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Over the years, Bowie made numerous references to religions and to his evolving spirituality. Beginning in 1967, he became interested in [[wikipedia:Buddhism|Buddhism]] and considered becoming a Buddhist monk.<ref>{{cite news |title=Thurston Moore Reflects on David Bowie |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/62878-thurston-moore-reflects-on-david-bowie/ |accessdate=24 September 2019 |publisher=Pitchfork |date=12 January 2016}}</ref> After a few months' study at Tibet House in London, he was told by a [[wikipedia:Lama|Lama]], "You don't want to be Buddhist.{{nbsp}}... You should follow music."<ref name="newsday.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/stardust-memories-without-tibet-house-david-bowie-never-may-have-gotten-ziggy-with-it-now-the-pop-star-returns-the-favor-by-performing-at-the-annual-benefit-concert-1.396658|title=Stardust Memories – Without Tibet House, David Bowie never may have gotten Ziggy with it. Now the pop star returns the favor&nbsp;...|work=[[wikipedia:Newsday|Newsday]]|accessdate=11 January 2016}}</ref> By 1975, Bowie admitted, "I felt totally, absolutely alone. And I probably was alone because I pretty much had abandoned God."<ref name=Arena1993>{{cite journal|last=Parsons|first=Tony|url=https://exploringdavidbowie.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/bowie-what-is-he-like/|title=Bowie, what is he like?|periodical=[[Arena (magazine)|Arena]]|volume=Spring/Summer 1993|via=Exploring David Bowie|accessdate=31 January 2016}}</ref> In his will, Bowie stipulated that he be [[wikipedia:Cremation|cremated]] and his ashes scattered in [[wikipedia:Bali|Bali]] "in accordance with the Buddhist rituals".<ref name="lifetimeinterest">{{cite news |last1=Sawer |first1=Patrick |last2=McNulty |first2=Bernadette |title=David Bowie's lifetime interest in Buddhism to culminate in Bali scattering of his ashes |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/12131199/Bowie-wanted-ashes-scattered-in-Bali.html |accessdate=24 September 2019 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=30 January 2016}}</ref>
Over the years, Bowie made numerous references to religions and to his evolving spirituality. Beginning in 1967, he became interested in [[wikipedia:Buddhism|Buddhism]] and considered becoming a Buddhist monk.<ref>{{cite news |title=Thurston Moore Reflects on David Bowie |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/62878-thurston-moore-reflects-on-david-bowie/ |accessdate=24 September 2019 |publisher=Pitchfork |date=12 January 2016}}</ref> After a few months' study at Tibet House in London, he was told by a [[wikipedia:Lama|Lama]], "You don't want to be Buddhist.{{nbsp}}... You should follow music."<ref name="newsday.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/stardust-memories-without-tibet-house-david-bowie-never-may-have-gotten-ziggy-with-it-now-the-pop-star-returns-the-favor-by-performing-at-the-annual-benefit-concert-1.396658|title=Stardust Memories – Without Tibet House, David Bowie never may have gotten Ziggy with it. Now the pop star returns the favor&nbsp;...|work=[[wikipedia:Newsday|Newsday]]|accessdate=11 January 2016}}</ref> By 1975, Bowie admitted, "I felt totally, absolutely alone. And I probably was alone because I pretty much had abandoned God."<ref name=Arena1993>{{cite journal|last=Parsons|first=Tony|url=https://exploringdavidbowie.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/bowie-what-is-he-like/|title=Bowie, what is he like?|periodical=[[Arena (magazine)|Arena]]|volume=Spring/Summer 1993|via=Exploring David Bowie|accessdate=31 January 2016}}</ref> In his will, Bowie stipulated that he be [[wikipedia:Cremation|cremated]] and his ashes scattered in [[wikipedia:Bali|Bali]] "in accordance with the Buddhist rituals".<ref name="lifetimeinterest">{{cite news |last1=Sawer |first1=Patrick |last2=McNulty |first2=Bernadette |title=David Bowie's lifetime interest in Buddhism to culminate in Bali scattering of his ashes |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/12131199/Bowie-wanted-ashes-scattered-in-Bali.html |accessdate=24 September 2019 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=30 January 2016}}</ref>


