I thoroughly enjoyed our class discussion on Children of God. I think the subject that was most unresolved was the question of Isaac and his DNA music. Essentially, our discussion went from the question ‘was it worth the whole struggle to gain that ambiguous harmony?’ to ‘was it just a way to find something to justify all of the struggles the characters went through?’
While I think it is in our human nature to try to find some sort of meaning out of calamity, some way to say ‘there is a purpose to or meaning in everything’ I think Issac’s discovery was more than Russell’s attempt to give the characters some sort of resolution. While it does seem a little ‘cheap’ that after all Emilio went through he reconciled with God after Isaac’s self-proclaimed discovery of “God’s Music,” his discovery says something profound about human nature.
Whether or not Isaac’s harmony is proof of God’s existence, it is proof of how much we cherish our similarities and connections. The music was so profound to Emilio and many others because it reinforced our view of the sanctity of our alikeness, the commonalities of our experience. It is so profound because it is perhaps our greatest duality. Our fear of the other is only triumphed by our yearning to find ourselves in the other. The realization of that goal is the ideal of most religions and is embodied by Isaac’s God music. It is Russell showing us our own greatest desires and the purpose of religions that strive for peace and harmony yet so often, perhaps unintentionally, take us down a path of fissure and difference. It is our greatest duality.
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