Four Aspects of Harmony

I've found myself increasingly drawn to an axiology of harmony, inspired by ancient Daoism and Confucianism. (Axiology is the study of what makes things valuable in general, including ethically, aesthetically, prudentially, and epistemically.) On this view, the, or a, central value is harmonious participation in the flourishing patterns that make our planet awesomely valuable.

But what is harmony?

Presumably, harmony involves a kind of fit, alignment, or cooperation with something else, without duplicating that something else. The melody proceeds; the harmony complements it with something different, generating a richer whole that encompasses both. The relationship is asymmetric: Melody leads, harmony follows -- though of course the follower can affect and elevate the leader.

Hasko von Kriegstein, in "Well-Being as Harmony" (HT Keilee Bessho for the pointer) identifies three broad ways in which a person can harmonize with the world: mental correspondence, positive orientation, and fitting response. I find his taxonomy useful, though I won't follow his exact formulations, and my aim is broader. I'm interested generally in the value of harmony, while von Kriegstein focuses on harmony as personal well-being. I'll also add a fourth category. Part of what I admire about von Kriegstein's taxonomy is its breadth and ambition -- the amount that he can sweep in.

Mental Correspondence

Von Kriegstein suggests that knowledge is a type of harmony between mind and world -- a non-accidental correspondence of one to the other. The world leads; the mind follows. (He doesn't express it that way.) If the sun is setting and you know that it is setting, you are in tune with the world. If the sun is setting and you think it's high noon, you are out of tune.

Achievement, von Kriegstein also suggests, is another type of harmony -- one in which you shape the world to correspond (non-accidentally) to your mind, your goals, your intentions. He treats this as the complement of knowledge, with a different direction of fit: The world comes to match your mind, rather than the other way around.

However, in treating knowledge and achievement as having the same general shape, von Kriegstein misses a subtlety. Harmony, recall, asymmetrically follows melody. Shaping the world to match your goals seems to make you the melody, with which you force the world to harmonize. Imagine bulldozing a hill flat, so it corresponds to a blueprint in your mind. The details of the hill don't matter: The bulldozer ignores them all; it flattens every hill the same. This seems unharmonious. It's an achievement of a sort, and a correspondence arises between your mind (your plans) and the world, but not because you are harmonizing with the world.

Harmonious achievement requires a gentler touch. Imagine instead that you create a footpath through the hill, tracing its curves, skirting a stream, following a shady line of oaks. This responsiveness to the features of the hill, the integration of your goals with the hill as it exists, in a way that does not damage and arguably enriches the hill -- that is the harmonious achievement.

In harmony, you seek mental correspondence to the world, not the other way around, whether that is through knowledge or achievement. Harmonious achievements do not dominate and oppress the world but fit into and enhance what is already there.

Other types of mental correspondence could involve fearing (only) the fearsome, admiring (only) the admirable, wanting (only) the desirable, regretting (only) the regrettable, perceiving (only) what's really there, anticipating (only) the likely.

Positive Orientation

Von Kriegstein suggests that you also harmonize with the world when you have a "pro-attitude" toward events in it -- that is, when you value, enjoy, like, or approve of events.

The sun sets over the hill. Not only do you know it does (harmonizing via mental correspondence) but also you enjoy the view (harmonizing via positive orientation). Not only do you successfully follow the footpath as planned (several types of mental correspondence at once, each harmonizing further with each other) but the walk brings you pleasure. Not only do you accurately notice the swooping of the birds, but you delight in the sight.

Von Kriegstein expends several pages on pro-attitudes gone wrong: inauthentic or toward unworthy things or under a misapprehension. In every case, it's plausible that to have the positive orientation toward the target harmonizes with the target, even if overall it would be more harmonious not to have that orientation. If something in you thrills with joy at suffering kittens, you are in harmony with the suffering of kittens, though you are simultaneously out of harmony with the kittens' well-being.

How is a pro-attitude harmonious, exactly? The melody is the event; the harmony is the part of you that aligns with it, that affirms it, that says this is good, lovely, wondrous, right.

Fitting Response

Von Kriegstein suggests, finally, that you harmonize with the world when you have a fitting response to it, for example when you are revolted by evil, pleased by good, admire the beautiful, and laugh at the humorous. His examples are fine, but relying on only these examples risks collapsing fitting response into mental correspondence.

I would have liked to see, in addition -- and maybe as the center of emphasis -- bodily examples. You respond fittingly to the world also when you skillfully catch the object a friend tosses you, when you merge harmoniously into the freeway traffic, when your video game character dodges the hazards, when your stride carries you smoothly over the uneven creek stones, when you and your dance partner swing perfectly together.

Long-term projects can also be fitting responses: Marriage can be a fitting response to a love relationship; going to graduate school can be a fitting response to your values, skills, and opportunities; buying and reading a novel can be a fitting response to a new publication by your favorite author.

New Resonances

Is it not also wondrous to daydream? Daydreams don't straightforwardly correspond to the world, nor are they always joyful or a fitting response to the events of the day. Maybe we could shoehorn them into one or more of those three categories, but instead let me offer a fourth: the creation of new resonances. We owe ourselves some daydreams.

We harmonize with the world when we enrich it in new ways that resonate with the ways in which it is already rich. Dreams and daydreams enrich the world -- and not in an entirely random, independent way. The long-dead friend reappears for you. You imagine or relive a vacation or a triumph. The worries of your day are reshuffled. (If the dream leaves you anxious or uncomfortable, the harmonies mix with unharmonious notes -- not every aspect of every event is harmonious.)

Likewise, games, sports, art, long chats into the night, splashing in the surf, telling a joke at dinner, pretending to be a magic unicorn, sparkly earrings, surprising a friend with a thoughtful gift... all such acts can resonate harmoniously with what was and is, in a manner beyond reflecting, valuing, or responding to what is already there. Von Kriegstein's first three categories are all a little passive or reactive. This fourth category encompasses the creative and new, which builds upon the old without clashing.

[Kandinsky, Quiet Harmony: image source]