Overtones, Undertones, the Psyche and the Future 🎶
May 05, 2022
A friend and I recently employed a music theory metaphor to explore the psyche’s relationship to time.
The present = the note you play in any given moment (for example, C). The influences of our past = the “overtones”—higher notes that you always simultaneously hear whenever you play a single note (E, G, etc). Like these overtones, the past is always here influencing the unique texture of a person/note. The future = the “undertones”—notes lower than the original pitch that sound simultaneously. I'm suggesting that our future expectations and desires pull us, influencing the experience of each present moment as much as our past. How are your visions of the future making you up now?
As a bonus: We sometimes orient to our past as something to fix. We orient toward pain, rather than toward appreciation. Just like in music, appreciating the unique timbre of a note doesn't mean you ignore when it hurts, or that you don't get to make efforts to change it.
With love, Jordan
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