Reflections of Venus

A hymn to the creators of reality: Consciousness and Imagination

The story

…Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1958. The protagonist is young Armando Hector Ruiz, son of legendary tango pair Isabel Gomez and Manuel Ruiz. Early on, the boy shows astonishing abilities, never before seen in a child at the age of six. Not only is he able to deeply touch and move people with the peculiar music he plays on his small cello, but more and more often during his performances, terminally ill people experience spectacular spontaneous healings.
The public naturally interprets these occurrences as miracles, and by the age of nine the boy has gone from being seen as a child prodigy to being lauded as a new messiah figure. Although the representatives of religion, politics and science eagerly try to deny and ridicule this phenomenon, the world soon falls at his feet while the basic values of society are shaken as they have never been before.
It is most likely Armando's previously unseen, highly developed powers of imagination that enable him to consciously shift the boundary between thought as a possibility (quantum state) and its physical manifestation. With his singular music, he conveys his pure, childlike feelings and thoughts to his listeners and in that way is capable of setting amazing events into motion. As a result there is only one topic left worldwide: "The Wonder of Buenos Aires".
It is no surprise that the child is deeply confused by these developments. We follow the boy on his desperate quest to understand the miraculous effect of his music and all the other great enigmas of his young life. Chased by the fanatical public, escape seems to be the only option. On board the ship "Andrea C" Armando and his mother Isabel leave the country to take refuge with her cousin in Switzerland.
As he grows up, still traumatized by the experiences of his childhood, increasingly deep doubts grow inside him: doubts about the world, himself, the music and his talents, and especially about his relationship with the breathtakingly beautiful but mysterious young woman, Zulie. Soon, the sum of all these doubts begins to contaminate his music and give it the opposite effect, which has catastrophic results.
During concerts in Japan, the dramatic climax is reached, and powers of death and destruction are unleashed. Now Armando is forced to recognize that the source of his exceptional abilities has always been his own imagination. Once again, his only choice is to escape. An encounter with Zen Master Takumi Nura finally opens his eyes to the greater picture, to the true nature of reality and consciousness, its origins and the ways of their unfolding. Now his enigmatic destiny will demand the highest of prices for a surprising future.
Please note: “Reflections of Venus” is currently being translated to english. Release dates will be announced soon.

The world of thought behind "Reflections of Venus"

The theoretical background for this novel is a field of topics that has once again led to great uncertainties about some of the longest accepted findings in the natural science of our times. These are theories regarding the nature of consciousness in conjunction with the manifestation of reality.
Especially during the Age of Enlightenment, from the mid-17th century to the mid-18th century, which involved thinkers such as Newton, Hume, Kant, Locke, Leibnitz, Descartes and Spinoza, this subject was central to the scientific world. At the end of the 19th century it gained considerable momentum through debates about quantum theory with scientists such as Planck, Einstein, Pauli, Heisenberg and Bohr.
Recently this discourse has experienced an impressive renaissance. Hardly a day goes by when important figures from all domains of the established sciences do not publicly acknowledge their doubts about the accepted interpretation of the terms reality and consciousness. The novel "Reflections of Venus" follows this trail further and elaborates on the complex theme in a challenging yet still entertaining way.
At the center of the story is the power of imagination, the most important basic force in all creative processes, leading to the manifestation of an existence. At the same time imagination is also the most important human ability, because what we cannot imagine we cannot perceive, and what we cannot perceive simply does not exist for us.
It is Vollenweider's lifelong interest in philosophy, psychology, natural sciences, spirituality and history which nurtures his world of thought and therefore his musical work. In "Reflections of Venus" he follows in the footsteps of the Vedic Genesis in particular. Nada Brahma - the world is sound... sound is vibration, vibration is frequency... which condenses to eventually become matter.
But how, when and where does a sound originate? Where is the beginning of the beginning? And is there anything before the beginning? This leads to the central question of the essential nature of what we call reality and how it is formed.

A special Vollenweider-project on the impact of sound

Most recently, a scientific research project that the author was involved in at the University of Geneva achieved spectacular results which sparked great interest in professional circles worldwide. In the department of Neonatology at the University Hospital of Geneva, prematurely born children were 'treated' for over five years with music that Vollenweider developed especially for the project. It could be proven in a double-blind study that the children who heard the music several times a day showed significant improvement in brain development as opposed to the otherwise often massive cognitive, emotional and social deficits usually found. In January 2019, National Geographic Magazine enthusiastically rated the results of this study as one of the "12 innovations that will revolutionize the future of medicine" (details at Vollenweider's website, http://vollenweider.com/en/NEWS/Latest/A-very-special-Vollenweider-Project)

About the Author

In the project “Reflections of Venus”, Andreas Vollenweider integrates his broad range of philosophical interests with his experiences of over forty years as a musician and composer of contemplative music. To this day, he is known all over the world for his innovative and unmistakable musical style (more than 15 million albums sold, a Grammy Award, 18 albums, and international tours and performances in the world's most renowned concert halls. See www.vollenweider.com )