Dealing with it
I was sitting in St. Mary's Cathedral tonight before my choir rehearsal just admiring all of the prettiness of the space. It's a beautiful sanctuary with marble floors, huge vaulted ceilings, art and artisanship everywhere. And I began thinking of how religion has had such a huge impact on our capacity to feel and create.
Throughout history the greatest works have been commissioned in the name of religion. The most touching music. The most breathtaking artwork. Eras of great architecture and craftsmanship. All because of this push that people feel to relate to something greater than themselves. I began to wonder what humans would be like if religion had not dominated our society for the last several thousand years. What would we attribute our innate need to create beauty to? Ourselves? Nature?
As someone who no longer aspires to divinity, I wonder sometimes why I feel so strongly about music and it's ability to impact. Why not just do drugs? It gets me a high feeling. Music does too. A high that I can't get any other way. But why does it matter? I almost feel selfish in my pursuit of a calling that fulfills me so fully. Sure I can say that it's about impacting other people. But I could do taxes or clean people's houses and make them fairly happy too. If there is a spiritual realm that even science cannot account for, I think this is our window in. Music is so wholly fulfilling in a way that I can't describe. Listen to a Palestrina recording and focus on the way that the voices move and weave a tapestry of longing and depth. Let the sound envelope you. Then you might feel how I do. Then you might wonder why.
Throughout history the greatest works have been commissioned in the name of religion. The most touching music. The most breathtaking artwork. Eras of great architecture and craftsmanship. All because of this push that people feel to relate to something greater than themselves. I began to wonder what humans would be like if religion had not dominated our society for the last several thousand years. What would we attribute our innate need to create beauty to? Ourselves? Nature?
As someone who no longer aspires to divinity, I wonder sometimes why I feel so strongly about music and it's ability to impact. Why not just do drugs? It gets me a high feeling. Music does too. A high that I can't get any other way. But why does it matter? I almost feel selfish in my pursuit of a calling that fulfills me so fully. Sure I can say that it's about impacting other people. But I could do taxes or clean people's houses and make them fairly happy too. If there is a spiritual realm that even science cannot account for, I think this is our window in. Music is so wholly fulfilling in a way that I can't describe. Listen to a Palestrina recording and focus on the way that the voices move and weave a tapestry of longing and depth. Let the sound envelope you. Then you might feel how I do. Then you might wonder why.