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Preface
It is about the process of developing from music, the source of ancient culture, to music, poetry and philosophy, and the separation of the three.
Ancient Greek myths and legends about the Muses, Orpheus, and Dionysus, the god of wine, actually reflect and contain a more vivid and profound understanding.
Similarly, the richness of Chinese legends confirms that music also has a source and starting point for Chinese culture.
From the perspectives of etymology and mythology, this paper explores the fact that music is the original source and unity of culture.
Through the analysis of the philosophies of Plato and Confucius, it reveals the philosophies' care for the cultural forms that were once unified in music, the profound understanding of the leading role of music, and its efforts to reconcile the relationship between music and poetry and philosophy.
For the modern living world, music and music culture will help overcome the fragmentation of culture since the modern era, get out of the increasingly divided crisis of the international community in the post-epidemic era, and will have a positive significance for the reconstruction of international harmony and order.
Music as the source of civilization
Heidegger wrote in The Poet-Philosopher: "Singing and thinking are the neighbors of poetry...... The trees in the forest don't know each other. Singing and thinking refers to music and philosophy.
In terms of the genealogy of civilization or art, music is more primordial......
Music is the oldest form of human expression, older than language or art, and it is inherently innate with the human voice, which coincides with our urgent need to communicate with others and others.
(1) Proof of Greek mythology and Chinese mythology
The logic of mythology is ambiguous and even contradictory. However, according to Lévi-Strauss's technique of myth interpretation based on Jacobson's insights, the entire myth can be broken down into a series of individual stories, and then it is assumed that each story is a partial metaphorical transformation of the others.
The whole story can be seen as something like a writing tablet on which the original handwriting is erased (but not all the handwriting and new handwriting), and "every detail must be seen as part of a complex whole".
Wittgenstein said of the systematization of language and the meaning of linguistic signs: "Without a system, strings of symbols are dead. ”
That is to say, the whole system itself is some more basic signifier.
Thus, the basic meaning of the myth is conveyed through a series of events, even if they occur at different times.
On the one hand, myth imprisons the mind in events and experiences that are constantly collated and rearranged in order to discover its meaning, and on the other hand, it is also a liberator by virtue of which it protests against meaninglessness.
In the same way, to grasp the cultural significance of the different myths about music, it is also necessary to adopt a systematic view, viewing each myth as a metaphor for the others and as part of a complex whole.
In this way, the myths of the ancient Greek Muses, Orpheus and Dionysus, as well as the Chinese myths and legends about music, each form a grand and rich system, conveying a holistic message.
There is a saying in the "Book of Rites": "In the past, Shun made a five-stringed piano and sang "South Wind". Beginning to make music to reward the princes. Therefore, the Son of Heaven is happy, and the virtuous people of the princes are also rewarded. Virtue and respect. ”
Yu Zhengxie, a Qing man, said: "After inspecting more than three generations of books, it doesn't matter if you are happy." Chinese legends about music also form a picture of an ancient civilization in which music dominated morality and philosophy.
(ii) Philosophical attitudes
In Plato's vocabulary, all the art of beauty is in the realm of "music".
Nietzsche had a similar view. In his opinion, music is the highest art. Of all the arts, music is at the highest level.
Albert Began once spoke of an image, saying that it "comes from the deepest part of existence, composed of...... A song without words".
This imagery is pure music without words. This is tantamount to saying that the deepest form or mark of existence is music.
As far as ancient Chinese philosophy is concerned, the word "li" is not found in the oracle bone inscriptions, but the word "music" is found. This may indicate that Lebili appeared earlier.
Based on the above analysis, it can be seen that both Western philosophy and Chinese philosophy point to the understanding that music not only precedes poetry and philosophy, but also has attributes that transcend philosophy.
The nirvana of music ——— the metaphorical meaning of Orpheus's tearing and "the collapse of etiquette".
It should be said that it is only by recognizing that poetry and other arts originate from music and are unified with music, and then we can deeply understand the metaphorical significance of Orpheus's tearing apart and the collapse of ritual music for the occurrence and evolution of culture.
Plato discovered that all the art of beauty is in the realm of "music" and is subordinate to poetry.
In Greek culture, the first mythological expression of this fact was that the god of the muses, who dominated music, ruled over the muses representing the other arts, thus maintaining a natural unity among the various arts. The unity between poetry and music is the most typical example.
The transition from the Muse myth system to the Orpheus myth is the process and product of the development, integration, deepening and enhancement of the ancient Greek myth of music. Orpheus is the epitome of the inner unity of a culture dominated by music.
As far as cultural history is concerned, the myth of the Muses and the myth of Orpheus can be said to be similar to the ancient Chinese music culture.
If poetry and music were originally inseparable, then the teachings formed by Homer and Hesiod were both poetry and music.
The difference between the two is that Orpheus is more ancient than the poetry of Homer and Hesiod, and it is also more musical.
The poetry of Homer and Hesiod was a political religion, while the Orpheus occultism seems to be more like what is now called a folk religion, combining poetry, music, and religious life and practice.
In terms of its essence, the collapse of etiquette in the Spring and Autumn Period in China was also a process of the same nature experienced by the cultural history of the mainland.
Therefore, "the torn apart of Orpheus" and "the collapse of etiquette" are both disintegration and collapse, as well as parting ways.
Moreover, while parting ways, the philosophies pioneered by Plato and Confucius respectively preserved and continued their respective musical cultures, and elevated music to the methodology and highest realm of ethics, personality aesthetics, education, politics, philosophy, etc., thus re-achieving the inner unity of the great culture that music culture initially opened at a higher level.
