Dance of the Logos (Organ)

Since we're beginning a new year, I thought we might consider the Mother of All Beginnings — namely "In The Beginning...". The Gospel of John famously begins "In the beginning was the Word..." Now, the Greek word for 'Word' here is LOGOS. 'Word' is actually a terrible translation for LOGOS — but there isn't really a better alternative because we don't have a word in modern English that embraces anything like similar meaning. So I thought we might explore a little what's behind 'LOGOS'.

First of all, LOGOS was a common word in the first century Greek speaking world, much like the word 'word' is common enough in English. In general usage it referred to the concept aspect of a word. It was also used for bookkeeping — keeping a 'LOGOS' of your business finances. 'LOGOS' is used frequently in the New Testament in this commonplace sense.

Now, in English there are certain words that have commonplace meanings, but within Christianity they are invested with a whole new dimension of significance — like 'Grace', and 'Spirit'. Likewise, in the context of Greek philosophy, LOGOS meant something far beyond the commonplace usage. Going back to the philosopher Heraclitus (c. 500 BCE), LOGOS referred to that which makes the Cosmos an organized place to live — something like the Laws of Physics, but much more.

It has been said that a human being is nothing but a pile of chemicals. Of course we aren't! What makes a living human different from a pile of chemicals is that those chemicals are organized in a mind-boggling and exquisitely complex Dance — a Dance of Logos. All the intricate processes, the cooperation of something like 30 trillion cells that make up one human being — an orchestra of 30 trillion cells/players all playing the Symphony of Life for each and every one of us — that magnificent symphony is the Dance of the Logos.

It has been said that our thoughts and emotions are nothing but chemical reactions in the brain. Of course they aren't! They're a mind-boggling and exquisitely complex Dance of neurons firing and all the complex processes that make up a thinking and feeling human being.

Or let's consider our vision: our eyes only have receptors for Red Green and Blue. All the other colors we see are fabricated by our brains to give us a useful visual representation of the world around us. The way the brain organizes raw red/green/blue dots of light from our retinas into our immersive field of vision — that's Logos at work.

Or consider Money. It's much more than 'some numbers in some computer somewhere": money has value because we all agree it has value (a massive community act of Faith), and we all agree to go along with the enormous body of banking regulations and government laws and so forth that prescribe the  complex Dance of numbers that comprise our monetary system. (And the concept of 'number' itself is a profound example of Logos at work.)

Or, human language: language isn't just a bunch of grunting noises or squiggles on paper, it's its own vast Dance of Logos of syntax and semantics (which we absorbed when we were children) that makes communication possible.

When you really think about it, we are swimming in Logos — we're like fish swimming in an ocean of Logos, and like fish we're generally unaware of the Logos/water in which we live and move and have our being. (Are you aware of the ocean of air surrounding you this very moment?)

And, furthermore, Logos is not something that can be directly seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelled — it's the 'logic' (the "Logos-ic"!) that makes seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling possible in the first place.

Confronted with the Logos that governs the inconceivable vastness of interstellar space, and all the infinitesimally small quantum entities whose Dance constitutes all the mass and energy in our Cosmos, and whose dance within dance within dance makes it possible for us to have Life, on a planet that makes Life possible, in a solar system that makes Life possible — before all of that, how can we not bow our heads in dumbfounded, speechless Awe?