We Are Not Amused

“A great variety of spirits come to us on the wings of music,

Into the deepest recesses of the soul.

They come to places where the light of reason has never shone.

They come gliding past the gatekeeper, Reason,

The censor and judge which patrols the soul’s borders.”

-Peter Kreeft

      Have you ever asked someone or been asked, “What are you listening to?” Has it ever been phrased, “What is that noise?” To one person, the best description for another person’s music may very well sometimes be ‘noise’. The phrase “to each his own” is usually used to calm such qualms, as such disagreements are often a simple difference of opinion (subjectivity); but what if there was also an objective side to this? Could it be that there is a concrete (though perhaps not always clear) distinction between that which is truly music, and that which is simply noise packaged as music?

     George MacDonald described Heaven as “the regions where there is only life and therefore all that is not music is silence.” Notice how there is no middle ground (noise). Silence is sometimes the most appropriate environment for thought and contemplation as there are no distractions pulling the mind away. By nature, however, silence is so easily drowned out because it is broken by even the tiniest sound, but what of music? Music is at times an excellent environment for meditation and contemplation. The best way to ruin someone’s musical experience is to create noise. People talking loudly, background noise, a click or distortion in one’s headphones or speakers are all horribly frustrating to anyone trying to enjoy their favourite song. Noise is an assaulting force to music.

      Music, in contrast, has been called the prima lingua (‘first language’) and the language of the gods. In The Magician’s Nephew, chronologically the first book in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia which is analogous to the account of the creation of the universe in Genesis, the method and tool used by Aslan to create the world is a song. Music is a force of creation, and of awakening. It stirs up feelings which we may not have felt in a long time, or perhaps never even knew existed within us.

     In another book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis presents us with a demon, Screwtape, ranting about how he “detests” music and silence. He speaks of his delight in the knowledge that the “infernal” realms belonging to their father (the devil) are filled with noise, and that they “have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth.” However, he goes on to say that he believes that they are not “loud enough,” and that they are working on creating more noise, and new noise (it is interesting to note that in the book, these demonic letters are supposed to have been written only a decade or so before the advent of ‘pop’ music).

     In the Bible, there are scriptures that seem to indicate Satan, before he was cast down from Heaven for his rebellion, was the archangel (or chief angel) and oversaw the music of Heaven (notice how the two jobs are co-dependant). If this truly was the case, would it not make sense that one of the greatest insults he could pay to God would be  to drown out His heavenly music, or, perhaps worse, distort and corrupt it?

     In light of the above quote from Kreeft, one can easily see how music, in its purest and cleanest form, could be the greatest means of communication between God and His creation. This is why hymns have been an integral aspect of worship in Christianity and Judaism since the beginning, and why God gave us the gift of music at creation. However, the greatest good, when corrupted, often becomes the greatest evil, thus making this principle of communication apply to the Satanic realm as well.

     In his book, The Best Things in Life, a sort of modern Socratic dialogue, Kreeft explains that the common idea that music is fancy poetry, and poetry fancy words is false, and the reality is that prose is fallen poetry, and that poetry is fallen music. If Satan can deceive us into reversing this hierarchy of art and communication, think how much easier it is for him to shout down and/or corrupt its highest form, music, if it has been brought low. If God can use music as a tool to pour into us His spirit of good and harmony, then it would make sense that music would be the ideal tool for Satan, himself quite possibly a master of music, to spread his discord, rebellion, and noise.

     The very word ‘music’ comes from the Greek muses, daughters of Zeus who oversaw all art and philosophy; it is the source of the noun ‘muse’, an artistic inspiration of creativity for beauty, and the verb ‘to muse’, which is to deeply contemplate or meditate to further one’s wisdom. The prefix ‘a-’ is used to indicate a lack or opposite of something, thus adding it to ‘moral’ creates ‘amoral’, a lack of morals. This should give us quite an interesting (and disturbing) way of viewing the word ‘amuse’; and especially when we consider just how much of our music has the sole purpose of ‘amusement’.

     So how do we tell if what we are hearing is truly music or noise? Is it naturally conducive to thought? Does it stir up ideas of good, beauty, and truth? Or does it easily distract from the deeper things of life and the mind, promoting rebellion or discord, either physical, relational, or spiritual? Is it for our edification or amusement? I often refer to “God’s language of Love” in my writing, and music, at its purest and best, seems to be the greatest dialect of that that language. Rock on!