Solsbury Hill Peter Gabriel's Psychic Phenomenon: (The Spiritual Experience Behind the Song)

By Fernando Rodríguez

Regarding his song “Solsbury Hill”, Peter Gabriel has written: “It’s about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get, or what you are for what you might be. It’s about letting go. By letting go, you create the space for something new to happen. It’s a personal struggle to learn to jump off the diving board.”
The fundamental meaning of Gabriel’s words is to be willing to accept change within oneself; to let go of long held beliefs, opinions or perspectives in order to grow beyond them. This is very difficult for most adults to do without a personal revelation of some kind. So, if we take into consideration that the song - which is written in first person and symbolises a clear transformation in its main character’s inner world - is a direct result of a moment of meditation of Gabriel on Solsbury Hill, we can infer that the change (this particular change) within the English musician was sudden and not as a result of a gradual transition. Isn’t it reasonable to assume then that something significant happened in Peter Gabriel’s life while meditating on Solsbury Hill?
The true status of Peter Gabriel, a man committed to his art and his condition as a human being, may yet be unveiled. The captivating theory developed in “Solsbury Hill: Peter Gabriel’s Psychic Phenomenon (The Spiritual Experience behind the Song)” promises to challenge all previous conceptions about this legendary artist. The debate is open, judge for yourself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781716433122

Book preview

PETER GABRIEL

SOLSBURY HILL

PETER GABRIEL’S PSYCHIC PHENOMENON

(THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE SONG)

Fernando Rodríguez Santander

To Susana, my dear mother

He is free from self-display, and therefore he shines.

Lao-Tzu; Tao Te Ching

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Some Initial Words

Main Theories about the Solsbury Hill Song

Secret World

Explanation of the Psychic Phenomenon Peter Gabriel would have Experienced on Solsbury Hill

Peter Gabriel’s Moral Sense

Final Words

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the generous help from my friends Joel Van Ess, Scott Gutelius, Jerry Chater, Fernanda Herrera, Víctor Benavente, Raúl Álvarez, Cinthya Szezesny, Eduardo Aguirre, Rita Pollarolo, Francisco Durand, Christine McCarthy, Charles Drassler, Manuela Forno, Tony Camilleri, Alejandro Cárdenas, Violeta Pastor, and Álvaro Roca-Rey.

I would like to sincerely thank Stefania Crivello for letting me use her beautiful drawing of Peter Gabriel on the cover of this book. Her generosity speaks for itself.

I cannot fail to give great thanks to the director-screenwriter Sylvain Despretz, who provided crucial information on the English musician. His friendship and kindness were very helpful to me.

Especially, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mark Unger, my dear uncle. Without his profound knowledge and invaluable help this book would have never seen the light of day.

Preface

I have not read another book about a rock musician that comes to such a transcendental conclusion. Is it possible to revalidate the concept of God through the story behind a song? The answer to this unusual question is naturally deduced from reading this valuable research.

Peter Gabriel’s moral behaviour may originate from a higher grade of consciousness capable of transforming our current understanding of life. The implications of this work expose a future where the sense of identity will not only be altered, but radically transformed.

I have no doubt that if Richard Maurice Bucke would have written his prominent work Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind (1901) today, Peter Gabriel would have been included as one of the probable instances of cosmic consciousness that arose during the past century. Even though Gabriel is not obliged to comment on this research, it would be very interesting to know his opinion about it.

One of the virtues of Solsbury Hill: Peter Gabriel’s Psychic Phenomenon (The Spiritual Experience behind the Song) is having found the appropriate language to address a complex matter. Based on a considerable amount of sources, the author brings forward the indications and coincidences that conclusively support his reasoning. This work (a private hypothesis made public) contains all the elements to become not only a cult classic about Peter Gabriel, but also an essential research to understand his life and works.

Johanna Brahim Bianchi

Solsbury Hill

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill

I could see the city light

Wind was blowing, time stood still

Eagle flew out of the night

He was something to observe

Came in close, I heard a voice

Standing stretching every nerve

Had to listen, had no choice

I did not believe the information

  Just had to trust imagination

My heart going boom, boom, boom

Son, he said, Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home.

To keep in silence I resigned

My friends would think I was a nut

Turning water into wine

Open doors would soon be shut

So I went from day to day

Tho’ my life was in a rut

Till I thought of what I’d say

Which connection I should cut

I was feeling part of the scenery

I walked right out of the machinery

My heart going boom, boom, boom

Hey, he said, Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home.

(Yeah, back home)

When illusion spin her net

I’m never where I want to be

And liberty she pirouette

When I think that I am free

Watched by empty silhouettes

Who close their eyes but still can see

No one taught them etiquette

I will show another me

Today I don’t need a replacement

I’ll tell them what the smile on my face meant

My heart going boom, boom, boom

Hey, I said, You can keep my things, they’ve come to take me home.

