Non-Christian Religiousmusic

[Objet_trouve24]

When I was a christian, I sometimes wrote whole notebooks full of praise and worship music. I wanted to write like Dennis Jernagin, Keith Green, etc. When I left, I wrote secular music as a way of expressing myself (you can hear it at myspace.com/lofnlovesyou and by searching for "Lofn" on Last.fm if you are so inclined). I wrote about depression, sex, and trying to have relationships with nowhere to turn for advice. I'm bisexual, and I would try to go to my parents and friends for help when I had trouble, but no one could help me because everyone wanted my relationships, with both women AND men, to fail so I'd go back to god. My music has often reflected how incredibly bitter that made me feel.

 

For years I was very bitter at religion. One of the less important, yet noteworthy, factors in converting to paganism was that it's easier to be solitary that way. Last year though, I was looking for a location to hold my wedding, and I discovered a little Unitarian church down the road from us. I went one Sunday, to see what it was all about. I found a community of religious people who valued science and reason, and rejected the things that pushed me away from christianity. I met people from all kinds of religious persuasions. There was a flier in the front full of groups that regularly meet, GLBT groups, pagan groups, etc. I took my husband, and the guy at the membership table told him that not only does the church welcome atheists, he himself was an atheist, and in fact atheists made up a very significant portion of the church. In short, we found a church that we enjoy going to, that never tells us to change who we are, and values us for who we are.

 

So I had a dream last night that I wrote songs based on Kahlil Gibran's "the prophet" (which you can read here: http://www.katsandogz.com/gibran.html), and recorded them for my church. I haven't written in years, due to a killer writer's block problem that has been bugging me since I moved here. I think I want to try, and I don't think I want to tell the music minister until it's done, for fear of not finishing. I do think I want to buy a new notebook, and go try to write when I go to the pharmacy later (I write lyrics before the music. Always have). I think this may be the next phase of my ex-christian healing, honestly, since music has meant so much to me, and I've felt like leaving christianity meant I'd have to give up part of what I loved about life, and now I'm finding this not to be true.

 

So this is why I'm posting about it. I was wondering what kind of non-christian religious music you guys listen to, perhaps to give me inspiration. This can be meditation tunes, songs you might play during pagan rituals, even songs that weren't written to be religious, but speak to you in a spiritual way (for example, my church sometimes plays "What if God was One of us", "Lean on Me" and "Imagine").

 

I'll start by saying that I listen to the albums Edda - An Icelandic Saga by Sequentia, and Folk Songs by Trio Mediaval when I do my rituals. I listen to a lot of meditation music as well. I find a lot of spiritual value in the band Straylight Run, especially the song "Who will save us now", and the band Rilo Kiley sometimes, like in the song "the absence of god" and "arms outstretched".

 

How about you? Have you found music that touched your heart? Do you have spiritual music in your new religion?

[buffettphan]

You may or may not like these. My taste leans toward the heretical and disrespectful....

Roy Zimmerman, Stephen Lynch, and Tim Minchin, while not necessarily meditative (they're song-writers/comedians) have many good "anti-buybull god" songs on youtube.

 

 

A few others I like are:

 

Skeptics Anthem http://www.youtube.c...h?v=esustfzohsQ

 

Jesus Loves Me? http://www.youtube.c...h?v=yAsjIEq5qCs

 

Ziggy Marley's Love Is My Religion

 

A Perfect Circle's Imagine (a dark version of the classic -- I love it!) http://www.youtube.c...h?v=RuY4qp1DsBM

 

Symphony of Science (a series)

 

White Wine in the Sun (a sentimental xmas song by Tim Minchin)

 

 

Happy Listening

[NotBlinded]

Live has many good ones that I like.

 

Nightwish is my favorite of all time. Not all of them are spiritual, but highly emotional and to me, that stirs my spirit.

[Deva]

I like some Indian type music -

 

RASA - http://www.youtube.c...eos=AOXCZNY6cnk

 

 

 

VAS - http://www.youtube.c...eos=H452-AH8sXk

 

DJ CHEB I SABBAH -

 

 

There is a lot of chanting in Tibetan Buddhism. We chant this Seven Line Prayer to Padmasambhava at the Buddhist Temple - same words but this is a little different melody:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZysGqELfJI&playnext_from=TL&videos=0vDl3QqH5AM

[Objet_trouve24]

You may or may not like these. My taste leans toward the heretical and disrespectful....

