12-22-2020, 12:53 AM
Boethius divided music into three categories: the cosmic music as described above, the second was musica humana, which was an ‘inaudible music’ that
governed the invisible and mysterious union of the soul with the body. The third (and least important!) was audible instrumental music, which according to Boethius, pandered to the pleasures of the body but did little to improve the mind. Instrumental music had its place, it was the first step to hear and understand that sounds could be structured with proportion, balance and unified in a beautiful harmony, but it was not the highest form of music, which was always mystical and philosophical. Instrumental musicians were considered ‘labourers’ oblivious to the harmonic and metaphysical laws behind their performances. Composers were only a step above this grade as they fashioned music on an instinctive level, but not on the rational level of the philosopher, who was the ‘true musician’. Boethius declared: “How much nobler is the study of music as a rational discipline than as a composition and performance. It is as much nobler as the mind is superior to the body; for devoid of reason, one remains in servitude.”74 Numbers then were more than mathematical figures, each number also held a mystic significance. By studying rational numbers through music and the other mathematical arts, the mind could grasp the concept of unseen yet perceptible wisdom of philosophy and theology. As a result, theology and philosophy were also bound together with the liberal arts in an interdisciplinary fashion. We note Tolkien was obviously influenced by medieval philosophy when constructing his mythical tales of Middle Earth as evidenced in his other writings in which he envisioned the ‘One’ God creating a cosmic music that was visibly made manifest via the creation of the physical World Circle.
Returning to our study, we can see from Boethius’ philosophical theories on numbers and music that medieval scholars’ perception of the liberal arts was
completely different from that of today. The sciences were not primarily studied for the purpose of learning a technical or practical trade, but to expand the mind and reach the heights of wisdom, and by learning wisdom, one could discern how to attain spiritual perfection. The liberal arts were an ennobling means to teach mankind how to rise from its fallen, base nature and connect once more with the divine. For instance, another example of science mixed with allegorical philosophy is alchemy, the pseudo-science of turning base or worthless materials into more precious substances, the ancestor to modern chemistry. Alchemy is often perceived as the ‘goose-chase’ of ages past, the dabbling quest of the greedy determined to produce gold out of lead, but it was much more than that, working with lead was just one aspect of the craft. The alchemists experimented with many materials, plants and minerals, in attempt to discover the quintessence ~ the perfect and incorruptible fifth element hidden in Nature that bound the Universe together. As gold was the symbol of wisdom in both the Bible and ancient myth, the Holy Grail of alchemy was the quest to discover how to make it, for it was believed that if one could reveal the secret of transforming crude lead into precious gold, they could also discover how to unlock the hidden quintessence of man ~ the eternal quest to rise above the corrupt flesh and once more reach perfection in spirit. In all, Christianised alchemy of the medieval period was intended to be a visual allegory, much like the nature-parables Christ used to teach the people about the Kingdom of Heaven. Unfortunately, the hunt to make easy gold quickly overshadowed alchemy’s original symbolical purpose.
74 Wayne D. Bowman, Philosophical Perspectives on Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 64.
governed the invisible and mysterious union of the soul with the body. The third (and least important!) was audible instrumental music, which according to Boethius, pandered to the pleasures of the body but did little to improve the mind. Instrumental music had its place, it was the first step to hear and understand that sounds could be structured with proportion, balance and unified in a beautiful harmony, but it was not the highest form of music, which was always mystical and philosophical. Instrumental musicians were considered ‘labourers’ oblivious to the harmonic and metaphysical laws behind their performances. Composers were only a step above this grade as they fashioned music on an instinctive level, but not on the rational level of the philosopher, who was the ‘true musician’. Boethius declared: “How much nobler is the study of music as a rational discipline than as a composition and performance. It is as much nobler as the mind is superior to the body; for devoid of reason, one remains in servitude.”74 Numbers then were more than mathematical figures, each number also held a mystic significance. By studying rational numbers through music and the other mathematical arts, the mind could grasp the concept of unseen yet perceptible wisdom of philosophy and theology. As a result, theology and philosophy were also bound together with the liberal arts in an interdisciplinary fashion. We note Tolkien was obviously influenced by medieval philosophy when constructing his mythical tales of Middle Earth as evidenced in his other writings in which he envisioned the ‘One’ God creating a cosmic music that was visibly made manifest via the creation of the physical World Circle.
Returning to our study, we can see from Boethius’ philosophical theories on numbers and music that medieval scholars’ perception of the liberal arts was
completely different from that of today. The sciences were not primarily studied for the purpose of learning a technical or practical trade, but to expand the mind and reach the heights of wisdom, and by learning wisdom, one could discern how to attain spiritual perfection. The liberal arts were an ennobling means to teach mankind how to rise from its fallen, base nature and connect once more with the divine. For instance, another example of science mixed with allegorical philosophy is alchemy, the pseudo-science of turning base or worthless materials into more precious substances, the ancestor to modern chemistry. Alchemy is often perceived as the ‘goose-chase’ of ages past, the dabbling quest of the greedy determined to produce gold out of lead, but it was much more than that, working with lead was just one aspect of the craft. The alchemists experimented with many materials, plants and minerals, in attempt to discover the quintessence ~ the perfect and incorruptible fifth element hidden in Nature that bound the Universe together. As gold was the symbol of wisdom in both the Bible and ancient myth, the Holy Grail of alchemy was the quest to discover how to make it, for it was believed that if one could reveal the secret of transforming crude lead into precious gold, they could also discover how to unlock the hidden quintessence of man ~ the eternal quest to rise above the corrupt flesh and once more reach perfection in spirit. In all, Christianised alchemy of the medieval period was intended to be a visual allegory, much like the nature-parables Christ used to teach the people about the Kingdom of Heaven. Unfortunately, the hunt to make easy gold quickly overshadowed alchemy’s original symbolical purpose.
74 Wayne D. Bowman, Philosophical Perspectives on Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 64.