|
U2 at Live Aid in 1985
|
Spiritual traditions often speak of two ways a person can be spiritual - intimate and personal meditation and devotion, or outgoing service to others, mainly those in need. Conventional thinking, therefore, would hardly view a famed rock star as spiritual.
Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll is the motto of the culture Bono and his band U2 superficially stand for. Tantra (mainly in its Western form) has shown that sex could be spiritual. American thinkers of the 1950's and 1960's claimed drugs could get you there too. But what about rock music?
Bono received the Time Magazine award "for being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow." But can music really transform people and situations?
The power of music
Well, David played to soothe the soul of Saul, and Bono - together with other famous musicians, primarily Sir Bob Geldof - used the power of music, combined with the power of TV, to affect the world's greatest and most influential leaders.
"Live 8" - probably the world's greatest rock concert ever, certainly in TV viewing terms (an estimated 3 billion viewers) - was staged to help eliminate poverty and preventable diseases in Africa. Of the concert, Bono said, "You can be part of something that might change the world."
The G8 summit, held right after the concert, produced a global commitment to extend 50 billion Dollars in aid for Africa and to spike the debts of 18 of the black continent poorest countries. When this was published, Bono told reporters: "The world spoke, and the politicians listened."
Bono's background
Born in Ireland to a Protestant mother and a Catholic father, Bono lived a slightly unusual spiritual life in the war-torn country. Ireland is a perfect example of spiritual abuse, where religious differences led to a civil war that lasted for decades and ended recently.
Speaking in an interview, Bono said he grew up seeing "religion as the perversion of faith." He insisted that a person can be spiritual and even a Christian, without adhering to any specific church. He tried to break stereotypes within church walls and pointed out the errors of some evangelical communities in need of scolding.
Live Aid
Bono said that "Music can change the world. It can change the world inside your head; it changed my little bedroom when I was a kid." Together with Geldof, he orchestrated the first Live Aid concert, after Geldof produced the "Do They Know It's Christmas" single to aid Africa.
When the two realized that their kind of aid actually works, they produced "the most ambitious concerts ever staged." On 13 July 1985, an estimated 1.4 billion of the planet's 5 billion people stopped and watched Live Aid, and according to a stage announcement, 95 percent of the world's television sets were tuned in to the show. Rock 'n' roll did make an impact.
A spiritual provocateur
Speaking to French writer Assayas, Bono said: "God's Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which is in my case very good news indeed." Bono has been described as rock 'n' roll's most effective and enigmatic spiritual provocateur. He sees every stage as a pulpit and every coliseum as a cathedral.
"Who else talks to rock journalists about the theological superiority of grace over karma, writes the forward to a specially packaged book of Psalms, convinces Senator Jesse Helms to help African AIDS victims, and uses his time on national television to pray from the Scriptures?" asked American reporter Steve Beard.
For more than 20 years Bono has used his global stage to pester and prod us lyrically, politically, and spiritually. He has used the power of music to make people aware of others suffering. The fact that the world's leading political and financial magazine chose a rock 'n' roller, and a spiritual one at that, as its Person of the Year is definitely inspiring, pleasing, and most encouraging.
Michal Gefen is a FreeDance and world music DJ. Baruch Gefen is a writer, musician and translator. Sharing volumes of music between them, Michal and Baruch are veteran spiritual seekers who found joy in each other and pleasure in the music this world creates.