RockOm

By Trevor Harden, Trevor@RockOm.net

You probably remember Venn diagrams from high school (or perhaps you're still using them in your classes or business). While each circle signifies a unique set, overlapping sections represent any common ground.

Since the beginning of known culture, religious traditions have remained mostly within their own circle, rarely choosing to overlap into its neighbor's territory. It's an egoic defense mechanism that shouldn't be blamed; in fact it makes perfect sense. Thankfully though, we're beginning to move into a postmodern era where the overlapping of circles is becoming more and more common. Doing this brings with it not necessarily a diminishing of each individual circle (as traditionalists would have you believe) but an attitude of acceptance and coexistence.

I'm reminded of the famous story by Thich Nhat Hahn:

Twenty years ago at a conference I attended of theologians, and professors of religion, an Indian Christian friend told the assembly, "We are going to hear about the beauties of several traditions, but that does not mean that we are going to make a fruit salad." When it came my turn to speak, I said, "Fruit salad can be delicious! I have shared the Eucharist with Father Daniel Berrigan, and our worship became possible because of the sufferings we Vietnamese and Americans shared over many years." [from Living Buddha, Living Christ]

Notice he didn't say fruit purée. A banana still remains a banana and the apple chunks are still apples. Similarly finding common ground between Islam and Hinduism, for example, and allowing their Venn circles to overlap doesn't necessarily mean the loss of either's unique identity.

What does all of this have to do with music?

As various bloggers, musicians and writers have said many, many times here throughout the pages of RockOm, music is one of the tools that allows people within different circles to begin the process of moving toward one another.

Take the old dichotomy of 'secular' vs. 'sacred'...

This week two very interesting articles piqued my interest. The New York Times reported about a church in Brooklyn that, because of dying church activities and attendance, opened its door for artists to use the building. Non-religious musical groups began rehearsing in a space that, in a previous era, may have been looked down upon because of their 'secular' bent. In a remarkably similar story, a blogger at musicthinktank.com shared last month a very cool story about overcoming reservations of performing 'secular' music in a church setting. She shares,

"I find it encouraging to see more mainstream Christian churches are also seeing that artists like myself are not off topic at all. For a few hours a month, they allow their house of God to also be a House of Blues, where secular artists entertain, educate, and inspire people to do good..."

So what do we make of all this and why do I even bring it up? For a couple of reasons...

1. Cease seeing other as other | Please be cautious of the times where your inclination is to draw a line in the sand, believing someone to be different than yourself. Their circle may overlap with yours more than you think. At least consider giving that person or group the respect to be who they are without requiring them to transform their circle into one that looks like your own.
2. Allow music to help you break down walls | Rarely are people as closed-minded about their musical tastes as they are about their religious belief systems. Get to know folks by asking them about their favorite music (everybody has a favorite!).  Or attend a concert and notice how 'different' everyone is from you, yet they're there as well, enjoying what you're enjoying.
3. It's all 'divine' | If you're a person of faith, consider allowing the lines to blur a bit between what you consider 'sacred' and 'secular'. From a musical angle, see if you can find God in a pop song or can connect to something larger through a rock concert experience. Or simply use whatever music is on - Jay-Z, Megadeth or Miley Cyrus - to help center you in the present moment.
4. You can still be you | Begin to understand that in finding common ground with others, your own beliefs and preferences aren't threatened or lessened in any way. There is a way in which we can drop our guard and find acceptance and understanding toward others while still standing firm and being rooted in our own tradition and convictions.

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By Trevor Harden, Trevor@RockOm.net

Writer and Buddhist nun Pema Chodron has said that it is "better to join in with humanity than to set ourselves apart." This is certainly true, but it could be argued that we, in fact, cannot be set apart except through our own misunderstanding. We are all inseparable from the whole, an integral piece of all that is. In Calculus we pick a point on a line and then observe things from that perspective. But there really is no point on the line; it is arbitrarily chosen so that there can be discussion. In the same way, you and I - as well as every "thing" in the universe - is simply a "point in the line" of the cosmos. We are all intricately connected and can no more be separated than a wave can be separated from water.

