With respect to Dreamflight II, in Herb Ernst’s own words: The way in which music can so closely describe the various states of consciousness has always fascinated me. Just as thoughts are patterns of intelligence, so, too, is music the result of superimposing patterns of a higher intelligence onto the energy of sound. “Patterns of Intelligence” manifest on physical, mental, emotional, intuitive and spiritual levels. I feel that most contemporary music is designed to appeal to the physical and intellectual, rather than the spiritual, parts of our being. Consequently, this significant part of ourselves is neglected and unfulfilled. The Dreamflight Trilogy is the result of an endeavor that began as a desire to nourish the higher aspects of our nature through listening to music that intuitively uses tonal symbols to create a peaceful relaxation that remains even after the music is finished. I’ve written a commentary on The Dreamflight Trilogy that describes in more detail its overall scope and intention. The following is an excerpt that applies to Dreamflight II: THE ARCHETYPAL SYMBOLISM OF DREAMFLIGHT II The album opens with a minor arpeggio of bells tumbling down from a very high register, gaining in speed and complexity as it reaches its nadir, and then swinging back again, attaining its zenith, to begin another wave of cascading sound, as choir and symphony strings join in the chorus. The bells symbolize Cosmic Inspiration, or arcane Cosmic Thoughts, descending from a Higher Love-Intelligence to enter into the mundane world. The bells return to their Source (the high registers), symbolizing both the ebb and flow, like a great breath, of Cosmic Energy from the Higher Love-Intelligence to Its manifestation, as well as to reaffirm the close, binding tie of the material world with its Creator. Thus begins "Gaia's Song," a simple, heartfelt melody expressing, in its plaintive sincerity, the affinity of the Living Earth to its loving Creator. The next piece, "Galaxy Delight," suggests, in its ascending and descending chromatic scales of bells, a myriad of twinkling stars being swirled about (almost playfully!) by a Cosmic "Guiding Hand," turning the galaxy in space to allow its splendor to be seen from all directions in the universe. And why not? An object of such beauty deserves to be displayed in all its sparkling-diamond finery by its delighted Creator! A fantasy of floating, in complete awe, through a glittering maze of towering, opalescent crystals reflecting rainbows from a multitude of polished-mirror facets, inspired the piece "The Crystal Forest." Allow yourself to experience a wondrous peace as you become immersed in the glistening world of gleaming, jewel-like halls! The three pieces described above are intended to enable the listener to relax and attune with deeper levels of consciousness in preparation for the next piece, "Ancient Castles, Secret Mists," an impressionistic tone poem used to provide a sonic stimulus to uncover repressed memories (i.e., "secret mists") from their old, almost impenetrable subconscious repository-citadels (i.e., "ancient castles"). In order to work through (and hence, be free of) the hidden, shadowy mental/emotional complexes that drain our energy when we struggle to keep them buried, they must first be exposed and acknowledged before they can be released and dissolved by the Greater Light of Spiritual Understanding. This process of cleansing the mind and heart of repressed negative mental and emotional energy through attunement with the nonjudgmental Universal Love-Intelligence is musically symbolized by "The Light of Forever." A first step in the process of mental and emotional cleansing and purification is that you must first love yourself enough to forgive yourself. The freedom derived from self-forgiveness will open you to the healing forces of the Universal Love-Intelligence. Once this is done, true healing can then take place. (All of this is in preparation for the healing meditation that follows later.) It is midnight. Visualize a beach with sand so white that it sparkles even in soft moonlight. See gently glimmering stars suspended in the sky, so bright and clear that you feel that you could almost touch them. A massive, slowly rolling ocean stretches out before you, seemingly without end, and, on the horizon, the stars are reflected so perfectly in the water that it cannot be precisely discerned where the ocean stops and the sky begins. You stand alone amid a vast display of untouched, powerful but calm, natural forces, held like a breath in a magical moment of time. The ocean represents the infinite power and depth of your Inner Spiritual Self. The midnight hour represents the borderline state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep, that moment when the night ends and the day begins; that moment when the two separate minds, the objective/subjective consciousness and the subconscious/super-subconsciousness, are perfectly balanced and are as one mind. The reflections on the water, causing the sky and ocean to appear as one, symbolize the spark of divinity from the stars (i.e., the pure Love-Intelligence) radiating down and merging with the ocean (i.e., your Inner Self), imbuing It with Divinity. You and the Divine Love-Intelligence are one, holding in common the purity of your Inner Self. This is the message of "Midnight Ocean Reflections." Divinity has traditionally been symbolized by a light or halo surrounding a person of object. In "Silver