|
Newton and Kepler are applauded to this day for their contributions to science. But often overlooked is the fact that they incorporated alchemy, numerology and astrology in their work as well. It was a synthesis of symbolic systems and mathematical rigor that led to the scientific breakthroughs of those times. While their theories eventually had to be improved upon as new data became available that in no way detracted from the value of their discoveries and the astounding accuracy they achieved given the knowledge-base of celestial mechanics at the time.
But after the 17th century, body and soul diverged as science and religion evolved into very separate and distinct entities. This schism resulted in making an orphan of the occult arts which proceeded to move underground and survived as best it could shrouded in darkness and mystery, acquiring an unfortunate reputation in the process. Above ground in the light of day the church tended to the faithful while science championed the new ‘Enlightenment’ of rational discourse which, devoid of any sense of the spiritual, led to the rapid growth of a reductionist materialistic attitude towards Nature which inevitably led to the modern era, industrialization, global warfare and the present predicament we find ourselves in.
The ancient mythopoeic consciousness of primal societies took a much more integrated and intuitive approach. The ancient stories that have come down to us as myths and legends are expressions of a primordial theme that sounded at the dawn of time. The awareness of our intimate relationship with Nature and the responsibility that knowledge brings has been ever present. But with each historical era the story of our place in the world is recapitulated in an increasingly self-conscious language employing images that only hold meaning in the strict context of the immediate, material world. The more adept we become at manipulating the environment, the more we separate ourselves from it. The great symbolism, the beauty and mystery of the original vision, and even more importantly, the fundamental understanding of our true place in Nature is all but forgotten except by the few who keep the flame of wisdom alive by the passing of the torch; the poets, storytellers, artists and musicians.
The ancient motif is re-emerging yet again, perhaps more profoundly now than ever before. The pendulum has started swinging back towards an understanding of the holistic nature of the universe and the inherent unity of all life. While nuclear proliferation, global warming and other shadow manifestations of the military-industrial complex have brought us dangerously close to the edge of self-extinction, these may have served as a ‘wake-up call’. It is clear to all who have eyes to see that some serious course corrections are in order and may in fact already be underway. The interest in ancient pathways and the mythic imagination that began in the last quarter of the 20th century has created in-roads into some of the former strongholds of materialism. Recent findings in areas as diverse as quantum physics, humanistic psychology, astronomy and medicine are beginning to validate ideas that western science had formerly discarded. While on the one hand we find believers in Creationism and Evolutionary Theorists vehemently opposed to one another’s views, we see at the same time many new forums appearing where science and religion are actively engaged in pursuing common ground. We find as well that science and art often follow parallel paths, consciously or unconsciously, one exploring paradoxes of space-time in the studio while the other is pushing the same envelope in the laboratory. This is really nothing new. Leonardo da Vinci embraced mathematics along with art as did many painters after the laws of perspective revealed new horizons, adding yet another literal dimension to their inner visions.
We recognize the value then in symbiotic relationships, not only between the arts and sciences but between earth and sky, east and west, mind and body, body and soul, knowledge and intuition. Albert Einstein reminds us of this when he said “Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind.” Consider the origins of “harmony”. The greek root from which we derive the word harmony was a term used in boat-building. It alluded to the shaping and joining of the wood into proper accord or agreement so that the boat would be strong, hold together, and move through the water with the least possible resistance. The boat we sail through life in needs to be assembled in just such a fashion. Music is one of the planks but it needs to fit together in proper accord with the other planks in order to build a sturdy boat that will hold together and ply the waters smoothly. So it’s not enough to have just one strong plank, unless you’re only going surfing. To navigate the high seas and cross the broad and stormy waters of life, all the pieces need to be in harmony. So Sound Possibilities cannot be about music alone. It is more about seeing how music fits into life, into every life, and in turn learning how music can serve as a voice for the spirit.
So the material assembled here, along with links to the external web, will touch on a wide range of subjects from the rational sciences of mathematics and physics to the imaginal philosophies of mythology and religion, even to fantastic realms of science fiction and speculative theories of alternative histories. For only from such a plenum of potentiality can we begin to appreciate the wide range of sound possibilities that music offers the world.
Music operates in many realms. There is obviously the physical phenomenon of sound and vibration; the ‘struck sound,’ or ahata, but there is the ‘unstruck sound’ as well, the anahata, as it is called in the sacred musical traditions of India. The vibratory nature of matter and energy has been recognized by quantum physics and is described as wavelengths in an electromagnetic spectrum. As the sensitivity of our instrumentation improves, we continue to expand the range of frequencies we can perceive and produce, beyond ahata into the realm of anahata, finding that all energy and matter may in fact be part of one vast continuum. Now add to this observation an infinite variety of musical forms and it becomes clear that music and sound have great potential for expanding our understanding of ourselves and the nature of the universe we inhabit. Whether we employ analogies in poetry and song, or directly manipulate the structure of matter and energy with sound waves and rhythm, by its very nature, music invites us to recover the integral, imaginal and holistic approach to learning practiced by our ancestors. The Tree of Life may have many branches, but it is firmly rooted in the ground of experience. We explore these many branches in order to better understand the tree itself.
|
