Schmüdde

This picture is composed of a SOHO image of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light for each year of the last solar cycle, with images picked to illustrate the relative activity of the Sun.

[Nasa.gov]

Scientists have recently observed the golden ratio in full display on the quantum level in chains of magnetically linked atoms spaced one atom apart that behave as if they were a nanoscale guitar string when “plucked” (quantum uncertainty).  In sum, there is a perfect relationship between the first two notes of the overtone system.  Their frequencies amount to a ratio of 1.618: the oft-cited golden ratio that can be observed throughout nature in our everyday world.

The universe is an ordered place with patterns that can be seen throughout the smallest and largest systems.  That order is what comprises our entire identity as humans.  When we venture from it we feel disconnected and so we work to tap into it.  Music, art, empirical study, religion.  They all speak the same truth.

Harmonice Mundi by Johannes Kepler

The three laws of motion:

1. the planets move in elliptical, not circular, orbits
2. their speed is greatest when nearest the sun
3. the sun and planets form an integrated system

Musical harmony as we know it exists in simple integer relationships.  In a system of just intonation those relationships can be seen in the movement of celestial bodies.  From the viewpoint of the sun, Saturn travels 135 seconds in a single day when it is closest and 106 seconds in a day when it is farthest due to the planet’s elliptical orbit.  When Kepler simplified the ratio of Saturn’s apsides, 135:106, he came up with 5:4 - a pure major third.  See the second picture for an example.  He found that Mars orbited as a perfect fifth, Jupiter a minor third and so on…. these are his universal harmonies - the same intervals that are common in popular music around the world today.

[Photo: NASA’s Voyager 1]

[Photo 2: Carl Sagan’s Cosmos]

Harmonic recognition is a core human trait that first appears in children between the ages of two and five.  Although unique to the human experience like language, it must be cultivated through education if ability is to grow.  A visceral understanding of diverse relationships in a complex system is only possible in the ear - something that should be practiced by the young and the old.

In all ecosystems, manmade or not, harmony must be present in some manner in order to maintain its overall stability.  Harmony is not only simple consonance like the musical octave.  There are an infinite number of harmonic relationships within the spectrum.  Because diversity is essential for the long-term health of any system some dissonance will inevitably occur.  The balance is having enough consonance so that the world makes sense.  A keynote.  A perspective.  The human perspective.  Thus both are essential: diversity and understanding; specifically the understanding of harmony.  

Cultural diversity is somewhat like biological diversity in that way.  In natural ecosystems, homogeneity is disastrous for long term health.  A single predator can find and exploit a weakness in an un-adapting, homozygous clan.  Innovative thinking, practices and solutions come out of polymorphous perspectives.

Harmony is the essential incubator that enables diversity.  Diversity is an indispensable component of survival.

[Video:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale]