I Look for You, Solomon Ibn Gabriol
Meditation
Across faiths, song has been a core component of worship. With music’s unique ability to elicit emotional memories and responses, organized religion has often relied on song as a method of connection with the divine. This is true outside of religious affiliation as well — I often find myself overcome with emotion in the presence of live music, regardless of its topic or mood. Song has the ability to tap into our empathetic response, inducing emotions we may not have felt in our own lives, tying us closer to the perceived emotions of the performer or composer.
As Gabriol describes his wandering and searching for a method of expressing his devotion, he describes feeling daunted at the task of composing the words or actions to describe his praise. “But song soothes you, so I’ll give praise to your being as long as your breath-in-me moves,” he writes. When have you experienced a loss for words, or an inability to properly express your emotions through language? What other tools do you use in its place? How can music and the arts help you express your most passionate self when words evade you?
Brianna Curran, Washington, DC