After Bowie married Iman in a private ceremony in 1992, he said they knew that their "real marriage, sanctified by God, had to happen in a church in Florence".<ref name=PJ>{{cite web |last=Johnson|first=Bridget|url=https://pjmedia.com/faith/2016/1/14/why-david-bowie-knelt-and-said-the-lords-prayer-at-wembley-stadium/|title=Why David Bowie Knelt and Said the Lord's Prayer at Wembley Stadium|work=[[wikipedia:PJ Media|PJ Media]]|date=13 January 2016|accessdate=18 January 2016}}</ref> Earlier that year, he knelt on stage at [[wikipedia:The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert|The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert]] and recited the [[wikipedia:Lord's Prayer|Lord's Prayer]] before a television audience.<ref name="LA Times Mercury">{{cite news|first=Jeff|last=Kaye|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-22-ca-497-story.html|title=(Safe) Sex, (No) Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll : A Star-Filled Send-Off to Freddie Mercury|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=22 April 1992|accessdate=11 January 2016}}</ref> Four days later, Bowie and Iman were married in Switzerland. Intending to move to Los Angeles, they flew in to search for a suitable property, but found themselves confined to their hotel, under curfew: the [[1992 Los Angeles riots]] began the day they arrived. They settled in New York instead.<ref>Buckley (2005): pp. 413–14</ref><!-- Per source: "with the potential to reach 1 billion viewers". -->{{efn|Asked why he knelt and prayed, Bowie said he had a friend who was dying of AIDS. "He was just dropping into a coma that day. And just before I went on stage something just told me to say the Lord's Prayer. The great irony is that he died two days after the show".<ref name=Arena1993/>}} In 1993, Bowie said he had an "undying" belief in the "unquestionable" existence of God.<ref name=Arena1993/> In a separate 1993 interview, while describing the genesis of the music for his album ''[[wikipedia:Black Tie White Noise|Black Tie White Noise]]'', he said " … it was important for me to find something [musically] that also had no sort of representation of institutionalized and organized religion, of which I'm not a believer, I must make that clear."<ref>[[wikipedia:Simon Bates|Simon Bates]] radio interviews, [[wikipedia:BBC Radio 1|BBC Radio 1]], 29–31 March 1993</ref> Interviewed in 2005, Bowie said whether God exists "is not a question that can be answered.{{nbsp}}... I'm not quite an atheist and it worries me. There's that little bit that holds on: 'Well, I'm ''almost'' an atheist. Give me a couple of months.{{nbsp}}... I've nearly got it right.{{'"}}<ref name="DeCurtis2005">{{cite book|last=DeCurtis|first=Anthony|title=In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life And Work|url=https://archive.org/details/inotherwordsarti0000decu|url-access=registration|accessdate=14 May 2012|date=5 May 2005|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-0-634-06655-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/inotherwordsarti0000decu/page/262 262]–263}}</ref>
After Bowie married Iman in a private ceremony in 1992, he said they knew that their "real marriage, sanctified by God, had to happen in a church in Florence".<ref name=PJ>{{cite web |last=Johnson|first=Bridget|url=https://pjmedia.com/faith/2016/1/14/why-david-bowie-knelt-and-said-the-lords-prayer-at-wembley-stadium/|title=Why David Bowie Knelt and Said the Lord's Prayer at Wembley Stadium|work=[[wikipedia:PJ Media|PJ Media]]|date=13 January 2016|accessdate=18 January 2016}}</ref> Earlier that year, he knelt on stage at [[wikipedia:The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert|The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert]] and recited the [[wikipedia:Lord's Prayer|Lord's Prayer]] before a television audience.<ref name="LA Times Mercury">{{cite news|first=Jeff|last=Kaye|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-22-ca-497-story.html|title=(Safe) Sex, (No) Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll : A Star-Filled Send-Off to Freddie Mercury|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=22 April 1992|accessdate=11 January 2016}}</ref> Four days later, Bowie and Iman were married in Switzerland. Intending to move to Los Angeles, they flew in to search for a suitable property, but found themselves confined to their hotel, under curfew: the [[w:1992 Los Angeles riots|1992 Los Angeles riots]] began the day they arrived. They settled in New York instead.<ref>Buckley (2005): pp. 413–14</ref><!-- Per source: "with the potential to reach 1 billion viewers". -->{{efn|Asked why he knelt and prayed, Bowie said he had a friend who was dying of AIDS. "He was just dropping into a coma that day. And just before I went on stage something just told me to say the Lord's Prayer. The great irony is that he died two days after the show".<ref name=Arena1993/>}} In 1993, Bowie said he had an "undying" belief in the "unquestionable" existence of God.<ref name=Arena1993/> In a separate 1993 interview, while describing the genesis of the music for his album ''[[wikipedia:Black Tie White Noise|Black Tie White Noise]]'', he said " … it was important for me to find something [musically] that also had no sort of representation of institutionalized and organized religion, of which I'm not a believer, I must make that clear."<ref>[[wikipedia:Simon Bates|Simon Bates]] radio interviews, [[wikipedia:BBC Radio 1|BBC Radio 1]], 29–31 March 1993</ref> Interviewed in 2005, Bowie said whether God exists "is not a question that can be answered.{{nbsp}}... I'm not quite an atheist and it worries me. There's that little bit that holds on: 'Well, I'm ''almost'' an atheist. Give me a couple of months.{{nbsp}}... I've nearly got it right.{{'"}}<ref name="DeCurtis2005">{{cite book|last=DeCurtis|first=Anthony|title=In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life And Work|url=https://archive.org/details/inotherwordsarti0000decu|url-access=registration|accessdate=14 May 2012|date=5 May 2005|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-0-634-06655-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/inotherwordsarti0000decu/page/262 262]–263}}</ref>