All this is thanks to the protection and defense of music by Plato and Confucius.
Plato and Confucius protected and defended music
Philosophy was once subordinate to a unified cultural form dominated by music. But that was the case with Greece before Orpheus was torn apart and before the collapse of Chinese culture.
Since then, both in Greece and in China, philosophy has in turn taken in and sheltered music, giving it a high status, and opening the history of music philosophy.
(1) Music education in "Ideal Country".
Through Pythagoras, elements of Orphesism entered Plato's philosophy, and from Plato into most of the later philosophies of religion.
In the Phaedo, Socrates even admits that throughout his life he understood the mystical warning of "practicing Xi music, making music" that often appeared in his dreams as an invitation to practice "the greatest music", that is, philosophy.
And he was always uneasy when he was engaged in "popular music", that is, music that was related to poetry and mythology, rather than to philosophy and speculation.
In this way, the Phaedos begins by distinguishing between two distinct meanings of music: music in the general sense and music in the extraordinary, philosophical equivalent.
On the whole, Plato's philosophy has achieved the elevation of music culture by distinguishing between music in the general sense and the extraordinary, "greatest" music (i.e., philosophy), and has advanced music culture to a whole new stage and level.
The significance of this for Western culture is that Plato sheltered the torn Orpheus in a philosophical way, repairing the division that Western culture fell into because of the torn apart of Orpheus.
It continues the cultural unity under the dominance of the musical culture represented by the Muses and Orpheus, and then under the dominance of the poetic and musical culture represented by Homer and Hesiod, thus advancing the cultural history to the stage of cultural unification dominated by philosophy: the deeper identity of philosophy is music, and the greatest music is philosophy.
Through Plato, the Western musical culture represented by Orpheus and its unity for the whole culture achieved nirvana after being torn apart.
(2) The recommendation of music in the Analects
Some scholars (such as Li Qingzhu) believe that although ancient China attached equal importance to ritual and music, music was placed in the position of a vassal of rituals.
This is true. Because, first of all, the use of music predates rituals. "Qin Exercise" has a saying: "Fu Xi makes the piano, so he is self-cultivation and rational, but he is naïve." "White Tiger Pass" said: "Qin, forbidden is also forbidden from evil, and the heart of the righteous is also prohibited." ”
Secondly, even in terms of the political tradition of ritual music, music is not a vassal of etiquette, on the contrary, the relationship between the two is more of a parallel relationship.
Third, it is particularly noteworthy that "music" is not only not a vassal of "etiquette", but on the contrary, as Xunzi said, "those who are happy are also those who govern people." Music education is not only not a vassal of etiquette, but the most ideal state of politics.
Therefore, "music" is not a vassal of "rites", nor is it an accompaniment of "poetry", but "music" itself is both a means and an end.
After the collapse of etiquette and music, in the system of the original Chinese cultural classics determined by Confucius, "Music" was listed as the Six Classics along with "Poems" and "Books". Confucius also marked the core educational concept of "flourishing in poetry, standing in etiquette, and becoming happy".
As a philosophy of education, the poetic eye of a "Analects" lies in "flourishing in poetry, standing in ceremony, and becoming happy". Zi Si said: "The teaching of the master must begin with "poems" and "books" and end with "rites" and "music". ”
Liang Qichao once said: Confucius's contribution to the Book of Songs is not to delete poems but to "be happy". Confucius said to himself:
I defended myself against Lu, and then I was happy, and Yasong got his place. ”
Through Confucius's concern for "happiness", "becoming happy" was established as the highest state of Confucian learning or education.
This regards "music" as not only a means of education, but also a sign of educational success, as well as the highest level of education——— only when the study of poetry and etiquette, to achieve the realm of happiness and happiness, in order to achieve the most fundamental improvement of human nature.
The significance of music to the living world in the present
In The Crisis of Global Modernity, Parsenit Douala writes that one of the characteristics of the crisis of global modernity is the absence of a source of "transcendence" in the authoritative sense.
By this source of "transcendence," he refers to different ideologies, principles, and ethics that have been based on religious or political ideologies, such as Marxism or religion.
These sources of "transcendence" have a "transconnective" effect, i.e., transcendence and connection, and thus help to overcome divisions and ruptures.
Many of the major changes in the history of the world are linked in one way or another to transcendent sources of imagination, inspiration, commitment and determination.
His argument implies that to emerge from the global crisis of modernity, it is necessary to find or restore a source of "transcendence" that transcends the limitations of different peoples and cultures.
Since we no longer reflect on the culture, we actually abandon the culture.
Re-understand the profound meaning behind the myth of Orpheus in ancient Greece and the ritual collapse of the Spring and Autumn Period in China, inherit the philosophical meaning of musical culture opened by Plato and Confucius, and develop a great musical culture that is oriented to the world and committed to harmony and cooperation.
It should be a possible option to get out of the fragmentation of human society and the rupture between history and tradition since the modern and postmodern times, as well as the dilemma of serious division in the international community.
Daniel Barenboim argues that Beethoven is both German and global.
Beethoven, more than musicians from many other countries, was concerned with the various cultures of the past, such as Greek mythology, literature, and philosophy.
Beethoven's entire oeuvre is based to some extent on the principles of Greek purification......
One should walk into the darkness without fear and then re-enter the light. This should be the tragic spirit of the Orphean style needed to rebuild harmony in today's world.
Of course, Daniel Barenboim also said: It is sad to see that music education is no longer meaningful in today's schools.