I recently finished
a book by Graeme Thomson: I Shot A Man In Reno: A History of
Death By Murder, Suicide, Fire, Flood, Drugs, Disease And General
Misadventures, As Related In Popular Song.
I reviewed the book
pretty thoroughly on Goodreads, which you can see here:
A book you don't
really like can still be good food for thought. In fact, if the issue with the
book is that it provides unsatisfying answers to valid questions, that can be
excellent food for thought as you try and make up for the book's shortcomings.
Tomorrow I am going
to get into the musical questions, but I feel like first we need to address
death itself.
I belong to the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so that's where my religious
beliefs come from. One thing about that is that we believe in prophets and we
believe in personal revelation. So, it's not just that I believe what someone
has said, but I feel that it is true, and there have been experiences and other
feelings that reinforce it.
We believe that
when we die, our body separates from our spirit, and we refer to where the
spirit is as the Spirit World. We believe that you are pretty much the same
person there that you are here. So, if you tended to be sad, or angry, or
resentful, you still have that to deal with. However, we also believe that the
Spirit World is a place where you continue to learn and grow, and I believe
that the help of others who are already there, and the increased perspective,
may make some things easier.
Other things would
be harder. If part of your bad feelings came from a relationship with one
person, and you got to the point where you wanted to resolve it, and talk to
them, but you couldn't, that would be hard. It is better to resolve things in
life.
Obviously, there is
more that goes on there, but my intent wasn't to get into theology so much
(which I believe works better in personal discussions) as just to point out
that this is a hopeful belief. I believe that God is good, and He loves us, and
that this is ultimately a good plan. So I am sad for someone who dies in a bad
state of mind, but I don't give up on them, because I know there is more.
I say
"know", but it is faith and not knowledge. I have my own reasons and
experiences that lead to my belief, but true knowledge won't happen until I
die. I am okay with this, because living according to my faith makes me happy
now. Religion that only encourages you to suck it up now for a reward later is
insufficient.
Songs about death
are really for the living, whether it is to deal with one's own mortality or
the loss of another. Life also is for the living. It has to be meaningful on
its own. That's not to take anything away from the afterlife. I will be so
grateful to see some people again. I am glad that who I am will not disappear,
but I am also glad that it will change. This progression we have with birth and
aging and death has some beauty to it.
I am currently
reading about music theory, and one of the names that came up was Boethius. He
was in there because of his study of music theory and his transcriptions of
folk music of the time. (Boethius lived from 480-524 AD.) He did other things,
though, and one of those was writing The Consolation of Philosophy.
This is philosophy,
not religion. His thinking is coming from observing and pondering life, and his
conclusion is that the greatest joys in life come from treating other people
decently and learning as much about the world as possible. He wrote this while
he was in prison, and he was eventually executed, so he faced with the loss of
freedom and the loss of life, but still found consolation in learning and in
treating others well.
That makes a great
life, but it makes a great death too, because you go into the next life with
relationships and with knowledge, and having had the practice of actively seeking
joy in those ways. That's someone who had a good life, and death will not
negate that.
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