The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #100409   Message #2020385
Posted By: *daylia*
09-Apr-07 - 07:59 AM
Thread Name: BS: One compelling reason for a god?
Subject: RE: BS: One compelling reason for a god?
Frank, there is much controversy over Mozart's religiousity. Born and raised as a Catholic, he was certainly, as you point out, a freethinker who often found himself at odds with his powerful patrons. There is evidence suggesting he joined the Freemasons as a young man, including (some say) the Masonic references and imagery in his opera The Magic Flute.

References to his own spiritual leanings are found in his letters, although some suggest his expressions of faith and piety were only an attempt to appease his omnipotent, disapproving father. However, he did continue to write religious works after his tenure with the Archbishop of Salzburg, including the famous Mass in C Minor. His last work was the unfinished Requiem (or Mass for the Dead).

At any rate, I brought Mozart into the discussion as an example of how a creator might use "a process of creation that proceeds as if HE was not there" -- processes including everything from writing down a musical score, to designing the structure of self-replicating DNA    :-)    It was not my intention to pick apart his personal spirituality!

BUt it is intriguing to ponder just how such undying musical genius, artistic beauty and joie de vivre could be manifested through a mere "ape-shaped conglomeration of bacteria". Makes me feel a little, uh ... reverent ....