Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga

PROPONENT OF AN EMERGING LOVE INSPIRED FORM OF SPIRITUAL AWARENESS

Outlandish, provocative, intriguingly creative – Lady Gaga is not just a performer, but also a personal growth leader. She has a message that ignites millions. But, what is it that resonates on such a deep level with so many people? Do they just like her music – or is it something more?

It seems everywhere you look, Gaga is there, and she is bigger than life, wielding a wideranging influence on culture, pop music and style. Now, she is staking a claim in spirituality.

“I hope we race thoughtfully and loudly toward solutions.”

cocreationmagazine.com 24

Gaga has said she is “confused by religion”and in an interview with The Guardian, she made it clear that she thinks religious institutions are responsible for many adverse realities in society, including bullying and teen suicide. “Religion [affects] social values and that in turn affects selfesteem, bullying in school, teen suicides, all those things,” she said.

While she often references Catholic Christianity, Gaga is a fan of Deepak Chopra and practices Yoga. It seems she harnesses the power of religious icons and traditions, reinterpreting and reinventing them as symbols of her own spirituality – a more personal spirituality focused on love and acceptance, instead of institutions and judgment.

If you hold to more of a “conservative” religious point of view, you may not align with her outlook on theology, but pay attention – because Lady Gaga is more than a pop icon, she is a proponent of an emerging love inspired form of spiritual awareness.

Raised Roman Catholic, Lady Gaga now makes plenty of spiritual statements in her lyrics, at her concerts and in public appearances. While she certainly espouses her own brand of spirituality, the strength of her influence comes not from her originality as much from her ability to give voice to the rising chorus of millennial spirituality.

and-choose from any other theology she finds interesting or liberating.

This new kind of spiritual awareness may seem confusing on the surface, but its importance and meaning is clear. Lady Gaga’s evolving spiritual awareness, and the spirituality of her faithful fans, can co-opt symbols and reinterpret religious practices in the spirit of self-expression because for them, religion in the 21st century must be elastic enough to be a sufficient vehicle for the diverse amount of self-expression that is lauded in our day and age.

You may recall the stir caused two years ago, when Lady Gaga sat down with his holiness, The Dalai Lama. The duo united for an interview on Facebook Live for a discussion called “The Global Significance of Building Compassionate Cities: Kindness Makes It Happen.”

Gaga sourced questions from people on social media to ask The Dalai Lama and it’s no surprise, the spiritual leader had some serious wisdom to share. She discussed with him about how to cope in these “inflammatory times,” the power of kindness and how to make the world a more compassionate place.

“Young people are very confused right now because they are living in a state of horror. The media, when we watch the news, you don’t see all the great things that are happening in the world, you just see the bad things right up close,” said Gaga.

She asked The Dalai Lama his thoughts. “We all have the potential for warm-

Her spiritual identity is more to herself, her identity and her own brand of culture than to a specific deity. Her beliefs are accepting rather than dogmatic and she can say she believes in Jesus while at the same pickcocreationmagazine.com

25

heartedness. It’s the foundation of human survival, including our health. More healthy minds, more healthy body. In that respect I can tell you, according to my own experience, my age...and my life went through a lot of problems and a lot of causes for anxiety or fear or anger, but my mind? Always calm,” he said.

Gaga asked about where all the violence comes from. “Violence comes from thinking of things as ‘we’ and ‘they,’ The Dalai Lama said. “And then short-sightedness and a lack of compassion. Then, you kill or destroy your enemy, that’s your victory. Actually, enemy is a human being, so that’s part of our humanity.”

“We are social animals, so individuals’ futures entirely depends just on the community...the reality of today’s world is heavily interdependent, interconnectedness, so we need a sense of oneness or humanity,” The Dalai Lama shared.

“Kindness is in the heart of children. When we’re born, we don’t yet have that conditioning that happens later when we become jaded and love becomes tough. When you’re a child, all you want to do is give love and receive it,” said Gaga.

It’s not the first time Gaga has taken to a public platform to encourage people to connect with each other: She gave a powerful tribute after the Orlando shooting in the USA.

“I gather humbly with you as a human being in peace and sincerity and commitment and solidarity to take a real

moment and mourn the tragic loss of these innocent, beautiful people.

“Let’s all today pledge an allegiance of love to them and their families, who are suffering so deeply.

“I hope we race thoughtfully and loudly toward solutions,” Gaga said.

Lady Gaga has compared American cities to the human body with too much toxicity in it, saying we need to purify the system with kindness.She believes young people are so afraid because they think there is no solution.

“The solution is that we need to build a kinder and braver world,” Gaga said.

“In times of chaos and crisis, what we all tend to do is start pointing fingers at where we think the bad guys are, where the evil is. Everybody has different opinions about that.

“Please do not forget that hatred or evil, whatever you want to call it, it’s intelligent. It’s smart and it’s invisible. It doesn’t have a color, it doesn’t have a race, it doesn’t have a religion, it has no politics. It’s an invisible snake.

“And, as we’re all yelling at each other trying to figure out which group it is, evil is winning all around us,” she said.

This Lady is dedicated to expanding her spiritual reach to help humankind evolve and heal. Her words are a reminder to us all to be a little kinder every day.

cocreationmagazine.com 26