2023 Day 17 "ONE Can't Create"
This week end the third week of Atheism for Lent and the week of the Mystics. I think I just did a mystical thing. I downloaded two hours of German Choral Hymn music. Something in me was missing the music style of hymns and choral music. This way... I can enjoy the music in a language I adore listening to... but the words are beyond my mental comprehension, so they won't interfere in the enjoyment of the moment.
I have missed the music which is something that I mentioned this week. I have a whole playlist of German Christmas songs that got me through the Christmas Carol season. I don't know why I didn't think of German hymns earlier. Some of the hymn melodies I am familiar with and some I am not. Which is a beautiful balance.
I think this is something I can share with my mother. She will have the English words roll through her head while she listens and will be just as encouraged by the songs as I will just listening to the music. I think I might have found some common ground. I hope Mom likes it. Today, I am glad I don't know German. Today it is better that the words escape me. Today I feel lifted from the doldrums that this week. Today I can listen to music again!
I enjoyed the Meister Eckhart Chapter in Courtney's book "Appetite for Antithesis". I downloaded his book with the idea of maybe doing some more digging into his thoughts. Anyone who gives me freedom to find a connection to the beyond without using the word "God" has my attention. I think Meister Eckhart would understand me.
“Meister Eckhart insists that anything we say about God says more about us than about God. Not only that, but: since God is beyond all human comprehension, we shouldn’t even be discussing God or trying to understand God. This isn’t the “Master” trying to suppress doubt or discourage question; instead, Eckhart emphasizes that if we could understand anything about God, then God would not be God. Therefore, anything we think we have learned about God just makes us more ignorant instead of wiser."
Courtney Cantrell
Excerpt From
Appetite for Antithesis: (De)Knowing God in a Lenten Practice
