A Note On "Beethoven"

Music is a higher revelation than philosophy.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born on 16th December 1770 in Bonn, Germany. The birth date is somewhat controversial as he was baptized within 24 hours after birth on 17th December. For the greater part of his life, he had a misconception that he was born in 1772 instead. Beethoven was born in a family of craftsmen and the only means of living was through music. His father was an ordinary court musician and succumbed to alcoholism. The godfather of Beethoven was his grandfather Kapellmeister Ludwig van Beethoven who was a prominent musician and immense source of inspiration to him. It has been pointed out that Beethoven was physically abused as a child by his father who opted harsher means to educate him in the field of music. At the age of 5, neighbours noticed that instead of following regular rigid exercises of music, he used to spend most of his time alone with a piano, fantasizing about different compositions. On March 26th, 1778, his father scheduled the first public recital titled as, "A Little Son of 6 Years", the same age when Wolfgang Mozart presented his debut. Although Beethoven was at that time 7, his recital didn't get publicity. He was pretty bad in sums and calculations and was considered as an average student in school. He showed no sign of such exemplary talent and charisma back then. Around 1784, his father lost the job at the court due to his excessive alcoholism which forced Beethoven to apply to the court for any suitable job for sustenance. Despite his young age, he was offered an Assistant's job at the court with minimal pay.

Earliest Known Composition:

In 1790 Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died and the 19 years old Beethoven got a prestigious opportunity to present a musical composition in his memory and honour. But on account of some unknown circumstances, the composition never got the light thereby projecting doubts over his abilities. It was only after a century later, Johannes Brahms discovered that Beethoven had in fact composed a "beautiful and noble" piece of music entitled Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II. It is now considered his earliest masterpiece.

At the age of 22 in 1792, his life completely changes as he leaves home to Vienna where Joseph Haydn is already waiting for his student. Mozart's demise a year earlier proclaimed Haydn as the world's greatest composer alive. Although Haydn had initial influence over Beethoven but he always aimed for something unique, something personal. He knew his creative abilities and despised the music playing in the background while people play card. He demanded attention from others. He wanted a society free of class distinction. A free thinker. Instead of being humble to the Aristocrats, he signed his letters as "Your Friend Beethoven".

French Revolution blurred the class distinction. There was a kind of restlessness around which was incorporated by Beethoven in his music. There's this willpower in his music that one finds extremely attractive. In contrast to Mozart which had a natural flow, a kind of perfection, one-note follows another because it has to, Beethoven had unpredictability as nature of his music and with him, one note follows the other because he wanted to. He gave a personal touch to his music with its improvisation.

Born as a commoner, he always considered himself amongst the Aristocrats and at par as he thought his music as art elevates him to their status. It was only possible to publish his work through the influence of them, hence he often finds himself in a place where he didn't belong. Moreover, over the period he fell in love with aristocratic women who were out of his reach. Countess Josephine von Brunswick was one such woman who was unreachable because of her social status. "There are always countless Counts, but there's only one Beethoven."

Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.

Personal Life & Despair:

Beethoven never married or had children. He was never able to overcome the shyness and inhibitions influenced by his unfortunate physical appearance. Despite his extraordinary sense of music, Beethoven was lonely and frequently miserable throughout his adult life. He was often considered as a short-tempered, absent-minded, greedy and suspicious to the point of paranoia, Beethoven feuded with relatives and patrons. His state of despair reached its pinnacle in the early 1800s as he found out about his deafness and ailments that he preferred to deny in spite of their evidentiary occurrence. He decided to leave Vienna to find a cure and treat its ailments and reached Heiligenstadt where he spent days in spa treatments and other means of cure which he elaborately explained in his letters. He even reached to the point of committing suicide and to give in to his despairs. But like Nietzsche said, "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger", he came back to Vienna and produced numerous remarkable pieces of music and marked his heroic period between 1803 to 1812.

Heiligenstadt Testament (Existential Crisis):

Often driven by extreme melancholy induced by his affliction, Beethoven described his despair in a long and poignant note that he concealed his entire life.

Dated October 6, 1802, and referred to as "The Heiligenstadt Testament," it reads in part: "O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you and I would have ended my life — it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me."

Almost miraculously, despite his rapidly progressing deafness, Beethoven continued to compose at a furious pace. 

