Relational Quantum Mechanics and BK Idealism

[SanteriSatama]

It is no overstatement to say that this reductionism is the most dangerous temptation we face today and not a single person alive has "conquered" it or become completely immune to its influence. Everything written here should be taken as the most basic conceptual groundwork which will assist our understanding when we truly venture into the higher worlds of imagination, inspiration, and intuition. It is that latter quest which will provide us either the denial or the assurance of what we are now exploring mostly by way of abstract intellect. Keeping that always in mind, let us proceed to listen to a musical clip which showcases these seven tones and see if we can perceive some intimation of the differing soul-qualities listed above. Again, what is important now is not identifying any exact correspondences, but simply observing that there are, in fact, distinct qualities involved in the differing tones and their relations with each other.

Yes. The "even-tuning" was novelty in Bach's era, and his Well Tempered Clavier is a masterpiece exploration of the possibilities and harmonies of the new tuning. So it's not in anyway "bad" as such, but when it's almost the only tuning we here and use, much of other harmonies is lost and have to be specially looked for. Gregorian chanting, Bulgarian female choire, etc. - and there's also renewed interest in buidling instruments with more pure tunings, and all the possiblities offered by electronic music - e.g. Jacob Collier whom Lou has been advertizing on this forum.

One interesting thing I've heard, the "official" standard tuning in the West is slightly "off" the Schuman Resonance, the natural frequency/vibration of Eath. But ethnic tunings "by the ear" tend to fall in tune with the Schuman Resonance.

[AshvinP]

Yes. The "even-tuning" was novelty in Bach's era, and his Well Tempered Clavier is a masterpiece exploration of the possibilities and harmonies of the new tuning. So it's not in anyway "bad" as such, but when it's almost the only tuning we here and use, much of other harmonies is lost and have to be specially looked for. Gregorian chanting, Bulgarian female choire, etc. - and there's also renewed interest in buidling instruments with more pure tunings, and all the possiblities offered by electronic music - e.g. Jacob Collier whom Lou has been advertizing on this forum.

One interesting thing I've heard, the "official" standard tuning in the West is slightly "off" the Schuman Resonance, the natural frequency/vibration of Eath. But ethnic tunings "by the ear" tend to fall in tune with the Schuman Resonance.

Nice, we are really in sync and in tune here! That fits in very well with another part of the essay:

What is it, really, that we have forgotten? There is great temptation to take the above as a romantic critique of the modern world. For example, we think of modern technology - the atomization, the mechanization, the dehumanization - and we compare those things to mental images of ancient civilizations and indigenous cultures; of graceful Grecian art and natural Navajo pottery. Then, we say, "woe to our fellow man; see how distant he has become and how far he has fallen!" We long for a return to 'simpler times' and the 'old ways'. Ironically, and despite the overall optimistic tune I am attempting to carry here, this romantic view is not nearly sour enough. It is not only that the modern human soul has lost touch with her past, but also that she finds it mind-numbingly difficult to imagine her future. To get a sense of what I mean here, let's listen to a clip from 20th century Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, who sought to avoid "tone-decay" by incarnating "atonal" music from the future into the present.









What is happening in this Schoenberg piano piece that strikes us as so strange and perhaps even frightening? It is not the so-called dissonance between the tones, but rather it is the lack of any familiar pattern to their unfoldment in the Melos. That is what many people do not realize about the greatest composers of the last few hundred years - even the most sophisticated symphonies and operas are chock full of routine measures and tonic progressions which appeal to our emotional and sensual experience. These are soul-experiences which have been laid down within us over the course of many millennia, not merely a single lifetime. So when Schoenberg presents us with something genuinely novel, we naturally recoil in horror. That is especially true if we have not imaginatively explored this musical territory before. After several hearings, and hopefully with the assistance of this essay, listeners should begin to perceive the fierce individuality which goes into both composing and imaginatively contemplating such novel "atonal" music.