I want to provide a little input to a fascinating thread that one of our members, Kirsty, began on The Lasting Supper, titled, FEAR.

The modern philosopher Terry Eagleton, in his exceptional little book, “The Meaning of Life”, writes something that makes a lot of sense to me:

“What we need is a form of life which is completely pointless, just as the jazz performance is pointless. Rather than serve some utilitarian purpose or earnest metaphysical end, it is a delight in itself. It needs no justification beyond its own existence. In this sense, the meaning of life is interestingly close to meaninglessness. Religious believers who find this version of the meaning of life a little too laid-back for comfort should remind themselves that God, too, is his own end, ground, origin, reason and self-delight, and that only by living this way can human beings be said to share in his life.”

As we find our own feet and stand our own ground and live our own lives, it might be necessary to learn a kind of personal life music that is not scripted, not rehearsed and not conducted like so much of religion is. Instead, we might have to learn to live our own kind of life-jazz and enjoy it for what it is.

As a footnote, my favorite jazz album of all time is Miles Davis’, “Kind of Blue”. Beautiful!