Eduard C Heyning | Open University The Netherlands (original) (raw)
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Papers by Eduard C Heyning
Psychological Perspectives, 2021
This is the version of my paper, published in Psychological Perspectives in 2021. Slightly differ... more This is the version of my paper, published in Psychological Perspectives in 2021. Slightly different from the older version, but not much.
Psychological Perspectives
This thesis regards the ancient Pythagorean-Platonic idea of heavenly harmony as a philosophical ... more This thesis regards the ancient Pythagorean-Platonic idea of heavenly harmony as a philosophical paradox: stars are silent, music is not. The idea of ‘star music’ contains several potential opposites, including imagination and sense perception, the temporal and the eternal, transcendence and theophany, and others. The idea of ‘star music’ as a paradox can become a gateway to a different understanding of the universe, and a vehicle for a shift to a new – and yet very ancient – form of consciousness. The ancient Greeks had a holistic form of consciousness, which was continually intermingling with a transpersonal dimension. This ancient state of consciousness was related to a musical understanding of the world, the Pythagorean-Platonic experience of the universe as an ordered cosmos. My research is approached from two angles, namely from the history of ideas and from musicianship, exploring how music is reflected in the world of thought. By reflexive re-reading of the sources, new insi...
Why does John Tavener's music appeal to a large, secular audience? Tavener describes his own crea... more Why does John Tavener's music appeal to a large, secular audience? Tavener describes his own creative process as a sacred revelation. At the heart of his music is sacred, inner silence, represented by the ison, a drone. He first developed the representation of sacred silence within the tradition of Byzantine church music, but later in life he opened up to other traditions and a universalist philosophy. His music is always pointing inwards, and so does the 'spiritual but not religious' practices of the New Age. Tavener's concept of the 'music of silence' has parallels with the ideas of Eckhart Tolle, one of the most popular teachers of the New Age spirituality. Perhaps the success of Tavener's 'music of silence' with a large, secular audience can be explained as part of a universal spiritual awakening.
MPhil Thesis at Canterbury Christchurch University. This thesis regards the ancient Pythagorean-P... more MPhil Thesis at Canterbury Christchurch University. This thesis regards the ancient Pythagorean-Platonic idea of heavenly harmony as a philosophical paradox: stars are silent, music is not. The idea of ‘star music’ contains several potential opposites, including imagination and sense perception, the temporal and the eternal, transcendence and theophany, and others. The idea of ‘star music’ as a paradox can become a gateway to a different understanding of the universe, and a vehicle for a shift to a new – and yet very ancient – form of consciousness. The ancient Greeks had a holistic form of consciousness, which was continually intermingling with a transpersonal dimension. This ancient state of consciousness was related to a musical understanding of the world, the Pythagorean-Platonic experience of the universe as an ordered cosmos.
My research is approached from two angles, namely from the history of ideas and from musicianship, exploring how music is reflected in the world of thought. By reflexive re-reading of the sources, new insights into the nature of musical consciousness are explored. The idea of ‘star music’ can be found throughout the history of music and thought in the West, including Plato’s works and that of other ancient philosophers, through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Romantic era and the twentieth century up to contemporary New Age music.
As a conclusion, the paradox of ‘star music’ is connected to an experience of a shared transcendent meaning of music, which can be present in the moment of a musical performance. ‘Star music’ is a living paradox.
In 2003 Freya Mathews published 'For Love of Matter', a passionate appeal to change our attitude ... more In 2003 Freya Mathews published 'For Love of Matter', a passionate appeal to change our attitude to nature from exploitation of dead matter into an erotic encounter with an enchanted world, using poetry and music. Panspychism is one way of suggesting a wider holistic paradigm within which to consider the nature of the reality we all inhabit. I think she is making a promising case.
A tone-zodiac is a circle indicating the connections between the twelve signs of the zodiac and t... more A tone-zodiac is a circle indicating the connections between the twelve signs of the zodiac and the tones of a musical scale. The oldest known tone-zodiac is found in Ptolemy’s Harmonics of the second century CE. It is founded on the vision of Pythagoras of the heavens as a musical harmony, and was taken up by Plato in his Timaeus creation myth. A tone-zodiac is a symbol, not a representation of physical reality, because the constellations are not distributed into twelve equal parts of the zodiac, nor does music fit naturally into a circle of twelve steps. What does the tone-zodiac symbolize and what might it mean? The circle of star signs refers to the revolutions of the heavens that reflect divine reason and eternity. The circle of musical tones builds on the division of the octave in the twelve steps of equal temperament, but the power to move is music’s special feature. From a psychological standpoint the tone-zodiac refers to music as a non-rational, participatory state of consciousness just as the star signs belong to an animated worldview and a divinatory attitude. The circle itself points at a transcendent unity, to the Platonic ‘Spindle of Ananke’ as the axis mundi, bringing music and astrology together in an unknowable synthesis.
This paper was submitted for a MA in Myth, Cosmology & The Sacred at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.
A reflection on the eleventh chapter of Memories, Dreams, Reflections, the Jung autobiography, ti... more A reflection on the eleventh chapter of Memories, Dreams, Reflections, the Jung autobiography, titled Life After Death. The essay is based on my lecture for the IVAP, the Dutch Jung Society, on November 15th 2014. The essay is about Jung’s private life, his convictions as told in the memoirs and the fantasies, now made public. Apart from Jung's ideas I reflect on the Sacred Tree symbol, the Mysteries of Eleusis, the I Ching and on Frederic Myers. Jung seems to have believed in the continuation of life after death of the body and in some form of reincarnation. And so, if you ask me, I think he is still here, and he might be ‘just around the corner’.