When Napoleon Bonaparte in 1809 conquered Vienna, Beethoven is reported to hide himself in a cellar in order to prevent excruciating pain from the loud noises of bombardment. By 1812, his long term illness became public. By that time he was suffering from acute deafness and inability to articulate any kind of noise, voice or musical note. In a desperate attempt, he also ordered four mechanical tools to enhance his hearing ability but to no avail. Living in agony but with a lust for life, he worked like a maniac, obsessed with his creative mission.

The more devastating the obstacles in his path, the greater is his determination to overcome them. His work symbolizes his urge to fight against his own fate. Then there are moments where he laments about the unfairness of it all. In contrast to his emotional state of being, his music was full of joy and ecstasy.

His last performance as a pianist in 1814 was a disaster as he couldn't able to comprehend his music. The greatest source of sorrow and despair from the inability to experience the most precious possession of his, his music grabbed him into oblivion. From 1819 onwards, he had to use "conversational notes" in order to express himself. He had produced more than 400 of such booklets showcasing Beethoven's desire and longing for companionship. He is finally separated from the world of hearing, freed from all expectations, trapped in the virtual world of his art. Only here does he find the fulfilment of his yearning for ideal love. His later compositions were having an intellectual radical aspect to them. Beethoven's music was of such unique nature that it couldn't be compared with any existing music as it was never created before. Trapped in his own world, he was light years ahead of the people who surrounded him. His deafness allowed him to elevate over the expectations of the others and to only listen to his own inner voice.

In November 1826, Beethoven caught pneumonia while returning back from countryside, travelling in an open milk carriage. In January 1827, after being bedridden for months, his organs began to fail and water started accumulating in his stomach and had to be punctured. Beethoven writes, "Unfortunately until this day, I cannot see the end of my suffering. On the contrary, on February 1827, I will have my fourth operation and if fate commands a fifth and more might come. If this continues what will become of me?" The dreaded surgery never took place. Beethoven died in Vienna on 26th March 1827 at 56 years of age, of post-hepatitic cirrhosis of the liver. Later after his death, notes in his writing suggested that they must be founded and read to the people. "O Men, when some day you read these words, reflect that you did me wrong. Attach this document to the history of my illness so that the world may be reconciled with me."

Beethoven's last words were Plaudite, amici, comoedia finita est, he said.

"Applaud friends, the comedy is over."

#beethoven #classicmusic #mozart #pianist #philosophy

Analysis of the Novella, "Memoir: The Cathartic Night"

Check Out the Official Launch Website to know more about the Novella: "An Existentialist Read".

One of the major concerns that revolve around the Novella is the valuation of objectivity and subjectivity.

"There is no inherent reason for our existence. Hence, no absolutes to abide. We determine for ourselves the definitions of right and wrong by realizing subjectivity as a virtue. There is no preordained order in this totality of chaos. Absurdity is born out of the conflict between our perception of reality and reality itself."

A famous Sophist, Protagoras believed “Man is the measure of all things.” It is Man who decides what is true and false. There exists no absolute truth, there is no absolute reason. Socrates stands in strong opposition to Protagoras and other Sophists as he believed that one can only manipulate the truth through words but he cannot transform truth to false. What is true is a truth universally and cannot be denied.

The Novella finds itself neither in conflict with Socrates nor with Protagoras. It believes that "subjectivity is a virtue that is yet to be realized." How can we realize a universal truth from our subjective nature of being? Socrates claimed the universality of truth by incorporating an objective aspect within himself, he knows only that he knows nothing. This enabled him to experience what he claimed as "universal truth". Protagoras realized subjectivity as a virtue embedded within our nature of being. But he never actualized it to form objectivity. The Novella adheres to the non-existence of absolute reason and encourages individuals to form their own reasons and shape their individuality. The only contradictory aspect incorporated by the Novella from the Protagoras is his subjective definition of truth. I find a fallacy in the analogy of Protagoras. One who understands and claims, "man is the measure of all things", how can he then nullify this claim by stating "there exists no absolute truth". If he deems latter as truth then how can he claim the universality of the former? Moreover, how can he state "there exists no absolute truth" as absolute truth?

Perception, when disguised under biased choices, leads to subjectivity and provide a scope of deviance and immorality. Criminals are born out of the unrealized subjectivity of society which is adamant to create a vision of objectivity through set principles and norms. It is this very act of denial by the society that creates a criminal of a human amongst them. In my article titled, "A Study of Criminal Behaviour (Causality & Prevention of Crime)", I have dealt with the advent of criminality as deviance in detail. Every individual is born as a deviant of society until society reforms it and overrides it with its so formed objectivity. It is necessary in times we live in to have some sort of made-up objective criteria as not every individual realizes its subjectivity before embracing it. They are then engulfed by the facade of their own set of subjectivity and develop an apathetic nature as they drift away from the empathy-based morality. Empathy and morality are indispensably attached to each other. It is our empathic nature that aligns us with morality. Morality should not be treated objectively in isolation with religion. It inadvertently occupies a subjective nature incorporating values of religion.

