Root Tones: Getting to the Roots of People, Places and Things Musical Music Morale

I began writing for this column in the Rising Firefly Magazine at the end of 2008. This is the third issue in which I have had the privilege of writing about music and its implications to humanity. In the first issue, I discussed the forgotten power of music and it's connection to rhythms and frequencies in the world around us. In the second issue, I discussed the interconnection of musical styles from diverse parts of the planet, suggesting a direction of the history of human global communication. In this issue I will be asking the question, "What is the potential power of music as used by humans today?" 

Master Naba spoke to us about this in a few examples. One of his examples that stuck out to me was this one. He made us look at the use of music in major organized religions. For example, if you look at the modern church, especially the black churches of America, you see that the music and the singing of hymns and spirituals are used to lift the "spirits" of the congregation. This is a focal point of the services. It helps people to feel good, forget the trials and tribulations of life, and unify as a solid group, in song, under the mutual agreement of their faith. This is something that is very emotional for the people attending the service. Now that is the key word: Emotion. 

Here is an example of what music can do. If a member of the congregation is acting badly, or has been committing grievous acts, they can partake in the ceremony and completely let go of the accountability of their actions. This is the leverage that music can have on the emotions of the individual. 

What is one of the main vehicles that facilitates the release of their accountability? The music. The Kemetic paradigm calls for complete accountability of the individual. In the church, the biggest vehicle for this release of accountability is Jesus Christ. The notion of Jesus taking on all of your sins is then reinforced by the emotional power of song, which conveys a feeling of rapture and release, regardless of the actual spiritual consequences of your actions throughout life. So in a nutshell, what Master Naba was saying is, music can be used as a tool to both play on emotions and strengthen ignorance, or it can be used as a powerful spiritual vehicle. This is indeed a fine line, and by no means am I judging any faith for it's practices, I am simply saying that the wrongdoer can be convinced that everything will be OK after having experienced the emotional stimulation of music. This example can be superimposed on an array of religious practices around the world. 

Indeed this is all a solace we experience from music, no mater where we are coming from. I think about the example of Hitler's third Reich. He had legions of musicians playing very driving music with powerful and militant rhythms for his speeches. It got the people excited; it made them feel proud and powerful. Obviously, we know that Hitler's Reich was a destructive and calculated force. At the same time, it was a force that used music to move millions in its favor. 

Music can support evil as well as good. This then brings into question what is evil, and what is good? Well we can say that music is like a knife, it can be used to chop food for dinner, or it can be used to stab somebody. 

If music is indeed a combination of powerful elemental rhythms and frequencies, then why shouldn't it be applicable to anything that consists of rhythms and frequencies? We know that our existence is permeated with rhythms and frequencies, so wouldn't that mean that all the occurrences in the becoming (whether or not they fall under the auspice of "good" or "evil") consist of rhythms and frequencies? This is just to say that if you throw a pebble into a pond of clear water or gasoline you will still get ripples. This is music, it is the pebble which we throw into the pond and create ripples, no matter what the medium. Are we to judge music? No. We know that judgments don't serve us. What does serve us is cold and detached observation of situations we view. So, what exactly is "using music for good"? What is the scope of our conscious analysis of what is good and evil? As Kemetic people, we have been presented with a model for human behavior. It is the 77 commandments. This is the original script from which the 42 principles of Maat were derived, as well as the 10 commandments. These principles provide us with a model to aspire towards, and it is where humans derive what we call "morals". So, in a human context we can say that music, which supports efforts aligned with these commandments, is "good", or, at least it is creating healing ripples for humanity. 

Indeed, good and evil are really umbrella concepts as we use them today. They can be defined by the goals and the agendas of different cultures. Hitler thought he was doing "good" for the German people. We want to be careful when using these words today. "Good" and "Evil" are now very much "loaded concepts" in that they have taken on this huge degree of flexibility. When I am referring to the Kemetic sense of good, I reference the 77 commandments because of their direct application to the efforts toward social harmony, and the spiritual elevation of the human being. So, in a nutshell, as a Kem, the commandments are where I derive my ideas of good and evil from. 

Now let's take this further... Who is to say that we even have the vision from our vantage point to see the larger patterns of good and evil in humanity?

In the Kemetic teachings we know that humanity goes through cycles where at times the "holy" dominates, and the "unholy" dominates. These are fluctuations that in a larger time frame, occur like the inhalation and exhalation of a being. The being is made up of rhythms and frequencies. Music is rhythms and frequencies. Music can and will accompany all facets of the existence in the becoming. "Good" and "Evil" then become part of the drama of our small role in these grand inhalations and exhalations. 

Here is an example of what I am talking about. As Kem, we talk about the invaders like the Greeks and Romans who drove our culture into a recession for two thousand years. We look at this as a negative occurrence that still generates very destructive effects on our culture and it's people. If we look at the larger historical connotations of this, and if we look at the new efforts that are going on to rebuild the Kemetic culture, we can say that we will rebuild our culture with some very valuable lessons learned from this cultural hegemony. It will make us stronger if we have the ability to pass on what we have learned to the future generations. We are turning what we can call a tragedy into a valuable asset in our cultural evolution. So what is evil from one perspective, is now being used towards the good from another. Our vantage point changes when backing up from a situation to see the larger patterns. This is not a justification for the heinous acts that were committed, it is simply a call for the reader to observe the inevitable fluctuations of social values and the postures of those societies' interrelationships at the cusp of each temporal shift. 

The reality of the human world we live in is one where we meet our lot by making it a better place, harmonized with the earth, instead of disharmonization with Earth. This is our commitment as Kem people. So we sing songs of harmony, and healing. Not songs of destruction and death. 

If we look at our time on Earth as boot camp for the human, this makes more sense. All we can do as Kem is play our part in this grand procession and fight for the "good" as we know it. So, saying that music can be used for "good" and "evil is entirely subjective and useless on a large scale. It simply is. It is music.