Thought of the moment...
from King Without a Crown by Matisyahu
Strip away the layers and reveal your soul Got to give yourself up and then you become whole You're a slave to yourself and you don't even know .... If you're trying to stay high then you're bound to stay low You want God but you can't deflate your ego |
As much as it appears I love to argue politics, I really hate it. I find it a pointless endeavor that just leads to tension between people who could otherwise be friends. There are exceptions, and some of my greatest 'opponents' are my best friends. Also, I'm just too opinionated to keep my stupid mouth shut.
What I'm really interested in is spirituality. It may sound silly, especially from me, but I have a sincere interest in this, and have been struggling to grow in this respect the past fours years. Unfortunately, many things, almost all caused by me, sabotage all these efforts.
I'm not sure what I wanted to say in this post, but I wanted to comment on these lyrics. Matisyahu is a Hasidic Jew who sings Reggae. It sounds weird, but there's a feeling of sincerity to his songs that isn't to be found in the world of Christian rock. Quite frankly, Christian Rock is a wasteland from what I've seen.
These lyrics, though, contain wisdom I didn't expect from an act so popular. Those who have experienced the 'exposure' of the soul that he's talking about will identify with this. It is, a very unique experience, and not unlike the process Buddhist monks undergo during their many years of meditation training. At least, from what I've read, it would certainly appear that way. There's something there, and it transcends what both these religions say about dogma, in addition to others I'm sure. This is what I'm so interested in. They've hit on the same thing through completely different routes.
Anyway, those are just my musings of the moment. I'll refrain from talking about Universal Human Truth and stuff like that. I remain quite the Catholic, but my curiosity is certainly piqued. I need to do more research into this.
posted by X @ 10:29 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
that's so funny... i literally just hear of this guy today, and watched a music video on his website. and i second your comment about "christian rock," only to add that there actually are some really really sincere and genuine artists out there, with awesome lyricism and heart. most of them would fall more under grassroots/indie/etc. categories or would avoid the terrible "Contemporary Christian Artist" label (I mean, come on, why is it even its own genre?!). but anyways, cheers to the journey =)
buddhism and catholicism... weird...
He opened for Trey this summer (except for Friday and Sat.) I didn't go.
I can complete relate to the quest to deepen understanding of spirituality outside of the doctrines of a specify religion by relating to the spirituality and religion of others.
Also, reggae is traditionally religious music rife with religious imagery.
I think Matisyahu's strength is that he's expressing himself, while drab and flat sounding Christian rock is often the product of a Nashville system that is more intent on producing non-offensive accessible music for a specific market.
If Matisyahu were business focused, he'd find a different profession instead of taking off the two most profitable.
Buddhism and Catholicism actually do contain elements of overlap when it comes to spirituality. The Catholic monastic orders, although of course they are approaching these questions from very different dogmatic and theological points view, stress renunciation and even asceticism in a way that is very similar to some strands of Buddhist thought. Some Indian Buddhist monks train by living in caves. Is this very different from monastaries today that uphold a vow of silence?
You ought to write more often, says the guy who has a blog that he started to get his thoughts out while grad-school hunting and hasn't written since 2005-05-08. Anyway, I generally agree with you regarding Christian rock, but as with all things, it's really only the major-label-payola stuff that I am reluctant to give a chance to. The counterexamples I would cite would be Sufjan Stevens and Joshua Tree-era U2. Not that I think U2 is Paul McCartney bad these days, but they are a bit more corporate-rock-y. Certainly not as bad as Creed though...Wait, wasn't Creed Christian rock...?
Also, regarding genres, I think Neko Case's position on this is most akin to the way I'm leaning these days.
...from a recent article in Harp magazine:
The extended absence also means Case has had to reacquaint herself with other annoyances that are beyond her control. Like the generic genre classification "country" that has stuck to her ever since the release of her rustic (and sometimes faux-rustic) 1997 solo debut, The Virginian. Of course that tag has been amended over the years: Since the more downcast Furnace Room Lullabye appeared in 2000, she's usually described, in critic shorthand, as an "alt-country chanteuse"--a phrase she considers both "horrible" and a "massive disservice." "It's like we're saying, 'Don't worry, it's not country.' Well, I love country music. You just know that somebody who doesn't play music came up with it--because in music, things just blend into each other. It's not like I go, "OK, I'm taking a break from this genre now, please follow me over here."
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