"Questioning [his] spiritual life [was] always&nbsp;... germane" to Bowie's songwriting.<ref name="DeCurtis2005"/> The song "[[wikipedia:Station to Station (song)|Station to Station]]" is "very much concerned with the [[wikipedia:Stations of the Cross|Stations of the Cross]]"; the song also specifically references [[wikipedia:Christian Kabbalah|Kabbalah]]. Bowie called the album "extremely dark{{nbsp}}... the nearest album to a [[wikipedia:Magick (Thelema)|magick]] treatise that I've written".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cavanagh|first=David|title=ChangesFiftyBowie|journal=[[wikipedia:Q (magazine)|Q]]|date=February 1997|pages=52–59}}</ref><!-- Cites previous 2 sentences. -->{{efn|He later said he was influenced by his cocaine addiction and the "psychological terror" from making ''The Man Who Fell To Earth'', marking "the first time I'd really seriously thought about Christ and God&nbsp;... I very nearly got suckered into that narrow [view of] finding the Cross as the salvation of mankind".<ref>{{cite book|last=Egan|first=Sean|title=Bowie on Bowie: Interviews and Encounters|publisher=Souvenir Press Ltd|year=2015|isbn=978-1569769775|page=116}}</ref> }} ''[[wikipedia:Earthling (album)|Earthling]]'' showed "the abiding need in me to vacillate between [[wikipedia:atheism|atheism]] or a kind of [[wikipedia:gnosticism|gnosticism]]{{nbsp}}... What I need is to find a balance, spiritually, with the way I live and my demise."<ref name=Q97X>{{Citation | last=Cavanagh | first=David | title=ChangesFiftyBowie | journal=[[wikipedia:Q (magazine)|Q magazine]] |date=February 1997 | pages=52–59}}</ref> Released shortly before his death, "[[wikipedia:Lazarus (David Bowie song)|Lazarus]]"—from his final album, ''[[wikipedia:Blackstar (album)|Blackstar]]''—began with the words, "Look up here, I'm in Heaven" while the rest of the album deals with other matters of mysticism and mortality.<ref>{{cite web|last=Clement|first=Olivia|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/look-up-here-im-in-heaven-poignant-lyrics-to-bowies-lazarus-signal-his-farewell-378793|title='Look Up Here, I'm in Heaven' – Poignant Lyrics to Bowie's 'Lazarus' Signal His Farewell|website=[[wikipedia:Playbill|Playbill]]|date=11 January 2016|accessdate=18 January 2016}}</ref>
"Questioning [his] spiritual life [was] always&nbsp;... germane" to Bowie's songwriting.<ref name="DeCurtis2005"/> The song "[[wikipedia:Station to Station (song)|Station to Station]]" is "very much concerned with the [[wikipedia:Stations of the Cross|Stations of the Cross]]"; the song also specifically references [[wikipedia:Christian Kabbalah|Kabbalah]]. Bowie called the album "extremely dark{{nbsp}}... the nearest album to a [[wikipedia:Magick (Thelema)|magick]] treatise that I've written".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cavanagh|first=David|title=ChangesFiftyBowie|journal=[[wikipedia:Q (magazine)|Q]]|date=February 1997|pages=52–59}}</ref><!-- Cites previous 2 sentences. -->{{efn|He later said he was influenced by his cocaine addiction and the "psychological terror" from making ''The Man Who Fell To Earth'', marking "the first time I'd really seriously thought about Christ and God&nbsp;... I very nearly got suckered into that narrow [view of] finding the Cross as the salvation of mankind".<ref>{{cite book|last=Egan|first=Sean|title=Bowie on Bowie: Interviews and Encounters|publisher=Souvenir Press Ltd|year=2015|isbn=978-1569769775|page=116}}</ref> }} ''[[wikipedia:Earthling (album)|Earthling]]'' showed "the abiding need in me to vacillate between [[wikipedia:atheism|atheism]] or a kind of [[wikipedia:gnosticism|gnosticism]]{{nbsp}}... What I need is to find a balance, spiritually, with the way I live and my demise."<ref name=Q97X>{{Citation | last=Cavanagh | first=David | title=ChangesFiftyBowie | journal=[[wikipedia:Q (magazine)|Q magazine]] |date=February 1997 | pages=52–59}}</ref> Released shortly before his death, "[[wikipedia:Lazarus (David Bowie song)|Lazarus]]"—from his final album, ''[[wikipedia:Blackstar (album)|Blackstar]]''—began with the words, "Look up here, I'm in Heaven" while the rest of the album deals with other matters of mysticism and mortality.<ref>{{cite web|last=Clement|first=Olivia|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/look-up-here-im-in-heaven-poignant-lyrics-to-bowies-lazarus-signal-his-farewell-378793|title='Look Up Here, I'm in Heaven' – Poignant Lyrics to Bowie's 'Lazarus' Signal His Farewell|website=[[wikipedia:Playbill|Playbill]]|date=11 January 2016|accessdate=18 January 2016}}</ref>
{{youtube|rOvZeZ1JybQ}}


