Noise: The Peace of Apollo vs. the Anxiety of Dionysius

Have you ever stopped to wonder at the prolific presence of noise?

Here at the University of Dallas, Dr. John F. Boyle, professor of theology and Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, gave this year’s Aquinas Lecture. The annual address is given by a Thomistic scholar on some aspect of Aquinas’ thought. His graciously delivered lecture was titled “Master Thomas and the Fullness of Life”. After introducing the audience to some of Thomas’ wondrous insights, Dr. Boyle mentioned that a recent study has revealed an unsettling American phenomenon: the average iPod-toting citizen listens to a song for an average of 17 seconds before punching the  “>” button to skip to the next track.

(If you’re still reading this post, congratulations: you might have a longer attention span than the poor fellow we just mentioned.)

“17 seconds?!? You can’t be serious, Ben.”

I am serious, and that “17 seconds” seems to witness to a deeper personal malaise that afflicts the restless minds of countless Americans, religious and secular alike.

Just waltz through any college campus or shopping mall, and you’re bound to see someone in touch with that fullness of life, that all-generous, all-entertaining, all-exciting iPod.

And we wonder why our country is fraught with “ADD” and “ADHD.”

Can you imagine how Thomas Jefferson or Thomas More would’ve turned out if they had grown up under similar conditions? Can we expect any good fruit to grow from such noise-addiction, especially when we stop to consider the anarchy that spews forth from many of these “musical” genres?

Now, I’m no luddite, and music can surely be employed to cultivate, rather than poison, the tranquility of the human spirit. But in light of our newfound “17-seconds” factoid, maybe we should humbly consider rethinking both how much, and what sort of music we shower our minds with.

As one astute observer of human nature points out (if you have the attention span, it might be worth your while to attentively assimilate the entire quote):

The writings of Plato and Aristotle on music show that the Greek world in their time was faced with a choice between… two fundamental types of music. On the one hand, there is the music that Plato ascribes, in line with mythology, to Apollo, the god of light and reason. This is the music that draws senses into spirit and so brings man to wholeness. It does not abolish the senses, but inserts them into the unity of this creature that is man. It elevates the spirit precisely by wedding it to the senses, and it elevates the senses by uniting them with the spirit….

But then there is the music that Plato ascribes to Marsyas, which we might describe, in terms of cultic history, as “Dionysian.” It drags man into the intoxication of the senses, crushes rationality, and subjects the spirit to the senses….

The Apollonian/Dionysian alternative runs through the whole history of religion and confronts us again today. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 150-51)

And even more to the point:

“Rock,” on the other hand, is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact…

People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the experience of being part of a crowd and by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe.

The music of the Holy Spirit’s sober inebriation seems to have little chance when self has become a prison, the mind is a shackle, and breaking out from both appears as a true promise of redemption that can be tasted at least for a few moments. [emphasis mine] (The Spirit of the Liturgy, 148).

So, considering the presence of such inner chaos, confusion, and turmoil, what is to be done? What is the path that will lead us out of the cave? What sort of philosophy or theology will shed light on the minds of those who live, move, and have their being in a society inundated with perpetual noise?

We’ll try to answer these questions next week. But until then, let’s give some silent and attentive thought to the matter.

17 seconds…now that’s some food for thought.