Life Adventures, Philosophy

Nothing Exists by Itself

Diamond Mike Watson

Have you ever been asked about your favorite color? Were you quick to give an answer? When one declares their color of choice I usually wonder in what context they admire it. How long could you remain alone in a room, surrounded completely from ceiling to floor, with nothing except the color of red?

What about other senses of taste, touch, and sound? Do you like chocolate, or do you Iike the combination of processed cacao blended with a sweetener? Do you agree that cinnamon is harsh on the pallete without sugar? Do you like the sensation of a cool breeze across your cheeks? Do you enjoy that on a hot, summer day, or when the temperature outside is below zero?

What is your favorite musical note? This is a difficult question because a note played by itself has little emotion or meaning unless it is performed in context with other notes of a particular key.

Our universe offers wonderful sensations. My aim is to demonstrate that nothing exists by itself, but only in context of everything else.

Written by Diamond Mike Watson

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11 thoughts on “Nothing Exists by Itself”

  2. You have a wonderful attitude, young man!

    What is your favorite musical note? This is an impossible question because a note played by itself has no emotion or meaning unless it is performed in context with other notes of a particular key.

    Oh, but it is quite possible, young man! although it does not take away from the point you are making here. It is perhaps, what one might call, “nitpicking?”

    I am one of those lucky (or unlucky) musicians that has what used to be called “perfect pitch,” and then later was called “tonal memory.” In music school, it was an asset in some ways and a liability in others–but that is quite another story altogether.

    My favorite note is C, and even more particular, Middle C, and even more particular, what one might term as “natural pitch.” Most people with my kind of pitching ability, if taken away for a year or two from the world of the piano, and A440 standard, and entered into the world of self tuned instruments with no pitch meters or tuners, will find their preference drift a bit downward to a warmer sounding set of pitches. Not so far as to take one all the way to “B,” but down a bit; somewhere between C and B, I’m not fond of the 440 standard, but it is the standard and, well…. what can one do? (My digital instruments are adjustable though, so I guess there IS something one can do.) I believe that places me somewhere around the A400 range, but I have never undertaken to narrow it down to that degree.

    So that is a fairly specific musical note of which to find oneself in favor. Over the years, It has been suggested that I might have a touch of synaesthesia. Although I don’t actually “see” color when I hear pitches, they do suggest color to me. Strangely, my sweetheart has the same set of color suggestion as I do (and also has tonal memory). C is white, for example, G is red, and F is blue; and, even though “blue is for boys” as the saying goes, AND my favorite color is, indeed blue, making me quite typical in this, F is only my second favorite note.

    Now, as to why that is, I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Robert Browning, and failing that, God.

    Reply

      1. Really just being a bit silly here, young Sir! There was no need to mittigate your text. Still, I read the revised edition, and its impact, I feel, is the same, while being, as you might suggest, more “intellectually honest” ™ : )

        Absolute pitch used to be taught in music school (although I came by it naturally, myself) now, only relative pitch is taught. Another example of the proverbial “dumbing down” ™!!

        Reply

  4. I can remain in a red room a good long while. Many of my rooms actually are a deep fir green.
    I don’t mind the dark flavor of almost unsweetened chocolate…but I do need it in liquid form, since I dislike the waxy texture of solid chocolate that unadorned.

    As for people? We are united fronts of flesh, mind, emotion, and spirit/Will. Will is the engine that drives us forward, mind and emotion are the navigators, and the flesh is the vehicle to carry us.

    Reply

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