I hear you. Music, for me, is as good as scripture.
I think the booklet of lyrics that came with my CD copy of Paul Simon’s The Rhythm of The Saints alone is worth the cost of the album. I’ve been going over Wilco lyrics lately, taking lots of notes, and Jeff has loads of language mapping onto gnostic / mystical Christian concepts I find interesting.
Here’s a sample from Theologians, where we get the title of A Ghost Is Born:
“I'm going away
Where you will look for me
Where I'm going you cannot come
No one's ever gonna take my life from me
I lay it down
A ghost is born
A ghost is born
A ghost is born”
In John 10:17-18 Jesus says,
“For this reason the Father loves me: that I lay down my soul, so that I may take it up again. No one has taken it from me; rather I lay it down, and I have power to take it up again; this command I received from my Father.”
These lyrics echo the Gospel of Thomas logia 38 where Jesus says,
“Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. There will be days when you will look for me and will not find me.”
And finally, in 1 Corinthians 1:30 Paul tells us Jesus “became wisdom from God, uprightness and sanctification and the fee for emancipation,”
Jeff’s lyrics in Theologians remind of this subtle suggestion in the gnostic-tinged language of John, Paul, and Thomas that we are visited by wisdom (Greek - Sophia) and this wisdom/Sophia is the Ghost (G Host) of someone/something that sacrificed itself and became a Paraclete of truth for us. In Thomas Jesus says his followers will look for him and not find him, seeking his words with futility. I believe this is because they don’t study the poets and songwriters aided by the Ghost.
In George’s recently discussed story The Fall we see Morse, piano re-possessed, making that sacrifice to “lay it down” literally. I see these two narrators of Morse and Cummings as walking through the Bardo, already dead, repeating their grievances, and responding differently to the call for action and sacrifice.
Interestingly, Cummings mentions the archetypally charged number 114 twice. The gospel of Judas Thomas the twin is comprised of 114 logia/sayings. And in John 1:14 the Word is made flesh. The Quran contains 114 surrahs and suggests dying for the cause grants immortality. 1 cycle of 14 days is what it takes to “flatten the curve” of a full moon. In The Falls, Morse and his full blue moon takes action and lays it down to be of service in a selfless act- a kind of love jihad. Cummings will remain in the bardo, perhaps thinking about writing about Morse.
I believe the Ghost is real and we’re in a bardo now. Like Morse, we are called to get our blue moon into shape by taking a swim in a river in the reign. Patterns emerge from inspired words, be them scripture, poetry, or song lyrics because language is at the substrate of creation and that creation is a co-creation.
So yeah- that’s what I think.
I just rented Wonder Boys, the excellent film based on Michael Chabon’s second novel. The central character, an aspiring novelist, James Lear’s debut novel is titled The Love Parade, clipped from a classic 1929 film known as the first feature length film in which the soundtrack songs are incorporated into and reference the film’s narrative. Wonder Boys does the same thing, and features music from Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and my favorite John Lennon song, Watching The Wheels.
Fun fact: The word quarantine comes to us from the 17th century Italian quarantina, meaning 40 days. In the synoptic gospels Christ spends a quarantina in the wilderness battling temptation and finding resolve. It’s the same amount of time Noah spends hunkered down in the Ark and Moses spends on the mountaintop receiving the word.
Perhaps a quarantina in the bardo is a great opportunity to get my ass in shape, go for a swim, be of service to others, and do some writing.
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