October 7, 2000 ~ Moby

The last few days have been filled mostly with some exploration of a few spiritual ideas that I'm not ready to write about yet. They haven't been fully formulated yet, and I just need to think longer.

We held a live chat on The Well on Thurday. It went off pretty well.

Scott and I had a long debate about television and the pros and cons of watching it due to my last entry. It made me think of a whole lot of things, maybe I'll write about them soon. Those thoughts are still percolating as well.

Li loaned me a CD to listen to, which I have fallen in love with. Has anyone ever heard of Moby? This is his "Play" CD, and there is one song on it, "Natural Blues," which has been stuck in my head for almost a whole week now.

Most of the songs on this CD are old African American full Gospel recordings, which he has remixed and added to. The effect is astounding. You end up with deeply passionate and spiritual vocals with accompanying music that is very modern and uplifting. Every time I listen to it, I practically start to dance in my chair, and I never dance. This music just moves me in a curious way. Every day I keep finding myself tapping my foot and humming "Natural Blues." It's really quite eerie. I rarely get songs stuck in my head, especially for this long.

Anyway, I was sure I had heard "Natural Blues" somewhere before, and I knew that it had had a similar effect on me that time. I just couldn't remember where. Then, yesterday, Li came into breakfast when I was working the door, and she tossed a CD cover at me. It was from Moby's "Everything Is Wrong," CD, which I had never heard before. "I think you'll like that, read it," Li said.

I quickly realized why I had been so drawn to Moby's music. Even though he doesn't mention any of it in the lyrics, he is very, very similar to me in his spiritual vision. Very similar.

First of all, he was once a mainline Christian going to a normal church and trying to fit in. Now he has turned away from organized Christianity even thought the Christian Story and Jesus' life all touch him very deeply. He no longer calls himself a Christian, due to all of the cultural baggage attached to that label. He does not want to have any association with the hypocrisy of mainstream Christianity, the Christian Right, Fundamentalism, and all of the evils attached to those things. He has a very rich and personal spiritual life that he no longer seeks to label. He sees something very beautiful in the message to love others, even your enemies, and to cause no suffering to any of God's creation. He is a vegan, a pacifist, and an environmentalist, and he stresses the importance of compassion, love, and understanding.

I realized all of this as I read the CD cover. He had fact after fact after fact about why certain practices in our society, which are accepted as right and good, are, in fact, extremely detrimental to our lives and the life of our planet. He then had two essays, one telling why everything our society stands for is wrong, and one about how the Christian Right is neither Christian nor Right. Lisa had me read it because she knew that Moby believes the same sort of stuff that I do. I realized that even though his lyrics give no hint to all of these beliefs, I felt a connection to him through his music somehow.

I soon realized that I had also read an interview with him on beliefnet a long time ago, and it was there that I had seen the video for Natural Blues.

I love that song.

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