Music illuminates

We are particularly privileged to live in the Chicago area and attend the Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts on a regular basis. On April 6, 2024, we were lucky enough to have tickets in our season package of conductor Klaus Makela directing three pieces. The first piece was the U.S. premiere of Batteria by Zinovjev. The second was the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1. The finale, and one I will never forget, was the Shostakovich Symphony No. 10. WFMT, Chicago's classical radio station, provides background and on-demand recording of this momentous concert.

The reason the night was so momentous is that Klaus Makela had just days before been named to the highly coveted position of CSO Music Director. At the age of 28 Makela presently serves as the conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic and as of 2027 he will serve both the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and Chicago Symphony. The performance of the Shostakovich No. 10 was astounding, resulting in a loud roar at the conclusion and multiple curtain calls. Makela was humble, innovative, focused, and deeply prepared for the night and Chicago has many performances ahead that I know will be equally eventful.

The Shostakovich No. 10 is important because it was the first he would compose after the death of Stalin, who had repeatedly criticized and punished him during his music career. It is a profound example that "every piece of great art has two faces - one towards its own time and the other towards the future" (quote from esteemed conductor Daniel Barenboim). The Shostakovich No. 10 is the unleashing of desperation into possibility and, although dark in many of its orchestral colors, rises to a frenzied conclusion of optimism.

The audience response this night reflected what research indicates about music's power to synchronize. Subconsciously joining together, attendees at concerts begin to breath together and their heart beats align. The synchronization is even more common for attendees who are open to new experiences such as "art, travel, and exotic things," as reported by the researcher, Wolfgang Tschacher. Thank goodness that I've been blessed with an openness that is ready to align with others through great music.

The program notes for the night included a quote from memoirs that are attributed to Shostakovich - "Music illuminates a person through and through, and it is also his last hope and final refuge. And even half-mad Stalin, a beast and a butcher, instinctively sensed that about music. That's why he feared and hated it."

Rolheiser - The Holy Longing

If you follow my blog, you know that I read and devour experiences for new insights which results in my posts being all over the place. This summary of Ronald Rolheiser's The Holy Longing (2014) was read by a book group in my church and I became curious about it when several people commented on its relevance to today's world and the struggle for meaning that many people express. The book is coming from a religious perspective but I see many of the ideas that are advocated as more broadly applicable to general spirituality and yearning for purpose in living.

The primary thesis of The Holy Longing is that humans by nature are drawn to search for meaning - the existential question of what's this all about and what is my purpose here? Rolheiser offers the opinion, "Spirituality is not something on the fringes, an option for people of a particular bent... We do not wake up in this world calm and serene, having the luxury of choosing to act or not act. We wake up crying, on fire with desire, with madness. What we do with that madness is our spirituality" (p. 6). He goes on to suggest that what counts in this innate spirituality is what we do with it - the habits and discipline with which we choose to live that either brings us closer together with others and nature itself or drives us apart. In a surprising twist for a book coming from a religiously-based author, he identified Mother Theresa, Janis Joplin, and Princess Diane as examples of different ways to seek connections to the ultimate - women whose lives were shaped by deep energy and zest for life who, without pursuing their passions, would have fallen apart or died.

Turning to a more practical application, Rolheiser referenced naivete about spiritual energy, pathological busyness, distraction, restlessness, and a lack of balance as essential impediments to the search for meaning. These distractions of the modern day drive us from each other, from community, and away from the healing that faith communities can foster. What then is the antidote? Referencing C.S. Lewis from Surprised by Joy, he says that "delight has to catch us unaware, a place where we are not rationalizing that we are happy" (p. 26). Those surprising moments are quite simply when we say to ourselves, "God, it feels great to be alive" (p. 26).

I've had these "it's great to be alive" moments and I cherish them, and the interesting thing is that I experience them more in my senior days than earlier in life. Perhaps the result of constantly seeking as young or maturing adults, we just don't see that where we are justifies pausing for the moment of appreciation and celebration. Rolheiser suggested that growing in our "it's great to be alive" could be cultivated more by observing the New Testament teaching of Jesus. Specifically, four practices or attitudes are ways to seek spiritual connectedness as well as recognize it. They include; 1) private prayer and morality, 2) social justice, 3) mellowness of heart and spirit, and 4) community.

I've believed for some time that "conviction in action" was one of the central, if not a primary core, element to inspired leadership. The holy longing described by Rolheiser, and the four practices, may be another way of characterizing and pursuing the discovery and pursuit of purpose that I've previously advocated.