One Hand
Clapping:
The Taoe of Music
WholeArts and
The Psychic Internet is proud to present the
"Preface" and "Part One" of this
remarkable book by Daniel d'Quincy. "One Hand
Clapping: The Tao of Music," originally published by
WholeArts in 1991, is a book-length essay on the
performance of music from the perspective of Eastern
philosophy and religion. Mr. d'Quincy is a noted
composer, musician, author, inventor, educator, speaker,
and photographer. Please visit his unique music sites at WholeArts: syNThony, and the WholeArts Online Music Conservatory.
Page 32
We ought now to
reflect more deeply on how things arise out of our
focused attention. In order to know a thing, it must
first be distinguished from all other things. Using the
illustration in the following ideogram, we need to focus
the spotlight of attention on one thing, designated as a
foreground, and separate it from everything around it,
which is its background. Accordingly, one may see in this
graphic image either two faces kissing in the foreground,
in which case the center field is in the background, or
one may see a flower vase in the foreground, in which
case the two outer fields are in the background.
If one makes no
distinction between foreground and background in this
picture, one sees nothing but a squiggly black line
across a field of white, which is to say that one sees
everything and nothing at the same time. In other words,
to make no distinction between foreground and background
is to see the void. (Remember, the void is not empty
– only without recognizable form.)
We will consider
this image, then, to be a graphic representation of the
void. In typical western fashion, however, let us view it
as if it is given to us as the Universe is given to us, after
Creation, complete with God’s a priori determination
as to which portion is to be defined the foreground, and
which the background. This implies that we are meant to
make sense out of the image in one very specific way. Let
us suppose, then, for example, that God intends us to see
a flower vase – since, as it happens, He has never
been entirely comfortable with two faces kissing. We must
keep in mind, as westerners, that our eternal fate
depends on making sense of it in the right way. When we
go to the art gallery, we assume that the human artist
intends us to make some sense out of each one of her
created images. Likewise, we naturally assume that the
Supreme Artist also intends for us to make sense out of
the whole of Creation. (Next Page)
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