And yet, for many different reasons, there are times when we feel alone. Separate. Isolated. Unconnected. We feel we have no community, no place to belong and we don't feel accepted by people or the world around us. This is no doubt a mental construction, but it certainly doesn't feel anything less than real. Therefore we often need to be encouraged and reminded that we do belong, that we are accepted and that we are a part of something far bigger than our loneliness.

For those times, here are a few songs that may help...

SONG: "Belong" by Chris Rice (Listen)

EXCERPT: "Pool reflects an orphan child / Dirty, lost, alone and wild / Fatherless and nameless still / Fallen heart and broken / will there ever be a place where I belong?"

REFLECTION: This song by Chris Rice both poses the question (Will there ever be a place where I belong?) as well as answers it as the song develops. Chris come to find his answer in God - that by seeing himself as a child of God and as a brother of Jesus, he recognizes his grand divine inheritance and part in the universal family. Perhaps this will mean something to you as well the next time you feel as though you don't belong.

SONG: "A Place in this World" by Taylor Swift (Listen)

EXCERPT: "I'm alone, on my own and I'm starting off / I'll be strong, I'll be wrong, oh, but life goes on / Oh, I'm just a girl trying to find a place in this world"

REFLECTION: Although this song doesn't exactly answer the problem, empathizing with the suffering of others often allows us to move through our own suffering. In this song, Taylor Swift speaks to her loneliness and need to find her "place in this world." Perhaps in the sharing of someone else's search for meaning and belonging, we can begin to understand our own.

SONG: "Innocent" by Our Lady Peace (Listen)

EXCERPT: "Tina’s losing faith in what she knows / Hates her music, hates all of her clothes / Thinks of surgery and a new nose / Every calorie is a war / While she wishes she was a dancer / And that she'd never heard of cancer / She wishes God would give her some answers / And make her feel beautiful"

REFLECTION: When we take the position of being a separate being in a cold outside world, we often look long and hard for our place and where we belong, even going to destructive means to try and fit in. But if we can come to understand and accept just how connected we already are with all that is, we can relax into the peace of a divine and universal acceptance.

YOUR TURN: What songs speak to you about belonging, connection, acceptance and battling loneliness?

By Trevor Harden, Trevor@RockOm.net

The word forgiveness gets tossed around a lot in religious circles, to the point where it has almost become a watered-down concept. But the religious community's long history of insistence upon forgiveness is just and its practice is paramount for the spiritual life. At its core forgiveness is - alongside the Hokey Pokey - what it's all about.

Within the act of forgiveness lies so many spiritual layers: choosing the present moment over the past, having compassion for others, deciding to focus on another's divine inheritance as opposed to their misguided or wrong behavior, trusting a process larger than yourself, acceptance of "what is" and opening yourself to be a channel of divine love.

Sometimes we are stuck, however. Though we know what treasures await us and others on the other side of forgiveness, we often are too hung up to fully forgive. For the times when we need additional encouragement to pardon those who have hurt us, and to be open to the supreme act of forgiveness, here are some songs that may expedite the process.

SONG: "The Heart of the Matter" by Don Henley (Listen)

EXCERPT: "I'm learning to live without you now / But I miss you sometimes / The more I know, the less I understand / All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again / I've been tryin' to get down / To the heart of the matter / ... / But I think its about forgiveness, forgiveness / Even if you don't love me anymore"

REFLECTION: Forgiving someone doesn't always mean you have to understand why or what went wrong. It is deciding to accept what has happened and then to move ahead in love, for the good of all involved. And even if the concern or forgiveness is not reciprocated, you can only control yourself and your own actions.

