Metaphor, Music, and Ma'at

[kiya]

[ Editorial note: Songdragon wants an icon of her own (since most everyone in here who wants one has one that they're happy with); I spent a lot of time today banging on the GIMP (trying to get it to install on my machine, giving up, installing it on the desktop machine, prodding at the way the thing works, and so on) and I have at least a draft of one, and now I'm not using it. Heh. It'll replace the buddha icon whenif we get around to it. ]

I made a comment elsewhere today trying to translate bits of Kemetic stuff into something more generally accessible, and SD and Weaver eventually came up with translating 'ma'at' into 'in tune with the divine harmony' or something roughly equivalent to that.

I want to play with this metaphor. This metaphor is shiny.

Can't have harmony without difference, after all. We're not going for one of those tedious later-period non-jammin' OMs here. And so right out there we've got the whole needfulness of dialogue to maintain and uphold existence. And the possibility of different things, different notes, sounding into a meaningful whole. Ma'at is the principle what organises people into communities.

There's a joke about accidentals in here somewhere.

Harmonies are one of the things that I glom onto in music I hear, that I'm singing. Harmonies and bassline. That's what makes things feel right to me, resonant with my own internal perception of meaningfulness. (I wonder what the bassline is in this metaphor.)

Comments

[brooksmoses]

The desktop machine's a Windows machine, right? How did that install end up working? I've been thinking of trying a copy, and if you've got hints for a workable install file to download and stuff, I'm sure it would be useful.

I also wish to note that "in tune with divine harmony" is doing weird things in my head, considering that the most recent bit of music I've listened to with a similar title is Hindemith's "Die Harmonie Der Welt" ("The Harmony of the Universe"), which is atonal.... I don't think that's quite the sense you're going for!

[kiya]

The install went fine. I'm not sure which Windows this thing is running, but it was smooth.

If you hit the link on www.gimp.org for Windows installs, there's a link from there to something that will have both a precursor app and the GIMP; download 'em both, install the precursor, install the GIMP, and play.

[raingnosis.livejournal.com]

I like that ma'at metaphor.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

In my mind, ma'at = tao. The two concepts are fundamentally identical - or at least, they are in my mind. This is how Kuan Yin and Tehuti can chat in the teahouse in my mind. :)

[elynne.livejournal.com]

... or something. *handwave* words fail me; I need sleep.

[kiya]

That's a nice one. *files away for ponderage*

Today is a good day for parallels, for I also received Galatians 5:22-3.

[rainfallsautumn.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting analogy to ponder. I still don't know what I believe about ma'at, since you can imagine the question is a bit convoluted for me considering who... well, you know. :) I can see Ma'at and Isfet as abstractions, but I have issues with examples that people tend to raise. A lot of what's "ma'at" to me isn't, and a lot of what is called "isfet" could also be said to have a constructive purpose. So the whole thing confuses me.

BTW, I now know what rhondomel and braggot are. And rose mead sounds absolutely divine! I love your posts. They give me something to google. :)

[kiya]

It confuses me too. I tend to sit down and muddle through as best I can with what I've got, y'know? I tend to parse 'isfet' as 'that which seeks to unname', at root. (Hm. Follow-up brief thought in email.)

The rhodomel smells glorious. Taste isn't up to the smell yet; I'll let it age. (I find it funny how the things that I love have manifested as Names in my life, y'know? I dyed my hair red for ages before Set showed, and I was homebrewing well before I recognised my Mother as Ht-Hrw. . . .)

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I have photoshop skilllllz, and I've made people icons in the past. If you know waht is wanted, or have some picture that you want iconified, I can see what I can do...

[mindways]

Harmonies are one of the things that I glom onto in music I hear, that I'm singing. Harmonies and bassline. That's what makes things feel right to me, resonant with my own internal perception of meaningfulness.

*nod* I love J. S. Bach's music - except for his violin solos. :-)

(Partly because they're crafted more for demonstration of technical expertise than for performance, but mostly because they're solos. There's none of the counterpoint and harmony which makes so many of his other pieces exquisite...)