• What Is Harmony?

The Mysterious Source of Harmony – Salvador Dali. Wikioo.

“That is where my dearest and brightest dreams have ranged — to hear for the duration of a heartbeat the universe and the totality of life in its mysterious, innate harmony.”

 Hermann Hesse

Harmony has been defined and explained by many great thinkers, writers and philosophers through time, in different ways and in different contexts. It is about achieving balance, congruence, symmetry, unity, concord, cooperation, agreement, coherence and peace.

Harmony Concord – Mikhail Nesterov. 1905. Wikioo.

The human psyche was seen by Plato as a reflection, a microcosm of the Universe, the macrocosm in which we live. Therefore, ideally, a harmonious outer world is reflected in our inner worlds. Everything is connected.

The Love Embrace of the Universe,The Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego and Señor Xó. Frida Kahlo. Wikioo.

“We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson

This universal network of connections and reflections holds true in terms of art, music, language, literature, mathematics, sport, relationships, science, nature….. across the spectrum of life, as the beautiful images and quotations below illustrate:

Quinces, lemons, pears and grapes (1887-1888) by Vincent van Gogh; Vincent van Gogh, Wikimedia Commons.

“Art is a harmony parallel with nature.”

Paul Cezanne

Vincent van Gogh – Landscape with House and Ploughman. Wikimedia Commons.

“Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me.”

Vincent van Gogh

Harmony – Frank Dicksee. Wikioo.

“Music is expression of harmony in sound. Love is the expression of harmony in life…”

Stephen Gaskin

Flax Blooms, a Bride Goes to Her Groom – (Maria Primachenko. Wikioo.

“And when love speaks, the voice of all the gods makes Heaven drowsy with the harmony.”

William Shakespeare

• Harmony And The Self.

The Harmony of the Spheres – Salvador Dali. Wikioo.

“He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.”

Marcus Aurelius

What does harmony with the self mean?

We live in two connected worlds, the inner and the outer. Within our minds, we all have an internal landscape, a vast and complex internal world of our creation, both conscious and unconscious, a blend of many aspects, including memories, dreams, beliefs, imaginings, experiences, fears, thoughts and feelings.

Inside Out 1986 (figure lying on bed in a room with ladder, the moon outside)Sally Moore. Wikioo.

We are also firmly located in the world around us. The external landscape includes the entirety of our surroundings – our homes, workplaces, and the towns and countryside around us.

These inner and outer worlds are inextricably linked, forming a complex network of connections. We are irrevocably interwoven into our surroundings, a part of them, dependent on all that the external world has to offer us.

“But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?”

Albert Camus.

When the outside world and our inner world are largely in alignment, we will feel more peace and harmony than if we experienced a jarring discord between these two worlds, experiencing hatred and enmity towards others.

I hate you – Marisol Escobar. Wikioo.

“Once you overcome the hatred within your mind, you will discover that in the world outside, there is no longer any such thing as even a single enemy.”

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

In many ways, our outer world is something we create ourselves, through our ways of thinking and ways of seeing. If we are resolved and happy inside, then the outside world will appear much brighter and more benign.

Love and peace – David Davidovich Burliuk. Wikioo.

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

Paulo Coelho

Living in disharmony with the world, and feeling a strong and constant sense of disunity and conflict, can cause loneliness and resentment.  Facing what might be happening inside us and becoming familiar with who we are is crucially important in this situation.

We need to find meaning, to become surer of who we are, then we will feel less need to create and maintain disharmony externally. If we are self-accepting, resolved and peaceful inside, then we will have less need to find fault in others or to argue with them.

Henri Rousseau, Happy Quartet. 1901. Wikimedia Commons.

“Happiness is exercising the little freedom that we have by choosing things that create harmony in our lives.”

Kamand Kojouri

If we work at being authentic, integrated and congruent, we will likely fit better into the world around us, even if we have very different views from those around us. A person true to themselves will likely be appealing and inspiring to others and will feel more unity and empathy with the outside world.

• Harmony And The Paradox.

Frances MacDonald – A Paradox 1905. Wikimedia Commons.

‘Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life.’

Carl Jung

Understanding that there are many, many paradoxes, ambiguities and contradictions in life is key if we want to create a sense of inner, and outer, harmony.

Contradictions Hiding Clarity. hmaze. Wikimedia Commons.

Beneath the contradictions, there will be some kind of unity, some kind of meaning and coherence. Discovering the wisdom in a paradox, going beneath the apparent complexity, can be a journey into a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world.

“What if you rested in between contradicting energies? What if you practiced holding contradictory views at the same time with no fantasy of them ever being resolved?”

Nate Green

Being able to keep two opposing views in mind simultaneously, without feeling that we have to come down on one side or another, gives us the ability to reflect, to weigh and balance opposites, to discover contradictory truths that may both have value.

Put together, the apparently opposing or discordant views might be resolved into a whole picture. This is a powerful way of achieving balance; this is harmony.

These ways of thinking mean that we are taking time to consider, to ponder and reflect, which are in themselves creative acts. The confusion and unease created by obvious contradictions and paradoxes can encourage creativity and innovative thinking.

This is so much better than having a thoughtlessly rigid and superficial mindset, one which immediately takes sides without weighing the real evidence, one which cannot accommodate two opposing truths at the same time.

“There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who do not.”

 Robert Benchley

By adopting more open, inclusive and adaptable ways of thinking, we can keep our minds, and our opinions, harmonious and congruent.

Seagulls in the Boat – Maria Primachenko. 1965. Wikioo.

“Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat.”

Audre Lorde

We are complex creatures, and the universe is multi-faceted, full of diversity and difference, ambiguous, quirky, nuanced and intricate in its complexity. Despite all this, there is an underlying unity, symmetry and order, creating a harmonious whole.

Whitman knew this well, and was accepting of all the contradictory aspects of himself, which appear to be very much in harmony in his mind:

Crowd – Istvan Desi Huber. Wikioo.

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.”

Walt Whitman

With a deeper understanding that, in order to feel more ‘whole’, we need to be able to tolerate uncertainty and ambiguities, life will, indeed, feel freer, more at peace and more harmonious.

Harmony of Opposites. Victor Pasmore. 1986. Wikiart.

“The life of this world is nothing but the harmony of opposites.”

Rumi.

Congress of Peoples for Peace – Frida Kahlo. Wikoo

“If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character.
If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nations.
When there is order in the nations, there will peace in the world.”

Confucius

To be continued next week. If you have enjoyed this post, I would really appreciate your support in following my blog!

© Linda Berman.