The Sacred Application of Music

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This week our Sunday message was given by David Eaton, Music Director of the New York City Symphony. Both an audio and video version of his message will be available soon. Although I can not do justice to the very inspiring message David shared with us this past Sunday, I will try to give a brief synopsis.

“People often think that politics moves the world, but that is not the case. It is culture and art that move the world. It is emotion, not reason, that strikes people in the innermost part of their hearts…When hearts change and are able to receive new things, ideologies and social regimes change as a result.” – Rev. Sun Myung Moon, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen

Human Creativity

He began with a passage from the Divine Principle which explains that the original nature of human beings is a reflection of the Divine character of God.

“When the body responds to the mind’s emotion, intellect and will, its actions pursue the values of beauty, truth and goodness respectively. God is the subject partner to the human mind; hence He is the subject partner to human emotions, intellect and will.  Desiring to realize his original value, a person responds to the perfect emotion, perfect intellect and perfect will of God through his mind, and acts accordingly through his body. Thus, he manifests the values of original beauty, original truth and original goodness.” – Divine Principle: Chapter I, Section IV/The Original Value of Creation

As sons and daughters of God, created in His/Her image, we are co-creators endowed with the ability to endlessly express love, truth, beauty and goodness in an unlimited array of creative forms. The act of living requires all of our emotion, intellect and will working together in creative harmony in order to progress and fulfill our hopes and dreams. The society and culture around us is a manifestation of human creativity.

Music as a Moral and Ethical Force in Society

David went on to explain how the Fall of Man limited our ability to reflect the nature of God, and how religion became the primary path to reconnect to our Creator and our original Divinity. He then took us on a journey through history with many quotes from religious and philosophical leaders as well as scientists, artists and musicians to get a better understanding of how powerful music and the arts have been in shaping culture.

Below are some of the quotes that were shared:

Confucius“If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer.” [Conficius]

“The care of the governors should be directed to preserve music and gymnastics from innovation; alter the songs of a country…and you will soon end by altering laws. The change appears innocent at first, and begins in play, but evil soon becomes serious, working secretly upon the characteristics of individuals, then upon the social and commercial relations, and lastly upon the institutions of the state; and there is ruin and confusion everywhere. Plato [Republic]

“In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love…people fail because they love the wrong things.” [St. Augustine]

“The sole and end aim of music is to praise and glorify God and the recreation of the mind. When this is not the case there can only be infernal scraping and bawling.” [J.S. Bach]

“Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired. Music is related to us, and either ennobles or corrupts the character.”
[Boethius]

“The Platonic ideal of truth, beauty and goodness is not a bad set of ideals to live by. But where has that gone? For thousands of years art was seen as a source of responsible moral and ethical leadership. Today taking that stance is almost seen as being comic.”
[Jack Beal]

Bono“When you sing, you make people vulnerable to change in their lives. You make yourself vulnerable to change in your life. But in the end, you’ve got to become the change you want to see in the world. I’m actually not a very good example of that, I’m too selfish, and the right to be ridiculous is something I hold too dear, but still, I know it’s true.” [Bono]

As much as music and art have the ability to open our hearts and uplift us, they are also a reflection of the current state of mind and heart of the artist, and the society that adores those artists.

The full presentation included a testimony of David’s work for peace in Israel and the creation of the Halelu Cantata. We were also blessed to be able to watch an excerpt from the concert in Israel during our Sunday Celebration.

Music videos

To uplift your heart and spirit please enjoy some music from the New York City Symphony on their video page.

 

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