Non-perspectivity propagates objectivity as a universal principle of morality. An objective application of perception requires one to acknowledge the existence of subjectivity and influence of others as values, beliefs and principles that govern the subjectivity. Instead of creating a society that forces individuals to shed their individuality and incorporate its falsified objectivity, one should influence others to embrace their individuality and acknowledge their subjectivity in order to recognize their limitations. Such individuals shall act not in ignorance of their ignorance but in consonance of their ignorance to form a morality that is unbiased and unopinionated.

"Being “subjectively objective” is to encompass every subjective perspective by appreciation, making oneself unique within the opinionated crowd. Both elements of subjectivity and objectivity must be incorporated in consonance with each other as no objectivity can be comprehended by our subjective ways of being. Objectivity lies in the realization of the existence of subjective realities. The only reality is the existence of multiple realities having their inception as human consciousness, which is the sole commonality. Subjectivity came into being with the advent of the mankind. Our varied perspectives to perceive consciousness gave it a subjective nature. It is only by the process of disintegration that one actualizes the objective aspect of consciousness residing at its core."

A perfect portrayal of the existence of multiple realities and our minimalistic subjective perception. It is only upon the convergence of the realities that we understand how little we know and even out of that how little we comprehend. We must acknowledge that our perception is governed by the circumambient we live in. The latter influences our definitions of right and wrong, compile moral code to abide and exhibit an illusion of truth.

But we mustn't equate right & wrong with truth & false. There can be multiple rights & wrongs to reach the truth. One should be able to appreciate one's meagerness and should embrace it to find a purpose of exploring aspects of the universe which were non-existent before.

"We are nothing, and in its realization we are everything."

#memoir #catharticnight #existentialism #absurdism #absurd #existentialist #sartre #albertcamus #perspective #subjectivity #contemplation #materialism #self #philosophy #psychology #psychoanalysis #death #despair #hope #freud #newrelease #kafka #krishnamurti #nietzsche #zarathustra #beyondgoodandevil

Familiarizing SOCRATES: 469-399 BC (Father of Philosophy)

"One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."

• Sophist: Derived from sophia, which refers to one who possess wisdom. They roamed the entire Greece and self-imposed the role of teachers upon themselves. Sophists claimed to make any weaker position of thought appear stronger by using techniques of rhetoric and debate, as they aimed not to propagate a particular thinking but to make people aware of every possible existing thinking. AIMED FOR KNOWLEDGE, NOT FOR TRUTH. (Similar professionalism as that of lawyers) Two most important Sophists of the earliest times were Protagoras and Gorgias. We now know sophists as FATHER OF RELATIVISM & SUBJECTIVISM.

• Protagoras: “Man is the measure of all things.” It is Man who decides what is true and false. There exists no absolute truth, there is no absolute reason. What is true for you is true for you and what is true for me is true for me. The inception of this thinking was the fact that as sophists roamed around Greece where every town had their own perspective rights and wrongs. “It is equally possible to affirm or deny anything of anything.” When he was asked about his opinion on Greek Gods, he didn’t give an answer and said “The question is too complex and life is too short”.

Socrates sincerely opposed Protagoras and other Sophist as he believed that one can only manipulate truth through words but he cannot transform truth to false. WHAT IS TRUE IS TRUTH UNIVERSALLY AND CANNOT BE DENIED. Moreover, sophist thinking creates a moral problem as there doesn’t exist any difference between right and wrong. Therefore, people lose their ability to form fundamental decisions.

SOCRATES: Never wrote a word. He thought that writing is dangerous as it imprisons knowledge. He was recognised as Ironic, Courageous, Brilliant, wildly Charismatic, utterly Infuriating. The first one to materialise his words into text was Anaxagoras who brought natural philosophy in Athens. Socrates was influenced by three women (Mother, who was a midwife; Diotima of Mantinea, a priestess taught him about love; Aspasia, wife of Pericles taught him art of rhetoric). Two most important students of Socrates were: Plato & Xenophon who wrote everything currently existing about him. They both admitted that Socrates was extremely ugly in his appearance. Socrates was a stonecutter, he never taught for money which sophist did as profession. He lived a simple life and mostly bare footed. He took part in three wars as a solider for Athens and acted with extreme bravery.

