Ramblings on Natalie's Post

(The stage at The Royal Opera House. Gorgeous, isn't it? I will sing on it one day... I swear it!)

This is a response post to a post my friend Natalie made. Hopefully it'll make sense to even those you haven't seen her post.

There are two ways I see this: in a religious and non-religious way. Both of which, I feel, are relavant and necessary in seeing this in an objective light.

First, the non-religious.

Call me a cynic but I'm a firm believer in this: people do things because of selfish reasons. Selfishness isn't bad at all if it brings out good things in us, no? the people who go over to foreign countries and leave everything behind to tend to the sick, the poor and the dying do it because it makes them feel good. Sure the flies, mosquitoes and crappy food suck but they know what they're doing is changing something for the better; ergo, it makes them feel good; ergo, they do it. Now, I don't say this to minimize their sacrifice or make it any less significant. I merely wish to point out what I feel to be the truth of the human condition: We're selfish little bastards who do great, amazing things that create beauty and spread love through the world in order to quench out thirst for fulfillment.

Where it's building orphanages or screaming Tosca at the top of your lungs for three hours, it really is all the same. Does it fulfill you? Are you doing something good for the people around you? Are those people influenced positively by what you do? If your answer is 'yes,' it doesn't matter whether or not you're doing something for selfish reasons.

Now, the religious.

If you're doing what God called you to do, whether it seem selfish or not, you're doing God's work. And God's work is never selfish. Why? Because, then, you're a tool, an instrument. An instrument is never selfish. It merely does what it was made to do. It is inherently incapable of being selfish. When was the last time you saw a violin say to itself, "Bloody hell! What I do is selfish and unimportant! I'd rather be a defibrillator in a hospital because saving lives is more important than squeaking out Tchaikovsky all day"?

You and I, we're His instruments in more ways than one. Every note we sing, every step we take as we walk on stage into the blinding stage lights, every role we learn is an offering. Whether we're singing sacred music or Rossini, it's an offering, a living sacrifice, a testament to his mercy and unbound grace-- of what He can do with absolute rubbish like us. As long as we don't forget this, we're not selfish. Selfish in the sense that we love and enjoy what we do? Sure. Absolutely. But selfish in the sense that what we do is all for us and no one else? Of course not. We do it for our audiences. Much like looking at a breathtaking piece of art or tasting an amazing dish. That feeling you get when you look at a Bernini sculpture or a Van Gogh painting-- the feeling of breathlessness and standing there slack-jawed and dribbling, gasping out a senseless 'Oh, my God'... that's all because you saw a glimpse of God. Beauty is an earthly interpretation of God. It's the highest form of praise. And artists? We're the makers of that beauty. Thus, artists are conduits between the ugly mortal world and the unimaginable, unfathomable beauty of the divine. We translate, with our gifts, in what ways we can, the absolute and all-consuming wonder of God. Some through a paintbrush and some through their voices.

Musicians bring entire concert halls full of people just a little closer to God. And, i that sense, we're not just singers; we're Angels.

So, don't think for a moment that what you do is any less important than what anybody else does. Dont' think for a second that you're not serving God by studying music!

Well, that was by two cents. Thoughts? Comments? Dissent? I'd love 'em all!

-R