The Catharsis of Endings II: Death
- Feb 3
- 4 min read
Music and existential revelations brought to you by Ghost
Ghost
Last week I was lucky enough to see three of my favourite bands play live: The Birthday Massacre, Lord of the Lost (see Part I) and Ghost. It's always strange trying to explain Ghost to friends who haven't heard of them, between their tendency to dance between genres, the multiple levels of lore and the way they blaspheme to the extreme.
Beyond the quality of their music, I deeply appreciate Ghost constantly challenging the world that we live in. What begins as a critique of organized religion ends up having almost universal applications, because so many aspects of our society – from advertising to politics to entertainment – are now trying to manipulate us in very similar ways. Add to that the multiple layers of meaning inherent to most of their songs, and you have a deep reservoir from which to pull lessons and reminders about life and the world.
Although I'm not writing about it today, I think Ghost's "Kaisarion" is very apt for this week in particular, dealing with humanity's tendency toward zealotry over science and having a line about "the continence of bishops with their choirboys en-suite."
I've previously written about Ghost's "Twenties", "Lachryma", "Marks of the Evil One", "Satanized", "De Profundis Borealis", and "Missilia Amori" & "Umbra".
Anywho. Death! (As with last time, beware existential themes ahead.)
On a Pale White Horse
While I've chosen just two songs to focus on today, there are probably at least a dozen you could point to as being relevant to my topic. After all, Ghost are consistently interested in subverting Catholic themes: so where a church service is all about securing that sweet sweet life after death, Ghost is here to remind you to live your life before death too.
Don't you forget about dying Don't you forget about your friend death Don't you forget that you will die Don't you vomit savage slurs // Spewed up wickedly // To hide from me Navigate all alone // On this tempestuous sea // To ride with me - Ghost, "Pro Memoria"
While you sleep in earthly delight // Someone's flesh is rotting tonight Like no other to you // What you've done // You cannot undo I have always kept you closer than you've known I, I am riding in the shadows behind you // On a pale white horse - Ghost, "Witch Image"
The songs in Part I stared apocalypse in the face and reacted with awe and rage, and Ghost wants to bring some of that immediacy into our day-to-day lives. Not to make us miserable and paralyze us with existential dread, but to do the opposite: asking us to be mindful about how we choose to spend our limited time on this Earth.
As I wrote in the intro (and have discussed more in-depth before), our predatory world thrives on us falling into static, unquestioning routines – from which it hopes we will never again have a unique thought of our own, let alone lift a finger in protest.
To remember our mortality inherently means to remember that these mindless routine will only go on so long, and to recognize how much of our time it has already devoured. It can hopefully lead us to make more conscious decisions about how we spend our time and to reaffirm that our actions and desires are in line with our core values and beliefs.
ADHD & Anxiety
This conflict of mindfulness vs. mindlessness is probably the most common topic around here, and it's partly because I need to keep thinking about it in order not to fall into the trap! I think ADHD makes it so much easier to adopt a comfortable routine and maintain it unquestioningly until someone or something pulls you out kicking and screaming. I think that's what Ghost does for me, and I think it's what they could do for our society as a whole, by pointing out all these absurdities that we are in danger of growing accustomed to and normalizing.
These songs also help with my anxiety; years ago in therapy I learned to question my anxious thoughts by asking, "what's the worst that could really happen?" And before giving a reasonable answer, I would sometimes smile to myself and think, Well, I could die. Because, though it was ridiculous depending on the scenario, imagining absolute zero or null seemed a lot better than the painful anxious chaos in my head.
(Note: This is not about self-harm. If you need help, seek help!)
Instead, what I take from Ghost's songs and my own experience is just another version of 'life is short'. There will be pain, anxiety, loneliness and more. But it will be finite, and Death will be there in the end regardless of the path. (And in the meantime, the sun will shine again.)
Just as this isn't meant to paralyze us, it isn't meant to make us go into a panicked frenzy either. Mindfulness in the context of our limited existence. Choosing again, that we can live our best lives rather than what the billionaires and algorithms have set out for us.
Remember and Rage
As with Avatar's "Hail the Apocalypse", there's little use be angry with death itself. But there is a lot of room to be angry at the systems that are making our brief lives shittier. The liches who are feeding off our energy in order to prolong their corrupt lives and advance their dystopian vision of the future.
That idea is also lightened slightly by Witch Image in particular, which reminds that death is universal and unequivocal. Those who spend their days running in fear from it have wasted their time just as surely as someone scrolling TikTok ten hours a day. Which reminds me of this piece I did on an incredible short story!
I dunno, I hope this makes sense to someone! And if not, I hope you at least enjoyed the pretty tunes.
Thanks for reading and until next time <3
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