(…) it was about, you know, sitting and meditating on Solsbury Hill.¹

Peter Gabriel on his song Solsbury Hill

www.youtube.com. The video can be found under the title Peter Gabriel - New Blood - Solsbury Hill. Such video is in Peter Gabriel’s official channel on YouTube. The video was put online in 2011.

Upon freeing consciousness from bodily constrictions and the limitations of worldly existence, an almost indescribable feeling of fulfilment is produced in the cosmic consciousness¹ recipient. The recipient of such higher grade of consciousness experiences the metaphysical unity² of everything (Totality³ or God) and, this way, discovers his/her true⁴ existential reality.

Chapter four hereof addresses the psychic phenomenon called cosmic consciousness. English-Canadian psychiatrist Richard Maurice Bucke (1837-1902) postulated the existence of three grades or forms of consciousness in the animal kingdom. These grades or forms of consciousness in evolutionary order are: simple consciousness, self-consciousness, and cosmic consciousness.

Even though the physical universe is characterised by apparently separated elements, by nature, all things are one as manifestations and expressions of Totality (God).

The word Totality refers to all life and all things in the universe. To understand the content of this book, reader must take into consideration that it assumes that universe is made up of one unique Great Consciousness (Totality or God), but its tissue is permeable to several grades of consciousness or sub-consciousness. Achieving the grade of cosmic consciousness is what allows human beings to experience Great Consciousness (Totality or God).

True but impermanent. The only thing that is permanent in consciousness is its impermanence. Expansion of consciousness is slow but infinite.

"I was feeling part of the scenery¹

I walked right out of the machinery

My heart going boom, boom, boom

‘Son,’ he said, ‘Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home.’"²

Peter Gabriel; Solsbury Hill

When the observer and the observed merge is not just knowledge; it is pure consciousness.

Transcription of the version of Solsbury Hill included in Peter Gabriel’s New Blood album (2011). Even though the lyrics of the original version are slightly altered, this is the way the musician uses to sing the end of the second verse of the song when performing live.

"Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’"

(Mark 1:10-11)

The metaphor created by Peter Gabriel in the first verse of Solsbury Hill has noticeable similarities with the Bible story that symbolises the experience of cosmic consciousness of Jesus. This Bible story was originally told in the Gospel of Mark 1:10-11.

"Climbing up on Solsbury Hill

I could see the city light

Wind was blowing, time stood still

Eagle flew out of the night

He was something to observe

Came in close, I heard a voice

Standing stretching every nerve

Had to listen, had no choice

I did not believe the information

Just had to trust imagination

My heart going boom, boom, boom

‘Son,’ he said, ‘Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home.’"

A civil holy man need not ever enter a church, nor does he need to worship a god with any defined name or image. Such a man, having risen above purely personal interests - not only socially and globally conscious but also cosmically conscious - is able to act for the benefit of the world. In knowing that he is united with others he understands that their suffering is his suffering, but their joy is also his joy.¹ ²

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Dance of Reality (Vermont: Park Street Press, 2014), 143.

Alejandro Jodorowsky invented the concept of civil holy man. A civil holy man has entered into cosmic consciousness; this is clear in La Danza de la Realidad (2001), the original title of The Dance of Reality.

Peter Gabriel titled Passion to the soundtrack he composed for The Last Temptation of Christ film (Martin Scorsese, 1988). In the track Passion the late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sang in a devotional Sufi Moslem style called qawwali.¹ The qawwali is designed to promote a mystical union between the individual and God.²

(…) for me, the rhythms he uses reflect the primitive, and his vocals reflect the sublime - it’s as if the spirit and the flesh are together right there.³

Martin Scorsese on Peter Gabriel

Spencer Bright, Peter Gabriel: An Authorized Biography (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1999), 309.

Ibid.

Quoted in Ian Christie and David Thompson (Editors), Scorsese on Scorsese: Revised Edition (London: Faber & Faber, 2004), 142.

At the beginning of All about Us documentary (Michael Coulson, 1993), Peter Gabriel seems to symbolise some kind of awakening. Gabriel, in an image reproduced in slow motion, removes his hands from his face and opens his eyes as realising something for the very first time. This symbolisation is displayed at the precise moment in which the concept of us is presented and explained. Us (1992) is not only the title of Gabriel’s tenth solo album, but also a pronoun that he often uses to refer to human beings as one indivisible whole. A human being who has entered into cosmic consciousness is fully aware, as a result of his/her experience, that all life forms are different in shape, but equal on spiritual level.

The All about Us documentary can be found on www.youtube.com under the title Peter Gabriel - US - All about US (Making of