 

Happy Listening

 

Heresy:

1 : a dissenter from established religious dogma;

2 : one who dissents from an accepted belief or doctrine

 

I truly don't see anything wrong with that! My church even did a sermon about the concept of heresy once. I left with a feeling of pride over being a heretic.

 

As for disrespectful, disrespectful toward what? Some things don't deserve respect and shouldn't be treated with respect. I listen to heretical and disrespectful music myself (in fact, depending on who you are, that song I mentioned, "who will save us now" by straylight run, is pretty offensive http://www.last.fm/music/Straylight+Run/_/Who+Will+Save+Us+Now). Don't be too worried, if it moves you, I want to hear it.

 

On that note, I liked the songs you shared, especially "love is my religion", which I'd been trying to remember lately.

[lunaticheathen]

Tool. Tool. Did I mention Tool? Seriously. Lateralus. Awesome. 10,000 Days is also kickass in many spiritual ways. And the song Fourty-six & 2, from Aenima.

I also recently re-found Inkubus Sukkubus. Fun gothy pagan music.

For more ambient tunes, I like Enigma.

And George Harrison. And Van Morrison, strangely.

One can find spirit in lots of sincere music, but those artists really touch me.

[buffettphan]

You may or may not like these. My taste leans toward the heretical and disrespectful....

 

Happy Listening

 

Some things don't deserve respect and shouldn't be treated with respect. I listen to heretical and disrespectful music myself (in fact, depending on who you are, that song I mentioned, "who will save us now" by straylight run, is pretty offensive http://www.last.fm/m...l+Save+Us+Now). Don't be too worried, if it moves you, I want to hear it.

 

 

 

 

 

You're right, some things don't deserve respect. I probably should add "being irreverent and sacrilegious" to my list of hobbies.

 

That link to "Who will save us now" didn't work when I checked it earlier today (song missing). But I found a youtube vid and I looked up the lyrics. It is a great song -- disrespectfully honest, I'd say. And not a bit offensive to me. I like it a lot.

[Andy]

Some XTC songs would fit the criteria of pagan lyrics:

 

Green Man

 

[ClaraOlive]

Modest Mouse, especially The Ocean Breathes Salty.

 

Well that is that and this is this.

Will you tell me what you saw and I'll tell you what you missed,

when the ocean met the sky.

You missed when time and life shook hands and said goodbye.

When the earth folded in on itself.

And said "Good luck, for your sake I hope heaven and hell

are really there, but I wouldn't hold my breath."

You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste death?

[Ancey]

Tool. Tool, Tool, Tool, Tool, Tool. (I agree with LunaticHeathen, if that's not clear enough)

 

Especially Parabola, Lateralus, 10,000 days, Jambi, Aenema, Rosetta Stoned, Right in Two... Very good music in their own right, but with a twist of personal spirituality and awe built into them. I love listening to them walking home to get my heart going and feel good about life (seriously, they make me feel very uppity, Maynard is hauntingly amazing as a singer)

 

"Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars.

 

If I'm feeling in a bit of a darker mood, "Rapture" by Hurt is a great Ex-Christian Song.

 

Muse is pretty good, too.

 

I actually listen to the soundtrack to "Avatar" by James Horner while reading Richard Dawkins, too. Nothing better than a blend of tribal and classical for that.

 

DJ Madson "Is this the real thing" from "The God Who wasn't There."

[lunaticheathen]

Tool. Tool, Tool, Tool, Tool, Tool. (I agree with LunaticHeathen, if that's not clear enough)

 

Especially Parabola, Lateralus, 10,000 days, Jambi, Aenema, Rosetta Stoned, Right in Two... Very good music in their own right, but with a twist of personal spirituality and awe built into them. I love listening to them walking home to get my heart going and feel good about life (seriously, they make me feel very uppity, Maynard is hauntingly amazing as a singer)

 

Motherfuckin' Rev Maynard! :-D

 

Also, I just thought of the song "Forty-Six & 2"....goddamn amazing. Of course, one is hard fuckin pressed to find any bad Tool!

