Some thoughts for a dismal day

I went for a rainy walk this morning and listened to some sacred choral works by Pavel Chesnokov. It seemed important to remind myself that whatever little faith I have, it consists most fundamentally in the hope that truth, goodness, and beauty are the source, ground, and end of all things. That faith, hope, and love are what is really real. Fear, ugliness, and hatred are only parasitic passing things that will seem in the end more like illusions than anything else. And to remind myself that my most fundamental duty is to live in a way that reflects and enacts that hope.

"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."

I found out that Chesnokov himself composed nearly 400 sacred choral works, until the Soviets began to forbid the creation of any traditionally religious art. He tried his best to transition to composing secular works, but after the authorities destroyed the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, where Chesnokov had been the last choirmaster, he was so deeply affected that he could no longer write any music. He died in 1944 of a heart attack caused by malnutrition, while standing in a bread line in Moscow. An unjust end, but his music is a star whose beauty can smite our own hearts. May his memory be eternal.