Bin, the passion is still there, but as the years pass by, you learn to rather cherish quietly, privately, because you've learnt, that words fall short to describe what music can do to and for you. It is in the exuberance of discovery that you speak out, share and spread the word. Later, perhaps in the winter of your years your ears may fail you, but not your spirit, because finely honed through time and experience, music touches you ever more deeply, so deep sometimes, that you know that words fail you and you don't even try to find them. You're grateful, that's all, because in those moments of being enthralled, you're joined with something which is bigger than just your ego. It is in those moments, that you forget your rig, you forget what you know about the composer and what you might know of theory of music and all that noise your brain generally produces, called thoughts, just abates. You're transported to another plane, which sometimes may enfold you in an all encompassing feeling of bliss, which may only last a split second but will reverberate in you for a long time. Or laughter will come up, awe, sadness, whatever you like. The point is, you're being moved, because the composer or the interpreters of his music have touched upon something, which is universal, belongs to all humanity and for a moment you are enjoined within this, become part of it. This is also, why some forms of music are sometimes the best remedy against loneliness, despair and depression, because it can sometimes transport you beyond and outside of your everyday-self. And yes, Rja, I think Greg has made an excellent point as he usually does and I could not agree more. Indeed the effect of music, as I have tried to point out, can make you transcend your usual self. It can make you wild, drive you crazy, even bring you close to what might be experienced as the godhead. Organised religion, churches of whatever denomination , do not like that, would call it heretic,ostracise it, burn it at the stake, call it dangerous and a deviation because it cannot be controlled, is too "private" and mostly not in accordance with the official interpretation of what is "holy" and what is not. This is of course not true within every "church". Bach has written wonderful and moving church music, congregations sing, wonderful requiems exist and are performed in churches. The Kantor is an important figure in Jewish liturgy and the better his voice, the more a feeling content can be added and experienced around the ancient words he is using. It is probably those forms of religious practice, which stick to a very strict and rigid interpretation of whatever it is concieved as holy and contained in WORDS, that abhorr not only symbols and imagery, but especially music, because of its inherent possibility to transport you into another realm, where words lose their meaning and their power and it is though WORDS again, which tell you of the consequences of not adhering to whatever is seen as the straight and narrow that preachers try to control their flock and of the rewards you'll get in the here and the beyond if you stick to the rules. As Greg so rightly points out, the effect that music can have on some people, lies in the fact, that rules, which by their very nature are always collective and are WORDED, might lose their grip on you and you could break free of them for better or for worse and might in sometimes decisive moments for your life, suddenly land in another realm, where words fail you and lose their power. Many organised forms of very strictly practised religion fear that like the devil and would also call it just that.
