Why should we develop ourselves, nourish our soul? To what? What is the reason? Yes, here is at least one of the good reasons: the greater the spiritual depth, the less we depend on external events.
There is music that affects us from within. It does something to us, something expands, increases… But what exactly? I would call it «the volume of the soul.» There is some mystery here. For example: if you retell «Romeo and Juliet» in your own words, leave one plot, then there will be nothing captivating in it. I would say more: this is an idiotic story, normal people do not behave like that! Children have a hormonal surge, they have no mind, and adults are idiots. What a nanny, what a father — well, why did he marry them ?! But the play and performance make an impression. I remember when I watched an old Zeffirelli movie, I cried. And recently I looked again, already at a different age, — but all the same, tears well up. Brains think that this is nonsense, fiction and there were no Romeo and Juliet! And I look — and I am touched … It seems to me that the point is that the author himself has a voluminous soul and, moreover, knows how to influence others so that their soul also expands. And why do we want this, why should we increase the volume of the soul? I will offer two answers (although there may be more). The first is to empathize with others. When we meet someone who is experiencing a strong feeling, grief or joy, we respond. But how, in what way? We, as it were, accept their feeling inside ourselves, together with them we experience it inside ourselves. But if we do not have enough volume of the soul, then we have nowhere to put these feelings. And they scare or embarrass us, and we move away from such people. But these other people are, perhaps, our own children, and something very important is happening in their lives …
The second answer is: the more volume of soul we have, the more independent we are. Let me explain: if everything happens on the surface, then any event captures me, knocks me down. But the greater my spiritual depth, the less I depend on external events, the less I identify myself with them, the better and more stable I stand myself.
Let’s imagine our psyche in the form of a ball. “I” on the surface is just a dot. But as I dive deeper, more and more space opens up to me. And if I reach the center, everything is accessible to me from there. From there, I can deal with all the reality that surrounds me, both «good» and «bad». Simultaneously experiencing one’s own being and one’s connection with the entire Universe is the feeling that is described by the words «I am». Art helps to discover the depth in oneself and establish contact with it. Own experience of feelings and thoughts also increases the volume of the soul. But personal experience is limited, and we cannot, even in order to achieve our own humanity, wish ourselves to experience suffering, grief, the loss of loved ones. Art, on the other hand, contains compressed experience. After a performance or a concert, we sometimes clearly feel that we lived not for the two hours that it lasted, but for several months or even years — the experience was so intense. And yet, unlike reality, art allows us to move into depth gradually. And even with breaks. As deep as we currently have the ability.