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    The Spirituality of Bono
    The Spirituality of Bono
    The Spirituality of Bono
    Ebook64 pages51 minutes

    The Spirituality of Bono

    By Nicholas Nigro

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    One constant of popular culture is its value of celebrities and public figures. Some icons transcend divides and appeal to all kinds of individuals for various reasons. They are leaders in their own ways, using their celebrity platforms to make a difference. Regardless of any religious or nonreligious stance, their actions and insights can highlight for us particular universally spiritual concepts. This series taps into that cultural value of celebrity and presents, in a balanced and secular fashion, words of wisdom such celebrities have spoken. Series editor Nicholas Nigro weaves together insightful quotes and gathers them by theme (“Creativity ” “Passion ” “Intention”), offering texts from which readers can extrapolate their own meanings and, in turn, find added inspiration to live their best day-to-day lives. The Spirituality of Bono is a rich compendium of the singer's most thought provoking, uplifting, and persuasive words. Bono's insights, zeal, and good humor, too, are revealed in introspective, frank, and occasionally salty language. His spirituality and humanitarianism are heartfelt and will most definitely make readers think and, if Bono has his way, act to make this world a more just and humane place to live in.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRowmanLittlefield
    Release dateMar 1, 2014
    ISBN9781480386228
    The Spirituality of Bono

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      Book preview

      The Spirituality of Bono - Nicholas Nigro

      Copyright © 2014 by Nicholas Nigro

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, without written permission, except by a newspaper or magazine reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review.

      Published in 2014 by Backbeat Books

      An Imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation

      7777 West Bluemound Road

      Milwaukee, WI 53213

      Trade Book Division Editorial Offices

      33 Plymouth St., Montclair, NJ 07042

      Every reasonable effort has been made to contact copyright holders and secure permissions. Omissions can be remedied in future editions.

      Printed in the United States of America

      Book design by U.B. Communications

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

      www.backbeatbooks.com

      Contents

      Introduction—Bono’s Spiritual Voyage

      Spirituality and Purpose

      Humanitarianism and Obligation

      Art and Inspiration

      Self-Discovery and Virtue

      Bibliography

      Introduction

      Bono’s Spiritual Voyage

      I’m a musician. I write songs.

      I just hope when the day is done

      I’ve been able to tear a little corner off

      of the darkness.

      —Bono

      Born in a northern suburb of Dublin, Ireland, on May 10, 1960, Paul David Hewson seemed the unlikeliest of candidates to achieve future stardom as an internationally renowned singer, songwriter, and musician. But he did and then some as a rock star known throughout the world as Bono, a nickname given to him by a childhood friend and fellow member of a close-knit, rebellious, but remarkably creative group of teenagers calling themselves Lypton Village. While the nickname of Bono originated from a local hearing aid shop, it assumed many guises with the passage of time—Bono was known as Bono Vox of O’Connell Street at one point. Eventually, though, the simple two-syllable word established roots. Bono vox is Latin for good voice, and the consensus is that Bono is not only in good voice these many years later, but is a thunderous and steadfast voice for good as well.

      Front man for the acclaimed band U2, Bono is an equally recognized front man for a far-reaching and urgent humanitarian undertaking—the eradication of extreme poverty and HIV-AIDS in Africa. The world is more malleable than you think, and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape, he tells anyone who will listen, including his legions of fans, whenever and wherever he gets the chance. The singer frequently couches his humanitarianism in spiritual language, challenging others to live up to their faith’s most noble ideals. Delivering the keynote address at the 54th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, Bono informed the gathering: It’s not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It’s not an accident. That’s a lot of airtime.

      When considering the singer’s scrappy, blue-collar upbringing on the gritty streets of Dublin, Bono’s lengthy list of accomplishments—both on the music scene and the world stage as an indefatigable humanitarian—are at once significant and inspiring. The man’s won multiple Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and has been inducted, along with his U2 bandmates, into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility—a not inconsiderable achievement. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Bono an impressive No. 32 in the 100 Greatest Singers of all time and dubbed U2 the band that matters most; maybe even the only band that matters.

      On the flip side of the Bono coin, he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on more than one occasion, bestowed an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II, and shared Time magazine’s Person of the Year with Bill and Melinda Gates. Time selected the singer for being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and reengineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic, and then daring the rest of us to follow. Bono’s also been instrumental in the founding of philanthropic organizations, including DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), which lobbies long and hard for such unglamorous, but nonetheless critical, initiatives for developing countries. He speaks both knowledgeably and passionately about things like debt forgiveness and the elimination of unnecessarily stringent trade barriers. Indeed, it’s Bono’s ardent activism on behalf of the poverty-stricken in Africa and elsewhere that has made him famous in every nook and cranny of the planet, even

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