Mystic Chords Mysticism and Psychology in Popular Music
Introduction
Rock and roll, and archetypal symbolism? If it is true that the creative spark of artistic inspiration originates deep within the collective soul of humanity, then it must also be true that it encompasses all forms of artistic expression and is not confined to any specific age or art form.
The same primal source from which mythology, dreams, folk traditions, and poetic insight arise must also be the inspirational source for painting, music, literature, and all other modes of creative human endeavor.
Elitists may dismiss popular entertainment as not properly belonging to this sphere of creative expression, but modern genres such as rock music and movie-making deserve their rightful places alongside the recognized works of classical and traditional art forms.
Much of popular music undoubtedly was produced for commercial profit rather than as a means of true expression, but a great number of the genuine pioneers of rock and roll did perceive music as a means of connecting with the mystical source of energy and creation that lay within their beings.
The correspondence between the ideas and psychic forces which find release through rock and roll and the symbolism of eligious, philosophical, and mythological imagery lends credence to
the proposition that all of these methods of assimilating, synthesizing, and expressing archetypal psychological elements have a common origin deep within the human mind. It is that correspondence that forms the subject matter of this book.
Universal forces are at play within every individual and culture, but it is not possible to express them in their pristine and unmodified splendor, for they exist in a plane that conscious human thoughts and language simply cannot hope to attain.
Therefore, when they do appear in the vastly limited world of which men are consciously aware, they are always clothed in the customs, images, and stylizations of the local culture and environment.
The universal form lies concealed behind the local, temporal form. This local form may then either be believed in, religiously, or understood as a stepping stone — an interface through which the higher truth underlying it can be obtained.
When a series of highly profound and complex psychic factors (factors that greatly transcend the ordinary world of thoughts and senses) struggles to break through and make itself known to consciousness, it soon arrives at an impenetrable wall: the limitations of the human mind.
The only way to reach the other side of this wall is through a tiny crack that appears there, the entry into the sentient and intellectual sphere of human apprehension.
These great and transpersonal energies must constellate together into a sufficiently compressed mass so that they can make their way through the narrow fissure, and only then do they appear to man, unrecognizably altered and inextricably tangled together.
These energies now take the forms of symbols and abstract metaphors, and those who promulgate them are regarded as saviors, prophets, and visionaries, and are revered above all others.
Receiving and correctly interpreting these highly charged, inestimably precious symbols is not within the power of the average man, and only those endowed with exceptional gifts for this crucial task can correctly understand them and elucidate their hidden significance.
Carl Jung, the great psychologist, who did possess such a gift for symbolic interpretation, explained the nature of symbols thus:
The word symbol comes from the Greek word symballein, to throw together. It has to do, then, with things gathered together, or with a heap of material thrown together, which we, as the expression shows, take as a whole. We could translate the word symbol as “something viewed as a totality,” or as “the vision of things brought into a whole.”
We must always have recourse to a symbol when we are dealing with a great variety of aspects or with a multiplicity of things which form a connected unit and which are so closely woven together in all their separate parts that we cannot separate or take away any parts without destroying the connections and losing the meaning of the totality.
Modern philosophy has formulated this way of looking at things as Gestalt theory. A symbol, then, is a living Gestalt, or form — the sum total of a highly complex set of facts which our intellect cannot master conceptually, and which therefore cannot be expressed in any way other than by the use of an image.
It is crucial that the symbols and images in any given culture match outer realities and fulfill inner needs within that specific cultural form; otherwise they lose their relevance and their meaning is perverted.
A large factor in the spiritual and psychical problems of the current age is that most people still hold onto the symbols that were employed thousands of years ago, and there has been no attempt to understand the symbolic forms of contemporary self-expression, which are more attuned to the historico-cultural situation and circumstances of the present day.
Inner realities are eternal and unchanging, but the symbols expressing them need to be constantly reinvented and reinterpreted, such that they are pertinent to the times and comprehensible to the people living in them.
As Joseph Campbell writes:
All the life-potentialities that we never managed to bring to adult realization, those other portions of ourselves, are there [within us]; for such golden seeds do not die. If only a portion of that lost totality could be dredged up into the light of day, we should experience a marvelous expansion of our powers, a vivid renewal of life.
We should tower in stature. Moreover, if we could dredge up something forgotten not only by ourselves but by our whole generation or our entire civilization, we should become indeed the boon-bringer, the culture hero of the day — a personage of not only local but world historical moment.
There is no reason that one should search for such worldwide historical personages only in the annals of ancient history, in an age remote from us not only by eons but also by a vast gulf in mentality and outlook.
In this age of technological advances and of human destruction on a scale previously unimaginable, a writer or artist who rediscovers the forgotten truths, yet who also takes into account current external realities, would speak far more directly to the people than a saint or prophet from the dim past who was trying to rectify the errors and misconceptions peculiar to his generation.
The Truth may be ever the same, but there are as many misapprehensions of it as there are different cultures and societies, and each one of them needs its “re-adjusters” to hold up a mirror to its prevalent delusions.
The more the constituent symbols of the psyche are unearthed, see the light of day, and are properly comprehended, the less they remain unconscious, and hence awareness and clarity increase proportionally.
Psychoanalysis has shown us that unconscious forces and motivations are in large part to blame for the maladies and conflicts that plague the world today. Modern songwriters, if they appreciate the significance of their role, can serve as such re-adjusters of mass consciousness, and thus they are charged with a serious responsibility.
It was in recognition of this that Bob Dylan said:
I’m a poet
And I know it
Hope I don’t blow it.
A number of artists having a well-publicized association with spiritual quests, Eastern philosophy, yoga, etc., are not mentioned in this book.
Their omission might seem a little odd, at first; however, those who adopt mystical or occult elements from established philosophical or psychological traditions and transplant them essentially unaltered into their music are not of interest here.
The focus is on original and pioneering thought in popular music that is paralleled and confirmed by visionaries from other disciplines who have ventured into the depths of the mind and unearthed some of its enduring mysteries.
What I have attempted, here, is to draw together the fields of mysticism, philosophy, psychology, and literature with the seemingly disparate realm of popular music and culture, and to achieve a cohesive synthesis of these.
Most people at some time in their lives question the nature of existence, and consciousness, but are usually met with bewildering paradoxes and suffer such setbacks in their quest that the task seems tantamount to the labors of Sisyphus.
The lyrics by the rock group Queen, below, crystallize the essence of such existential soul-searching:
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see.
There can be no doubt that many artists of the modern era, in their respective fields, have grappled with the same philosophical and metaphysical problems that have occupied the minds of thinking men and women throughout history.
The reflective introspection voiced by Bob Dylan is perhaps as old as mankind itself, and in one way or another it has been the unceasing effort of every age to find some sort of meaningful resolution to these basic, unanswered questions:
Just like you
I’m wondering what I’m doing here
Just like you
I’m wondering what’s going on. ~Manish Soni, Mystic Chords Mysticism and Psychology in Popular Music, Page 3-7
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