SONG: "Let It Go" by Tim McGraw (Listen)

EXCERPT: "Today I’m gonna keep on walking / I’m gonna hold my head up high / I’m gonna leave it all behind / Today I’m gonna stand out in the rain / Let it wash it all away, Yeah wash it all away"

REFLECTION: Sometimes the person you most need to forgive is yourself. Can you allow the rain of acceptance to wash away your past pain? Can you forgive yourself for all that you feel you've done wrong in the same way that an eraser removes all the marks from a chalkboard? Perhaps I'm overgeneralizing as it is rarely that simple. But it can be done, and with a spirit of surrender it's easier than you think.

SONG: "What I Cannot Change" by LeAnn Rimes (Listen)

EXCERPT: "I will learn to let go what I cannot change / I will learn to forgive what I cannot change / I will learn to love what I cannot change / But I will change, I will change / Whatever I, whenever I can"

REFLECTION: Forgiveness is often a two-sided coin. One one side, radical acceptance of things as they are. On the other, new action and new habits so that you no longer hurt yourself and others. Whatever needs changed to prevent future pain, there is no day like today to take care of it.

YOUR TURN: What songs speak to you about forgiveness?

By Roger Hatfield

I have to hurry. I don’t want to lose this amazing feeling without expressing it. My trip to the Toledo Museum of Art today was wonderful. While I am not a big fan of the city, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the museum’s exhibits. Ah, the enterprises of Man. We saw jewelry that was created as long before Jesus was born as it now is after - that is to say, 2300 BC. It was gorgeous!

After a break in the cafeteria we headed out to the sculpture gardens and subsequently across the street to the Glass Museum. After viewing some beautiful glass art creations, we went and sat down in the area where a glassblowing exhibit was occurring. That is not really fair; there was serious glass blowing occurring by a team of five artists. Though we were watching, they were not doing it for our benefit. It was an incredible dance - turning, cutting, into the kiln, out of the kiln, cutting and torching, three torches at a time. I have seen this on TV but I never felt the heat and the intensity of the people in this spontaneous improvisation. Into the kiln, out of the kiln, torches blazing, cutting and shaping. Very few instructions were given; it was a collective consciousness that simply knew what to do. I remembered the feeling from having been engaged in a musical improvisation with other musicians. I can remember being surprised by the eruption of applause from the audience when the trance was broke and the song ended.

Now from across the workspace came a young woman with a glass bowl rotating slowly on the end of her long blowing rod. “Ready?” “Ready, now!” The bowl was joined to the double-stemmed object of their torches and their attention. Turning, heating, back into the kiln and out again. Again she returns, this time with a smaller glob of ruby red glass that was applied to the top of the rotating bowl, some sort of rudimentary lip I thought. What looked like a large compass was brought into play and the opening of the now-attached bowl was spread open. Back into the kiln - spin, spin, spin. One of the glass tentacles began to twist just slightly and the entire piece elongated, now looking to be at least four feet tall. Cindy and I sat there with our mouths agape. I said it was like a dance; maybe there is a better analogy. It was like a jazz quintet launched on a high-energy quest, all instruments improvising spontaneously, free but connected.

Another snip. All three torches were burning now, engulfing the piece in flame as it went back into the white-hot kiln, which was so hot that the doors had to be opened by long metal rods with hooks on the end.

They opened the doors and brought up the shield as the piece was slid into the glowing opening, still being rotated, the flames firing from the opening of that benevolent hell.

CRACK!

NO!

The team quickly pulled it out, torched it, and brought it back to the rotating stand to keep it hot. They stretched it. But it was too late. It was gone. The dream was dead. Leonard, the leader of this jam session walked away as the others extinguished their flames. “Shut the doors,” said Leonard. He walked in our direction.

Cindy and I looked at each other then back at Leonard. The pain on his face was astonishing. I saw it, I felt it, and tears came to my eyes. Brows were mopped and shoulders were shrugged. Disappointment was everywhere, but it was obvious that they had all been here before. Leonard reappeared. They stood in a little group and dissected what had just happened. Zen acceptance. It is how they get better. It speaks to the impermanence of all matter.

