{"id":4139,"date":"2014-02-25T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=4139"},"modified":"2014-02-24T21:14:07","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T05:14:07","slug":"music-as-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=4139","title":{"rendered":"Music as meditation, or is it medication?"},"content":{"rendered":"

And when the night is cloudy,
\nThere is still a light that shines on me,
\nShine on until tomorrow, let it be.
\nI wake up to the sound of music
\nMother Mary comes to me
\nSpeaking words of wisdom, let it be. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

People have been making music ever since we discovered how to make sound. Almost everyone likes some sort of music. Some of us have music completely enmeshed with our lives. It’s my daily meditation, my medication. It’s what keeps me more or less sane. It makes me tearful and joyful, and thankful that there are people who continue to write new songs for me to listen to and sing along with. It makes me grateful for the strange kinship of people who share a love for the same music. Life without music seems like an impossibility in the same way it must seem impossible for a religious believer to try to imagine life without God. I do not believe in God, but I am a big believer in Music.<\/p>\n

Music is my church, and the lyrics are the liturgy. <\/p>\n

“Let It Be” is one of the most emotionally wise songs there is. I’d put “in my opinion” in front of that statement, but if you argue with it I’ll just think you’re a dumbass. You don’t want me to think that you’re a dumbass, do you? No. I didn’t think so. <\/p>\n

If I were to actually establish a Church of Music, “Let It Be” would be on page one of the hymnal. Not necessarily because I think it’s such a great song, although…well…it’s a great song. It would be on the first page of the hymnal because it’s easy to sing, simple and true.<\/p>\n

My only real beef with Lennon-McCartney here is with their use of Mother Mary. For most people, Mother Mary would be “that” Mary. I’m not really sure that’s what they actually meant, but for me it’s a shortcut for saying that Mother Mary is the wisdom of all of us. People. I don’t believe in a diety, but I do believe in a sort of divinity of the human. So I guess if you want to get technical about it, it’s not divinity at all, but humanity. I think that Mother Mary’s words of wisdom, or God’s words, are ours. People. It’s all about people. Humanity. We literally wrote the books. All of our accumulated wisdom? It’s OURS, and one of the ways we share it is through music. <\/p>\n

For me, the song is saying to let go of all of worry, resentment, hate and all of the stuff that holds us back and move forward with hope and faith in our Humanity. If you let it, it will be. Of course, it will be regardless of what you do. Yes, it was really me who wrote that. I’m a little baffled, too. It’s awfully positive of me. True though. I’m an atheist who believes in people. Even though…well…c’mon. You know there are problems in our Human Paradise, right? <\/p>\n

We’re killing the planet we live on.
\nWe’re killing each other all the time and for the most asinine reasons.
\nWe put our own self interest ahead of everything else–which, if we take our self interest further than most of us do, and consider that the survival of the PLANET is important for us as individuals, is fine. Be selfish. If your self interest just means that you’re going to fuck the rest of the world so you can have a loft in SOHO and a Bentley? You’re a wrong guy. Or gal.<\/p>\n

People are infuriating and amazing
\nLazy and driven
\nFaithful and treacherous<\/p>\n

The one thing you can count on is contradiction.<\/p>\n

It isn’t a flaw –it’s how we are.
\nEmbrace that like everything else.<\/p>\n

It won’t change. It’d be like expecting a tiger to become a vegan. It’s just not what they are.<\/p>\n

All the worry, all the stress, all the aggravation doesn’t do anything except ruin right now. There might not even be a next week, or tomorrow or in a minute. <\/p>\n

Let it be now.<\/p>\n

If it helps, sing along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And when the night is cloudy, There is still a light that shines on me, Shine on until tomorrow, let it be. I wake up to the sound of music Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. People have been making music ever since we discovered how to make sound. … Continue reading Music as meditation, or is it medication?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-14L","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3637,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=3637","url_meta":{"origin":4139,"position":0},"title":"Away from the sun..into the sun","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"There is always music on if I am pretty much anywhere, but especially in the car. I sing along to the car stereo almost as a form of meditation. (I almost mis-typed that as medication, which is also kind of appropriate) I don't have a set playlist, I just have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20140129-193726.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4203,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=4203","url_meta":{"origin":4139,"position":1},"title":"Dr. Freud is here with some ideas for the blog. Can you see him, or should he make an appointment?","author":"Michelle","date":"February 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was writing about music as meditation the other day, I kept mis-spelling the word meditation. Every time I wrote it, the word came out as medication. I did it every single time I tried to write meditation. Meditation? Medication. I did it just now, too. More than once.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6892,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=6892","url_meta":{"origin":4139,"position":2},"title":"Hall of fame","author":"Michelle","date":"August 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"You can go the distance You can run the mile You can walk straight through hell with a smile --Script\/Hall of Fame When I get into a workout kick, it is always cardio. I love the breathlessness, and the sweat, and the way you have to continually talk yourself into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2981,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=2981","url_meta":{"origin":4139,"position":3},"title":"Nevermind-ful","author":"Michelle","date":"December 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not ready as I'll ever be I climb the walls, I fall into the sea I'm not ready as I'll ever be And I suppose your guess is more or less as bad as mine All over but the shouting, just a waste of time Never mind --the Replacements\/Never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8604,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8604","url_meta":{"origin":4139,"position":4},"title":"Music and emotion","author":"Michelle","date":"December 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"What came first, the music or the misery? 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