Mozart and the concentrated mind.

If the whole of which you are aware has a sort of significance, then you can grasp a number of particular things within that as one whole, as Mozart did in the case of the symphony. He didn't just go as it were from one part to another, it was all there at the same time in his experience. Perhaps when we are really concentrated we can grasp things as complex wholes in this way; and maybe it is more than concentration, maybe there is an element of inspiration. It would seem that to grasp things as wholes in that way there needs to be a very intense emotional experience, which you don't usually get if you are concentrating on things in a pinpointing sense.

When the Jains spoke in terms of 'all knowledge', especially knowledge in one moment of time, they seem to have meant that quite literally, at least according to Buddhist tradition, that the enlightened Jain teacher could tell you the exact number of leaves on any particular tree. That sort of omniscience the Buddha seems to have repudiated. You can certainly apprehend the tree as a whole quite vividly, without necessarily knowing exactly how many leaves are on it.

Maybe Mozart could have 'heard' the symphony, in one instant, but he probably could not have told you how many notes were involved!

You can read Sangharakshita’s thoughts and reflections on:
Nietzsche, Milton, Handel and artistic inspiration.
Nietzsche, Goethe and the enemy.
Nietzsche, Zen and Sudden Enlightenment.
Kant, the Buddha and the limits of reason.
The limits of space and time.
Baudelaire and awareness of others.
Spiritual friends.
Giving style to one’s character.
Anarchism.
Schopenhauer and the will to live.
Schopenhauer and aesthetic appreciation.
Mozart and pauses.
Mozart and the unpredictable.
Mozart and the concentrated mind.

25 rue Condorcet 75009 Paris - 01 44 53 07 31 -

Dernière mise à jour:
21 juillet, 2008.