We all need a prophet: Exploring the connection between music, spirituality and activism

So, I see an awful lot of criticism of artists, musicians, comedians, and actors who are political, or who openly champion the causes they most care about. I feel like I see such criticism most frequently about musicians.

If ever you find yourself stumbling into a social media post about or from U2, Shirley Manson of Garbage, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, or many others, you will frequently find something bewildering—comments suggesting that they just “shut up and sing”, as if to say that because they are musicians, they should be nothing more that puppets on strings, never deviating from their marionette act. It’s often as if the person making the critical comment has up to that point never realized an artist has always been political, or that their views have always been reflected in their work. Another possibility is that up to that moment, the person making the comment was never aligned with politics that ran counter to the artist or their work.

In other words, if you’re an artist I like, it’s fine for you to express your political views or be an activist—unless I someday disagree with you. It seems that the only way to never be criticized for speaking out, or for activism, is to either never speak out, never take a side, never take up a cause—or never get “caught”.

I am a child of the 70’s and 80’s. I remember hearing parts of George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh projecting from my parents’ giant, Mediterranean inspired stereo. I grew up in the era of Band Aid, USA for Africa and Farm Aid. In my junior year in high school, one of my friends asked if I wanted to help her and one of our teachers start a chapter of Amnesty International at our school. Being a fellow U2 fan, I knew exactly where her inspiration came from.

I am sure there were plenty of other causes and movements I didn’t get involved with, or embrace, but I am also sure that these causes and movements were made more successful because of musicians taking a role in trying to move them forward.

After high school, I attended two private colleges—both with religious affiliation. I wasn’t particularly religious, nor was I a firm believer. Attending these schools did not manage to change that, but they both gave me a great opportunity to learn about religions from around the world, and from historical perspective, and most specifically about the teachings associated with Jesus.

I know many who would or might argue with my perspective, because of their own beliefs and versions of immersive Biblical study. They may even say that I am interpreting or remembering it wrong. I just happen to believe that when it comes to embracing the positive aspects of a faith, there is no concrete right or wrong way.

His teachings weren’t always strictly in line with the Old Testament status quo. He often found dramatic and creative ways of illustrating what it means to walk in faith, and to take action based on that faith.

I’m a professed agnostic, but I can get behind so many of the values and ideals that Jesus is said to have taught. And when I see musicians and other artists and performers sharing their values and ideals, I see them walking, and taking action in their own faiths. 

Joshua Tree 30 years on. 

I am not suggesting that Bono is the second coming, but in all honesty, he was my coming. He and the other members of U2 have and continue to bring in more money than most of us will ever see in our lifetimes. Bono is the demonstrative face of their career-long activism. He sits at the table with world leaders who loathe or are indifferent to him in an effort to fulfill his own faith’s call. They all give financially to the causes they support. They have always been political. They have always been activists. I’m sure visits to sub Saharan Africa, where children die from starvation, poor or nonexistent medical care, extreme poverty, and AIDS, inform such vocal activism. No rockstar with the level of ego Bono possesses would subject himself to the level of contempt he has faced from leaders, and disconnected fans if not adequately moved by such desperation.

There are so many artists like him, who are fighting their own good fights, in spite of criticism or ridicule. And they bring those of us who truly connect to their artistic work along. I believe we can find ourselves inspired to activism by the art and artists with which we deeply connect. I think this happens because you cannot truly disconnect the artistic from the spiritual.

No matter what our beliefs may be, on some level, we all need a prophet, and I strongly believe that we choose our own prophets, not the other way around.

Some of us prefer a prophet who fits within the constraints of a very specific box,  and who calls them to do things in order to meet the criteria for salvation from an external higher power.

Some of us prefer a prophet who can’t get comfortable in a box, and who, through their work and their own actions, inspires us to answer the call of a higher power we carry within ourselves.

Some might argue that it doesn’t matter which one we answer to, as long as we answer, because the result is the same, but if that is true, why criticize artists for walking their values in their work? And if it is true, why haven’t the lists and directives brought an end to extreme poverty, racial discrimination, war, and despair?

We’ve all seen the lists, right? We know what we should do, right?

At this point, I know someone will want to argue that evil, or some evil entity comes into play. When I see the many terrible things happening in the world around us, and the level of comfortable inaction about them, I find it very convenient that faiths have a built-in explanation or excuse for why people improperly use their free will.

When I consider this, it takes me back to a time when I was superficially into contemporary Christian music. I say superficially, only because I never dove deeper into the pool than Amy Grant or Michael W. Smith. I may not call myself a Christian, but I can certainly relate to music and art that expresses the confusion, and uncertainty that comes along with finding a spiritual path.

I particularly connected with the Amy Grant album “Lead Me On.” In the lyrics of the song “What About The Love?” she sings about a few different circumstances in which people talk about the legalistic aspect of faith, but fail to take action for others, or judge those who stumble.

I said, "Is this all there is,
Just the letter of the law?"
Something's wrong.

The album and those words are thirty years old now, but when I look at public declaration of faith and the laws attached to all faiths, I think these are the words I hear inside my own mind when I see people acting so counter to the faith they profess. These are the words that make me look for action seeking no reward, but the reward of helping those who need it most. I truly believe helping others is its own reward, and our salvation comes from fulfilling the calling within ourselves.

Not everyone who listens to music or likes art in all of its forms connects to it at a deep level, and certainly not at the level I am talking about from my own experience. That’s not necessarily a criticism. It’s just a truth.

As someone who is unable to do one without the other naturally following, It will always be hard for me to understand that possibility. I cannot love someone’s music, without respecting their personal beliefs and values enough that I would never presume to tell them to leave those beliefs and values at stage left, even if they don’t jive with my own. And I cannot love someone’s music without feeling connected enough to it, and to the artist at such a level that I would be unaware of what they and their art are about. So, it absolutely dumbfounds me to see anyone who has ever liked an artist’s work tell them to just shut up and perform.

I absolutely adored Prince, and his music, but I didn’t adore his values. He was against same-sex marriage, and followed a faith path that I find worrisome. Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist for Rush is tremendously inspirational to me, and I cannot fathom a world without the music he and his band mates have brought to life. I also cannot fathom how that music and those lyrics come from someone who at one point in time found the same kind of political affinity in Ayn Rand as American House Speaker Paul Ryan. But you know what? It never would have occurred to me to disrespect their values or personal beliefs in their space. I never would have told them to shut up and play.

Shirley Manson takes no prisoners.

It’s very seldom that I connect with the art of someone with whom I do not share values. I’m sure that is bias at work. I am not driven by words in a book of faith instructing me what to do, or how to live. I do not believe the literal interpretation of any book of faith.

Because the “prophets” I follow inspire the calling I feel within myself, I believe that If anything figurative can be said about the actions of Jesus, it isn’t that he gave bread or wine through miracles. It is that he gave from the calling of his heart. Maybe he did help those in need eat, but it wasn’t because anyone directed him to do so. He knew it was right. And he wanted the rest of us to know that it was right, too, not because he said so, but because that is what he did.

True prophets are those who inspire us through their own example, not through lists, laws, or fear-based archetypes. They aren’t pontificating from a pulpit, or bringing in enormous tithes. They may not be in a church at all, or even in a traditional faith setting. They may be clad in black leather, and sunglasses, while reminding us about leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King. They may be playing an extremely altered electric guitar, and singing about resistance. They may be stopping their show to express personal grief about very public and political issues. You may be surprised to find them giving TED talks about extreme poverty.

Our true prophets are those who demonstrate how the fulfillment of faith comes from how we bring the callings of our own beliefs and values to life.

We all need a prophet.

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