Hearing The Music

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
-Friedrich Nietzsche

In C.S. Lewis' literary classic The Magician's Nephew (book six in the Chronicles of Narnia series) there is an astoundingly moving scene that depicts the creation of Narnia.

In this scene Aslan, who is an archetype that represents Christ roams the empty landscape and gently and beautifully sings the world into existence. 

The scene begins in darkness. The land is void. I think the words of Mr. Lewis would be better than describing them:

"In the darkness something was happening at last.  A voice had begun to sing…it seemed to come from all directions at once…Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself.  There were no words.  There was hardly even a tune.  But it was beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard.  It was so beautiful Digory could hardly bear it."

This representation of Christ, the God who sings over creation captures not only my imagination but also my heart. There is nothing quite like music.

There is something close to magic about music.  A note layered on top of another note layered on top of another note that creates a chord. Chords move naturally into other chords. Sounds harmonizing with other sounds, rolling smoothly gently out of chaos and into harmonies. Vibrations and frequencies oscillating at just the right speed to create sound waves that echo into our ears. Electrical signals in our brains translate these vibrations into sounds and sounds into songs.

Our brains translate the vibrations but something deeper still happens. We feel something rise in our chest, our hearts begin to beat faster, falling into the rhythms.  We say a song sounds sad or happy. We ascribe complex human emotion and feelings into these vibrations. The chaos becomes order. 

The sounds ascend into something greater than its parts, something more than notes on top of notes. It rises into beauty. It becomes a masterpiece.

This is the magic that still exists. The wonder that appeals to the child in us all.

The Earth herself sings. Vibrating at a pitch outside of human perception. The beauty and magic and wonder leads me to believe the earth is singing to her Creator, the star themselves sing out in wonder and reverence. 

Our existence is a song sung to the Heavens, with movements and majesty. Sometimes it is a slow and sad song, sometimes it is fast and happy and full of joy. Sometimes it swells and crescendos so greatly that we feel our chest will burst open with the emotion too deep for words.

And God sings back to us. Singing over His creation He loves so dearly.

Hear the music. Hear it, feel it in your own life. Hear it in the lives of others. Don't discount any movement because it's too sad or discordant because it takes every movement to create the masterpiece.

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