I AM Meditation: An Opera in Seven Tableaus

Abstract

<italic>I AM Meditation<italic> is a musical drama in seven tableaus, which, to borrow John Milton's language, represents the loss of paradise and its reattainment. The meditation revolves around a central fulcrum (Tableau IV), where the story of origin, rebellion, the fall, and the plan for restoration is stated. While Tableaus I, II & III are about loss and misery, Tableau V, VI & VII are about restoration and glorification. The three fundamental ideas of metaphysics (God, in terms of whether or not he was responsible for the singularity that gave birth to being; the Soul, in regard to its resurrection and immortality; and the Cosmos vis-à-vis teleology) are examined in Tableaus IV & V. Here still, theodicy, soteriology, and eschatology are examined through accompanied monologues, interspersed with choral interjections. Misery is represented through the loss of the mythic paradise, the first murder and the misery of the multitudes while hope and restoration are articulated in the I AM sayings from the Gospel of John, the resurrection of the I AM, the proclamation of the good news of this resurrection, and the recovery of paradise. In sum, this is a meditation on hope. But in one sense, <italic>I AM Meditation<italic> is a communal ritual of reenactment: the reenactment of a loss and a signification of how this loss is mitigated and restoration achieved.