Messages 2003
Bach’s unswerving faith in God.
February 27th, 2003
Santa Cruz, California
Received by F.A.B.
I am here, Johann Sebastian Bach.
I am so happy you are reading about my life [Klaus Eidam’s “The True Life of J.S. Bach”]. My life was difficult, but God gave me the qualities of perseverance and tenacity. I had to be strong for my family and for myself. I also felt that my music was a calling and a gift. I was acknowledged in many ways by my contemporaries, but not in the way you do in your time. Yes, audiences were thrilled when I played, and I was honored even by King Frederick. But it was not primarily as a composer. And yes, I wrote many cantatas that were regularly performed. Yet there were many, particularly in high positions, who did not like my music, with all its novelties and bizarre (from their point of view) harmonies. I knew I was breaking new ground, but obviously could not peer 250 years into the future. I did not know I would have the reputation I now have on earth. Of course, I do understand, with all humility, my composing gifts now, with the hindsight of 250 years of mortal acknowledgment and spiritual growth in the spirit world.
It is good that you are reading the biography, for I will be able to discuss certain points made in the book as to their accuracy or lack thereof. Actually, I acknowledge that the author has courage in bucking the tide of Bach scholarship. He has wanted to see me truly as I was, and to understand the social forces that affected me. You can pardon his confrontational approach. He does that because he honestly cannot countenance (from his point of view) many legends about my life that seemed to contradict his research.
What I can say is that there were as many blessings in my life as there were trials, and I was aware of this because I truly loved God and felt close to Him. This took the sting out of many tragedies and misfortunes.
In one sense, I was able to anesthetize myself from pain because of my tenacious hold on life. That is, though I experienced pain like any other mortal, I didn’t let it interfere with those things that I felt were necessary to do.
One might think, for example, that being a child orphan would mark me for life, but it didn’t. For, whereas I always had an ache in my heart for the parents who left me so early, nevertheless I early on learned to trust God. And, just as you are discovering in your life, I found that help was always there when I needed it.
For example, when my older brother adopted me as a child, even then I understood that God loved me and was taking care of me. So that later in life, when great misfortune assailed me, I did have the means to face it calmly. My young wife’s sudden death, imprisonment, unfairness from the authorities - all these and more did not change my faith in a God whose touch I always felt. So that when I came to the spirit world, I took this closeness to God with me.
I know you didn’t expect an informational message tonight, but life is full of surprises, isn’t it?
Love, Bach