What makes me choose one musical piece over another? What’s the reason for my emotional need to listen to it over and over again? Why does that emotional need to listen to it prevail over any rational analysis in my choice?
Given this simple situation, these and many more questions that have no definitive answer arise. One can try multiple, intelligent and creative explanations and reasonings, but they are never definitive.
Human knowledge requires a scientific methodology, hard data. That’s why the construction of meaning in any area is essential to gain a foothold on solid ground.
Nevertheless, when facing questions where it is evident that truth can allow for more than one possibility, the architecture of content turns to a very powerful element that links the conscious, the unconscious and the intuitive.
That ambiguous wild card is the symbol.
The symbolic expresses itself through silence, alludes to without saying, suggests without pressure, disguises what it represents, shows while hiding and vice versa. The symbolic challenges the limits; it’s “borderline”. It travels the edges of the magical. It’s mysterious.
And, returning to our questions, it´s here where we can test some possible hypothesis.
Could it be that a work of art operates as a symbol within the human soul? Like a portal to another dimension? Like a final veil that separates us from what irrationally attracts us with a promise of joy?
The concrete and real thing is that, when listening, a feeling of going beyond is awakened in our being, a well-defined perception of elevation above our usual state of consciousness.
Why not assume that this level of emotional optimization is sustained by the expectation of an inscrutable “something” that lies beyond the last note, after the last chord, sound after sound until the final cadence?
Could this be a process that we can calculate, explain, or measure?
It so happens that the same work, performed by different artists, creates a different sensitive response in each person. It may move them, or it may not.
It also happens that the same musician performs the same work in two different concerts, and in one he moves the audience, while in the other he does not.
Perhaps we could begin to speculate about the existence of a process in the sensitivity of our soul that, given its encrypted characteristics, we could define as a mystery.
Though it may be very difficult for us to define it, we have a visceral certainty of the existence of that invisible thing that shakes our spirit. It arises as an alchemy of cohesion and harmony that sustains our magical bond throughout the work and becomes an essential element in its having life.
Let’s ponder over a possible hypothesis.
Mysticism is that philosopher’s stone.
