OPlato! OPythagoras! ages ago you heard these harmonies, surprised these moments of inward ecstasy, — knew these divine transports!Ifmusic thus carries us toheaven, it is because music isharmony, harmony isperfection, perfection is ourdream, and our dream is heaven.
Ancient belief in a cosmos composed of spheres, producing music as angels guided them through the heavens, was still flourishing in Elizabethan times. ...There is a good deal more toPythagorean musical theory than celestial harmony. Besides themusic of the celestial spheres (musica mundana), two other varieties of music were distinguished: the sound of instruments...(musica instrumentalis), and the continuous unheard music that emanated from the human body (musica humana), which arises from a resonance between the body and the soul. ...In the medieval world, the status of music is revealed by its position within theQuadrivium—the fourfold curriculum—alongside arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. Medieval students... believed all forms of harmony to derive from a common source. BeforeBoethius' studies in the ninth century, the idea of musical harmony was not considered independently of wider matters of celestial or ethical harmony.
I'd like toteach theworld tosing Inperfect harmony I'd like to hold it in my arms and keep it company. I'd like to see the world for once All standinghand in hand And hear them echo through the hills "Ah,peace throughout theland." That's thesong I hear...
A battle line occurs at these critical points in time. The heaven born leader must fight the onslaught with vigor and courage. Yet, no person alone can avenge a malevolent enemy. A grain of sand cannot consider itself a beachfront nor can a single drop of rain claim to be a raging river. However, when all the forces combine in harmony, then rocks crumble intodust, the earth shakes, and mountains move.
Only with the inception of the mind doesevolution enter into the speeded-up process of development, and this mind, when in harmony with the Guiding Forces, can raise the planet to a great flowering or, adversely it will hasten its disintegration or downfall.
Helena Roerich,Letters of Helena Roerich, Volume II: 1935-1939
After all, every sensible human being well understands the significance of the inviolability of marriage and of the harmony of thefamily for the growing generation and in the structure of thestate. It is said in the Teaching that the family is the prototype of the state. Thewelfare and thewell-being of the state rest upon the firm foundations of the family.
Helena Roerich,Letters of Helena Roerich, Volume II: 1935-1939
Relativity does set limits on whathumans can ultimately do. But theuniverse is not required to be in perfect harmony with human aspirations.
If a relationship lacks harmony, even the words that reach the tip of the tongue, unable to be spoken, retreat back into the heart and settle into knots.
There is aspirit in man and in theworld working always against the thing that destroys and lays waste. Always he must know that the contradictions oflife are not final or ultimate; he must distinguish betweenfailure and a many-sidedawareness so that he will notmistake conformity for harmony, uniformity for synthesis.He will know that for all men to be alike is thedeath oflife in man, and yet perceive harmony that transcends all diversities and in which diversity finds its richness andsignificance.
Howard Thurman,The Search For Common Ground : An Inquiry Into The Basis Of Man's Experience Of Community (1971), p. 6.
Each and every master, regardless of the era or the place, heard the call and attained harmony withheaven andearth.There are many paths leading to the top of Mount Fuji, but there is only one summit —love.
Morihei Ueshiba, as quoted inYou Can Save the Earth: 7 Reasons Why and 7 Simple Ways, a Philosophy for the Future (2008) by Hatherleigh, Sean K. Smith, and Andrew Flach, p. 92.
My temper leads me topeace and harmony withallmen; and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any personal feuds or dissensions with those, who are embarked in the samegreat national interest with myself, as every difference of this kind in its consequence must be very injurious.
George Washington, in a letter to Major-General Gates (24 February 1778); published inThe Writings of George Washington (1890) edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford, p. 368.
