Power

My last blog post alluded that many do not believe in God are trying to convince themselves and others that they do by ever increasing over-compensation. This is a recipe for a stew of left overs and second hand truths at best. When faced with real problems like poverty, death, pain, loneliness ... these pretenders will be ill equipped to help those they love. This weakness cannot be covered up by big institutions, buildings, popularity or political support. While it is easy to be misled by the external grandeur, they are illusions if no real personal power exits.

Art mirrors our souls, our social aspirations, our angst, our nature... Music is perhaps the most powerful. Good music makes us feel, sing, dance, chant, cry, laugh, smile... the better the music and performance, the deeper the experience. Just like life, some of it sounds good at first but if it lacks soul, energy, excellence, they tire very easily. But when everything clicks, sometimes music is powerful and can change lives.

For me, the ladies who sing in "Be Grateful" and "You can call God" are singing with simple power and soul that are rare today. They just proclaim their message as a matter of fact. No need to persuade, convince, criticize, or contrive emotions. Even the sexy, raw, primal, over-processed singing of many women today cannot compare with the truth in big soulful skillful singing using the voice as the instrument.

The first one was from 1979, probably the 1st black gospel choir piece I ever heard. "You can call God" was from 1989. They coincided with smooth sailing, fast career moves, lots of travel, good prospects in love and work in my life. That continued as I explored many different industries, markets and countries. At the turn of the Century this song (posted earlier) mirrored my confidence in life and discovery as I learned mandarin while installing medical software and lasers in China, India, Korea, SE Asia and Middle East. The work was meaningful but exploring these places were the gems for me.

Then for the first time in my life, unfortunate events hammered and could have destroyed my confidence, my faith and my vision for life. After "He said" by Mary Mary in 2002, I found fewer and fewer songs that just shouted what they believed.

Like society perhaps, there were more "anti this that and the other" sentiment but also whiny complaints that life is unfair. Instead of faith, blame, fear, prejudices are embraced as reasons for action. This is upholding habits of weakness.

Ironically, during the apparent dark time in my life, I rediscovered that power that drove my relationships, my dreams and personal change. And it relates much better to the raw energy in the singing these ladies.