Aura," this effulgence is musically described: the strings represent the streaming, shimmering radiance of the spiritual Life Force, while the tinkling chimes represent the same energy, but focused and concentrated into directed Conscious Thought. "Midnight Ocean Reflections" is intended to place the listener into an introspective state of mind. "Silver Aura" is intended to direct the listener, while in this reflective state, to become open to spiritual and inspirational impressions coming from the Inner Self — to "focus the attention on Divinity," so to speak. This prepares the listener for the special healing meditation that immediately follows. "The Healing" is the real focus of Dreamflight II. The previous music is intended to relax the listener in order to establish a state of harmony and/or inspiration and then to create an open state of mind so that listener will be receptive to any beneficial energies, impressions of ideas that may now be received while in this meditative, healing state. "The Healing" was a very powerful experience for me. As I was playing the synthesizers one evening, the music flowed as an accompaniment to an image that unfolded in my mind, almost like the way a soundtrack accompanies a movie, but on a much more vivid and personal level. A scene appeared of a lonely, heartbroken leper who had just been driven from a village, sitting beside a calm brook, feeling dejected and hopeless — in stark contrast to the harmony of the natural beauty around him. But the leper is unaware of this, lost in his own despair. As he is gazing into the mirror-like water, seeing his appalling condition, suddenly a light shimmers off the water, causing the leper to look up. To his amazement he sees a glorious figure standing on the bank on the other side of the brook, gently smiling at him — with no condemnation, or fear, or anger — only Love. The leper sits transfixed at this vision, unable to move. As his despair and loneliness melt away, he lowers his head in reverence and sees his reflection in the water below — but this time, he doesn't see a ravaged visage: instead, he sees himself whole, clean, perfect, healed. He pulls down the shroud from about his head, rummages through his bandages and discovers that his entire body has been restored. He looks up again at the figure across the brook, but the person has vanished. He looks again at his own reflection, stunned by its perfection. The mysterious entity is gone, but the healing remains. Healing occurs when an inharmonious condition is returned to its natural state of intrinsic harmony. The healing process, of course, can apply to conditions other than physical: mental, emotional and situational states are all part of the human milieu that can be restored to harmony by being open to the direction given by the Inner Self. The music is played with only string timbres (symbolizing radiant energy), and then is repeated for maximum effect. The album ends in peaceful Reverie, a kind of Requiem to mark the transition (or "death") of the old, limited, inharmonious patterns of thinking and to prepare for the New Beginning — the beginning of a new life experience when the Truth of one's personal Divinity is finally accepted and the ability to create one's reality through the power of consciousness is at last recognized and achieved. This is the knowledge through which one's new "Life Symphony" can now be composed. A slow, simple cadence is heard: first with only choir, then with added chimes, then with violins, and then with orchestra. The music builds in intensity, symbolizing the growing power of the listener as the realization of the true Divinity of Self begins to blossom in consciousness. Then, the music symmetrically "builds down" as the orchestra, then violins, and then chimes are sequentially withdrawn, leaving only the choir. The effect is that of a great, slow wave building up and then waning away, like the cycle of a life first being created, then growing in power and complexity, and, upon recognizing the value of simplicity, ultimately returning to the pure Source from which it came. The music rises up and fades away like a kind of musical prayer. Originally, I had intended to name the piece "Reverence." However, I once told my former wife that if I ever came up with a piece of music that she was especially fond of, I would name it after her. The name "Shannon's Song" reveals her choice. ** Perhaps it should be noted that the number "two" (or "2" or "II"!) played a role in the development of this, the second Dreamflight album. The number "two" represents polarity or duality: e.g., male/female, left/right, active/passive, positive/negative, Outer Self/Inner Self, etc. Musically, several songs' themes were played twice ("Gaia's Song," "The Crystal Forest" and "The Healing"). Also, "Shannon's Song" is composed of two separate melodies that were repeated and built upon. The result of the interaction of two equal but opposite polarities (i.e., the balance maintained between the Outer Self and the Inner Self in the borderline state of consciousness) prepares the listener for the creation of a manifestation on a different level: in this case, Dreamflight III. {Esoterica: Approximately 75% of the music on Shirley MacLaine's double audio cassette "Going Within" was music by Herb Ernst and although most of that was from Dreamflight III (i.e., "Prima Materia," "Ascension" and "Song of the Soul"), it also included "The Light of Forever" from Dreamflight II.}