== Spiritual references ==
== Spiritual references ==


Following the passing away of Davide Bowie on January 10th 2016, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi wrote a tribute which was published on The Tablet on Jan 13 2016<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/2947/david-bowie-how-the-man-who-sold-the-world-never-stopped-searching-for-god|title=David Bowie: how the man who sold the world never stopped searching for God}}</ref>.
Following the passing away of Davide Bowie on January 10th 2016, [[w:Gianfranco Ravasi|Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi]], President of the [[w:Pontifical Council for Culture|Pontifical Council for Culture]], wrote a tribute, published by the [[w:The Tablet|The Tablet]] on January 13th 2016, in which he makes references to a number of songs by David Bowie which reveal his spiritual journey in life<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/2947/david-bowie-how-the-man-who-sold-the-world-never-stopped-searching-for-god|title=David Bowie: how the man who sold the world never stopped searching for God}}</ref>.


=== Station to Station ===
=== Station to Station ===
'''''Station to Station''''' is the 10th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 23 January 1976 by [[w:RCA Records|RCA Records]]. In an album that reflected his darkest years Bowie, who five years previously in one of his lyrics had entrusted salvation to aliens, dedicated himself to the Stations of the Cross. He prayed, in the depths of his addictions and lacerating questions: “Lord, I kneel and offer you my word on a wing / And I’m trying hard to fit among your scheme of things.”
'''''Station to Station''''' is the 10th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 23 January 1976 by [[w:RCA Records|RCA Records]]. In an album that reflected his darkest years Bowie, who five years previously in one of his lyrics had entrusted salvation to aliens, dedicated himself to the [[w:Stations of the Cross|Stations of the Cross]]. He prayed, in the depths of his addictions and lacerating questions: “Lord, I kneel and offer you my word on a wing / And I’m trying hard to fit among your scheme of things.” ([[w:Word_on_a_Wing|Word on a Wing]]).


David Bowie wore for many years a small silver crucifix, as could be seen in a number of his performances.<ref>See for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4jnaznUoQ</ref>
Bowie admits that the song '''''Word on a Wing''''' was written out of a [[w:cocaine|coke]]-addled spiritual despair that he experienced while filming the movie ''[[w:The Man Who Fell to Earth|The Man Who Fell to Earth]]''. In 1980 Bowie spoke of the song to NME, claiming "There were days of such psychological terror when making the [[w:Nicolas Roeg|Roeg]] film that I nearly started to approach my reborn, born again thing. It was the first time I'd really seriously thought about [[w:Jesus of Nazareth|Christ]] and [[w:God|God]] in any depth, and 'Word on a Wing' was a protection. It did come as a complete revolt against elements that I found in the film. The passion in the song was genuine... something I needed to produce from within myself to safeguard myself against some of the situations I felt were happening on the film set."
 
