Music and Tears: Phenomenology, Science, Philosophy

Abstract

This paper explores the phenomenon of musicians being moved to tears during performance, interpreting such moments as portals into emotional, physiological, and spiritual transformation. Drawing on personal narrative, cognitive neuroscience, and Tantric philosophy, it argues that these experiences reflect a confluence of subcortical emotional release and the disciplined control of artistic expression. Within a Tantric framework, they represent karmic purification and chakra activation-moments where the performer becomes a conduit for Shakti, the dynamic pulse of the cosmos. Music, in this view, functions not merely as art or communication, but as sacred ritual capable of dissolving ego, transmuting karma, and restoring the self through sound.

Keywords: Phenomenology, Science, Philosophy, music, tantra, ASC, flow, Altered States of Consciousness, Tears, Emotion