Psychological Perspectives, 2021
This is the version of my paper, published in Psychological Perspectives in 2021. Slightly differ... more This is the version of my paper, published in Psychological Perspectives in 2021. Slightly different from the older version, but not much.
Psychological Perspectives
This thesis regards the ancient Pythagorean-Platonic idea of heavenly harmony as a philosophical ... more This thesis regards the ancient Pythagorean-Platonic idea of heavenly harmony as a philosophical paradox: stars are silent, music is not. The idea of ‘star music’ contains several potential opposites, including imagination and sense perception, the temporal and the eternal, transcendence and theophany, and others. The idea of ‘star music’ as a paradox can become a gateway to a different understanding of the universe, and a vehicle for a shift to a new – and yet very ancient – form of consciousness. The ancient Greeks had a holistic form of consciousness, which was continually intermingling with a transpersonal dimension. This ancient state of consciousness was related to a musical understanding of the world, the Pythagorean-Platonic experience of the universe as an ordered cosmos. My research is approached from two angles, namely from the history of ideas and from musicianship, exploring how music is reflected in the world of thought. By reflexive re-reading of the sources, new insi...
Why does John Tavener's music appeal to a large, secular audience? Tavener describes his own crea... more Why does John Tavener's music appeal to a large, secular audience? Tavener describes his own creative process as a sacred revelation. At the heart of his music is sacred, inner silence, represented by the ison, a drone. He first developed the representation of sacred silence within the tradition of Byzantine church music, but later in life he opened up to other traditions and a universalist philosophy. His music is always pointing inwards, and so does the 'spiritual but not religious' practices of the New Age. Tavener's concept of the 'music of silence' has parallels with the ideas of Eckhart Tolle, one of the most popular teachers of the New Age spirituality. Perhaps the success of Tavener's 'music of silence' with a large, secular audience can be explained as part of a universal spiritual awakening.
MPhil Thesis at Canterbury Christchurch University. This thesis regards the ancient Pythagorean-P... more MPhil Thesis at Canterbury Christchurch University. This thesis regards the ancient Pythagorean-Platonic idea of heavenly harmony as a philosophical paradox: stars are silent, music is not. The idea of ‘star music’ contains several potential opposites, including imagination and sense perception, the temporal and the eternal, transcendence and theophany, and others. The idea of ‘star music’ as a paradox can become a gateway to a different understanding of the universe, and a vehicle for a shift to a new – and yet very ancient – form of consciousness. The ancient Greeks had a holistic form of consciousness, which was continually intermingling with a transpersonal dimension. This ancient state of consciousness was related to a musical understanding of the world, the Pythagorean-Platonic experience of the universe as an ordered cosmos.
My research is approached from two angles, namely from the history of ideas and from musicianship, exploring how music is reflected in the world of thought. By reflexive re-reading of the sources, new insights into the nature of musical consciousness are explored. The idea of ‘star music’ can be found throughout the history of music and thought in the West, including Plato’s works and that of other ancient philosophers, through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Romantic era and the twentieth century up to contemporary New Age music.
As a conclusion, the paradox of ‘star music’ is connected to an experience of a shared transcendent meaning of music, which can be present in the moment of a musical performance. ‘Star music’ is a living paradox.
In 2003 Freya Mathews published 'For Love of Matter', a passionate appeal to change our attitude ... more In 2003 Freya Mathews published 'For Love of Matter', a passionate appeal to change our attitude to nature from exploitation of dead matter into an erotic encounter with an enchanted world, using poetry and music. Panspychism is one way of suggesting a wider holistic paradigm within which to consider the nature of the reality we all inhabit. I think she is making a promising case.
A tone-zodiac is a circle indicating the connections between the twelve signs of the zodiac and t... more A tone-zodiac is a circle indicating the connections between the twelve signs of the zodiac and the tones of a musical scale. The oldest known tone-zodiac is found in Ptolemy’s Harmonics of the second century CE. It is founded on the vision of Pythagoras of the heavens as a musical harmony, and was taken up by Plato in his Timaeus creation myth. A tone-zodiac is a symbol, not a representation of physical reality, because the constellations are not distributed into twelve equal parts of the zodiac, nor does music fit naturally into a circle of twelve steps. What does the tone-zodiac symbolize and what might it mean? The circle of star signs refers to the revolutions of the heavens that reflect divine reason and eternity. The circle of musical tones builds on the division of the octave in the twelve steps of equal temperament, but the power to move is music’s special feature. From a psychological standpoint the tone-zodiac refers to music as a non-rational, participatory state of consciousness just as the star signs belong to an animated worldview and a divinatory attitude. The circle itself points at a transcendent unity, to the Platonic ‘Spindle of Ananke’ as the axis mundi, bringing music and astrology together in an unknowable synthesis.
This paper was submitted for a MA in Myth, Cosmology & The Sacred at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.
A reflection on the eleventh chapter of Memories, Dreams, Reflections, the Jung autobiography, ti... more A reflection on the eleventh chapter of Memories, Dreams, Reflections, the Jung autobiography, titled Life After Death. The essay is based on my lecture for the IVAP, the Dutch Jung Society, on November 15th 2014. The essay is about Jung’s private life, his convictions as told in the memoirs and the fantasies, now made public. Apart from Jung's ideas I reflect on the Sacred Tree symbol, the Mysteries of Eleusis, the I Ching and on Frederic Myers. Jung seems to have believed in the continuation of life after death of the body and in some form of reincarnation. And so, if you ask me, I think he is still here, and he might be ‘just around the corner’.