Castalia 363

Not only data

Dear Friends,

A piece of music is not only sound, not only a collection of sense impressions; these sense impressions emerge within a consciousness, a consciousness which remembers and expects — a consciousness which holds not only sounds, but what these sounds imply.

Our lives, too, are not only sense impressions, but the whole within which these sense impressions emerge. Our lives are meaningful as music is meaningful.

Should we sense a lack of meaning, it is because we have abstracted from the whole -- isolated a sense impression and forgotten its ground.

This ground is tasted in every sense impression, heard in every sound. All data have their meaning within it, but it itself is not a datum -- not a gift, but the source of gifts.

Empiricists are right in turning to experience, in checking out what it is to which conceptions refer. But experience is not only data; it is gift and giver in one.

When we listen, we hear not only sound, but meaning -- hear not only G sharp, but what G sharp implies; hear not only the cry, but the vast hall within which the cry takes place.

To find our place in the hall -- this is our task!

Thank you so much.

With every good wish,

Ishmael

Music as a Path:

I coach musicians online, guiding composers and performers alike to deeper connection with the Muse. For details, please see my website: