Creation Song

Genesis 1 is sometimes referred to as a  Hebrew “creation hymn,” reflecting the mystery, grandeur and beauty of the act of creation. In CS Lewis’ “The Magician’s Nephew,” (the precursor to “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”) there is the scene where Aslan sings creation into existence. Similarly, in JRR Tolkein’s “Silmarillian,” angelic beings perform a great musical symphony, prefiguring the creation of the material universe. Such literary scenes are drawn not only from the melodic, repetitive nature of the Genesis 1 account, but from its description of the act of creation that is born out of God speaking the universe into existence.

People get so caught up in the order and the arguments over amounts of time, evolution, etc., that they completely miss the point and the cosmic scope of the prose. I attempted to grab hold of the canorous quality and the sense that life bursts forth from the musical notes of wisdom’s song.

The ‘musica universalis” (universal music) is an ancient philosophical concept that the movement of the celestial bodies is a harmonic movement rooted in mathematics, a metaphysical premise whereby mathematical relationships express qualities or “tones” of energy which manifest in numbers, visual angles, shapes and sounds. Pythagoras proposed that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum (orbital resonance) based on their orbital revolution, and that the quality of life on Earth reflects the tenor of celestial sounds which are physically imperceptible to the human ear.

Those who know me undoubtedly see the irony in which I embrace the mathematical (the bane of my existence typically) as being part of the heart and soul of the musical and artistic. But like everything in life, I don’t have to necessarily fully understand it to appreciate it.

Oh, and yes. That’s my dog, George. Because, I love my dog.

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