Hans Deventer
25th October 2006, 01:41 AM (01:41)
This is obviously not the regular book to be reviewed on this forum. Yet it just might come closer than many would think.
This is the story of U2, as told by the members themselves. Starting out in a Dublin suburbian kitchen on 25 September 1976, with 4 boys that really had more enthusiasm than knowledge of music. So the book tells the story of how that kitchen band came to conquer the world. Interesting in itself, but not for this forum. What does make it worth reading is that in many ways, it also tells the spiritual journey they made, the battle of making sense of this world while still believing in God. For Bono, many questions started when his mother died (he was 14 at the time) at his grandfather's funeral. Some quotes:
My mind was speeding, not from drugs, just from all the pressures, things I couldn't figure out. From an early age, I instinctively believed in God but wasn't sure that God believed in me or anyone. Why? How? Where? All the big questions started to intensify. I went to church, but there just seemed to be people there, singing psalms of glory but not much glory present in the house. It wasn't enough for me. Religion felt all wrong. Yet outside, when I looked around me, I would see clues that God might exist, and might be interested in us. Then I'd lose hope again.
There was a beautiful women teaching religion at the time. Sophie Shirleyand she would say things like, 'Yes, it's a fallen world but it's still beautiful. God's fingerprints are everywhere if you want to see them'. So there I'd be, standing on Dollymount Strand, staring at the sea, watching the waves, looking at a storm on the horizon, and wondering who chose the colour of the sky? Who makes the earth turn at this speed? Who invented gravity and who designed girls' laughter? Is it all cold science? Cosmic accident or creation? It is love of survival of the fittest?
These questions filled my teenage head.
[...]
In despair, I did pray to God. And I discovered that, even sometimes in the silence, God does answer. The answer may not be the one you want to hear but there's always an answer, if you are serious, if you are ready to let go.
This is the story of U2, as told by the members themselves. Starting out in a Dublin suburbian kitchen on 25 September 1976, with 4 boys that really had more enthusiasm than knowledge of music. So the book tells the story of how that kitchen band came to conquer the world. Interesting in itself, but not for this forum. What does make it worth reading is that in many ways, it also tells the spiritual journey they made, the battle of making sense of this world while still believing in God. For Bono, many questions started when his mother died (he was 14 at the time) at his grandfather's funeral. Some quotes:
My mind was speeding, not from drugs, just from all the pressures, things I couldn't figure out. From an early age, I instinctively believed in God but wasn't sure that God believed in me or anyone. Why? How? Where? All the big questions started to intensify. I went to church, but there just seemed to be people there, singing psalms of glory but not much glory present in the house. It wasn't enough for me. Religion felt all wrong. Yet outside, when I looked around me, I would see clues that God might exist, and might be interested in us. Then I'd lose hope again.
There was a beautiful women teaching religion at the time. Sophie Shirleyand she would say things like, 'Yes, it's a fallen world but it's still beautiful. God's fingerprints are everywhere if you want to see them'. So there I'd be, standing on Dollymount Strand, staring at the sea, watching the waves, looking at a storm on the horizon, and wondering who chose the colour of the sky? Who makes the earth turn at this speed? Who invented gravity and who designed girls' laughter? Is it all cold science? Cosmic accident or creation? It is love of survival of the fittest?
These questions filled my teenage head.
[...]
In despair, I did pray to God. And I discovered that, even sometimes in the silence, God does answer. The answer may not be the one you want to hear but there's always an answer, if you are serious, if you are ready to let go.