Spirituality of Writing Music

The Spirituality of Writing Music

Ken Langer

I’ve been asked to talk to you today about music and spirituality–two topics that are near and dear to my heart–and how they relate to a need for hope. I will start with music and spirituality and bring in a little hope at the end.

First, I want to talk to you about my understanding of the word spirituality which, to me, is different from the word religion. I understand spirituality to be a connection to the sacred mystery of all things. UU minister Forrest Church once wrote that “[the sacred] is that which is greater than all and yet present in each. When that which is present in you relates to that which is present in all, you are sustained. You are billowed on the ocean of divinity and made safe.” Such a connection to all things can help alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation. When I remember that the same sacred force of life is as much in me as it is in each of you and that it is part of everything I know and see then I can take some comfort in being a small part of it.

You see, we don’t live in a static world. I know that, sometimes, it doesn’t seem that way. Most days people wake up in the same place, some go to the same job, see the same people, and do many of the same things. But, no day is exactly the same. Everyday we are a slightly different person, the weather changes, the light changes, the world changes around us. Nothing is ever exactly the same each day. As Heraclitus once said: you can never step into the same river twice. 

We exist within a dynamic and ever-changing universe that is never the same one minute to the next. Everything we have ever known and will ever encounter is in the process of becoming something else-something new, something unique. The world we find ourselves in is always bringing about something novel. The universe is always in the act of creativity. That is the sacred force that is within and beyond us. That, to me, is the spiritual.

I believe our spiritual purpose is to connect to that creative force. This doesn’t mean that you have to paint a masterpiece or write an award-winning novel. Each one of you is already unique. There has never been and never will be anyone quite like you. You are a novel creation of the universe and just being the best person you can be in your life can be a creative and spiritual act.

For me, writing music has always been a spiritual practice. Music and religion to me are deeply intertwined. That is because music connects directly to our emotions-to something deep within us that goes beyond words. It is felt in the body. It can recall memories or make new ones. Kahlil Gibran once wrote that “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”

When I write music I find myself in a space where I feel connected to something that is more than me. I enter a state of being what psychologists call ‘flow.’ It’s like having a magical mailbox where I slip in postcards with bits of music I heard and ideas I had. I throw in a few more about what I’d like to accomplish and add certain parameters I want to include. Then, I wait. I sleep, I eat, I go for a walk or I just daydream and then suddenly the box opens and out comes new ideas. As I put them to work more I add more ideas into the box. Sometimes I finish in one sitting. Sometimes I get stuck and I have to close the box and try again later. It’s all a mystery to me-like entering into a trance. I can’t tell you how many times I would finish something and then come back to it in a few days and have absolutely no idea how I wrote the piece in the first place.

You have to trust and believe in the process. You have to trust and believe in yourself. You have to have hope. You see what I did there?

Most of my music is about hope. I weave my theology and my hopes for the best of humanity in most every word and note. So it comes full circle. I write music because it is my connection to the spiritual and my understanding of the sacred is what inspires my music.

“When that which is present in you relates to that which is present in all, you are sustained. You are billowed on the ocean of divinity and made safe.”

In the name of that which is divine, may it be so.