Inner peace has been the ultimate aim of every spiritual tradition. Although the paths may differ, they all seek to free the human heart from the turmoil created by fear, anxiety, attachment, and the unpredictable nature of life. We cannot prevent suffering, loss, illness, or disappointment, but we can learn to respond to them in a way that preserves our inner balance.

Many people mistakenly believe that peace depends upon favorable circumstances. They imagine that once life's problems are resolved, relationships improve, financial security is achieved, or health is restored, tranquillity will naturally follow. Yet experience tells us otherwise. Even those who appear to possess everything often remain restless, while others living in hardship display remarkable serenity. This suggests that peace is not primarily a condition of the world around us, but a quality of our relationship with it.

In “Songs from the Rubble,” Ahmad “Muin” Abu Amsha, a Palestinian musician, composer, and educator, offers a different perspective. When the sound of the war in Gaza renders the children of Palestine mute, music becomes an act of resilience, compassion, and hope.

This vision is deeply rooted in Ahmed’s own life and work. Coming from a musical family, Ahmed has dedicated his life to spreading music as a message of peace, love, and dignity. Before the war, Ahmed taught guitar performance, music production, and music education at the American International School of Gaza, the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, and the Delia Arts Foundation. He also founded Awtar for Sound Production Studio, where he composed, produced, and engineered music ranging from children’s songs and commercials to wedding music and popular tracks.

The conversations with composers and musicians in this issue approach the theme with a range of views that often overlap or complement one another. Tiokasin Ghosthorse elucidates the Lakota way of living “with Earth,” listening to the ”Standing Silent Nation” that is the natural world. For Ghosthorse, music arises from “living with silence,”  listening to the songs and harmony already present. William Allaudin Mathieu invites us to rethink our assumptions by proposing that listening is active while playing is passive. While Mathieu’s ideas on listening are close to those of Ghosthorse, in his Sufi perspective music can be a double-edged sword; it can help empty the mind and it can also be a veil hiding the face of the Truth. Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol describes silence as the breath that allows music to enfold. Though silence and sound appear to be opposites, “they exist because of each other and they assign meaning to each other.” For Russill Paul, the space between silence and music is not truly a space at all. It appears only when the conceptual mind divides two realities that, in spiritual experience, remain inseparable.

The melodious, open-hearted singing of Krishna Das—or KD, as friends and fans most often call him—has carried the devotional power of Indian kirtan music to millions around the world. Ecstatic fans have turned him into something of a rock star of Indian devotional music, making him arguably the most famous performer of kirtan in the history of a musical form dating back five hundred years. Certainly no one has done more to make this Hindu communal tradition more accessible to contemporary western ears, with over 300,000 albums sold. His music can infuse these soaring eastern melodies with a bluesy, rock ‘n’ roll spirit, where creative arrangements blend traditional and western instruments and rhythms. Whether in a church, concert hall or yoga workshop, engaging the audience is essential to creating the live experience of kirtan because the music is made by musicians and audience together, chanting the names of God in call and response.

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KD’s appearance as a kirtankar (one who sings kirtan) almost always draws a sell-out crowd. He had just finished a tour through Bucharest, Budapest, Prague, London, Moscow and Copenhagen before we caught up with him in New York, where he was preparing for an evening performance at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew on New York’s Upper West Side last November. We spoke with KD during the sound check as the church’s sanctuary filled to standing room capacity.