Archetypal Cosmogony

More about archetypal / phenomenological cosmology from yours truly;

Support my work on Patreon;

Follow me on X;

[Formscapes]

Ok this was supposed to be a brief response to a single comment and now it's alive and has breached containment, so if yall don't want to read this then just wait for the video. The stars have decided that I needed to write a whole dam script about music theory, and apparently this is gonna be that.

So someone in the comments has protested that the things I said about music theory are invalid because the 12 tone system is an "arbitrary" artifact of "western harmony", and I feel like this is something worth addressing at length.

The statement isn't very surprising, and in fact qualifiers such as "western" have come to be extremely common within modern music education due to the fact that it - like all other branches of the modern humanities - has become so inextricably contaminated by the self-cannibalizing necrosis that is postmodern relativism. If one does a quick google search for a question like "why are there 12 notes" or "why are scales composed of 7 notes rather than 8" or "why does major sound uplifting while minor sounds melancholic", then you are going to find a slew of non-answers which essentially indicate that these are all no more than arbitrary, contingent products of cultural conditioning which have no basis in anything beyond the confines of "subjective" aesthetics.

This is, as the great Plato himself once said, "an utter crock of horse-shit", and I would like to briefly (lol) explain why that is the case;

Modern diatonic, or solar, harmony is derived from Pythagorean music theory. Pythagoras developed a tuning system based on the perfect fourth and perfect fifth, which correlate with the ratios 4:3 and 3:2, respectively, and which are mirrors of one another; a perfect fifth "up" is the same as a perfect fourth "down" and vice-versa. Pythagoras found that by arranging fourths/fifths into a circle, one would arrive at (aaaalmost) one's starting note after 12 steps. You could start on C, for example, and then go to G, and then continue along until you arrived back at (aaaalmost) an exact multiple of the initial frequency - i.e., the note C on a higher or lower octave. The privileging of the fourth/fifth is not an "arbitrary" peculiarity of "western" music. The octave, fourth and fifth ratios are built into the very fabric of nature itself, as we see within the natural overtone series. When you strike a metal barrel with a stick, the metal barrel also privileges fourth/fifth relationships when it resonates, regardless as to whether the metal barrel has been conditioned by the contingencies of "western" culture or not.

Now the "aaaalmost" in the above explanation is significant, for reasons I'll be elaborating further in a future video about music theory specifically. It's called the "Pythagorean Coma" and it's a very big deal, but it does not indicate that the 12-tone cycle is "arbitrary"; it indicates that we are dealing with a spiral, not a wheel. The Greeks were none too fond of this, as they liked to characterize transcendental objects as unchanging, eternal crystals that existed completely outside of time, but from our vantage point we can see the implications more clearly; tensions - and therefore potentials for transformation - are built into the very **mathematical** fabric of reality itself. Frictions within the eternal objects themselves necessitate metamorphosis.

So why 7 notes? In order to understand this, we need to first understand the actual difference between consonance and dissonance. If you google "what is dissonance?" you are going to get one of two explanations - one, half true / the other, complete nonsense.

The complete nonsense explanation is that consonance and dissonance are completely arbitrary products of cultural conditioning. This is false. And absolute brain-rot. Moving on.

The half-true explanation is that the difference between consonance and dissonance is determined by the mathematical complexity of musical ratios. This is true, because it aaaalmost gets to the real heart of the matter, but it doesn't, and we can see this inadequacy once we start comparing different intervals. The tritone interval, when played by itself, is as dissonant as dissonant can get, but is it the most "complex" ratio? Yes? No? Maybe? within the Pythagorean tuning system the tritone interval is the square root of two. Is that complex? Who is defining "complexity" anyway? If we start looking at other tuning systems like equal temperament and just intonation, the story gets even more convoluted, and it becomes alot more ambiguous as to whether or not the tritone is the most mathematically complex interval ratio.

It is certainly very close - at the very least - to the minor second interval in terms of mathematical complexity, and yet we can easily hear that the tritone is far more dissonant, phenomenologically. The tritone is also treated as far more dissonant in musical practices as well. You can end a piece of music on a major seven chord with a minor second interval inside it and noone will bat an eye. It sounds fine. Try that with a tritone interval like a b5 or #11? Not unless you are intentionally trying to close with something that sounds extremely unresolved.

Why?

Because when you hear the minor second interval, even by itself, you will immediately begin interpreting one of the two notes as the center of harmonic gravity; the root. The distance between the two notes is not identical, and the human mind will immediately latch onto this asymmetry as an indication of an encompassing principle of order and begin to fill in the blanks.

You can't do that with a tritone because it cuts the octave in half, **exactly**. There is no way your mind can figure out which note is the center of gravity, and therefore what you experience is just pure chaos unless the tritone is nested within something larger within which it makes sense (like a Δ#11 for example). Augmented chords sound extremely dissonant for basically the exact same reason. Dissonance is not complexity - it is the relationship between contrast and unifying order. Difference and synthesis. Multiplicity and unity.

Because of this extreme dissonance, the tritone comes to serve as a kind of harmonic rubber-band which implies a certain interval as the tonic; b-f (tritons) --implies--> c-e (Major Third, which is also implicated within the harmonic series). The key in question is **defined** through this teleological relationship between the tritone and the tonic within solar harmony. This is not a peculiarity of western cultural conditioning. It's just what happens when you start building music out of chord motions rather than static modes. You can make things more complicated by implementing microtonal variations and whatnot (i.e., taking advantage of the Pythagorean Coma), but the core will always be the triton/tonic relationship.

So why seven notes?

