Music doesn’t represent any tangible, earthly reality. It represents things of the heart, feelings which are beyond description, beyond any experience one has had. The non-representational but indescribably vivid emotional quality is such as to make one think of an immaterial or spiritual world. I dislike both of those words, because for me, the so-called immaterial and spiritual is always vested in the fleshly — in “the holy and glorious flesh,” as Dante said.
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I intensely dislike any reference to supernaturalism, but I think there can be profound mystical feelings which do not have to call on fictitious agencies like angels and demons and deities. The whole natural world is bathed in wonder and beauty and mystery. The feeling of the holy, the sacred, the wonderful, the mystical, can be divorced from anything theological, and is conveyed very powerfully in music.
Maybe Sacks’ atheistic views will help to provide some perspective on my search for reconciliation between art and faith. I don’t think any belief can be fully understood without understanding its major opposing beliefs.
Once again, someone takes my opinion on art and how Christian culture has a distorted perception of how it is to be viewed:
What I take this to mean is this: it is the power of the creative medium, in creativity and ambiguity itself, to ask questions, to evoke thought, rather than just give answers. It is my fervent opinion that the ultimate role of the artist in culture is to provoke a response in the audience, to cause the listener, the viewer, to wrestle with concpets of life, love, regret, salvation, and eternity so that the author himself fades into the background of the work itself, thus leaving the greater question with the mind of said audience.
I seem to be putting puzzle pieces up here, provided by others, that express what I believe in ways I am not yet capable. At some point I’ll make an attempt at putting the pieces together in hopes that someone else might identify with where I am.
I haven’t read Francis Schaeffer’s Art and the Bible yet, but having seen a handful of quotes, I was inspired to leave a couple of them here because they tickle a part of my brain that’s been going crazy lately.
As evangelical Christians, we have tended to relegate art to the very fringe of life. The rest of human life we feel is more important. Despite our constant talk about the Lordship of Christ, we have narrowed its scope to a very small area of reality. We have misunderstood the concept of the Lordship of Christ over the whole of man and the whole of the universe and have not taken to us the riches that the Bible gives us for ourselves, for our lives, and for our culture.
The Lordship of Christ over the whole of life means that there are no Platonic areas in Christianity, no dichotomy or hierarchy between the body and the soul. God made the body as well as the soul, and redemption is for the whole man.
A large part of growth in Christ is learning how to not compartmentalize one’s self. We far too often resort to using a movie’s rating, the lack of an “explicit content” label on a CD or the consensus as to whether something is “Christian” or not to decide what we consume. I wish it were that simple.
Last winter Matt and I ventured into the great(?) city of Pomona to see The Faint. One of the openers was a new band called The Deadly Syndrome. They were a great way to start the show, but I have to admit that they didn’t stick in my memory for very long. This is partially my fault, but it may also have something to do with the fact that they had yet to release any recorded material at that point.
When I noticed that one of my fellow writers at Buzzgrinder was prepping a short feature on the band, I recalled their jaunty, rousing noise pop and wondered if they’d released anything yet. Let it be known that not but two days ago on September 11th, The Deadly Syndrome released their first album, The Ortolan. I just finished listening and was so inspired and uplifted that I wanted to write something down before I let them fade back into my failing memory.
If you like Modest Mouse, Cloud Cult, Wolf Parade or any of the other thousand great indie/noise/pop/alternative bands making it big today, do yourself a favor and check out The Deadly Syndrome.
BONUS: The band has also created several laugh-worthy videos and put them on YouTube for your enjoyment:
I just stumbled across an old blog entry of my friend Tim that expressed my current attitude about faith, art, wisdom and understanding in ways that I never could express myself.
Tim was expounding on Ecclesiastes 1:18, which says:
For the greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. (NLT)
Tim says:
To be a person striving towards intelligence is incredibly difficult unless you can close yourself to the outside world. It’s easy to be discouraged by those you witness who appear to be unable to comprehend the intricacies of art and theology. Even more so is those who may be able to understand these things if it weren’t for their own complacency. It’s a wretched path, because the further you go down, the less people you are able to relate with. I’m sure there are countless people out there who view me with the same shaking head and downtrodden spirit that I view others.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. As I continue to grow and discover who it is that I am, what I’m passionate about and why I must strive to grow in knowledge and wisdom as much as I can with these passions of mine, I grow increasingly frustrated by the lack of understanding I get from others. Trying to explain this wordless passion I have for music and how it deeply affects me is neither easy nor is it entirely possible.
From an optimist’s perspective, though, it might be said that in the realization of my own passions I’m beginning to understand what it is I desire and search out in the more intimate relationships I have with family and close friends. It also brought me peace to know that I’m not alone in my struggle, and that there is scripture that mirrors my frustration.
Another busy month spent not blogging, but at least I’m consistent with the monthly playlists, right? I’m about to leave for a week of vacation. I figured I’d post my August list before I check out mentally.
Ray LaMontagne - “Empty” (Till The Sun Turns Black)
