Radiance from Halcyon: A Utopian Experiment in Religion and Science

Chapter 9: Dune Spirit, Harmony, and Dissonance: Music and Art at Halcyon

According to The Secret Doctrine, music was part of the evolution of the forces of the universe, “proceeding and evolving in seven tones, which are the seven notes of the musical scale.” As an ancient division of mathematics , music was the vibrational sounding board of the cosmos and represented the metaphysical to the physical. Moreover, music developed emotion in the human race, making it a factor in the evolution of the soul. It was considered the greatest of all of the arts, because it revealed and made immortality real, since music was the “soul of Art” that spoke “to us with the language of God.” The physical sounds and resonances of music produced emotional and spatial effects in the spirit. Music was another duality that balanced dissonance and harmony, rhythm and melody.1 The scientific study of music was also of great relevance, not only for the soul but also for the body. Following Galen and Democritus, Dower believed that experiments in music or tonal therapy, which he undertook with Henry Cowell in early 1922, might reveal its power to influence 193 9 dune spirit, harmony, and dissonance Music and Art at Halcyon To promote the study and practice of Art on fundamental lines, showing that art is in reality the application of knowledge to human good and welfare, and that the Christos can speak to humanity through Art. —Artisan, 1923 White-gray dunes, marvelous with mystery, Golden now with sunlight, deep and living, with your heaped up millions and billions of jewels! . . . What majestic word are you speaking now. —John Varian, “Sand Dunes” 09chap9_Layout 1 2/12/2013 05:35 Page 193 disease. If sound could create harmonious resonances that built up the soul, perhaps dissonances or destructive resonances would heal disease, if in fact disease was a vibration in nature. Dower theorized that C-sharp and E, played on the violin, could effectively treat cancer, and that A and B-flat destroyed tuberculosis. He admitted that a great deal more experimentation was needed to prove these hypotheses, but he believed that “a wonderful field for research” was opened up to physicians, musicians, and scientists. Perhaps “energetic composers” could write special music with super-vibrational overtones that would have therapeutic value.2 Music, combined with drama, also helped evolve the human race, since together they illustrated the “Harmony between Sight and Sound, and the further blending of Light in Sound and Sound in Light.” Katherine Tingley, whosedramaticproductionsatPointLomawerealreadywell-known,wrote that drama, like music, was generally thought of as “one of the relaxations of life,” but she believed that true drama pointed to “the real life of the soul.”3 While producing harmonious vibrations was music’s highest goal for everyday theosophists, Theosophy provided inspiration to a number of modern musicians, including Alexander Scriabin, Henry Cowell, and Dane Rudhyar, all of whom were interested in dissonance as a musical and spiritual power. Cowell’s experiences at Halcyon were formative in the creation of a uniquely American modern music, the influences of which were felt across the music world. Since Halcyon had many members involved in music, theater, and the visual arts, it was natural that art would become one of the chief objects of the Temple. During the 1920s and 1930s, Halcyon established a reputation for being an important cultural center in California. A 1937 issue of the San Luis Obispo Telegram reported that “much interest manifests itself in the cultural work being done at Halcyon, and which has given Halcyon the statewide reputation of being second only to Carmel as a center of music, art, the drama, and other education activities.”4 By the early 1930s, the atmosphere of the dunes attracted a group of artists and seekers called the Dunites, loosely affiliated with Halcyon, who helped bring about an important , if short-lived, experiment in community, publishing, and the arts. Music and the Mystery Plays Music, because it was based in the vibrations of nature and subject to mathematical laws and geometric ratios, represented for theosophists “an 194 Dune Spirit, Harmony, Dissonance 09chap9_Layout 1 2/12/2013 05:35 Page 194 incorruptible and direct medium between the higher and lower natures in man.” The blend of its numbers was a living harmonious force that electrified the heart and mind and lifted “the whole nature, [to] the plane of soul.” Music was variously described as a “living field of energy,” “the universal life of Nature as she...