But I think the lyrics to the song "Lateralus" explain my own spirituality very well. I heard that song, and it was like a light went on in my head. Even stronger than when I heard "Rose" by APC (I would have Maynard's babies) when I was giving up christianity. That was when I realized I wasn't being me. And "Lateralus", the album AND song opened up part of the real me. What was there all along, just needed something outside to call it out into the open.

[VacuumFlux]

Another vote for Maynard. Current favorite for meditation is "Humbling River" (by Pucifer). When I get lonely (I have friends, I just get paranoid and don't trust easily), "Polar Bear" is pretty good for remembering the value of having other people around.

 

Loreena McKennitt is good too, particularly since my parents were so offended by her being a witch. I was still a christian when I first heard her music and thought their reaction was overkill, which led me to pay extra attention to the lyrics.

 

Other songs I like for meditating to are "Serenity", "Voodoo" and "Spiral" by Godsmack, and (for the rhythm more than the lyrics) "Down by the Sea" by Men at Work. Some songs from Korn's acoustic album (MTV Unplugged) work, too.

[Phanta]

Green Tara Mantra, 108 repetitions, for centering, Buddhist chant

 

 

Sigur Ros - Glosoli

 

[Phanta]

Krishna Das, Kirtan

 

Puja (not the best quality) - very deep and rooted

 

 

Brindavan Hare Ram - for energy/ joy, as it builds into a joyous explosion

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnpQTevBD0w

[Phanta]

Dead Can Dance, longing...spiritual and emotional

 

The Host of Seraphim (with footage from an amazing film it was tracked with, Baraka)

 

 

Yulunga

 

[Phanta]

Stuff in English

 

Wailin' Jennies - One Voice

 

 

Sinead O'Connor - Healing Room

 

[OpheliaGinger]

I find myself every now and then singing Hindu praise chants.

[Astreja]

I've always loved Benedictus by The Strawbs and Shanti/Ashtangi by Madonna.

 

And I could probably make a decent case for this being a hymn of Bokononism...

 

[bdp]

I like the Waterboys.

 

 

[bdp]

 

[sumluvlifilth]

The rolling stones, I Want to Paint It Black, has always touched me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BhHTA6Gzn0

 

I also really like the Beatles, especially the songs Happiness is a Warm Gun, Across the Universe, and Here Comes the Sun.

These are songs I consider highly spiritual w/o being part of any religion.

[oddbird1963]

Huun Huur-Tu

 

I don't know if their music is religious. In fact, I don't know what it is. I don't understand the words and sometimes the deep gutteral sounds coming from their throat singing is a bit distracting. But there is something abstract and mind expanding about the music.

 

 

It's easy to listen to music with expectations and pre-concieved notions. But when the lyrics are in a language totally foreign to me , what I get out of the music comes totally from inside me.

 

At first I thought their music was entirely religious because the song "Prayer" from "The Orphan's Lament" album was featured in an episode of the 1990's TV Series "Millenium." That particular scene took place inside a Buddhist temple.

 

[Naughtyhamster]

Last year my mother bought a CD of Chinese Tai-Chi and meditation music for me as she knows I've studied Asian culture and would like the traditional sounds. The music is very calm and relaxing so I listen to it before bed time. Also I listen to Native American tunes online when I'm at school.

 

I do admit that sometimes I do listen to music with Christian themes, but its Bulgarian and German folk tunes and not Christian pop music. Even when I was Christian I found some of the Christian pop music lyrics preposterous as I didn't like hearing some snotty girl sing about how the "in crowd" can screw themselves, or someone singing like a masochistic battered wife.

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8orElvvL9Q

 

 

* The Bulgarian music video isn't one of the Christian folk tunes, but if you're a fan of Xena: Warrior Princess it might sound familiar as Bulgarian music was used in the series as it sounds much more like ancient Greek than the modern Greek spoken now.

[viridia]

Always loved the song from Where the Hell is Matt (: Also aborigine and Native American spiritual/tribal music (:

 

ANNNND also Japanese singer/songwriter Arai Akino has some pretty spiritual songs, but not all her stuff's like that. She's pretty diverse (:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCPrsbz8FTs

[Naughtyhamster]

This song reflects how I feel at the moment. Morrissey touches my heart more than any Christian hymn or masochistic Christian pop song can.