This story was once told of a famous Hollywood star who was noted for his sarcastic wit. Once when he was leaving a party at which he had been particularly nasty, he turned to the group and said, "I wish to apologize to anyone whom I failed to insult tonight, I assure you the omission was unintentional." As I tackle subject after subject in this newsletter I am apparently beginning to step on a few toes. Several subscribers have called complimenting me on certain articles but complaining that I was being overly critical in others. For the record the complaints and compliments on specific articles balance out which tells me that my aim is not to far off the mark. It also says much about the diversity of our subscribers which I feel is a good thing.

Many of these complaints remind me of the old southern country woman who went to church smoking her corncob pipe. She was vocally supportive of the minister as he preached on the evils of adultery, gambling and drink. When he began, however, on the vice of smoking she became quiet and, turning to her neighbor said, "Now, he's stopped preaching and started meddling!"

This is not to say that my opinion is always right or that I am not willing to reverse myself if I can be shown the error of my ways. The only goal of this newsletter is to provide you with truthful information for the betterment of your physical, mental and emotional health. I shall not fail to address a subject because my view is unpopular or the proponents are aggressive. Which leads into our subject of modern popular music.

Some years ago a team of investigators who were experimenting with the effects of various stimuli on muscle strength decided to test the effects of music on their subjects. To their surprise they found that different forms of music did indeed have a profound effect upon muscles strength and efficiency. The various forms of Rock music caused a very definite weakening of muscle response. Classical music, on the other hand, increased muscle strength, while light "Muzak" fare had almost no effect.

Surely any father or mother forced to listen to the latest "group" could have told them this without all the research. They will tell you they feel totally limp after listening to one of these records.

T.V.'s sit-coms are filled with such "generation gap" plots but it is in reality no laughing matter. Society has spent many thousands of years pulling itself up from inherent savagery to a point we like to call civilized man. We have come too far to be dragged down again by such cacophony which attempts to exhume in us the remnants of the bestiality we have tried so hard to control.

These muscle effects are caused by the Law of vibrations. ALL life is but the manifestation of vibrations. The nature of the atom itself is governed by the vibrations of its electrons. If these changes, the atom's whole character changes. As it is with the atom so is it with man. He is what the totality of his vibrations make him. The only way he can change is to rise or lower the vibrations of his body elements. Outside influences which are beneficial are so because they rise his vibrations. Those influences which are detrimental always lower his vibrations. This is what caused the recorded results of the aforementioned muscle testing. The rock music caused a lowering of the bodies' vibration rate and in turn a weakening of the muscles. Classical music, on the other hand, raised the vibration rate and improved muscle tone. Innocuous background music had no noticeable effect on the vibration rate.

As detrimental as modern music is upon our vibration rate, its insidious effects only begin there. Drugs seem to be an indispensable adjunct to the pop music milieu, there being, according to most authorities few musicians who can refrain from these mind altering substances. Since many of these performers are our youth's idols they are easily led into the drug culture by the music and lifestyle of their heroes. There was a time when the heroes of our youth accepted the honor with a certain responsibility to keep their own lives clean and above reproach (at least as far as the public was concerned), but now anything goes. These present idols seem to have the morals of the worst debauchee of the past.

Rock-style music has been accurately compared to junk foods in its effects upon the system. Both appeal to the most unrefined and crudest of human senses but offer little real nourishment to the inner man. Imagine, if you will, the effect upon a small child who grows up in a household with these destructive vibrations permeating the atmosphere. Is it little wonder we live in the age of the "hyperactive" child?

Where does all this music come from? Some feel it is due to a conspiracy to destroy us as a responsible, thinking nation. The advocates of this theory point out that many nations, such as the U.S.S.R., do all they can to prevent such musical performances within their own borders. While I can not entirely discount this position I personally think that the cause is much more basic. The real force behind junk music is the same as that behind junk food - plain old human greed. It is usually very profitable to appeal to the lower nature of mankind. In the same way that MacDonald's laces its junk food with salt and sugar to tempt the crudest of taste sensations so is the flash and beat of rock music made to titillate the basest human emotions. As a MacDonald's diet can benumb the senses to the delightful taste sensations present in properly prepared natural foods, so can this rock music severely impede the ability of its listener to appreciate the beauty and elation to be derived from the music of the world's true geniuses.

What can WE do to correct this situation?

1) Write to the radio and television stations your feelings about this matter. Many of these letters will be ignored of course, but if the stations receive several they will start to think and changes will begin. Few people realize the small number of letters it takes to make an impression. Since only a few viewers or listeners write, if a certain group will organize a letter campaign it can have a real effect.

2) Write to the advertisers of offensive programs. This is very effective as these people are paying a lot of money to make you want to buy their product and they become paranoid very quickly when you write and tell them you don't like their programs and have stopped buying their product.

3) Make every effort to bring the vibration-raising harmonious music of the great masters into your home and workplace. This is the easiest way I know of to rapidly change the character of people for the better. The harmonious vibrations from this music tend to reinforce and strengthen all the better qualities of the human body and spirit while at the same time soothing the wild beast within us that tempts us to antisocial behavior.

There is in health no panacea. Our health, or lack of it, is a combination of all the pluses and minuses within and without us. To individuals truly desirous of obtaining from this life all it has to give, no detail can be to trivial, for they realize that he greatest successes are built upon many apparently trivial, but properly cared for, factors. The effects of music upon our being have a significance far beyond the belief commonly held. It is not without good reason that the wise man of old spoke of ‘The Music of the Spheres.' The wise health seeker today will not let this message go unheeded.
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