Where does music fit into your ideas of spirituality?

[Cabinfever]

I never compose music without first contemplating the spiritual world, usually vodka.

[Vervil]

Yeesh

Spirituality in music! Isn't it bad enough that we are musicians without getting all religious? God save us all from turning into Godda Bigga Ego (formerly known as Cat Stevens) - except of course God doesn't exist - thanks Buddha for taking away the world's most popular blame system.

I don't think that relligious equals spiritual, and sometimes it is quite opposite. I know some people that are very spiritual, but you could call them atheists. For me being spiritual is just a quality of perceptions, substantial difference in making all the same moves in the game we play everyday. Fact that some people slide from being against what is considered good in social and religious sense to being "saved" and back in herd has nothing spiritual in it. For me, eastern look at things in a way that "cow shit is DAO too" (accepting world in its totality) has not much in common with usual divide between spiritual and unspiritual. You can be boxer, or you can cook, have any kind of everyday tedious job, to have group sexual intercourse or do something even more publicly provocative and be more spiritual at the same time than most people going to temple of any organised relligion.

So in a same way I have similar view as you, but I understand that some people need calmness to come in their life, and I guess it is nice to use music in that way. Not that I think that someone's catarsic headbanging at extreme metal concert cannot be purifying in a certain way, actually, often it is.
People tend to think that spirituality in music equals people playing some kind of new age tranqulising melodies in asanas, all dressed white, or think about gospel music etc. IMHO any kind of music can be spiritual if it pulls out something deep from both performer and listener.

My view is still evolving. I feel that we are channels for music. In my own private life I use music for spiritual attunement and growth. I am not much attracted to music that feels negative. Having said that, I play bass in a Jimi Hendrix cover band, so I don't have an aversion to rock or loud music in general. I have tried the meditation where you follow the sound in your ear back to the source. Ragas are very interesting to me and some feel very uplifting, etc. I try to surround myself with harmonious music, visuals, smells, etc. Music is definitely a legal high for me! Is that a better answer Vervil?

Yes, thank you explaining your views Geoffrey.

[Vervil]

I never compose music without first contemplating the spiritual world, usually vodka.

There is a God inside of every bottle of Vodka, Devil told me that. Don't you know?

[BONES]

You people clearly have it too easy if you have nothing better to do than think about shit like this. What you need is a genuine life-endangering experience of at least one month's duration.

[RapRogue]

You people clearly have it too easy if you have nothing better to do than think about shit like this. What you need is a genuine life-endangering experience of at least one month's duration.

That makes Bones a saint.

[Cabinfever]

You people clearly have it too easy if you have nothing better to do than think about shit like this. What you need is a genuine life-endangering experience of at least one month's duration.

Vodka would still be relevant.

[John Vulich]

You people clearly have it too easy if you have nothing better to do than think about shit like this. What you need is a genuine life-endangering experience of at least one month's duration.

Does reading your posts count?

[RapRogue]

Bah, we just made Bones day. A trio quote

[Vervil]

What can be more life-endangering than true spirituality? Ask Jesus if you don't belive me

[geoffrey]

You people clearly have it too easy if you have nothing better to do than think about shit like this. What you need is a genuine life-endangering experience of at least one month's duration.

Hmmm.. compared to most of the "3rd world" we all have it too easy, you included Bones. Life endangering experiences... Are you presuming we haven't had any? ( I have almost died a couple times this life, so far) What type of experiences qualify to you? It is good to take time to think of these things. Staying too busy all the time is the dearth(not a typo) of spiritual evolution.

[freeztar]

Hi all,
Just wondering how people related listening and performing music to their spiritual lives and practices. I realize there is a broad spectrum of answers. There are so many aspects to consider , for example ragas in Classic Indian music. Planets are said to emit particular notes. We have a sound in our ears at all times that some say you can follow back to the source. Many musicians consider themselves as channels for music. New Age music is used widely for meditation and healing, etc. Religious worship usually involves hymns, etc. Where do you see music fitting in or where do you use it in your form of spirituality?

To answer your question personally, I don't really take spirituality into account per se. Spirituality is something that exists within one's self. Music comes through me and hence has to be siphoned through that filter. Hence, none of my songs attempt to oust God nor do they place praise.

"A lucky man is one who makes it out alive"

[Ildon]

I've thought about this a lot. I'm not a spiritual person at all anymore. I don't use it to get in touch with anything else other than myself and other people around me. Music is just a conduit for communication. Sometimes it's there to give people a punch in the face, sometimes it's there to make them happy, and other times my music just helps me to understand who I am.

I have a hard time being around people for any length of time, but I still like to make them happy, so music is a way for me to communicate with others without actually communicating with them. It's also a means of venting my frustrations with the world... hmm... I guess you could say it's kind of a revenge on everything and everyone. Kind of a complex issue, I guess.

For me, music seems to fill a few voids that would otherwise be empty. From helping me get an understanding of who I am deep down to being a kind of everlasting romance, to being one of the most challenging hobbies I've ever had. It keeps me sane and is a way to channel emotions I can't express any other way.

[Cabinfever]

It's be sad if you require a "life endangering experience" to make you appreciate some of the deeper currents in the world.

[Hink]

I've been trying to come up with an answer and my mind just resets itself...I just can't come up with answer...maybe because my music and my spirituality are so close together I can't separate them. Or they are so far apart I can't see them both.

I know that playing becomes an altered state of conscience for me, it would seem logical that it walked hand in hand with spirituality. But then it could be the antithesis, a place where spirituality, reality, or normality doesn't matter.

I feel it's the former of the two and they can't be split apart...but then as soon as you nelieve left is left it's right...

[Vervil]

Hink, some people would say that when you are really spiritual about something, any kind of idea of doing something spiritual or special in any way dissapears, leaving us with only doing what we do anyway, just very deep, bare and true.