Singer/songwriter Luke Beling speaks to Atwood Magazine about faith, philosophy, and his new single “Shining Like the Sun,” a celebration of humanity’s divinity that inspires us, his listeners, to see ourselves and the world around us in a warmer, wondrous light.
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Stream: “Shining Like the Sun” – Luke Beling
Luke Beling sees the light in his latest single, and if we listen up, we can, too.
Inspired by our innate inner beauty and a quote from Cistercian monk Thomas Merton, “Shining Like the Sun” is a celebration of humanity – or rather, of what it means to be human: All that we are and all that we can be. At a time when there’s so much focus on darkness and fracture, Beling basks in our divinity, in our godliness – inviting us, his listeners, to see ourselves in a new, wondrous way.
I met my angel in the dark
all her light I could see from far
slipping through the jagged arms of night
Well I tried to run
but my feet were stiff with fright
She said oh don’t be afraid
Her palms were hard and aged
As she set them on my head I began to cry
‘Cause in her eyes were a hundred billion lives
Released August 9, 2024, “Shining Like the Sun” is the spirited and spiritual lead single off Luke Beling’s forthcoming sophomore album, This Parlor Trick Life. A South Africa-born, Hawaii-based singer/songwriter and author, Luke Beling is a storyteller with a passion for the heartfelt, the heated, and the evocative.
His debut album A Stone in the Mouth of the Ocean, released in October of last year, firmly established him as an artist to watch in the alternative folk space – a hazy area where indie rock, folk, Americana, country, and even grunge all collide. Upon its release, Atwood Magazine praised the record as a cathartic and all-consuming eruption: “Dwelling in life’s heavy, unavoidable depths, Beling’s debut album is a bridge – the match point between pain and hope, a reckoning with the utter fragility of our bodies and the push-and-pull of nature’s currents,” we wrote at the time. “Rather than succumb to turmoil, A Stone in the Mouth of the Ocean leans toward stillness and tranquility.”
The same words can be readily applied to “Shining Like the Sun,” a radiant ray of warmth, tenderness, and awe.
The song’s inspiration came to Beling from a beloved quote from Cistercian monk Thomas Merton – one that revels in a special kind of glory: “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world… As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.“
Seldom do we go about our lives with miracles on the mind, and every encounter with another person is very much not treated as a glimpse of God. But what if it were? Beling offers that perspective throughout “Shining Like the Sun,” hitting a hearty climax in a catchy and deeply cathartic chorus:
All the saints sinners
Kings beggars
The prophets all unbelievers
The bush burners
The wheel churners
The one last push cosmic searchers
Shining like the sun
Shining like the sun
“I first encountered Thomas Merton’s writing about twenty years ago while living in rural Kentucky,” 40-year-old Beling tells Atwood Magazine. “During that period of my life, I struggled deeply with religious scrupulosity, amplified by the ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’ message of most Western Christianity. Discovering Merton’s work and a community that challenged the American Folk Religion rhetoric, I began my journey out of that darkness. ‘Shining Like the Sun’ is a song for everybody who’s ever felt like they’ve never belonged.”
And then my angel she was gone
All around me the teeth of dogs
Biting through the bone ripping my soul
Hear the zealot scream
if you die do you know where you go
I picked myself up off the floor
Through my window the light of dawn
Rising on the slender wings of a promise
If god is a man then god is a man among us
Atwood Magazine recently caught up with Luke Beling for a conversation about faith, philosophy, and his uplifting, impassioned new song. Dive into “Shining Like the Sun” in our interview below, and stay tuned for more to come from the singer/songwriter as he steadily unveils This Parlor Trick Life, set to release in 2025!
In the saints sinners
The kings beggars
The prophets all the unbelievers
The bush burners
The wheel churners
The one last push the cosmic searchers
It’s no easy task to treat everyone we meet like they’re the Almighty incarnate, but we can all marvel at the wonder of being – and being alive. Whether or not you believe in any sort of supreme or celestial being, Beling’s song speaks to the raw, visceral beauty within us all – reminding us that there is some kind of magic, some kind of divine light in every human being.
Maybe, just maybe, remembering that can inspire us to go through life with our heads a little higher, our hearts a little more open.
The right the wrong
The weak the strong
The wretched and clean
The ones long gone
All the blind healers
The cash stealers
The one last mass
my god, St Peter’s
Shining like the sun
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Stream: “Shining Like the Sun” – Luke Beling
A CONVERSATION WITH LUKE BELING
Atwood Magazine: Great to catch up with you, Luke! How has 2024 treated you thus far?
Luke Beling: Thanks, Mitch. I’ve had a great year so far, with a few nice surprises along the way. I also turned 40! Yikes!
It’s been nine months since the release of your debut album, A Stone in the Mouth of the Ocean. What’s your relationship like with that record and its songs, at this point in time?
Luke Beling: I still feel pretty pleased with how A Stone in the Mouth of the Ocean turned out. There’s always that temptation within me (maybe most artists?) to look back on my creative work with an overly critical eye. And while I might do a few things differently today, I’m happy with what the album attempts to convey and how it does it.
