Music and Contemplation 2: The Metaphysics of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The purpose of my previous article on music and contemplation was to bring out the metaphysical meaning of traditional music and its link with contemplation, but since I lack the patience to really flesh out my ideas the post did come across rather brief and unfocused, so here I just want to elaborate on the symbolism of music in a more concentrated way.

My main point was that religious chant and Indian classical music both point to the same truth that there is an immutable and primal God, and that there is a world of multiplicity that stands in relation to Him. This is probably the most basic outline of reality that can be drawn, and pre-modern contemplative music represents this outline in audible form. We can visually manifest this basic outline in the form of the Cross and all its variants, wherein the vertical portion of the Cross stands for God and the horizontal for manifestation (the melody). The melody of chant surrounding its harmonic centre is not a chaotic motion, the world did not emanate in a random fashion, and this is manifested by the use of modes in music, therefore, to break the mode is to break the order of creation. This latter point is made more explicit when we consider the esoteric meaning of the modes: their correspondences with the planets and elements. These correspondences and their place in traditional cosmology (I would like to more specifically comment on the meaning of the modes but I lack the knowledge) bring more depth to scales than if we viewed them merely as tools to make the music sound pleasing. Again, we can clearly see this in the Indian tradition, as different ragas are set to be performed at different times of the day and in different seasons, the music is in tune with the world...

Just as the planets circle perfectly in their orbits (I don't care that they physically don't) so melodies circle their centres with the modes guiding their trajectories. This image brings us to consider the circle. In this symbolism, God is taken to be the centre of the circle, specifically the indivisible point which serves as its centre. The term point is fitting for our purposes since Euclid defines the point succinctly as "that which has no part:" a simple indivisible unity. This obviously points to God as he is not even composed of essence and existence, God cannot - absolutely speaking - say that He is this or that thing, but rather that He is who he His: "I am I." Plotinus makes this point in Ennead V.III.10 saying that "the assertion 'I am this particular thing,' either the 'particular thing' is distinct from the assertor - and there is a false statement - or it is included within it, and, at once, multiplicity is asserted: otherwise the assertion is 'I am what I am,' or 'I am I." The parallel to Torah here is remarkable. 

We can then envision reality in the form of a circle, with God as the centre and all things as the circumference. Once again the drone of chant is the centre of the circle and the melody rings around it in the form of a wheel in motion. This symbolism is very apparent in music with a constant harmonic centre as this form is not based around a series of harmonic modulations or dramatic buildups, the result of its simplicity is that you can start midway at any point in the melody and the whole is still coherent because it redounds back into itself, it is continuous: circular. Also, the centre acts on the rings without itself moving, by its stability it guides all things, this is the wu-wei of Taoism and the unmoved mover of Aristotle.

To this we can overlay the cross on the top of the circle, the result is the form of the Celtic cross.

Only slightly shifting our point of view we can understand the vertical beam as the objective principle to which the horizontal beam (representing humanity) must align with at the centre of the circle of creation (the indivisible point which is God). This perfect alignment with the centre of all things is salvation: union with God. However, this is only one angle through which we can view this, the other aspect is to view the centre in relation to man who is a microcosm of creation. Plotinus speaks of the centre of man as the abode of God saying: "This Highest cannot be divided and allotted, must remain intangible but not bound to space, it may be present at many points, wheresoever there is anything capable of accepting one of its manifestations: thus a centre is an independent unity, everything within the circle has its term at the centre; and to the centre the radii bring each their own. Within our nature is such a centre by which we grasp and are linked and held; and those of us are firmly in the Supreme whose being is concentrated there." And so he goes on to make the point that in order to hear the voice from above we need to turn our faculties inward and hold them there. This is an Augustinian paradox.

This returns us to our original theme of contemplation, as this is the activity that Plotinus says brings us in accordance with God at the highest levels (the joining of the vertical and horizontal axes at the centre of the universe), all other activities are but steps of preparation to this.  The centre of man is identified symbolically with his heart (it is interesting to note that Aristotle identified the heart with the seat of our intelligence), and it is here where God is found. The macrocosmic and microcosmic views of the centre point then become merged in the Catholic iconography of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as He is both God and man in a single divine person. Christ himself being crucified on the Cross put his heart at the centre of the Cross, showing the necessity of aligning oneself to his heart: the unoriginate centre of all.

Here in too brief of a time I have tried to show in my limited understanding how we get from the form of Indian classical music to the ultimate meaning of reality under the form of various symbols culminating in the icon of the Sacred Heart. Far from being a mere sentimental object of devotion, or, - as many Orthodox claim - a manifestation of the Nestorian worship of mere body parts, the Sacred Heart carries with it all of the above metaphysical depth of meanings and undoubtedly much more that I have missed. These meanings are also carried in what I have termed "contemplative music" (I do wish I had a better word for it), as metaphysics is inherent in its form and structure. Such music then is the song of the Heart of the Lord, its rhythms reverberating throughout the whole of creation.