mysteriously called "the keeper of the keys," gives access to a deep attunement with cosmic timing. Those who have this channel defined carry a very individual approach to sustaining their life's direction outside of what are considered "normal" restraints. Consequently, throughout his lifetime Beethoven will have found himself defying everyone who expected him to perform in a particular way.

He also has the channel 10-57 defined, the channel of the "survivor" who is attuned through intuition, to an individual behavior pattern that takes them through all manner of obstacles confronting them in their lifetime. Again, someone who has this channel defined in their Design chart tends to defy the expectations of other people. Beethoven will have found himself in his lifetime constantly going against the expectations that society held for him in his own personal need to survive, even to the point of sometimes becoming an outcast.

Beethoven also has the channel 44-26 defined, the channel of the "transmitter." This particular channel can carry with it the great ability of soothing hearts. It is true to say for many of us that we often do not have great clarity of what we really want in our lives. A gift of those who have the "transmitter channel" defined is to be able to convey to others a clear sense of what it is they really want. Even so, as such a strong individual he had the potential to confound others with his very particular ways, inevitably, Beethoven was also able to transmit to others a sense of tranquility and ease into their lives. Probably the times when he found himself most misunderstood in his speech, ways and actions would be the times that Beethoven's music would have its most profound effect on everyone around him.

The undefined centers
In his design chart, Beethoven has five undefined centers. The nature of an undefined center is that of reflecting the world back to itself. In Design, any defined center is fixed in its particular expression through any channel that defines it. An undefined center, however, is not fixed to any particular form of expression, but rather has the flexibility to interact through any definitions that come about through engaging with other people's Designs. In his undefined Crown center, Beethoven had Neptune activating gate 64, the gate of unlimited possibilities, indicating that inspirationally, there were very few places that Beethoven could not access.

In his undefined Ajna Center, Beethoven had gate 24, the gate associated with a refining mental process, activated by Uranus in the fifth line indicating a striking ability to let go of concepts that don't work in order to make room for concepts that do work. In his lifetime of writing many great musical works for many clients, Beethoven had the ability to rewrite large pieces when they were found to not please their audiences at first playing. He also had his Sun activating gate 11, the gate of ideas, in the second line dedicated to promoting an ongoing resourcefulness. When one considers the body of work that came through Beethoven's genius, it is clear that he never stopped reaching for bold new concepts.

An undefined Throat Center has the ability to express for others what they cannot express for themselves. In his early years, Beethoven probably found himself constrained to make the appearance of fulfilling the needs of those who gave him commissions, often saying to people whatever it was he felt they needed to hear so that they could support him to get on with his work. It is said that from his early thirties at the onset of the grim realization that his hearing was quickly fading, Beethoven would find himself struggling to relate clearly through speech with many people in his life, including some of his dearest friends. He would often write letters in an attempt to make amends for things that had been previously miscommunicated in speech or attitude, recognizing an underlying need to have the support of those who honored his great abilities.

Emotionally, Beethoven was almost always as the mercy of those who had strong feelings. An undefined Emotional Center is susceptible to the emotional waves generated by other people. Beethoven would have found refuge in playing on people's emotions through his music but would have found no lasting and consistent appreciation and enjoyment of his own feelings through his relationships with those who sought intimacy with him, unless they were very clear in their intentions towards him. It is said that Beethoven frequently became enamored with many of his female students even though many of them were married.

In his undefined Root Center, Beethoven has gate 60 activated. This gate is associated with human limitations, activated by Venus, the planet associated with relating, including who and what we draw to us in our lives, in the first line of "acceptance." For most people, the onset of deafness is a limitation that can change their life completely; for Beethoven, even though his deafness brought intense frustration, so deeply did he know the sounds and silences within himself that he was able to bring forth some of the greatest and most inspiring music that this world has ever heard. It is almost as though the severe limitation of deafness inspired him to rise to new and untold heights.

In conclusion
It can be said that within Beethoven's music he was able to bring the sounds of the universe into the human realm of expression. Even as his hearing failed and his ability to listen to the notes he played vanished, he found that he knew the sounds and silences, tones and harmonies, melodies and pitches so profoundly inside himself that his abilities went beyond all boundaries. He literally scored the sounds of the Universe.

If you give yourself time to listen to Beethoven’s music and find a space of relaxation into which his music flows, you will be transported into an inner place of blissful knowing inside yourself that goes through and beyond logic and beliefs. Such was the gift that Beethoven, a man stricken with deafness, was able to give the world. In the end, for whom was he writing his music? It could not have been for himself because he was unable to hear it. He was writing it for the stars and the ever expanding Universes.

Next month: What would you like to see? Steven Spielberg, the magician