Silence is the title of a book by John Cage. Also, since Cage was something of a student of Eastern spirituality, he may have been referring to the Eastern concept of nonbeing. Silence can be a metaphor or symbol for nonbeing, which comes before being (or grounds being). 

This concept has a long history, but is perhaps most familiar to Westerners in Taoism, where it has a received a hard to beat literary expression.

In Western thought, nonbeing might correspond very loosely with what Kabbalists call ayin (sometimes equated with God as ein-sof), or what Christian mystics sometimes call the Godhead.

In existential theology, sometimes it is said "God is not a being." This gets at the concept indirectly. 

I personally find the image of silence as the ground of music to be very fruitful, so I named my algorithmic composition system Silence, referring both to Cage (whose approach to music I have found quite helpful as an algorithmic composer), and to nonbeing.

The Silence system exists in the Windows installer for Csound 5, in the CsoundVST Python extension module.

Regards,
Mike

-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Mossey 
>Sent: Feb 10, 2006 12:34 PM
>To: csound@lists.bath.ac.uk
>Subject: Re: [Csnd] Algorithmic composition - the simplest model
>
>
>> hi
>>
>> On 2/9/06, Michael Mossey  wrote:
>>> What's key for you?
>>
>> patterns in sound
>> also important is an understanding that my key may not be your key [so
>> ... we open different locks]
>>
>>
>> -=+=-
>>
>> also i thought it was interesting that cage was mentioned so soon, and
>> became divisive almost immediately. poor john- just wanted to open up
>> people's ears [and minds], but became the poster boy for lunatic
>> experimentation.
>
>I like his idea of listening to naturally occuring sounds as music. I've
>noticed that 4'33" is often described as "silence" when I thought that
>wasn't his point.
>
>Mike
>
>--
>Send bugs reports to this list.
>To unsubscribe, send email to csound-unsubscribe@lists.bath.ac.uk

I hope y'all won't mind if we engage in a bit of discussion here.


> Silence is the title of a book by John Cage. Also, since Cage was
> something of a student of Eastern spirituality, he may have been referring
> to the Eastern concept of nonbeing. Silence can be a metaphor or symbol
> for nonbeing, which comes before being (or grounds being).

I'm not sure what "being" is, therefore I'm not sure what "nonbeing" is.

I'm a student of vipassana meditation (also called "insight" or
"mindfulness" meditation), which originates with the Buddha.

My first question is, can you explain what "being" is? In a way such that
"nonbeing" can be defined as the absense of "being"?

In my own vocabulary, I can think of several interpretations of what you
write.

(1) A meditator who reaches states of very deep calm and steady focus
discovers some extraordinary experiences. Every effort we normally make to
sustain ourselves, or thinking is necessary to sustain ourselves, can drop
away. Is this a state of nonbeing?

(2) A Buddhist meditator may discover that he continually constructs a
sense of "small self" or "limited self," which separates him from the rest
of the world. At a deeper level, we discover the connection to the rest of
the world and open into a much freer self. Does "being" mean to construct
a limited sense of self?

(3) A Buddhist meditator may discover that all experiences arise and pass.
He touches the void or space out of which experiences arise, and to which
they return. Also, "karma" means that all experiences are conditioned by
prior experiences. You come to have insight into the way each thing arises
according to the dharma, or operation of the universe. Underneath this,
one discovers the "unconditioned."

Any of these meanings correspond?

Mike


>
> This concept has a long history, but is perhaps most familiar to
> Westerners in Taoism, where it has a received a hard to beat literary
> expression.
>
> In Western thought, nonbeing might correspond very loosely with what
> Kabbalists call ayin (sometimes equated with God as ein-sof), or what
> Christian mystics sometimes call the Godhead.
>
> In existential theology, sometimes it is said "God is not a being." This
> gets at the concept indirectly.
>
> I personally find the image of silence as the ground of music to be very
> fruitful, so I named my algorithmic composition system Silence, referring
> both to Cage (whose approach to music I have found quite helpful as an
> algorithmic composer), and to nonbeing.
>
> The Silence system exists in the Windows installer for Csound 5, in the
> CsoundVST Python extension module.
>
> Regards,
> Mike
>

I have felt that the same concept often applies to my own music.  I was
reading a lot of similar material in college (Cage's Silence, books on
Eastern philosophy and mysticism, etc.)  while I was discovering music by
composers such as Steve Reich, La Monte Young, Brian Eno, and Arvo Part.

Much of my own music has been an attempt to sonify the image of the "Dance
of Shiva" where the "particles" of the material world are constantly being
created and destroyed.  Or the Buddhist Doctrine of Dependent Origination --
"this arising, that arises and this ceasing to be, that ceases to be."  In
my ambient music, the notes constantly arise out of the silence only to be
absorbed back into the silence in an intricate dance whose exact steps
cannot be fully anticipated in advance.

[That perhaps make it sound more grandiose than it really is :) ]

Anthony Kozar
anthonykozar AT sbcglobal DOT net


Michael Gogins wrote on 2/10/06 1:22 PM:

> I personally find the image of silence as the ground of music to be very
> fruitful, so I named my algorithmic composition system Silence, referring both
> to Cage (whose approach to music I have found quite helpful as an algorithmic
> composer), and to nonbeing.