okay so after our multiple discussions about Bob Marley it started me thinking about other artist that have similar respect from our public who could be considered "religiously wise". The main artist i thought of was bob dylan. For many many years he has been a respected artist and musician for his way through to all types of people with is music. The interesting thing i learned from a dylan fan one year was that he reaches so many different types of people with all his songs that are about different people and their environments, yet he really has only had personal experiences with a small handful of the material he writes about. Even though he hasn't had direct experiences that correlate with his music that reaches the people who its actually about, does that make him more or less wise? Now i know that just because someone is considered wise and can reach many people with there knowledge doesn't mean that they are religious affiliated. BUT some people value his "wise wisdom" from his music soo much that they would consider following him like a religion. Is that actually considered a religion within out class discussions on the understanding? My first thought is yes, because within the many MANY songs and lyrics there is a system of symbols that people understand an relate to. Each one thinking and finding those songs to be a "unique" world within themselves. yay for bob dylan i guess?
The idea of following music as if it were a religion is interesting. And it is and idea that could maybe fly with in the parameter of our class definition of religion. But, I feel that religion might be more complex then just litening to music. I feel that there are more that organized religions have to offer that just listening to music has. I really enjoyed reading your blog.
ReplyDeletei like how you related it to gertz definition of religion but do you think that a relgion need to have more than just music
ReplyDeleteDylan himself has been at pains to separate himself from anything like a "religious" following. Although I do use him a lot in my Hebrew Prophets course. But having been to Dylan concerts I can't say there is a real "togetherness" feeling in them. I think the Grateful Dead concerts back when might have incorporated this more..
ReplyDelete