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Origin of the Symbol in the Spirit of Music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Marius Schneider
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The symbol is a form composed by man more unconsciously than consciously. With primitive peoples, this form seems to have been born from the desire to penetrate to the kernel of supernatural or magical power by means of a concise formula, all-inclusive or ambiguous, particularly through a magic incantation or a song. This penetration, however, is only possible if one understands the inner structure of such a power. According to primitive belief, the true seat of this power is not found in the world of our direct experience but in a magical area in which it rests in a completely abstract, latent state. In this condition it has not yet spread out into various shapes which it has to assume for concrete manifestation but appears completely homogeneous and solid. Moreover, the innermost substance (kernel) of this power is always organized antinomically. From this fundamental tendency to include opposites in a dualistic way, thunderstorms for example emerge as a dual combination of fire and water. Also dualistic is the “fiery stream of volcano and smithy,” the light-dark, hermaphroditism, etc. Psychologically, the original dual event is expressed in the fusion of love and hatred or the combination of a lust for power with inferiority.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 7 , Issue 27 , September 1959 , pp. 39 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © 1959 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

There exists no special literature on the subject treated in this study. As introductory material, we recommend the following:Google Scholar
Spencer, B. and Gillen, F., The Native Tribes of Central Australia and The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (London: 1899, 1904). Many myths of creation are to be found in the voluminous work of W. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee (Munster, 1929-55); in H. Baumann, Schoepfung und Urzeit des Menschen im Mythus der afrikanischen Volker (Berlin, 1936; Dieterlen, G., La Religion Bambara (Paris, 1951); Griaule, M., Dieu d'eau (Paris, 1948); Handy, Craighill, Polynesian Religion (Honolulu, 1927); Leenhardt, M., Do Kamo (Paris, 1947); For the Chinese see Granet, M., Danses et legendes de la Chine ancienne (Paris, 1926) and La Pensee chinoise (Paris, 1934). For the Indies see A. Daniélou, Theorie meta-physique du Verbe (Paris: Approches de l'Inde, 1949); Lévy, Sylvain, La Doctrine des sacrifices dans les Brahmanas (Paris, 1898); Oldenberg, H., Die Religion des Veda (Berlin, 1917); Zimmer, H., Ewiges Indien (Zurich, 1930); Schneider, M., Die Historischen Grundlagen musikalischen Symbolik (Die Musikforschung, Vol. IV [1951]).Google Scholar
Of the Brâhmanas note especially the Brihadaranyaka-, Aitareya-, ChAndogya-, Taittiriya-, and Maitrâyana Upanishads.Google Scholar