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U2-3D and dimensions beyond
Of course it figures that I’m a U2 fan. Went with daughter Grace and two other friends to the IMAX yesterday after a funeral, the dear brother of a dear friend. So the heart was already well pummeled over and tenderized. The movie is about as close to the concert experience as is possible. The sound was enormous. And again, as at every other U2 concert (four live ones under my belt, hoping for more) there is this liturgical quality in the best sense–a joining with others to experience one’s self beyond the borders of one’s self, which is, so far as I can tell, the quivering nerve of mysticism. (You may drop out from this post now if you’re in a cynical, or even a sober-minded mood, because this will only get worse…..)So in the movie concert they move from the human rights video into Pride, In the Name of Love, into Where the Streets Have No Name, the dramatic climax of the liturgy. By this time, you’re firmly into the concert, or you’ve determined pass this cup and and gone home–so only believers or those willing to try on the clothes remain. And the crowd or Argentinians become one vibrating pulsating mass of humanity. In the film you’re over the crowd, seeing the crowd from the band’s perch, must mostly in it. The music being a vehicle for the crowd to morph into a coherent expression of humanity, aiming itself, together by the band’s leadership toward LOVE.At this point in the movie, I fell in love with the crowd, or rather with the possibility of being part of humanity like that. To think, if the science has it anywhere close to right, that we’ve risen up from the ocean, through the ever branching tree of life to this perch: primates with self awareness, self consciousness, moral consciousness, sin consciousness, and something like a yearning at least for God as in HOLY LOVE. We’re trying at least, where other species can’t because they don’t have the equipment. But we’re trying, which means mostly failing.Bono, in particular, wants it, and is trying, and in the fleeting moments of the song feeling it with the crowd. These are wonderful moments, such that even if I couldn’t give a rip for the music of U2, I’d want to find a way to listen past it, to enjoy the moments.These are moments that are either complete illusion–there is nothing to transcend into, no God, no LOVE, no deeper magic–or incomplete but real suggestions that there is. When the mystics are mystifying, when the monks and nuns are meditating and what the neuroscientists call the “orientation association area” of the brain is altered, so that the part of the brain which defines the self as over against the non-self takes a break, and they feel a connection with something beyond themselves as if they are a small part only of a bigger something, that’s what keeps them coming back for more. And why I’ll see this concert film again if I can.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Don did it today (in a simpler way) with chocolate! And, Hershey’s chocolate at that.
From a avowed chocolate snob that is a high complement.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:42 am
o yes…to be part of THAT humanity, o the humanity of it…
i love that phrase: “the quivering nerve of mysticism”…that conveys it so well…
peace, love and and altered states of the “orientation asssociation area” to you…
January 28th, 2008 at 7:22 am
metler, now you got me intrigued….ken
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
i’m planning to go check out this u2 movie, so i’m glad to read this review. having never been to a concert, this is a start!
February 6th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Since you asked:
There was a point in the service where, Don dimmed the lights, played ambient music and had us all eat a Hershey’s kiss.
Initially it reminded me of High School creative writing class, our teacher had us “experience” an orange with all our senses and write about it. It bordered on erotic as we read each observation out-loud. The common experience merged us as a group, for a moment. Ironically I don’t remember anything else about the class.
Last week, we went to see the movie.
At this point in the movie;
“And the crowd or Argentinians become one vibrating pulsating mass of humanity.”
The music, the movie, the audience, the seat, all the people in the movie, the lighting, for a moment became one. Very close to an ecstatic religious experience.
My dad called it “being fully present” the point in time where there is nothing but the moment and the object of your attention.
I love chocolate, really really good dark chocolate. In comparison Hershey’s would be the “Yugo,” Godiva would be the “Chevy Impala”, the chocolate I am talking about is the hand made “Morgan” or “Bentley”.
In my job we taste chocolates. we have an involved process for tasting. As a rule we will taste several chocolates in a sitting using the same process for each. When we use Hershey’s generally during this process it is grainy and pale.
Being handed a Hershey’s kiss as a sensory experience prop, I had to filter through these thoughts and experiences. As Don introduced his exercise.
But something else happened, not sure if everyone else sensed it though there was a collective “wow” when Don turned the lights back on.
To me it was similar to the U2 moment or like back in the day when worship “happened” during the prayer meetings where time stood still and all the individuals became a collective one.