Because if you add an eighth note, you now have a scale with TWO tritones, and you will have thus created a phenomenological ambiguity regarding which resolution relationship is actually being implicated as the center of harmonic gravity. Now of course you can do so anyway; you could include the #7 of the harmonic minor, and even the #4 of Hungarian minor on top of the natural minor scale to make what is effectively a 9-note scale which sounds like screaming blood-drenched demonic razor blades. Doing that sounds really cool imo, but, assuming for whatever reason you want to make music that does NOT sound like screaming blood-drenched demonic razor-blades, then you probably want to stick to 7 notes. Thus we end our scales at the tritone interval, which is exactly where the circle of fifths in divided in half.

Different cultures do indeed have different musical practices, but this idea that musical phenomenology is "arbitrary" is inexcusable brain-rot. What makes "western" (i.e., Solar) music unique is that it has most thoroughly developed the concept of chord movement through tritone functionality. Most musical traditions throughout the world are mostly modal, and modal music is in certain ways less restrained than solar harmony, because the center of harmonic gravity is established through things like pedal points moreso than through tritone functions.

I could keep going on an on about this but I'll leave it at that for now. Cheers

[GrimReaping]

I don't know what other people see when listening to these videos, but I always imagine a wizard pulling out an old tome and reading me some long forgotten forbidden knowledge. Ive almost listened to everything you've uploaded man, its insane the amount of concepts you've helped me understand. You've also introduced me to minds and theories i may have never discovered on my own. I genuinely hope that you can make a day job out of Youtube, this channel is an amazing resource that i wouldnt want to go without

[AlexG-bcji]

Your ability to go in depth and deal with dense, complex ideas and concepts while remaining clear and easy to understand is sincerely extraordinary and I've encountered very few parallels. Keep up the great work.

[ramencafe]

Bro thank you so much seriously idk what to say. you've created something so unique and beautiful its hard to put into words how valuable it is :) onward and upward!!!

[wizkidgamer]

He has returned in our time of need.
Glad to see you're still here man!

[Oscar.Vasquezzz]

Like nothing I’ve ever seen or heard(first vid of this channel I’ve seen). With every step like this, we chip away at the Emerald Tablet within and beyond us. Mystic, yet completely understandable, repeat upon repeat granting more stability and grasp and always another step to take.
Times changing, An upcoming epoch, Paradigm shift. We are all granted this same oneness and Potentiality right in front of our souls, waiting and watching our reach, granting what we are owed, what we strive for. Thank you for connecting all of us through this system of algorithms and transforming it, using it for what I truly think to be the most important movement, and so damn eloquently. I’ll be back after the first 5 minutes. I have no idea what is in store but I am so ready. Anyone reading this who has any recommendations similar to this, please share! And chances are, if you’re watching this video and reading this comment(which you probably are) you have the same spirit and potential to push out into the world; your own path, your own time, your own voice.
We can do this.
Okay continuing from 4:53, and likely making my way through the rest of these arcane ass videos

[ConceptuallyExperimental]

Every time your videos pop up is when I need them your like a genie thanks

[joelvinsant]

LET'S GO!!! I've been listening to Steiner non-stop for the past several weeks...I can't get enough of it. I'm so excited to hear you go in on Steiner's work.

[SGSteeves]

You’re bold, and you back it up. Thank you for your work, thank you for your daring 🙏

[kevmongcassian]

I admire many things about your channel, but one of the best is your intellectual courage. Your video lectures are always brave adventures in exploring the frontiers of philosophy, science, and religion. You are always crystal clear and rigorously challenging. Every video lecture is an electrifying experience. You make connections between the ancient religions and contemporary cutting-edge science. Thank you!

Your interview with Rupert Sheldrake was mutually illuminating. You should try getting an interview with Charles Taylor about his recent books on poetry and imagination. You two would have much to say to each other.

[cm]

Thank you so much for the "real person/real talk" ending! I absolutely LOVE this channel and appreciate what you do more than you know. Looking forward to the Rudolph Steiner lessons 🙏♥️

[yin_ftw]

psycho active archetypes changed my life and seeing how much research and impeccability you put in these discouraged me at first, since I'm just starting to share what I have learned through archetypes, allegory, sound, and movement....but I know I'll find my own ways of articulating that will hopefully resonate and impact people like you have for me!

[thecougarprince]

Bro, how the fuck did you do that?! I needed to hear this SO fucking bad man, I have known these things in the past, but lately I have been lost as fuck. I have started to believe that none of these things were real, and I was in a sort of psychosis when I believed them? But you just put all that together so eloquently and articulately. Beautiful, I used to be a writer too, and I know how difficult it can be to form these ideas into a coherent thought and then break in down into cohesive bite sized layers, then worked through them slowly and delicately. Just beauty, pure beauty, thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you brother!

[My_Alchemical_Romance]

You are one of the few modern Sages that I truly appreciate and feel the conveyed love and light wrapped and intended to be decoded by the correct viewers.

Keep em coming.

Chant down, Babylon!

[mikejames-iorm]

two concepts I hope in incorporate in my thinking. "we're going to generalize the orphanoman to the archtypal realm. " and "dead means already decided." thanks so much for the work you're doing

[VanessaAnn]

I really appreciate that you get this and can explain it in such a way. It means a lot to me

[JubsOmega]

And I was just about to go to bed, too lol

[christianhuntercascon]

your works are infectiously profound brother!

[QuijadaFernando]

Thank you so much for what you do. Your work is received as a beautiful, loving gift to the world (even if it was perhaps not necessarily intended to be as such, still). Thank you for you.

[SupCortez]

Very grateful that you started your channel friend.

For years i have been studying the lectures of alan watts, sacred geometry, philosophy and the hermetic teachings (specifically "hermes vol. 3" on YouTube.
Your lectures do a fantastic job on helping me understand all i mentioned above, much better. Live long and prosper