Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature

In July 1970, Hendrix set up a performance in Maui,Hawaii, in an attempt to reach a higher level of New Agespiritual awareness. When he arrived in Hawaii, he consultedan elderly German fortune teller named Clara Schuff and wastold that he descended from Egyptian and Tibetan royaltyand that his next life would be concerned with the magicalsystems of Tibet. The performance was called “The RainbowBridge Vibratory Color-Sound Experiment.” Hendrix wasinvited to participate in this experiment by a commune calledthe Rainbow Bridge Occult Research Meditation Center. TheHendrix group gathered on the side of the Olowalu Volcano,revered as a very holy place and called the Crater of the Sunby native Hawaiians. For the occasion, Hendrix wore Indianmedicine-man clothing and used a medicine-man tent. Heand all of the participants were high on LSD, hash, andliquor during the “experiment.” (Two months later, he wasdead.)Hendrix believed his music could open his listeners to“cosmic powers” and that people can rise through variousspiritual levels through music. He believed in reincarnationand thought he was from another planet, an asteroid belt offof Mars, and that he had come to earth to show people newenergy. He thought he had assumed other life forms inprevious lives:“There's no telling how many lives your spirit will gothrough--die and be reborn. Like my mind will be back in thedays when I was a flying horse” (Hendrix, interview withRobin Richman “An Infinity of Jimis,” Life magazine, Oct.3, 1969).Hendrix understood the mystical and hypnotic power ofrock music. He said:45