Do any songs from the album continue to resonate with you these days?
Luke Beling: For sure. “The Blessed and the Damned” and “Pearl in the Tide.”
I’m excited about your new single, “Shining Like the Sun”! What’s the story behind this song?
Luke Beling: I wrote “Shining Like the Sun” inspired by one of my favorite quotes from Cistercian monk Thomas Merton:
“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world…
“This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud… I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”
I first encountered Merton’s writing about twenty years ago while living in rural Kentucky. During that period of my life, I struggled deeply with religious scrupulosity, especially the fear of going to hell. Discovering Merton’s work and a community that challenged the American Folk Religion rhetoric, I began a journey out of that struggle. “Shining Like the Sun” is a meditation on this.
You’ve said this song is about your struggle with religious scrupulosity and specifically with the fear of going to hell. Where, for you, do these struggles stem from? Was there a specific moment or experience that spurred the song?
Luke Beling: From a young age I was fascinated with the idea of God. As a five-year-old, I began accompanying my mom to the local convent every Saturday. Mom would bring the nuns coffee and pastries, and I’d ask them questions like, “Who created God?” (never too young for an existential crisis, I guess 🙂 ) As I got older, for whatever reason, the idea of God began compounding into a message of wrath and judgment. Perhaps due to my environment and brain chemistry, this worsened when I left South Africa for Kentucky to attend a small Southern Baptist liberal arts college. There wasn’t a single moment that brought me out of the struggle, but rather a series of events where it felt like the lights were being turned on one by one. This “turning on the lights” ultimately brought “Shining Like the Sun” into being.
What was your religious upbringing like, if you don’t mind my asking?
Luke Beling: My parents never forced religion on me, but as a young boy, I attended the Anglican church with my mom. From early on, I was just as curious about God as I was about music.
I recognize a great deal of this song is you trying to answer this question for yourself, but what’s your relationship like with religion today?
Luke Beling: I feel like I have a healthy relationship with religion today. But I find myself drawn to the East, to an Eastern expression of my faith and a more Eastern understanding of culture, cognitive approaches, and philosophy.
You open this song singing, “I met my angel in the dark, all her light I could see from afar.” What’s the scene you’re setting for us? Why start the story this way?
Luke Beling: In our individualistic approach here in the West, we put a lot of emphasis on personal responsibility. But as hard as we may try, we simply cannot rescue ourselves. I wanted to begin the story in the dark and then show the light coming towards me, but not because of any effort or merit of my own.
Things seem to come to a head as you sing, “If God is a man, then God is a man among us.” What does this line mean, to you?
Luke Beling: There is a quote by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus that reads, “The unassumed is the unhealed.” Similarly, Merton links his “immense joy” to God becoming incarnate. Consequently, I can no longer not see the face of God in every human.
Understanding the inspiration from Thomas Merton’s poem, what does it mean, for you, for someone to be “shining like the sun”?
Luke Beling: That every human is more beautiful and glorious than we can begin to comprehend. And if we could see ourselves as we truly are, even in our darkest moments, we’d be blinded by the light (Thanks, Bruce).
Do you have any personal favorite lyrics or lines in this song?
Luke Beling: “‘Cause in her eyes I could see a hundred billion lives.”
What do you love most about this new song, and what do you hope listeners take away from it?
Luke Beling: I love having my good friend, Silicone Boone, featured on the song. His chanting is so moving and spiritual. The takeaway is inclusion… that nobody is left out…that nobody is truly alone.
This is the first single off your upcoming second album, This Parlor Trick Life. What can you tell us about this new album?
Luke Beling: Perhaps it has something to do with turning 40 this year or because lately, I’ve been seeing more of life through the eyes of my four young daughters, but it feels that much of what society encourages us to chase, believe, achieve, and become is nothing more than a parlor trick. I think there is so much more for us, though, and “This Parlor Trick Life” attempts to explore the tension between those two sentiments. Sonically, I teamed up with Eugene-based producer Tyler Fortier (Jeffrey Martin- One Go Around). We relied more on electric guitars and a bigger band sound to help relay the stories in these songs than what is present on my previous album, A Stone in the Mouth of the Ocean.
What should someone who is just tuning into Luke Beling’s music know about you?
Luke Beling: I’m a Springsteen and Dylan junkie. If it wasn’t obvious enough I like to think about and explore some of the more serious things in life, but I’m equally as fond about betting on the Minnesota Vikings and singing Taylor Swift songs with my girls.
Likewise, what is one non-musical fun fact to know about you?
Luke Beling: I dropped out of high school at fifteen to pursue a professional tennis career and fell horribly short. But I still love the sport and direct a tennis program on the Big Island.
In the spirit of paying it forward, who are you listening to these days that you would recommend to our readers?
Luke Beling: Joseph Pennell, Silicone Boone, Tom Rhodes, and T.F Jennings.
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:: stream/purchase Shining Like the Sun here ::
:: connect with Luke Beling here ::
Stream: “Shining Like the Sun” – Luke Beling
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