Seeking beauty in a world of chaos, instability and fate, reveals the possibility of chaotic beauty - and a sublimation of meaning [in the sense of shifting states of awareness; in analogy to scientific sublimation: the transition from the solid phase to the gas phase without passing through an intermediate liquid phase].
Chaos theory suggests that, within an ostensibly random (meaningless) world of complex systems, there exist opaque underlying patterns, integrated connections, interactivity, and spontaneous self-organization.
Adaptation to dynamic environments transform a reactive fear of the unknown into an expansive openness and flexible ‘grounding’ in the constantly shifting world of experience.
Culturally, this means moving beyond a monochromatic, diametric mindset of consonance/dissonance; unity/disintegration; harmony/discord; stability/disruption; creativity/deconstruction; cohesion/anarchy; meaning/nihilism. This ‘polarity perspective’ can become transformed into an awareness of integrated, elemental opposing forces, oscillating in and out of balance in response to changing conditions.
Fear incites a search for stability, in faith or belief, which might provide a meaningful context to seemingly random, senseless, ill-fated events. Fear of the unknown, unpredictable and ambiguous can cause an unsettling discomfort, which may become collectively amplified into a pervasive cultural discord.
Wider perspectives encourage us to move beyond the cultural fragmentation inherent in reactive postmodern deconstruction, nurturing creativity and flexible adaptation - discovering a more comprehensive synergy.
With the development of wider perspectives, we may begin to see unique challenges as existing within a recurring pattern of individual/cultural conscious evolution:
stasis/status quo ➞ disruption ➞ deconstruction ➞ chaos ➞ creative paradigm shift ➞ reintegration ➞ synergy ➞ expansion and development ➞ codification/entrenchment ➞ complacency ➞ stasis/status quo ➞ ...
The experience of an ever-increasing rate of change necessitates a practice and development of flexibility, improvisation, outcome detachment, adaptation and adaptability, and an openness toward the unexpected.
Perceiving beauty within chaotic experience may help us find peace in our constantly shifting present moments and revitalize optimism for the future - inspiring an endless search for enduring meaning in an ephemeral world.
Performed on a Lumatone keyboard at a pitch resolution of 84 notes per octave.
Lumatone: www.lumatone.io/
audio track: dolorescatherino.bandcamp.com...
score: polychromaticmusic.com/wp-con...
84 EDO Tuning implementation: The Lumatone has 8 rows of keys. The diatonic layout, A-G, has 7 notes per octave, for a maximum pitch resolution of 56 notes per octave. One way to extend pitch resolution further, is to use the 56 keys as a subset of a larger temperament.
With this approach, 84 notes per octave would require 12 rows of keys for full implementation, which I visualize as two unused rows below red and two above violet. It’s a compromise, but it allows for a limited exploration of pitch-color combinations using an interval step size of ~14.29 cents (84 equal divisions of the octave).
more information: newmusicusa.org/nmbx/polychro...