From the time of this song, David Bowie starting wearing and wore for many years a small silver crucifix, as can be seen in a number of his performances.<ref>See a gallery of pictures here: https://bowiesattva.com/2016/05/21/bowies-cross-a-tool-for-psychic-self-defense/ .</ref>


=== Loving the Alien ===
=== Loving the Alien ===
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=== Lazarus ===
=== Lazarus ===
[[File:Bowie Lazarus music video still.png|thumb|left|Bowie in a deathbed, as depicted in the music video]]
[[File:Bowie Lazarus music video still.png|thumb|left|Bowie in a deathbed, as depicted in the music video]]
'''''Lazarus''''' is a single released on December 17th 2015 as a digital download, making it the second single from his twenty-fifth studio album, ''[[w:Blackstar (album)|Blackstar]]'' (2016). It is Bowie's last single to be released during his lifetime. The official music video, directed by [[w:Johan Renck|Johan Renck]], was released on January 7th 2016, three days before Bowie's death. Bowie never performed the song live. According to Bowie's producer [[Tony Visconti]], the lyrics and video of "Lazarus" and other songs on the album were intended to be a self-[[epitaph]], a commentary on [[Death of David Bowie|Bowie's own impending death]].<ref name=NME>{{cite web|last1=Cooper|first1=Leonie|title=How David Bowie told us he was dying in the 'Lazarus' video|url=http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/how-david-bowie-told-us-he-was-dying-in-the-lazarus-video|website=NME|accessdate=11 January 2016|date=11 January 2016}}</ref><ref name=BBC_epitaph>{{cite news|title=David Bowie: Was Lazarus Bowie singing his epitaph?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35278855|accessdate=11 January 2016|publisher=BBC|date=11 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12092542/Bowies-last-album-was-parting-gift-for-fans-in-carefully-planned-finale.html|publisher=the Telegraph|title=David Bowie's last release, Lazarus, was 'parting gift' for fans in carefully planned finale|date=11 January 2016|access-date=4 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325201617/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12092542/Bowies-last-album-was-parting-gift-for-fans-in-carefully-planned-finale.html|archive-date=25 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
'''''Lazarus''''' is a single released on December 17th 2015 as a digital download, making it the second single from his twenty-fifth studio album, ''[[w:Blackstar (album)|Blackstar]]'' (2016). It is Bowie's last single to be released during his lifetime. The official music video, directed by [[w:Johan Renck|Johan Renck]], was released on January 7th 2016, three days before Bowie's death. Bowie never performed the song live. According to Bowie's producer [[w:Tony Visconti|Tony Visconti]], the lyrics and video of "Lazarus" and other songs on the album were intended to be a self-[[w:epitaph|epitaph]], a commentary on [[w:Death of David Bowie|Bowie's own impending death]].<ref name=NME>{{cite web|last1=Cooper|first1=Leonie|title=How David Bowie told us he was dying in the 'Lazarus' video|url=http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/how-david-bowie-told-us-he-was-dying-in-the-lazarus-video|website=NME|accessdate=11 January 2016|date=11 January 2016}}</ref><ref name=BBC_epitaph>{{cite news|title=David Bowie: Was Lazarus Bowie singing his epitaph?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35278855|accessdate=11 January 2016|publisher=BBC|date=11 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12092542/Bowies-last-album-was-parting-gift-for-fans-in-carefully-planned-finale.html|publisher=the Telegraph|title=David Bowie's last release, Lazarus, was 'parting gift' for fans in carefully planned finale|date=11 January 2016|access-date=4 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325201617/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12092542/Bowies-last-album-was-parting-gift-for-fans-in-carefully-planned-finale.html|archive-date=25 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
The title of the song is a reference to the biblical [[w:Lazarus of Bethany|Lazarus]], a friend of Jesus who Jesus rose from the dead ({{Bible quote|ref=John 11:1-30;31-45}}). In the music video, Bowie's face is wrapped in a cloth, as was Lazarus' according to the Gospel account.
The title of the song is a reference to the biblical [[w:Lazarus of Bethany|Lazarus]], a friend of Jesus who Jesus rose from the dead ({{Bible quote|ref=John 11:1-30;11:31-45}}). In the music video, Bowie's face is wrapped in a cloth, as was Lazarus' according to the Gospel account.
{{youtube|y-JqH1M4Ya8}}
{{youtube|y-JqH1M4Ya8}}


{{Category:Music}}
On the day of David Bowie's passing away, [[w:Gianfranco Ravasi|Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi]] tweeted a quote from the song [[w:Space Oddity|Space Oddity]], released in 1969: "Ground Control to Major Tom /
Commencing countdown, /
engines on /
Check ignition / and may God's love be with you"<ref>See https://twitter.com/CardRavasi/status/686466465784934400</ref>.
 
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
 
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
 
== External sources ==
* https://catholicpulseblog.typepad.com/catholic_pulse_blog/2013/05/is-there-hope-for-david-bowie.html
* https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/02/david-bowies-search-for-god
* http://aleteia.org/2016/01/15/pope-francis-and-david-bowie-an-unexpected-duet/
* http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/january-web-only/david-bowie-pulse-returns-to-prodigal.html
[[Category:Music]]