Spirit and Music | Page 8

underlying spirit, or as Elgar puts it--"more of Truth."
The law of spirit is Love. The drive of spirit is ever upward towards

progress, aspiration, and unity. If we take a drop of quicksilver and
separate it into smaller particles, as soon as ever the conditions allow,
these smaller globules will amalgamate themselves with the larger
body from which they have been temporarily divorced. We can almost
imagine we hear them utter a fervent "thank goodness" as they reach
that home of heart's desire. So are we, too, as separated and
individualised sparks of the divine fire, burning till at length we reach
our freedom and can merge ourselves in that Sun of spirit whence,
"trailing clouds of glory," we have come.
Man, we say, is a gregarious animal, and it is certainly only the man of
warped mind who seeks to cut himself off from his fellows: we are all
of us spirits, and spirit seeks unity and approach. Love is the one
uniting and binding force in the universe, just as its opposite--hatred--is
the disintegrating element. Love operates in attraction, as we see it in
motherhood, childhood, and the love of man and maid. But it also
works on the grand scale in the guise of the law of Gravity which
attracts and binds universes together, and regulates and controls the
swing of inconceivable immensities. Look again and we may see love
working as chemical affinity to attract molecule to molecule, or as
cohesion to keep the very particles knit together in kinship.
It is this spirit of love that unites the myriad cells of our own body into
the little commonwealth of self: when this life-force withdraws, the
love ceases to bind, and immediately the "dead" body becomes
infinitely alive, but the unity is at an end and decomposition has set in.
So love is the fulfilling of the law: not merely "a" law, but the very
fundamental law on which our continued existence hangs. Eliminate
gravity, and the universe as we know it must come to an end in a
catastrophe which it is beyond the power of our imagination to
conceive. If cohesion ceased to be, then everything would fall to
powder and would disintegrate. Destroy all love between man and man,
and civilisation itself would fall to pieces. This is no question of dogma,
gospel, or man-made law, it is simply a plain statement of the
fundamental condition of our very existence. The importance of love is
paramount, and if we are wise we shall seek to discover these
overriding laws of our being, and adjust our lives in conformity with

their requirements.
Spirit is love, and love manifests itself in service: the love that seeks its
own ends, or strives to get instead of to serve, is no love at all.
Therefore if Music is to express this spirit it must do so by contributing
its meed of assistance to make this workaday world more bright by
gladdening the heart of man. Quite obviously much of the music that is
written has been composed with no such intent, therefore and to that
extent it stultifies itself. It must be classed as the "sounding brass and
tinkling cymbal" of the prophet. St. Paul's analysis of the reason of the
ineffectiveness of such, too, is searchingly accurate: that, lacking
charity, it signified nothing. Charity is only another synonym for that
love which is the manifestation of spirit. The true musician has this
spirit of love within him and it demands expression, and so we find
Mozart exclaiming "I write because I cannot help it." So Granville
Bantock, too--"The impulse to create Music is on me, and I write to
gratify my impulse. When I have written the work I have done with it.
What I do desire is to begin to enjoy myself by writing something
else."[6] The musician sings because he must: he writes so that the
spirit may find its outlet in that direction: or he plays, when only
through his fingers and the instrument can he find that expression
which his soul demands.
[Note 6: J. C. Hadden, "Modern Musicians."]
When Music is thus outpoured it speaks of spirit, and adds to the
spiritual store of the world. It reinforces the unseen hosts that fight for
spirit in the age-long struggle with the powers of materialism and
darkness. No breath of spirit is ever lost, and nothing devoid of it is
ever permanent, either in music or in anything else. Sounds without
sense or meaning are futile, notes without a heartfelt message are
"returned empty" as they were sent forth, and practice without purpose
other than mere self-gratification, agility, or display, is a magnificent
and glorious waste of time. But Music, when its true underlying purport
is discovered, is at once an inspiration and