A walking bass line was used extensively in Baroque era music, but is also used in Jazz. It is a bass line that moves steadily in a rhythm contrasting harmonically to that of the melody. Baroque variations use the walking bass line to establish the aural foundation of the piece which is then used to drive the harmonic melodies above; Bach’s “Goldberg Variation” is the prime example of this. One bass line, creatively modified here and there, drives 30 melodic variations. This is not easy, especially when you’re talking about polyphonic music. Each bass note limits what can happen above in the melody. The “Goldberg” is especially lovely because the bass line Bach used comes from a lovely Saraband, which by Bach’s time had become a stately court dance with just a slight hint of the eroticism from its folk history. The Saraband begins and ends the variations, a virtuoso display of creativity such that the final version brags in a motherly way, about how all its children, the variations that came from the womb of the Saraband.
All this is to say that everyone’s life needs a bass line that drives their understanding of life in this world. “Facts” are simply dots on a page; it is the bass line that provides the context for the dots and allows the music to be created. Thus, one should choose one’s bass line carefully because it will shape how a person perceives and organizes that person’s world, be it harmoniously or not. Given this realization, the first efforts at understanding need to focus on the fundamental questions: Is reality purely material? Was there a first cause, and was Thomas Aquinas correct that we should name the first cause “god”? Is nature essentially good, bad, or indifferent? Is there a reason that I’m here? The answer to these questions will form the walking bass line of one’s life, so judge carefully so that your life develops in a manner that allows you to flourish.
Blog 97: We see what we understand
Our thoughts are prisons. Our brains are too simple for reality, so we need icons as a crutch. Words are those icons. But we forget that words are boxes that we add up to build castles. But, what is a castle? It is something that locks things out and in. If we forget that, we imprison ourselves in our thoughts, which is why running into reality is so important.
What see what we understand. The brain tries to efficiently use the limited space we have for conscious observation and thought; it is extremely valuable space indeed. Things that our eyes experience are elevated to conscious thought if relevant, as determined by the brain. In completely normal settings we focus on exceptions that we find interesting; we direct our attention, or tell our brain what to elevate for our consideration.
Sometimes it’s more mundane, but equally important. If I have an important job interview tomorrow morning I set the alarm clock. My ears continue to work, sound waves experienced by my ears as organized and understood by the brain’s software, are not important so the brain doesn’t elevate them for conscious consideration. My ears and brain don’t stop working, they simply aren’t experiencing something that I should know about. When the alarm go off, the same process is at work; my ears sense sound waves and by brain’s software processes them, except this time it matters, so the sounds are elevated for my consideration, I hear them and get up. This is why when sleeping in a strange room, we sleep poorly; our brain is unsure about unfamiliar sounds. Nothing can be done about this process directly; a million years of evolution makes us the way we are in this regard. What can be done, however, is the conscious direction of our sensory system to enhance our experience of our reality.
Art is important in this regard because it sidesteps the word castle problem by diminishing the importance of words, or in the case of poetry, changing the way words are used and what they mean. Is it “thought” to experience the thrill of the “Ode to Joy”? It is both thought, to the extent we understand what Beethoven is doing in the context or his era, but it is more than that because we feel; the sounds mysteriously avoid the word castle and go straight to the heart of the matter. “Mysteriously” is the key. All great Art does this in a poorly understood way; we slip the surly bonds of our “reality” and experience something that feels beyond that reality yet is clearly part of our reality. In so doing, Art expands what we understand and allows us to see more fully what our existence has the ability to show us by giving our prison a courtyard; a window to a more meaningful kingdom.