Fascinating. But music??
LOL I actually told someone that that would be your response.
You see, I have no problem at all believing that our brains have developed over many thousands of years to enable us to accomplish the most amazing and complex things. I love the theories and I love the exploration. That apes do it for purposes of survival and communication reinforces for me the idea that we too started out using our voices and rhythms for these same reasons, (there is your sweet-sour theory) and slowly the actions became more complex.
I realize that you don't see this as answering the question of "pleasure", but we take pleasure from so many things- (do you remember that wonderful line in Chariots of Fire- when Eric Liddell says, "God made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.") Running is certainly all about survival but we do it now for the pleasure or the accomplishment of it. So do I see music as having followed that same path from survival noises to pleasure.
I agree we have exhausted the topic, and done it well, I think! We were polite and respectful.
For those who don't believe in a God who designed in His own image, it IS harder to accept things like "He gave us an enjoyment of music" which feel like facile explanations, than it is to look for rational naturalistic reasons. I just can't help but see that concept as man designing God in HIS own image, that paternal but very unpredictable figure who strikes some of us with cancer, and spares others from death in a plane crash, and gives us little gifts to use in worshiping Him.
But please know, that having been a believer for many years, I don't lack understanding. It comes down to that leap of faith. If you aren't on that side of the chasm, it is harder to find deistic explanations as believable. I am open to either solution. |
