Abstract
Beethoven wrote, in a letter to Goethe, “Music is indeed the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.” Artists for centuries have reported experiences of connecting to the divine, or to a higher purpose, when composing or performing music. Indeed, artistic creation and performance are contemplative practices. Engagement in the arts involves a focused state of mindful attention and, for some, a flow state of consciousness. The performing arts also represent a paradox for the musician who may seek contradictory experiences on stage: control and freedom, power and grace, and the state of effortless action (wu wei) described in the Tao Te Ching. Although music is an established medium by which people often transcend their daily lives, our culture has not yet satisfactorily considered the performing arts as a form of integrative spirituality. This paper describes theories and perspectives of music listening and music performance as contemplative practices, including the connection between Western performing arts traditions and ancient Eastern philosophies, and artistic performance as an integrative spiritual experience. This topic is a meaningful contribution to the field at a time when the separation between spiritual and secular, or religious and non-religious, is often treated as a binary distinction despite the contrary experiences of many creative artists. My research draws from the fields of music performance, the psychology of peak performance, and art and music as contemplative practices, in order to explore the nature of music and other embodied arts as transpersonal and integrative spiritual practices.
Presenters
Vanessa CornettProfessor and Director of Keyboard Studies, College of Arts and Sciences / Music, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Community and Socialization
KEYWORDS
Music, Performing Arts, Contemplative Practices, Mindfulness, Transpersonal, Integrative Spirituality