He asked questions of ETHICS (what is truth, what is the meaning of our lives)

“Athens is a sluggish horse. I am the gadfly trying to sting it back to life.”

He was known as Gadfly of Athens. As Socrates was growing up, democracy too was finding its feet. All men excluding slaves and women were given power to influence the governance. Ordinary Athenians were now had the potential to determine their future but still their destiny laid with the hands of the Gods. Around half of his life was under heavy influence of visionary politician, Pericles who gathered thinkers and formed democracy as dominant ideology in Greece. Socrates was interested in the flip side of democracy, the negative aspects which it dawns upon. He asked: Is wealth a good thing? Can a democracy itself creates a just society? What is it that makes us truly happy?

He became absorbed in complex private thoughts; lost in his own mind, owing to witnessing horrors of war (poverty, hunger, cannibalism, destruction). What is piety? The only good is knowledge. He believed that studying the cosmos was a kind of diversion as studying human affairs seems far more urgent. He turned rational thoughts inward, to solve the mortal dilemmas we face. Put all his energy in knowing the depth of human existence. What kind of life should we lead? What sort of people do we want to be?

He believed everyone yearn for a full and flourished life. But it wasn’t to be found in the transitory pleasures and distraction of the material world. We can only realise our true potential when we nurture the most precious and permanent part of our beings, our souls. When we do right we protect our souls and when we do wrong we harm it.

He saw wealth as impermanent. A distraction from the search of absolute value. He marched pass the market bare footed in shabby robe saying How many things I don’t need. He believed knowledge cannot come from listening long speeches but only by dialogue. He developed what is now as "Socratic Method of Dialectics".

“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”

He believed that every philosopher’s fundamental work is to ask. “Know Thyself”, inscribed on the walls of Temple of Apollo at Delphi had a different meaning for Socrates. It meant to ask oneself questions and to self examine; contemplation. “What I do not know I do not think I know.” “I know only one thing, that I know nothing.”

"Doubt is the origin of truth.”

Socrates worked through DIALECTICS (two + words), taken from Anaximander. It is based upon the Principle of Non-contradiction: Elimination of hypothesis at the inception of the premise through revealing internal contradiction i.e. to reach the end of the chain of causation. He portrait himself as ignorant; as being a fool and ask questions of ethics to others in a busy market place. The others will try to define the concept asked to which Socrates would find inconsistencies forcing the others to withdraw the definition and reformulate their ideas. He basically uses tool of division and separate the definition into individual parts and attack each part individually and lastly connect them to form a general concept. The end of the discussion is such that the other admits to know nothing same as that proclaimed by Socrates himself. I am not a teacher but more like a midwife who can only crystallise and nurture what is within you. The opposite of the Socratic Method is essentially being influenced by fanaticism and dogmatism. The Socratic Method was cathartic at its core.

Knowing right from wrong was fundamental to every aspect of life. Democracy has revolutionised application of law and law courts. Any male member of the society can be a judge for the day. Socrates was against the very conception of the idea that anyone is able to rule irrespective of the ability he possessed. Any innocent person can be punished upon the act of an ill abled person. He believed that the innocent person shall suffer only physically but it is the ill abled person giving judgment (judges) who would suffer much more. Upon unknowingly doing wrong, they would inflict terrible and lasting damage to their own souls. “The only evil is ignorance he said.”

Athenians at that time had their own set of ethics and morals which were inconsistent and based upon pleasing the Gods rather than living a virtuous and happy life. Greeks did believed in five virtues: Justice; Temperance; Courage; Piety; Wisdom. But in practice they were slippery and shifting ideals.

“An unexamined life is not worth living.”

Socrates thought that all virtues are interlinked and cannot be separated and confined in a single entity “knowledge of the human good”. Virtue is Knowledge. He considered soul as our most precious possession on which all our happiness is depended upon. To take care of it through our decisions based on the changing character of “knowledge of the human good” as per the context; in a battlefield, courage; in a temple, piety. The agency is upon US and not on GODS to make change in the world. He didn’t deny the existence of Gods but his emphasis on the human capacity to shape their own destiny contradicted the traditional religious beliefs. Till 431 BC his unorthodox ideas were tolerated but after Potidaea violence of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and its nemesis Sparta, Pericles was forced to order every citizen to confine within the city walls thereby making Athens a giant refugee camp. Meanwhile, a deadly wild spread disease took lives of 1/3rd of population. Pericles was eventually overthrown and later died of the plague himself.

