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In a message dated 12/23/01 8:28:05 AM, kbcdlovejo@... writes:

<< Why ARE churches such works of art anyway?
Couldn't the $$ be better spent? >>

The big ones, the Gothic cathedrals, were like transport chambers to God.
The music and the architecture and the stained glass were setting up
vibrations that were like sending God a code that we had figured out some
classic mathematical patterns and were worthy of contact now.

It sounds stupid, but I really believe it. The more I read about other
religions and what sorts of worship spaces they need or find work best, and
the more I read about early music theory and the more I ponder about the
physics of sound chambers, I think a Gothic church with a big pipe organ is
as close to communication with the infinite as our culture has ever come.

And an adobe Catholic church, shaped like a cross, with real gold and real
imported-from Italy statues, and altar clothes made by nuns in France, and
and and... that induces awe. And in a state of awe, it's easier for people
to feel the presence of God. A religious experience is harder to come by in
the absence of awe-inspiring STUFF--objects, space...

Religion can also use special lighting (candles, stained glass) and scent
(incense, flowers). It can also use things that move out of the corner of
your eye. Banners. Ribbons. Fluttering robes on priests.

The banners Methodists and Lutherans keep hanging on the wall are hung badly.
They should be hanging away from the wall some so they can move. Or from
the ceiling as so many banners were hung in English churches (and I presume
elsewhere in Europe).

Look at other religious ceremonies in other religions and cultures and look
for those vibrational things--sound, scent, light, color/ribbon/banner
(Tibetan prayer flags are Right Up There)--and a pointy space in which to
commune with God. Either vaulted ceiling, a clearing in the forest, a spire,
a cross, a spiked stick--some sort of antenna thing higher than people's
heads is not uncommon. What's the physical difference between "Om" and
"Amen" (especially when it's sung at the end of a hymn, all held out with its
long "m" and long "n"? Singers know usually to hold the vowel, but Ammmennn
is often held on the consonants, so that it's more humming than vocalizing.
Vibrates those bones in your skull, and your whole body).



Sandra

[email protected]

In a message dated 12/23/01 8:28:05 AM, kbcdlovejo@... writes:

<< Why ARE churches such works of art anyway?
Couldn't the $$ be better spent? >>

The big ones, the Gothic cathedrals, were like transport chambers to God.
The music and the architecture and the stained glass were setting up
vibrations that were like sending God a code that we had figured out some
classic mathematical patterns and were worthy of contact now.

It sounds stupid, but I really believe it. The more I read about other
religions and what sorts of worship spaces they need or find work best, and
the more I read about early music theory and the more I ponder about the
physics of sound chambers, I think a Gothic church with a big pipe organ is
as close to communication with the infinite as our culture has ever come.

And an adobe Catholic church, shaped like a cross, with real gold and real
imported-from Italy statues, and altar clothes made by nuns in France, and
and and... that induces awe. And in a state of awe, it's easier for people
to feel the presence of God. A religious experience is harder to come by in
the absence of awe-inspiring STUFF--objects, space...

Religion can also use special lighting (candles, stained glass) and scent
(incense, flowers). It can also use things that move out of the corner of
your eye. Banners. Ribbons. Fluttering robes on priests.

The banners Methodists and Lutherans keep hanging on the wall are hung badly.
They should be hanging away from the wall some so they can move. Or from
the ceiling as so many banners were hung in English churches (and I presume
elsewhere in Europe).

Look at other religious ceremonies in other religions and cultures and look
for those vibrational things-h to commune with God. Either vaulted ceiling,
a clearing in the forest, a spire, a cross, a spiked stick--some sort of
antenna thing higher than people's heads is not uncommon. What's the
physical difference between "Om" and "Amen" (especially when it's sung at the
end of a hymn, all held out with its long "m" and long "n"? Singers know
usually to hold the vowel, but Ammmennn is often held on the consonants, so
that it's more humming than vocalizing. Vibrates those bones in your skull,
and your whole body).



Sandra