Music

I was raised on Christian music and I used to really enjoy worship. I could close my eyes, sway my body, raise my hands, and get lost in the safe, sacred music. Secular music was literally viewed as demonic or empty, at best.

Now that I'm free to listen to all kinds of music, I realize that it is the music, the corporate singing, the movement, the ritual, and the community that I really enjoy. I'm diving into the music to experience it for the art it is without the strings tied to a controlling religion.

I witness the same heightened state in the crowd of a rock concert. The difference is that the crowd is allowed to be fully themselves, no guilt, no shame, pure realness. They are allowed to speak of, poke fun at, and even celebrate our best and worst qualities.