This post was written by Chris Gadsden on March 13, 2006
Integration can go both ways. As Christians, we seek to wed the theism of the Scriptures with our academic pursuits. Non-Christians, too, can ply their craft in the milieu of their worldview. John Cage, who was probably a Zen Buddhist, sought to create music that reflected his own view of reality, which was essentially atheistic.
Prior to the 20th century, most composers believed that the universe was inherently ordered and significant, and their music reflected this. Music had meaning – it was a means of communication. Cage believed that communication through music was impossible; we are better off simply echoing the randomness and indeterminacy of nature. This was Cage’s ultimate reality. As Jackson Pollock did in his painting, Cage employed chance to “create” his music. If everything we know in the world is ultimately the product of chance, then music composed in this way is more real or true than the artificial constructions of Bach or Mozart.
Inevitably, Cage’s philosophy was merely a whim of convenience which he applied only in his art. An avid mycologist (mushroom collector), he admitted that he could not employ his methodology of randomness to his hobby. He commented, “I became aware that if I approached mushrooms in the spirit of my chance operations, I would die shortly.” Siphoning off meaning and purpose from a theistic worldview, Cage lived as if there were such things as order and purpose when it suited him.
When it came to music, however, Cage sang a different, albeit atonal, tune. His worldview was fully present. But quite ironically, his efforts to generate meaningless music resulted in compositions that were pregnant with meaning and communication. The project of meaninglessness is itself meaningful – it says that the universe is a certain way, or that music should be done just so. Cage’s implicit integration resulted in explicit expression.
For the Christian, the expression of Truth in our work – whether it be painting, writing, or laboratory research – should always be present in our minds as part of the goal, part of our calling. Like Cage, we can never fully escape the manifestation of our worldview in our work. The question we must ask is, “What sort of worldview is being manifested; what am I communicating?�
(For a sample of Cage’s Sonata II, click here. For Winter Music (1957), click here.)
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