When you hear church bells chime, do they make you want to contemplate profound questions about the universe, or do they make you contemplate your own mortality?
I've found that the chimes of a full hymn or melodic fragment generally bring the former to my mind, but a single or repeated stroke on one note often implants the latter in the back of my mind.
I live in a city with abundant churches, so their chiming bells are unavoidable. I always breathe a little easier, though, when I step out the front door and hear bells clanging an uplifting melody.
