the gateway to transcendence
Music is essential in my life. For as long as I can remember, that’s been true. I regret that I turned down my mother’s encouragement to learn to play the piano when I was young. Practicing piano was not my thing in those days especially when it took me away from baseball and building forts in the woods. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine life without music. My wife had a career as a public school music teacher, alongside her private students. She is known in our neighborhood as “the piano lady,” having taught so many children over the years. She still teaches. Often she’ll play in the afternoon. Pausing, sitting, listening to the piano is a balm for my anxious spirit. It’s a certain type of prayer. One of our daughters excelled at flute.
Music, like art, can be a gateway to the experience of transcendence. It’s true for me. I still recall precisely when and where I first heard Pachelbel’s Canon in D. I was transported to a different realm, one that rendered my speechless, astonished and with a sense of deeper peace than I had ever known. Something similar occurred on our first hearing of JS Bach’s Mass in B minor, performed by the Atlanta Symphony with Robert Shaw conducting. Absolute wonderment, akin to transcendence. Honestly, I could also say on first watching Jimmy Page play guitar with a violin bow, then with his fingers, coaxing sounds I never thought possible, lifted me out of my teenage self to something much larger. John Calvin said that the presence of art and music is evidence of the “divine spark” within every human being, notwithstanding the sin that plagues everyone.
I want to share a couple of songs that are keeping me grounded while lifting my spirit into that transcendent realm that puts this life into perspective. One is by T Bone Burnett, a guitarist and songwriter, most well known as a Grammy award-winning producer (O Brother Where Art Thou, Cold Mountain) and playing guitar in Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review band. He has a new record (The Other Side) that displays his skills at expressing his Christian faith, in an indirect way - for those who have ears to hear. The song that is particularly speaking to me now is “Everything and Nothing”, accompanied by a lilting guitar.
Everybody wants to know the truth,
But nobody wants to hear it.
Everybody has to face the end,
But nobody wants to get near it.
Everybody wants peace,
But nobody wants to surrender.
Everyone lives in the past,
But nobody seems to remember.
Nobody knows the end of the story
We must wait for it to unfold.
Everyone lives facing memento mori,
But no one wants to get old
Nobody wants to get old.
Listen to the whole song here: Everything And Nothing
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The other song that’s important to me just now is by The Porter’s Gate, Centering Prayer. The singer, Andrew Peterson, declares:
I want to be where my feet are
I want to breathe the life around me
I want to listen as my heart beats
Right on time…
I want to be where my feet are …
Listen here: Centering Prayer
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What music are you listening to? Send me your favorite selections.