CHAPTER THREE

APPLICATION TO
CHURCH AND WORSHIP

Sounds

Words

Writings

3

APPLICATION TO
CHURCH AND WORSHIP

Sounds, Words and Writings

Modern cultural anthropologists identify the rituals with its adornment, movement, its placement and the liturgical life in general, as a form of communication.  They are direct, indirect and  "performative" kind of semiotics joined together in succession to generate a system which any one part alone cannot transmit. Rituals are instrumental in creating the essential categories of human thought that communicate the fundamental beliefs and values of the community, outlining its "world view" and its "ethos".  In order to see how these world views are encoded in the whole structure we will look at the various aspects of the sacrament and the Church in its worship and ritual acting.

The most familiar symbols are the sounds and writings that humans use to form words. Since this has been the corner stone of human progress, the greatest emphasis is given to them seperately and in combination.  Our school class room is a direct example of it.  Church foundation is thus, preaching of the gospel and the reading of the Bible.  Sounds and text encode the concepts and are the most important means of transmission of culture and concepts.  They form the foundation of civilizations.

Thus the abiding standard for Christian life is the Bible.  We say that they encode the divine revelation which can be understood in human terms within the culture where it was revealed..  Hence Bible is ofter referred to as the Word of God.  In a sense it is the Word made Visible and made concrete.  When there is a problem in the Christian Community they can go back onto the Word for confirmation and advise.

Music and Chants

Music sets the environment and has always been part of all religious worships.  So we see how the liturgy evolved within the sacrament. Resonance in unified vibration creates a force surpassing simple addition.  It unites and enhances the church into a community   as an organically unified body.

This is why in many faith traditions the use of the voice plays an essential part. It resonates with the chakra system, activates the flow of subtle energies, uplifts the mood, balances mind and aura and can lead to a state of blissful joy. The deeper breathing activates and rejuvenates the body.

Chanting chooses sacred phrases or mantras from various traditions. They are sung repeatedly for minutes or hours and can create a strong feeling of community and connectedness. Repetition is used for communal mesmerization and feeling of oneness of the community.  However it can lead to hallucinatory mystic experiences leading to a false interpretation of realities.  Laya is the state of mind when one forgets all the objects of senses and gets absorbed in the object of meditation. 

"In order to take the spiritual temperature of an individual or society, one must mark the music." (Socrates)

"Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful. . . . now in the days of his youth, even before he is able to know the reason why" (Plato: The Republic of Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1888, page 88)

"Any musical innovation is full of danger to the whole state, and ought to be prohibited . . . when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them."
(Aristotle: The Politics, translated by T. A. Sinclair, revised by T. J. Saunders, London: Penguin, 1981, book 8, section 5, page 466)

Ancient Greek philosophers, especially Pythagoras and his followers, felt music could either heal or harm, and actually change mental and physical reality. The same mathematical relationships that form beauty in Nature and Art make music attractive and beautiful too.

"Music is the art of the prophets, the only art that can calm the agitation of the soul, it is the one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us." Martin Luther

 Strings

In the String Theory of Modern Physics, the universe is considered as consisting of strings instead of points.  These strings can be closed, like loops, or open, like a hair. As the string moves through time it traces out a tube or a sheet, according to whether it is closed or open. The properties of particles are created by the vibrations of the string.  The different vibrational modes of the string represent the different particle types, since different modes are seen as different masses or spins. One mode of vibration, or `note', makes the string appear as an electron, another as a photon. Different modes of vibration of the string  are understood in string theory as being the different elementary particles.  

Vibrational states of an open string

Vibration of a closed string

It is the contention of String theory that these strings actually exists in a multidimensional space which goes as much as eleven dimensions in order explain the various particles, elements and forces.

In this concept the whole cosmos is nothing but the vibrational modes of strings of various types.  In contrast the continuum field theory considers the whole cosmos as the result of vortices within the field.  In both cases the creation is based on vibration.  The Word becoming Flesh.  In the Thomas Churches this is represented by the letter AUM written in the front of the church representing Logos becoming Flesh.  It is this that the Hinduism borrowed and claims as their own.

Resonance

In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at maximum amplitude at certain frequencies, known as the system's resonance frequencies (or resonant frequencies). At these frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude vibrations, because the system stores vibrational energy. When damping is small, the resonance frequency is approximately equal to the natural frequency of the system, which is the frequency of free vibrations. If there is no damping the vibrational amplitude will be infinitely large.  Resonant phenomena occur with all type of vibrations or waves: there is mechanical resonance, acoustic resonance, electromagnetic resonance, and resonance of quantum wave functions. Resonant systems can be used to generate vibrations of a specific frequency, or pick out specific frequencies from a complex vibration containing many frequencies.

This phenomena has direct relevance to be use of music and liturgy in sacraments.  They are atuned to resonace with the internal spiritual vibrations and emotions, taking it to a level beyond the three dimensional vibration.  The tuning is directed not only to individuals but the conglomeration of individual to form a unity within the organism of the Church.  This is exactly the purpose of Church gathering, sacraments and worship.

Liturgy in non-denominational Churches.

It is commonly assumed and claimed that liturgies are traditions of the church and are developed by the denominations.  Most Pentecostals and Holiness groups eschew any documented liturgies and visible icons in their service.  It is true that standard concepts of liturgy, ritual, and symbolism as found in denominational churches are not used by them.  However it should be understood that even though they are not written down or iconised, they have developed a very strict mode of kinesis and sound icons as standrad liturgical form in worship.  Rituals in the Charismatic, Pentecostal and Holiness groups are based on non-material media..   Music forms one of the fundamental.  Kinesis or dance and movement also form part of expression in their liturgy.   Whatever the form, they tend to solidify with time so that it can be transferred to the next generation.