I went to a rock show last night–some noisy folks, all of whom had good voices. I had earlier in the day said to a friend that all love is ridiculous, but that it is even more ridiculous never to feel it.
As I watched the show with my PBR, it occurred to me that it is a species of insanity to give yourself fully over to the music, but equally insane to approach it with a stance of ironic detachment.
How can one swim perfectly in the ocean? Are you not always just muddling along, going up and down with the waves?
It occurred to me too that there is a ritualistic quality to rock. One of the bands reminded my of the Smiths, and I was thinking about all these bands that attract–what do we call it?–cult followers. It seems to me that this is a ritual where all the members of the group are bound in a shared mania that is strengthened with the power of the music. It is what I at times call Ersatz Sacred. I think that is my phrase any way.
In a fundamental way, is God less present at a rock concert–if we by “God” we mean an oceanic feeling of belonging–than in a church? Is God more in churches, in any way? If He exists, then he is everywhere.
My feeling is that God is the web which connects us all. God is not sentient: God IS sentience. God underlies the possibility of consciousness. God is the formed when it is unformed. God represents the possibility of form.
Anyway, I think it is worth breaking “religion” into components. One part of its role, in my view, is served equally well by all group functions, including musical events. I’m not at all sure, as far as that goes, that church going fosters closeness to God, absent what might be termed “technologies” like Yogic meditation.