Music and Humanist Spirituality (Part 2)

There’s a long history of music as a healing agent. As Confucius taught, “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” But it’s more than pleasure. It’s like medicine. One of the founders of western medicine, Hippocrates, treated mentally troubled folks he called “frenetic” by bringing them to temples to listen to healing symphonia. According to Chad Woodford, who writes on music technology, “When we listen to harmonious music, we are attuning our entire being to something beyond itself: our minds, our hearts, our bodies, + our souls. He calls this energetic chiropractic adjustment in the sense that it is restoring order and wholeness to a system out of alignment.

SOME SOURCES

Listening To Music As Spiritual Practice, Chad J Woodford - July 6, 2023
https://medium.com/atha-yog%C4%81nu%C5%9B%C4%81sanam/listening-to-music-as-spiritual-practice-d373ecbb0be

Music As Medicine by Daniel Levitin review – musician, heal thyself
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/14/music-as-medicine-by-daniel-levitin-review-musician-heal-thyself

Howard Gardner
https://www.howardgardner.com/howards-blog/the-intelligences-of-making-music-a-personal-exploration
https://www.simplypsychology.org/musical-intelligence.html

Why I love Music, Spiritual Experiences, J. C. King
https://medium.com/real-stories/why-i-love-music-1d4f14896e3b

Music as Spiritual Practice - September 2, 2021, Judi Neal
https://edgewalkers.org/music-as-spiritual-practice/

Listening To Music As Spiritual Practice, Chad J Woodford - July 6, 2023
https://medium.com/atha-yog%C4%81nu%C5%9B%C4%81sanam/listening-to-music-as-spiritual-practice-d373ecbb0be

Spirituality and Humanism, Jeremy Rodell
https://humanists.uk/humanistlife/spirituality-and-humanism/