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When I was 18 my grandfather introduced me to Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. I had been playing violin for 8 years with modest success. I had not played much Bach and given the virtuosic skills required for the solo violin works had never contemplated trying them. The music had an instantaneously profound and unanticipated lasting impact.

As a late teen I became interested in philosophy after reading Plato and Socrates. My family was not religious or even philosophically inclined. I remember once looking for some greater insight into my father in these matters. I asked him while he was encased behind his copy of the Times "Dad, what do you think of god?" He lowered his paper slowly, looked at me and said "I don't" and went back to reading.

From this atheistic, almost a-philosophic upbringing I discovered religion in the form of this music. In particular it was the Chaconne that became my church, my dogma, my “faith”. How can I compare a piece of music to the utter abdication of one’s humanity that is faith? My point is only that I hold this “15 minutes of sound” as dearly as others hold their faith. For me the Chaconne became a symbol of a life lived to its fullest with all the tragedy and triumph that travels with a passionate existence.

I recently saw a quote from Joshua Bell on the Chaconne that made me weep because it expressed so well my own thought: "It’s not just one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, but one of the greatest achievements of any man in history.”

In the end my families spiritual gravitational forces have prevailed and I remain a secular, doer who only seeks time in my church when in need. The church is built in music, the chapel made from the Chaconne.

I still play the violin. I have not yet achieved the rudimentary skills required for the Chaconne and only try to begin to approach it through other partitas. My time is mostly consumed by my children followed closely by the creation software. I will eventually evolve past software to pursue the creation of art as expressed in music, sculpture and poetry.

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