Op cit  worrying elective liability, notwithstanding reeling from the Boris circus last week, with a modest proposal to address it: Could it be enshrined in the BBc charter that the words '...And now here's a word from Rafferty about todays Out of Tune' be intoned slowly enough for people to run screaming from the wireless. I was caught quite off guard this morning while the printer was playing up. Luckily the rutabagas was at hand.

Well, it's a while since I last bought/read Gramophone, and the latest issue makes clear why. Has anyone else read this, to my mind thoroughly inane, article by Alan Rich, the thousandth person to write about how music is moving away from that horrible modern stuff and connecting with audiences again? This quote says it all:

'Where the towering figures of the past - Arnold Schoenberg, say, or Pierre Boulez in his years as composer - cloaked themselves in their musical austerity, today's hero has learnt to use, and enjoy, the spotlight.'

(You don't say). It has short bits of gush on various composers, including, memorably a tribute to John Tavener by none other than HRH The Prince of Wales, saying how Tavener's work 'contains a profound spirituality that is rarely seen today'. Tell it to your plants instead.

Actually, I quite like The Protecting Veil...

However my grump is that awful word spirituality.  It is dished up all over the place without any reference to what it might mean.  Just as in John Major's Britain we were too embarrassed to say history, and had to say heritage, people say spiritualiteee when what they mean is prayer or mysticism.  OK, prayer and mysticism without all that nasty doctrinal context, but often prayer and mysticism with no self-discipline or concern for justice.

(I am being unfair, as spirituality is a very good word to cover the attitudes and experiences of non-religious people, which would otherwise be interpreted religiously.  But the word still has very sentimental connotations to me and is used in a very sloppy way.)

I am sure Ian can come up with mealy-mouthed New Labour euphemisms for more challenging socialist concepts.

Spirituality, is a religious statement. For non-religious people to use it, I think is  being hypecritical

No, bbm, I would disagree.  The word is used by and of non-religious people to cover the sort of experiences which are normally associated with religious language.

That's fair enough, but it is used in a very sloppy kind of way to imply some added ingredient, like a cherry on the cake, that can be added to the rest of life, like having an exciting sex life or perfect home furnishings.  That gets on my wick. Love so amazing so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all is not a sentiment that gets a look in.

The Orthodox Church was Taverner's third stop on his spiritual pilgrimage (after the Kirk of Scotland and Rome) and I believe he is now moving into New Ageism.  Spiritual pilgrimages are fine, but at some point you may well need to put down roots to grow.

Don Basilio, thank you for that enlightening reply. Some of the comments, I hadnt thought of. I do think, like you said, about people needing to settle down and grow roots. As far as people like Tavener are concerned, its as if they are saying, Oh, I didnt like that one, we will try another. That might sound rather trite, on my part, but that what it seems.  But it also annoys me when people use words out of their original context.

Pim - I wouldn't dream of calling you silly.  Certainly not.  Spiritual is fine as an adjective with a whole range of associations, and I believe in French it has further overtones.

But I do find some uses of the "spirituality", as quoted by Ian from HRH, highly suspect.

And atheism certainly isn't silly: it is a far more responsible position than the sort of sentimental self-indulgence that often gets covered by the word "spirituality".