Our family went to a NeedtoBreathe concert last night in Louisville. It was an incredible experience. As far as live music goes, I’d only put U2 above them in the experiences I’ve had at concerts over the years. The energy, passion, and excellence of the show were amazing. For me, another reason that I love U2, and now NeedtoBreathe, is that their music, and their concerts, are “thin places.”
In the Celtic Christian tradition, a thin place is “a place where the veil between heaven and earth, or the supernatural and the natural, is thin.”
It seems to me that one can be in a sacred space, a thin place, but not realize it or enter into the potential experience of the sacred that is available. That could have happened to me last night. Need to Breathe is my wife’s favorite band, so I’ve heard a lot of their music, but only really paid close attention to it last night, for the first time. I found truth, beauty, goodness, and unity at the concert. The music, the spirit present in the band and at the venue, were special. Lead singer Bear Rinehart commented twice how “surprising” the night was to him. Something was happening.
I was particularly struck by the lyrics of one song, Testify, which made me think of the notion of thin spaces, and of the value of religious experience as evidence of God’s existence:
Mist on the mountain
Rising from the ground
There’s no denying beauty makes a sound
We can’t escape it
There’s no way to doubt
Mist on the mountain
Rising all around
Many philosophers are skeptical of religious experience, but I think it has important value in fostering and supporting an authentic faith. The description of the mountain mist, according to the song, cannot be doubted. The beauty in the mist points to a greater Source of all beauty. While people do doubt that such things point to God, to a transcendent reality, such mundane experiences can be incredibly significant. And they can have value as evidence for the reality of the divine. But we must be open to the possibility that we live in an enchanted world.
Perhaps, if we are intentionally open to such experiences, without trying to force things, we might find that transcendent Source of goodness, truth, beauty, and unity. For me, it has happened in the mountains, as the song describes. But it also happened last night at a concert in Louisville, Kentucky. For that, I’m thankful.