Music. I love music. It sooths my soul. I understand this is an absurd thing for an atheist to say. I don't have a soul. What I mean to say is that music pleases me. It makes me feel good. The music of Collective Soul makes me feel better than most. Only, as a buzz kill acquaintance reminded me last week, Collective Soul is faith based. Mr. Buzz Kill is famous for saying "I never bring up my religious beliefs to anyone I work with, they (other people) bring it up to me". His self delusion is absolute.
Knowing Collective Soul is faith based does not bother me. Their music talks to me. Is it religious? I have no idea... However, Mr. Buzz Kill caused me to ask, what is "the soul" anyway?
I've thought about that question for most of my adult life. In fact, no other metaphysical question has occupied more of my conscious mind. You see, once very long ago, I almost had the ME that is me knocked out of my head in an industrial accident. I survived, some of my memories did not. Thankfully, the memories were of the last year of high school so nothing important was lost.
Some of the missing ME has returned over time. Usually while listening to music. I recently recovered a memory of a basketball game while listening to an old Kansas song. You see, I know I played basketball my senior year in High School, but I don't really remember anything about it. Recovering any of these memories is important to me. I like to think of the mess that was about 8 months of my young life as, "the jumble". I get a headache thinking about it without music. So I listen to music as often as possible.
What do my jumbled memories have to do with a soul? Well, everything actually. If a knock on the head can change ME, what could something more serious do? Me is defined largely by the physical structure of the brain and the electrochemical transactions that purse through it every second of every day of our lives. All it takes to change ME or YOU is a nut with a hammer or a power drill. Put a hole in the right area of the brain and a pastor could become a serial killer, or more likely the ME that I know will become someone else. What are the implications for the concept of a soul if who we are can be changed by a drill bit? If ME is defined by the physical condition of my brain, then what people think of as a soul, the ME that would go to heaven.... is what, the ME before the drill bit, or the ME ten years after the drill bit? What if the post drill bit me is a better guy? Is the soul grounded in some definition of ME that represents all of ME, or some of ME? Or the ME from when I became a Christian but not the ME after I became an atheist?
The concept of a soul does not make sense to me. It's nice to think that when we die, our souls transcend to some other plane. But seriously, If a knock on the head can change ME to a meaner ME, or a nicer ME, then what would my soul be? It is more plausible to think that the ME I know exists only as long as I have a living functioning brain. In the end, there is only... nothing. The end of ME will be nothing. I can live with that - I've got no other choice.
oh - as a closing thought: Collective Soul - Precious Declaration
Once I jumped thru hoops of fire
High and far as you required
I was blind but now I see
Salvation has discovered me
Ok - this could be faith based - so what. The song rocks.
Technorati Tags: Faith, Soul, Deep Thoughts, Collective Soul, Religion
I don't think that the Christian idea of a "Soul" maps to your idea of "Me-ness" Certainly not in most mainstream theology. What you are talking about I think most people would call the personality.
ReplyDeleteya, I know. Brad explained it all to me. However, it left the question, if a soul is not M, then what the hell is it?
ReplyDeleteAlso - there is a real difference between what people like Brad think, and ma and pa trailer park Christian. It always makes me wonder, why is it that what most people hold to be true is never really the truth? It's like the message is not getting out very effectively. Know what I mean?
Interesting ideas about the Me-ness, at least from the POV of this Catholic-raised pseudo-Buddhist (basically, you could call me confused... lol). Anyway, just wanted to toss my 2 cents in as a CS fan. The band has been said to resent being saddled with a Christian Rock label, so while some of there stuff is no doubt influenced by their religious upbringing, it doesn't mean that it has any deeper, preachy Biblical meaning that a person of any faith (or non-faith) should have issue with. Take the music for what it is, no need to attach Jesus or anything else to it (South Park ridiculed Christian Rock music, btw- you may wanna check out that episode if you never saw it).
ReplyDeleteFinally, I've heard that the song you quoted, "Precious Declaration," is actually about Ed Roland's divorce. If you read the complete lyrics to it with this in mind, it makes a lot of sense.