On Music's Power

From Syncope by Catherine Clement as translated by Sally O'Driscoll and Deidre M. Mahoney

By forcing the limits of the self, music follows the rhythm of the creative act as Anton Ehrensweig understood it so well. It contradicts the visceral rhythms, penetrates subjectivity, disperses identity from there by submerging subjectivity with emotions: it is the "schizoid" phase in which one is separated from the world, not without feeling a subtle and familiar aggression. However pianissimo a piece of music may begin, it compels one to leave without moving from the spot where one is, and to come back to oneself where one already knows that one will no longer find oneself. Once this moment has passed, one has crossed over the disharmony with reality, and one has found, with music, fundamental harmony. From then on the equivalents of unconscious "scanning" come into play, along with a sovereign invasion in which music is queen, absolute queen.

One up on Alice treading place in Wonderland.

And so for day 140
03.05.2007