Consciousness and the Universe
Is our consciousness purely to enable us to negotiate life on earth (a reductionist view) or can
it elevate us into higher planes of experience and knowledge? I recently gave a talk on 'Aesthetics, from Plato to
Neuroaesthetics, Fibonacci to Morality, Bach to David Bohm'. In researching for this
presentation, which was to the Yorkshire branch of the Scientific and Medical Network, I was struck by the
similarity of my practical experience as a former Cathedral Organist with the modern research which is coming out of
quantum physics and the new neuro sciences. This is the interconnectedness of all things past and present (e.g.
explains my experience of how a good performance seems to arrive at a timeless 'at oneness' with the composer), and
how any aesthetic performance integrates our neural pathways responsible for Beauty, Truth and Goodness (to use
Plato's idea of perfect Forms) and repays us by releasing dopamine and seratonin into our systems. I was able to go
further along this path by showing that particularly in performing Renaissance and Baroque counterpoint with its
equality of voice construction and its heavy dependence on Mathematics we were also tapping into the building blocks
of the universe.
This, to me, is some small evidence that David Bohm's
theory of the Implicate Universe requires serious thought. His theory is that everything
is connected to everything else in the universe, that all of which we are made has this knowledge and that we are
like holograms for everything that is or has been, that there is a supreme intelligence (which he calls 'the
Player') which constantly is recycling through the universe gaining knowledge as the universe evolves, and that all
such physical manifestations like humanity (which he calls the Explicate Order) engage with the 'Player' through
consciousness.
For me the main extant simple proof towards this is the
certain knowledge that we were all there at the beginning of creation. All the atoms from
which we are constructed were fashioned in the dyeing moments of exploding stars. We can thus trace these atoms back
through time, through the formation of the galaxies, through the original gas clouds to the Big Bang some 13.8
billion years ago (the issue is basically the same if one does not accept the Big Bang theory but favour the new
theory of an Electric Universe - come what may it is undeniable that we are but recycled bits from stars and
galaxies).
Now if David Bohm is correct in his belief that "elementary
particles are actually systems of extremely complicated internal structure, acting essentially as amplifiers of
information contained in a quantum wave.", then it seems logical to consider that
there is available to us knowledge from where these atoms have been. As an aside perhaps this will contribute to the
question of why some believe in past live experiences, especially if our immediate past is recycled from atoms of
previous generations. Either this or the possibility of thought going out into the universe and living for
ever.
More to the immediate point is the possibility that our consciousness
is capable of reaching back into the past through the activity in which it engages. Thus
if we sing music of the past then it may indeed be possible to tap into the thoughts of the composer. Of course this
is not an automatic process. Like any other activity it requires knowledge, imagination and practice to create this
possibility. Take, for example, a Byrd 4 part mass, and especially the Agnus. It first requires knowledge of Byrd's
life and circumstances. At the very least he had great sympathies with Roman Catholics living in Protestant England
(he may well have been one himself) where those of this denomination were persecuted as Recusants. Singing Latin
masses were prohibited so the three which Byrd wrote (all according to the Sarum rite - equally banned) were
obviously for private use in Roman Catholic families, a dangerous activity. The Agnus ends with 'donna nobis pacem',
'give us peace'. Here Byrd repeats the phrase times throughout the 4 voices, a crescendo of suspensions before the
final repose, symbolising his own personal anguish at the plight of the Roman Catholics and his own wish for peace
in those troubled times. Such knowledge is essential to sing this with any meaning.
To all this has to be added the structure of what is sung and the role of singing itself.
Augustine said that to sing once is to pray twice. Why? It is a heart felt comment but
with what support? Singing in groups has an extra dimension. It is the beginning of interconnectedness, a microcosm
of the quantum theory of the universe. I trained choristers always to be aware of the other parts and how to
respond. This produced an integrated experience and awareness of the whole to which each was an equal part. This is
especially so in Renaissance and Baroque counterpoint (rather than the subsequent melody/harmony of the Classical
and Romantic periods). This equality of parts is a necessary ingredient. It is a true democracy of being and
artistic expression where each part is necessary to understand and experience the interconnectedness of the
whole.
Add to this what singing is and the depth of interconnectedness with
the universe becomes apparent. Singing is the control of sound along mathematically
defined principles. Unlike sound such as shouting or conversation music is composed rhythmically with a regular
number of beats in a bar, and in pitch is in basic accord with the Pythagorean scale of intervals contained within
an octave, itself a mathematical doubling or halving of the frequency of a note. The overwhelming use of concord
rather than discord, and especially the need to finish on a concord involves the most harmonious mathematic
intervals, or sympathetic vibrations of air. Discords are necessary to give spice and interest, but rather like
chaos we feel happy when they are resolved, chaos banished and harmony restored. We were built to appreciate this
harmony of rhythm and pitch, i.e. the process of mathematics. Consequently we were built both to understand and
appreciate the building block of the universe, mathematics, which runs through all things - nature is constructed on
the mathematical Fibonacci series, from hurricane to sunflower seed, human DNA to galaxies. So when we respond to
this form of harmony by composing or singing we ourselves not only become in tune with the mathematics of the
universe, we are responding to them in a creative way. It is like a bathroom singer who hits the resonant pitch of
the bathroom. Everything is suddenly amplified. The vibrations of the air cause a sympathetic vibration of the
surface they bounce off and are in consequence amplified and reflected back to the singer. This is what happens to
us and the universe when we sing, and indeed when we listen.
Consciousness,
a term still to be formally recognised or defined by neuro scientists, is plural when we engage in
singing. We have the obvious awareness of our activity and what is happening around us,
which enables us to stay in tune and sing the right notes, but if we have trained ourselves in the discipline of
what is being sung then this enables another part of our consciousness to expand into the interconnected universe.
Here discipline, creative awareness and imagination are the order of the day. Our brains no longer have to
concentrate on the local time-orientated mechanics of singing the music properly. There is a relaxed awareness of
the larger universal picture not only of the harmonious mathematical proportions of the music, but also of a
timeless interconnectedness with the composer's ideas. In a true performance we are there, not with the composer at
the point of composition, but with thoughts that gave them birth. In some ways it is a form of group meditation but
one aimed at experiencing the Universe itself.