Today I saw the pain of dying dreams and the sweetness that is earned only by failing so many times. No time to mourn; all we have, and all we ever have, is right now. If there is a moral, it is this: Keep creating, keep playing, keep dancing, keep doing what ever art you do, even, and especially, when the glass breaks.

Please visit my music website www.nowbehere.com

In RockOm's existence on the web, we've posted a number of compelling articles and blog posts that have since found their way into the inner archives. There are many new readers and users since those "early days" and so occasionally we will pull out old posts for you to read (or re-read) and meditate upon. Today's FLASHBACK is the telling of an ancient Zen story and how it relates to being open to new and different kinds of music.

One day Banzan was walking through a market. He overheard a customer say to the butcher, "Give me the best piece of meat you have." "Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You can not find any piece of meat that is not the best." At these words, Banzan was enlightened. [Zen story]

Just as the point of this story is that every single moment is "the best," regardless of the content and perceived quality of that moment, it could be said that every song that one listens to is the "best." If we could begin to experience every piece of music we encounter with an open mind and heart, refusing to give a label such as GOOD or BAD, we could enjoy the process of experiencing it simply "as it is."

EXPERIMENT: Pull up a song that you dislike - or while listening to the radio, refrain from skipping to a new station when something disagreeable comes on.

As you listen, let down your guard. Stop resisting it and let it wash over and through you.

Try to put your mind in tune with that of the artist. Afterall, somebody believed in that song you "hate." They created it, nurtured it, recorded it and believes it is something to share with the world. See if you can align yourself with the artist's passion for this song.

Refuse your desire to label this song as bad. Listen with an open acceptance; follow it as it ebbs and flows, rises and falls. Pay attention to and subtleties in the melody, rhythm, and harmonies.

Attempt to find a deeper meaning in the lyrics. What is the artist trying to communicate? Even if it's only, "Hey baby, baby, I wanna get with you" - meditate on the deeper intentions and underlying human desires that leads someone to pen such lyrics.

By the end of doing these steps, you'll certainly have a whole new appreciation for this piece of music. There's most definitely a different quality of life depending on how closed or open one is - and so if you can take steps to be more open and accepting, you'll be released from that inner tension of turning away from things you think suck. And then "every piece of meat is the best."

RESPOND: Have you found a chance to do the experiment? Share with us your experience.

Discuss this article

One day Banzan was walking through a market. He overheard a customer say to the butcher, "Give me the best piece of meat you have." "Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You can not find any piece of meat that is not the best." At these words, Banzan was enlightened. [Zen story]

Just as the point of this story is that every single moment is "the best," regardless of the content and perceived quality of that moment, it could be said that every song that one listens to is the "best." If we could begin to experience every piece of music we encounter with an open mind and heart, refusing to give a label such as GOOD or BAD, we could enjoy the process of experiencing it simply "as it is."

EXPERIMENT: Pull up a song that you dislike - or while listening to the radio, refrain from skipping to a new station when something disagreeable comes on.

As you listen, let down your guard. Stop resisting it and let it wash over and through you.

Try to put your mind in tune with that of the artist. Afterall, somebody believed in that song you "hate." They created it, nurtured it, recorded it and believes it is something to share with the world. See if you can align yourself with the artist's passion for this song.

Refuse your desire to label this song as bad. Listen with an open acceptance; follow it as it ebbs and flows, rises and falls. Pay attention to and subtleties in the melody, rhythm, and harmonies.

Attempt to find a deeper meaning in the lyrics. What is the artist trying to communicate? Even if it's only, "Hey baby, baby, I wanna get with you" - meditate on the deeper intentions and underlying human desires that leads someone to pen such lyrics.

By the end of doing these steps, you'll certainly have a whole new appreciation for this piece of music. There's most definitely a different quality of life depending on how closed or open one is - and so if you can take steps to be more open and accepting, you'll be released from that inner tension of turning away from things you think suck . And then "every piece of meat is the best."

RESPOND: Have you found a chance to do the experiment? Share with us your experience.