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Music & Spirituality
Musings on the bridge between spirituality and music

Music & Spirituality

Mind Left Body
Thinking Man's Dark Star

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Joined: Oct 08, 2007
Location: Atlanta
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1 of 1 people found this post helpful Posted 04/10/08 - 11:16 AM: Subject: Music & Spirituality	#1
"Even under the influence of the narcotic draught, of which songs of all primitive men and peoples speak, or with the potent coming of spring that penetrates all nature with joy, these Dionysian emotions awake, and as they grow in intensity everything subjective vanishes into complete self-forgetfulness. In the German Middle Ages, too, singing and dancing crowds, ever increasing in number, whirled themselves from place to place under this same Dionysian impulse. [...] There are some who, from obtuseness or lack of experience, turn away from such phenomena as from "folk-diseases," with contempt of pity born of consciousness of their own "healthy-mindedness." But of course such poor wretches have no idea how corpselike and ghostly their so-called "healthy-mindedness" looks when the glowing life of the Dionysian revelers roars past them." -Friedrich Nietzsche The fusion of spirituality and ego-less music isn't a new concept to man, nor has the bulk of society ever really grasped the inner essence of its axiom. Society as a whole operates under a spiritual cloak, in which true spirituality is hidden from man, thus man is ignorant to the functionality of metaphysical reality. The question arises, why do subsets of society discover this hidden gift, while the masses remain numbed by corrupted religious organizations? The answer is complex, but it can be found if one digs through the narcotic rubble of impurity, while the surface corruption does offer an uncanny level of superficial serenity. The inner truth of the soul doesn't even compare in terms of physical, psychological, and spiritual balance; However, this inner truth is hidden because it doesn't coincide with the controlled normality of organized religion. Real spirituality is organic and evolves through ones' life, and it allows the growth of one's mind, body, and soul. Ego-less music is one of the few gateways into this reality, a reality in which man is free to discover his own existentialism. In modern times, mutually exclusive artists have created music that allows the listener to visit one's soul. The development of progressive rock and improv-based rock both have philosophical commonalities that tend to provide spring boards for metaphysical exploration. Musically, these artists have little in common, but the hybrid of music and lyrics aim for the same concept. A perfect example would be the mutually exclusive development of Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. The philosophies of each band encourage inner exploration through music, so that the individual may reach a higher level of enlightenment. Like Nietzsche, both bands understood that music can transcend the listener and remove the ego, and the removal of the ego allows the listener to view their reality without bias. Bias is created from the ego, as the human psyche is far too sensitive to comprehend the natural evils of its every day actions. So the ego-less journey allows the individual to understand why ego laden morality does necessitate tolerable immorality. Thus the ego simplifies the complexities of our reality in order to justify our own survival before that of our fellow humans. The ego-less journeyman realizes that all existence is equal, just as the music of ego-less bands doesn't showcase one performer over another. Thus we need to understand the importance of existence in order to properly gage the role of religion in society. Music provides the perfect micro-model for society. People from all backgrounds gather to reach enlightenment, but remain respectful of each other. No one belief is set above the other, unlike the organized institutions that promote ego based superiority of their own entity. These superior based institutions provide the bulk of problems because of the ego. The institutions fight for their survival without regard to other organizations. Thus, they limit the level of self exploration because self expansion is more important than actual growth of the spirit. These institutions become marketing centers that lose track of the true theme that is unseen by the masses: spirituality can't be defined to a single definition. The face of spirituality is multifaceted and can't be confined to one text either, it is organic like music itself. I wanted to address what Nietzsche discusses in the Birth of Tragedy. Nietzsche draws upon the concept of spirituality and music, and I was wondering if people agreed or disagreed with his point. If I remember correctly, Socrates brought up a similar point too (I can't remember which text). I was curious to hear opinions on my theory and receive some help in reforming it. Said theory being that music without an ego present is one of the pure forms of spirituality present in our reality. Edited by Mind Left Body on 04/10/08 - 11:21 AM
_____________________ "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Mike H
Student

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Posted 04/13/08 - 11:39 PM:	#2
I think that all kinds of music can be spiritual, and good music often is. Perhaps we have different ideas of what "spiritual" means, though. To me, music is spiritual if it conveys the "spirit" of its creators, and that is simply an attitude towards life - a set of values. What you call "ego-less" music conveys a particular attitude towards life, but who says that particular attitude is spiritual while other attitudes are not? Certain kinds of music may mesh with your values better than other kinds, and so you may see it as more spiritual. You may see ego-driven hard rock or Christian music as devoid of spirituality, but are you sure thats not just because you disagree with the world view underlying it? You say real spirituality "allows the growth of one's mind, body, and soul," but that raises the question, growth in what direction? The Christian would want his spirit to grow more in line with the tenets of his faith, and Christian music may very well help him do that. And ego-driven hard rock, full of bombast and aggression, might be spiritual to an aggresive, egoistic type of person. Its interesting that you start out with a Nietzsche quote, and then depict ego-less music as the height of spirituality. I was under the impression that Nietzsche was an arch-egoist, who viewed the will to power - aggresively overcoming resistance in the pursuit of one's goals - as the essence of life itself. And he was a big fan of Wagner's bombastic, powerful music. I think if he lived today, Nietzsche's favorite band would be Dragonforce. Well maybe not, but I'm not sure if he would endorse such "wimpy" music as Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. Maybe the Buddha would be more favorable to that kind of music. As for myself, I'm pretty musically open-minded - music isn't kind of like food, you'd be crazy to eat just one kind right? Even if some music lines up with my values more than other kinds, I'm still willing to listen to those other kinds, and appreciate the spirit driving them. (well except Christian and country music, never really felt the need to appreciate those)

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