A man falls in love through his eyes,
A woman through her ears.
Harmonice Mundi by Johannes Kepler
The three laws of motion:
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]
You Get Out What You Put In
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The Future
“Children are now experiencing less social interaction and have fewer social connections during key stages of their physiological, emotional and social development. An increasing proportion of men and women are living alone during their ‘mating years’ having far fewer social contacts. And as the greying of the population continues, the incidence and effects of social isolation are pronounced.”
Dr. Aric Sigman (19/02/09), Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology.
Space cannot separate, it can only contain.