At times of war, it was dangerous for the Athens to allow youth to independently think and form opinions on account of Socrates’s dialectics as they were crucial assets for the war. Socrates’s favourite place of interaction was Agora, a market place at the center of the city where exchange of ideas and gossips along with trade took place. It is from here, the word agoraphobia, a fear of open spaces derived. Socrates then started interacting individually with the youths at the edge of Agora as below 18s were barred from entry. He was putting into test amongst youth, the ideas of democracy favouring freedom of speech and expression by questioning Gods and the law applicable. Most notable aristocrat devotee of Socrates was Alcibiades. He was an Olympic player whose life was saved by Socrates during Potidaea war. He was intrigued by Socrates’s idea; beauty of mind is more valuable than beauty of body. He thought his beautiful body would be able to help him in such matters.

Chaerephon was a friend of Socrates who went to the sacred temple of Delphi to ask God Apollo who spoke through a priestess. He asked, “is there any man wiser than Socrates?”, she answered "No". Socrates even questioned the veracity of this incident but eventually after realising that everyone with whom he had talked lacked the knowledge they claimed, he acknowledged that he indeed is the wisest but only because “I do not pretend to know, what I don’t know”. Socrates claimed to have a guiding spirit who spoke to him in trance like episode warning him of wrong decisions. This private unorthodox spirituality was easily confused with dark magic as some uttered that he was a sorcerer. Once Socrates went to Dionysus Theatre to watch a parody of him as a play by Aristophanes named Clouds. It was similar to what now is called as “Trial by Media”, as theatre was the place were the people of Athens were educated.

Socrates’s close friend Alcibiades was chosen to lead against Sicily in a war around 415 BC, but before setting to sail someone mutilated the statutes of the Protector God Hermes. Rumoured spread accusing Alcibiades who did it as a means to bring down democracy. He was ordered to come back to Athens to face the trial of sacrilege but he vanished and ended up with the enemy Sparta. Athenians needed a scapegoat and Socrates was tainted by association. When Socrates was around his 60s, he was a presiding officer in an emotionally charged case. Six Athenian generals were failed to pick up the dead bodies of soldiers during war. Public asked them to try jointly which was refused by Socrates even upon the threat of treason. Next day he was off the case and the generals were tried and executed together at the Pynx. The entire incident was a major setback to what Socrates primarily stand for; not to act in vengeance, contrary to the traditional Greek morality which was to help your friends and punish your enemies. He was of the idea that all one can do is to take all possessions and harm physically by killing the other but one cannot harm the soul of other. But by doing wrong to someone else you are damaging your own soul thereby taking away your chance to have a virtuous and fulfilled life. Though he believed that punishment (reformative) should exist but only to purify and cure the damages they have brought upon themselves (damaged soul).

Eventually Athens was brought down to her knees as Sparta barged the city wall. Democracy was tossed and freedom was lost. Though 8 months after, democracy was reestablished but was full of suspicion and was a lot different from the prior sets. It was this time when Athenians decided to finally deal with the gadfly. In 399 BC, 70 years old Socrates was put on trial. The accusations against him was read out in Agora, first being impiety (denying Gods and introducing new ones); second, he had corrupted the young. Plato said Socrates felt like fighting for a lost cause, owing to Aristophanes’ play. He felt like he was fighting with a shadow (rumours and not actual charges) “You will persuade yourself to find me guilty”. The city who once defended the freedom of speech cannot defend freedom to offend. Judged by 500 men around the Athens, 280 found him guilty. A second vote taken on punishment, Socrates had a chance to escape the execution by proposing lesser punishment in form of exile or fine, but instead, he spoke freely and invited martyrdom. He declared he has lived his life for the benefit of the city, he deserved reward not punishment. He suggested dinner, in perpetuity, at the citizen’s expense. Socrates’s irony loses him more votes, by the count of 340. He took the news philosophically as the jury couldn’t harm his soul but have harmed their own.

Now I go to die and you to live; God only knows which is the better journey. Socrates didn’t fear what he didn’t know, including death. Plato wrote in Apology, "For the fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being a pretence of knowing the

unknown; and no one knows whether death, which men in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good." Calmly he drank the hemlock poison in 399 BC.

Last Words: “Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius.”

#socrates #philosophy #greekphilosophy #greekculture #athens