The fastest, most effective mood-changer I know is music. For me, a little Mozart, Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland or Kiri Te Kanawa and I am beyond cares. In that state, high bills, high blood sugar and high body weight are challenging blessings instead of woes. "Handel's Messiah" is long but filled with bits that stick in my mind, even though I can't read music. Being the season and all, I put it on this morning. We have been attending a series by a professor of religious studies who is basing his presentations on "The First Christmas" by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, leading Protestant and Catholic scholars and on "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth" by the scholar Reza Aslan.
As I listen to great voices singing verses from Isaiah, Malachi, Haggai and other prophets who clearly wanted deliverance from enemies, oppression and difficulties, I hear attempts to foresee what perfection would have to be like. The afflicted (blind, deaf, lame) will be healed. The mountains all around will be "smoothed", the "rough places plain". The valleys will be exalted and it is all going to be great! I feel as though I can hear people of all sorts of backgrounds and ethnicities singing with power and joy through the ages.
I saw on tv that Japan has societies devoted to the singing of Beethoven's 9th symphony, the one built on the ode to joy. Maybe they sing the Messiah or just the Hallelujah chorus.
We have our problems and worries in the current age but we clearly have some blessings and wonders, too. The music, the musicians, the voices all at the ready whenever I want to hear them. Unbelievable! If you look up the Messiah in Amazon's mp3 section, you can find extremely low prices for the entire oratorio.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
