LSS: Hallelujah

This song has kept on playing in my head for days now ever since I stumbled upon Bobby Andonov's version on YouTube  (You can just look it up, type "15 year old hallelujah" for his live audition version on Australia's Got Talent or type "bobby andonov" for the full studio version.).  Before reading on, you may want to watch/listen to either of the two versions.  I personally prefer the live audition version.

I find this song quite interesting and intriguing.  The melody kind of fits my personal musical sense and I find the lyrics poetic in a conventional and understated yet still enigmatic kind of way.  Instead of googling "hallelujah song meaning," I prefer to just interpret the song my own way  and share this interpretation through this blog post.  By interpretation I don't mean I'm actually going to sing my own version but instead, I'll write about what this song means to me.

I spent some time reflecting on this and now I am convinced that the song "Hallelujah" is about the democratization of spirituality.  When I think of democracy,  I think of the primacy it puts on individual choice and so the democratization of spirituality means that there is freedom to experience and practice spirituality in a deliberate, individual, and personal way.

I believe that every person should simply listen to his or her own conscience, define and design his or her own spiritual experience, and acknowledge that spirituality is a journey, and sometimes a struggle, and not feel guilty or ashamed about his or her own spiritual experience.  No one should be forced to conform with or follow a pre-designed spiritual path if it is not consistent with one's own spiritual belief and value system.  People who simply follow an existing spiritual path without first listening to their conscience and recognizing their unique identity tend to compartmentalize, meaning they tend to keep or live separate belief and value systems that are inconsistent or contradictory to each other.  Examples would be practicing homosexuals who are convinced that being gay is okay but remain devoted to the Catholic faith.  For this specific example, I believe that the only way to achieve spiritual liberation is to get rid of one belief and value system (either the "gay is okay" value system or the Catholic faith) and follow a single path or a set of paths that converge rather than diverge.

Human spirituality is a beautiful thing and I believe that authentic/genuine democracy liberates the full potential of all that is beautiful.  Human diversity, human sexuality, art, education, society, every single thing when democratized becomes more beautiful as it becomes more and more a reflection of the great human experience.

It is alright whether your spiritual experience is centered around a god or a group of gods or if it is based on the profound metaphysics of the universe or the human soul or of life.  It is alright whether your spiritual experience is founded on blind faith or on logic.  It does not matter if your own life experience does not fit with any religion or dogma.  Everyone should be able to break free from spiritual chains and be able to live his or her own spiritual experience without blame nor shame.

I guess the reason why I liked this song so much is that it speaks to me of liberation and truth.  And I believe liberation and truth are the greatest aspirations of the human spirit.  These two things are intertwined and inseparable in a profound way.  Truth brings liberation, liberation brings truth.