1971-1975 A new world with expanding horizons

Although I was largely silent and un-played, I was still able to hear the sound wave of emotions entering Harvey’s body, giving him a sense, an echo perhaps, of a vast new world full of new possibilities.

In these four years from September 1971 at The Queens College and the University of Birmingham, Harvey’s body and mind were exposed to a multitude of new thoughts, sights and sounds, and new horizons, including:

Ecumenical & Multi-Faith theologies,

The ‘Death of God’ and Liberation theology,

Secularism,

Liturgical Renewal,

Historical & Biblical Criticism

Mysticism and the sounds of Silence

Living in a diverse community, etc

and in 1972, the Death of Harvey’s mother Gladys, followed by the wonder of Falling in Love and later getting Married to Carol.

(Harvey with me)

Even ‘locked away’ in a corner of Harvey’s study, my body was able to trace and hear sonic components in all these new experiences bursting and flowing into his body and soul.

For example,

1.  Ecumenical and Multi-Faith theology is surely polyphonic, contrapuntal and fugal – i.e. many diverse voices sounding together, never ‘univocal’ or in unison.  Ecumenical endeavour never progresses when one voice dominates or seeks to control all others.
2. I could sense that Historical & Biblical Criticism interested Harvey greatly, since the work of biblical Form Critics (Rudolf Bultmann & Co, who I came across many years ago) can be compared to the structural nature of Classical Music, such as Sonata Form, Theme & Variations, Tone Poems, etc.
3. Liturgical Renewal is inextricably bound to operatic drama – surely.  The ‘Credo’ of the Church cries out to be sung, not merely recited!
4. Harvey’s intense personal experiences of grief and falling in love surely resonate with Mysticism, with its awareness of mystery, uncertainty, silence, emptiness, beauty and wonder, and the pursuit of the ‘Holy’.

In the next Diary Entry, I want to share more about the impact of grief and love, which flooded into Harvey’s life in 1972.