Music as an Amoral Ecstasy!

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“I am fond of music, I think, because it is so amoral. Everything else is moral, and I am after something that isn’t. I have always found moralizing intolerable.” ― Hermann Hesse.

Over the weekend, I shared about my spouse’s cold. Unfortunately, it ended up spreading to others, including myself. I initially believed I could withstand it, but I was mistaken. As a result, I currently feel drained and exhausted, listless with null lust! Even though the symptoms aren’t severe. This is why I express myself with this post briefly yet with profound significance.

Memories flooded back from my youth when I came across this quote by Hermann Hesse. I remembered the days spent with my brother Al when we would enter the wonderland of music. As children, we listened to the radio with our mother, who loved this new invention and enjoyed audio shows and old Persian music. After that, our older brother brought us to the world of Western music, where we captured some unforgettable and amoral times. Therefore, I understand what Hermann Hesse means when he says these words. We must thank for the music which has been given to us.

So I say
Thank you for the music, the songs I’m singing
Thanks for all the joy they’re bringing
Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty
What would life be?
Without a song or a dance, what are we?
So I say thank you for the music
For giving it to me. (ABBA; “Thank You For The Music”)

I will end my post with another quote from Hermann Hesse and wish you all a safe and healthy weekend.🦋🙏🥰

“I have had to experience so much stupidity, so many vices, so much error, so much nausea, disillusionment and sorrow just to become a child again and begin anew. I had to experience despair; I had to sink to the greatest mental depths, .. in order to experience grace.”

(Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha)

30 thoughts on “Music as an Amoral Ecstasy!”

  1. Oh Aladin, I do hope you’re feeling much better soon! Hermann Hesse is one of my favourite writers and on your recommendation a few years ago I purchased a wonderful book, “C.G.Jung and Hermann Hesse: A Record of Two Friendships”. The language found within is beautiful and poetic, it was a deep joy to read and I will return to again and again when in need of inspiration.

    For me, words reached my heart long before music arrived, this is not to say that I don’t enjoy music, I do, very much so … but one of the first things I would do as a teenager in love with a new song she heard on the radio, would be to learn the song’s lyrics and try to understand them. Love and light, Deborah.

    Liked by 1 person

    • It is interesting! The Germans mostly place more importance on lyrics than music. Honestly, I think it’s because their music is not all the best!
      While I do value lyrics, I believe music holds more power due to its ability to transcend language barriers and be universally understood. Additionally, my experience with classical music, such as symphonies and concertos, may have led me to value music more than lyrics. However, Hermann Hesse has been getting high, and we follow him to amorality!😉 Thank you, lovely friend; I do my best to get rid of this… 🥰🙏🦋

      Liked by 1 person

  2. I’m sorry to hear you’ve picked up the cold bug – I hope you and your wife start to feel better very soon Aladin.
    When I was little my mum listened to the radio in the kitchen for much of the day and my older brother played the music of the 60’s on a small record player. It instilled in me a love of music which I have never lost…although some of my tastes can be questionable!
    I love Siddharta – it is such a wonderful book, one I love to re-read when the mood takes me – he wrote so many wise words.

    Liked by 1 person

    • So you speak from my heart: those days and those old and beloved devices! I really miss those times in which music sounds somehow purer than now. Thank you, my lovely one. My wife got through it (as the ladies always do better!!), and I will give my best. Have a wonderful time with your adorable one. 🥰🥰🌹💖

      Liked by 1 person

  4. A relatively recent pleasure has been the discovery of a pair of young musicians, Mark White and Steffi Barthel (she’s German, he’s American, they met in Australia) who play Chapman sticks – a novel instrument invented in the 1970s – all instrumental, no lyrics. A sample (Canon in D):

    I can listen to music again – an ability my damaged brain had lost.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Wow! I didn’t know this instrument; it sounds so beautiful. Thank you.
      PS: If I understand correctly, you have had trouble listening to music?! Sorry for that, and I’m now happy you got through this.

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      • ME/CFS has a huge number of symptoms. I have trouble processing things that move, things that come at me too fast.

        For a long while, I could only listen to music when I could pay it my full attention, and not for very long. Before that, I could sing along, have it in the background while doing repetitive tasks.

        I had given up – all my music digitized, and I couldn’t listen to it! But the short haunting instrumentals from Mark and Steffi, and before them, Mark and Matt Rogers, were just right.

        So I am grateful to have it back. Maybe, after finishing LIMBO, I’ll see how much other music I can listen to. Writing first – while I still can.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. elainemansfield's avatar elainemansfield

    Yes, brilliant! With loss of good hearing, I’ve lost the pleasure of most music. It was hard to grieve with only the music still in my head–and also harder to dance.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Short, yet sweet post Alaedin.
    I’m with you 100%.
    I married a musician. Not only do Iisten to music every day, once a week musicians gather here to play.
    I have live music in my life, at home, once a week.
    I hope you are better from your cold!
    Take care, Resa!
    💖🌺🤧🤒💓

    Liked by 1 person

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