On earth…
…as it is in heaven…
…but then it’s back to earth, and step by step for every generation.
Step…
…by step…
…by step…
Because we’re all still alive until we surrender. Unless despair is our new passion.
FOOTNOTE: The Bach piece was borrowed from an NRO post in which a reminiscence was cited. Carl Sagan insisted that his Voyager mission had to include music. One professor said the answer was simple: Send the entire works of Bach. Then he thought better of it. “It might look like showing off.”
Ah, excellent, you’ve made me a playlist for my long bus drive tomorrow. Listening to the incredible Bach makes me want to dive back into Godel, Escher, Bach again, if boy to get that passion reignited. Such beauty, sublime.
The list also brings a question to my mind, one that in flipping back and forth on even as I type this. Which voice is the most powerful to listen to, male or female? The depth and granularity of emotion that men can deliver, even men without particularly great voices, is staggering. But the female voice can unlock something deep inside me, draw me out against my will and despite my mood.
My examples would be different than yours, no doubt, because music and songs are loaded with context, woven into our lives and our circumstances.
A soprano breaks your heart. A tenor tests your soul.