John Lennon's Mind Games

John Lennon's Mind Games
One of my favorite John Lennon solo songs was 'Mind Games'..a pop song that began during the tense 'Let it Be' sessions during the Beatles.  Lennon rewrote it 'Mind Games' after a favorite book of his called  Mind Games: The Guide to Inner Space by Robert Masters and Jean Houston (1972).  A book of exercises to experiment the inner mind of insight and imagination, and was a part of the 'Human potential' movement which later turned to the New Age label with occult and other pathways to enlightenment.  Certainly Lennon made it no secret he explored alternative enlightenment in music, art, and more and his path definitely went into occult and paranormal circles.  Oddly enough, Lennon also had a close encounter of sorts with a UFO over his place in New York and Lennon said in a playboy interview that he saw things differently even as a child, and that had a profound impact on his social interactions.

"Some call it magic, the search for the grail" - Mind Games lyric by John Lennon.

If art and music and magic to a degree are one and the same, it is a shame his music was silenced by an insane fan (although some claim in conspiracy circles that it was a programmed killing by a government that kept him under surveillance for radical beliefs).  In the end, Lennon's music still inspires new fans as well as old fans to 'search for the grail' and in a way Lennon is still here on the journey.