We have looked at Inclusion in the context of Education. What about Inclusion in the context of faith? I want to look at the word “Spirituality” in the context of music and faith given that they have been bedfellows since the dawn of civilisation. This is a sub plot in my book that you will find it in the Prologue, in Act One Scene 4: The Music Lesson, and in the Notes & Quotes at the end.
I ask a number of questions. Mustn’t we allow God some discretion as to whom he admits into his presence, not just one faith? Why do people come together in prayer only when they mourn their dead in war – and not always even then? Need religion be quite so divisive? Can we afford it to be today? Do we not now have to move on?
Can we find an answer to these questions in Music?
From the Prologue
……And so I pose a question. With arrival on our shores of many representatives of the world’s faiths, in what is a largely secular society, how are we all to live peaceably together on our small and crowded island? Why, in all humility, cannot mankind derive inspiration from the Prophets draw comfort not contention from the sacred word, and agree on the Laws of Noah?
The question starts in our schools. Emma Kirk, the music teacher in the play is simply happy in her faith. Why can’t everyone else be happy in theirs? Can she talk about it in the classroom? As one teacher put it to me when I asked her how she dealt with the very many faiths that are represented in her school in Leeds, she said “We celebrate everything”. Many other teachers probably do the same. That must be much better than not celebrating anything, and much more likely to lead to social cohesion. And, why not some healthy scepticism too? All of this should not worry those who have true faith or real doubt.
Sometimes political correctness may just occasionally not be correct. A number of years ago I heard the following proposition which I endorse here. If there is one God, it shouldn’t be outrageous to suggest that for the billions of people on this planet there are many paths to him or to her, just different routes up the same mountain, and that each one is equally valid and each one blessed. The Matterhorn above Zermatt in Switzerland looks quite unlike Monte Cervino in Italy, but it is the same mountain.
The strength of individual belief underpins the validity of one – it does not undermine the validity of another. It also underpins its integrity. No single way is exclusive, although Judaism, Christianity and Islam all find words to suggest that theirs is. If they have that belief, isn’t it time for them to shed it? A compassionate God, or Allah the All-Merciful, in his wisdom must be allowed some continuing discretion as to whom he admits into his divine presence – now mustn’t he?
Act One, Scene 4
Emma Kirk is the music teacher, Tracy a pupil.
EMMA KIRK Now let’s round this lesson off with two pieces of fine spiritual music. It’s appropriate that one comes from my part of the world, the other from yours. The voices you’ll hear carry the spirit of God in them or, if you want, simply the human spirit. Take your pick. Either way enjoy, enjoy. First my childhood hero, Paul Robeson, singing that famous spiritual Deep River. And to finish, just listen to this: Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.
TRACY Wow
EMMA KIRK You guys will never be alone in life when you have found music.
From Notes & Quotes
The Dignity of Difference by Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks
God is God of all humanity, but between Babel and the end of days no single faith is the faith of all humanity. Such a narrative would lead us to respect the search for God in people of other faiths and reconcile the particularity of cultures with the universality of the human condition.
The Alexandria Declaration January 2002
“In the name of God who is Almighty, Merciful and Compassionate, we, who have gathered as religious leaders from the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities, pray for true peace in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and declare our commitment to ending the violence and bloodshed that denies the right of life and dignity.” (Read the list of signatories in my book.)
When I talk of “infidels” I am not just talking about the label that Moslems attach to people of other faiths or no faiths. It is the label that some Christians attach to other Christians and some Jews attach to other Jews. Does it really need to be?
I shall begin with my own faith, but you can address these questions through your own faith or with no faith.
I have posed the question why people come together in prayer only when they mourn their dead in war; everyone still preserving their own mode of address.
I am afraid that we do not. I have great admiration for AJEX and for the thousands of Jewish Ex-servicemen who served and died in the British armed services. I could not be one of them. In my ‘teens I caught TB playing chess with a young boy from the Kindertransport called Moshe Feld; the cure, an early contribution by the medical profession to my well-being. Isn’t it time that AJEX started marching with all other servicemen and women they served alongside on Remembrance Day and not the following Sunday? I know why they chose not to, but isn’t it time they did? As age begins to take its toll of their numbers they may have to.
I shall say one other thing about my own faith. I have a lot of time for the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks. I like what he preaches. I quote what he says. But when some are too exclusive, more in our community should promote what he preaches. Yes, here I am very, very inclusive.
What I am saying here is very simple. Moslems, Christians and Jews and others believe that God is One and that there is a Universal Creator. I hope that you can identify with these words of Emma Kirk, the music teacher in my play:
“I’m talking about the thing that separates the human race from the animal kingdom. And, even more important, it’s where all people can come together. I call it the spiritual side of music. The spirit of God is in this music, or the human spirit. Call it either. In my book they are the same thing. It’s the music itself, or it’s the people who perform it, like you do. It’s the music that some people sing to God. It’s also the music they play for each other. It’s the music of joy and the music of sadness. You will sense triumph over adversity and yes discord as well as harmony. It’s the music that carries the beat of life itself. We are going to start with harmony. You see the great thing about music is that it has no boundaries.”
One dramatic illustration of this is El Sistema, the all-conquering Youth Orchestra out of the back streets of Venezuela, with its charismatic conductor, Gustavo Dudamel . This is a socially inclusive concept that really works. Its 16 year old violinist Angelica Olivos said this:
“Playing music with other people is as close to God as you can get. Seeing all these thousands of little children learning what can be achieved by working together makes one believe that social conditions in Venezuela will get better and better.”
There is hope here for those who are seeking to find it, whether you believe or you don’t.
Things can change for the worse … or for the better, in the blink of the eye of time.
I was born on 29 January 1933. On January 30 Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Very recently I visited Berlin. I had lunch in a restaurant, but not any restaurant. It was attached to the Reichstag, a building now restored by the English architect, Norman Foster. Are you getting the message? On this visit I went to a concert in the Philharmonie. I heard a Palestinian pianist. He played one piece of music leaning over the piano keys, plucking the strings of his piano. The sounds came up from Judean hills. I don’t remember his name or the name of the music, but I would love to include this in Act One Scene 4.It was a spiritual experience. He would have a rightful place alongside Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tibetan monks, Yitzhak Perlman, Evelyn Glennie and Paul Robeson in the music lesson.
Religious bigots – “termites” if you remember my first blog – will not share my enthusiasm here. Let them forget their bigotry and turn to their faith.
Get real
All of this is not just a stray thought. If I am right here, while religious wars are good or evil depending on your point of view, today they are idiotic. The real battle is to save our planet. This is much more important than getting the man on the moon ever was. Of course maybe you do not want to miss Armageddon in your lifetime, or you have your private dream of Paradise. In that case I have nothing to say to you, other than to suggest that you at least spare a thought for your neighbour’s grand children.
It may upset some people on both sides of the great divide in the Middle East to say this, but this dwarfs the question who owns what where in that region, or whether your way is better than mine to find God in your life.
It is one thing to live out God’s creation. It is quite another to see our bit of it destroyed.
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