Saturday, April 11, 2026
Not many can sense the profundity of J.S. Bach. How many “lifeless” performances have I given to “the master”? A failure to deliver the message. Many people have no response to Bach. To them, it’s clang, no matter how good the performer. However, for those that know depth, when Yo-Yo Ma performs Bach—it’s sublime. Bach is resurrected. The message is delivered.
Poor musicians breathe no life into what they do. Someone can read profound writing and read it with no understanding of their own, thus losing it “in translation.” Performed by an misunderstanding musician and Bach is boring. Read or delivered or performed by a lifeless person, profundity flatlines.
Blessed are the messengers who know how to deliver the fullness—the conductors, the singers, the poets, the painters, the dancers, the orators—the “creative types.” When depth on paper meets depth in real time, the magic unlocks. When the music of Bach is delivered by “another” Bach—wow! When the words of Christ are delivered by “another” Christ—pow! When the words of The Buddha are spoken by another “Buddha”—uumph!
Does anybody “get it?” So much gets lost in translation; but when an aware messenger delivers “The Message,” the Spirit of Truth drips with meaning. It’s like a porous pancake dripping in butter and syrup. It sticks to your ribs and satisfies. Most people deliver “fluff,” dry pancake mix with no wet binder.
I do my best to describe this binder. If you dive, what you “bring back” will be sopping, succulent, and will draw attention. It’s not dry but whet. Where did you “get that?” You don’t “get that,” you become The Christ, The Buddha, and The Bach, which are repeatable phenomena that aren’t lost in translation, but transmuted and transmitted by the transfigured.