9-24 Religion Assignment- Coltrane

     Coltrane’s spiritual revelation is very much related to the ones we hear about in Walsh’s book. Coltrane thought that he, as many spiritual stories say, is but God’s instrument. Like in the story about motives from our book, his motive was to give to others the greatest possession he had: his music. He played to make other people happy, he saw it as his gift to the world. During his recovery from his heroin and alcohol addiction, he promised God that if he could play music again he would be “a preacher on his horn”. I think this meant that he would follow good spiritual values from then on, and try to teach others to do the same through his playing. Overall, he was giving people his ultimate possession for them to enjoy: his music. This is a very humble way of living life, which Walsh would say is good for you spiritually.

            I admire Coltrane for having such dedication in life. Despite at one point being addicted to drugs, he had the willpower to bring his life back around to focus on what he really cared about. He let go of some of the attachments that were controlling his life. From then on, he didn’t let cravings of those things take away from what he really wanted to do. He knew that his purpose in life was to play, and I envy having that kind of knowledge. Never having to wonder what you want to do in life must be nice. Coltrane was sure that he was fulfilling his purpose in life and doing as much as he could. He knew what his passion was, and made his life revolve around it. I don’t know if Coltrane was happy in life or not, but if he was then I believe he fulfilled his purpose in life. He did what he loved, tried to help others, and was happy. As far as my view on life goes, that’s all you could ever want.