HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013509.jpg
1.96 MB
Extraction Summary
9
People
3
Organizations
1
Locations
2
Events
2
Relationships
3
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Manuscript/memoir page (evidence document)
File Size:
1.96 MB
Summary
This page appears to be from a manuscript or memoir, marked with a House Oversight Bates number. The text discusses musical theory, mathematics, and psychology, referencing 'unstable fixed points' and historical mystic practices. It concludes with a biographical note about the narrator meeting Michael Murphy (co-founder of Esalen) during their freshman year at Stanford University.
People (9)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Unidentified Narrator | Author |
Recounting personal history, musical theories, and meeting Michael Murphy at Stanford.
|
| Unidentified Female ('She') | Associate |
Laughed lasciviously at the narrator's musical composition.
|
| Michael Murphy | Co-founder of Esalon (Esalen) |
Met the narrator during their freshman year at Stanford University; author of 'Golf in the Magic Kingdom'.
|
| John Coltrane | Musician |
Cited as an example of creating altered states of consciousness through music.
|
| McCoy Tyner | Musician |
Cited alongside Coltrane for tenor/piano dialogues.
|
| Abulafia | Historical Author |
Author of 'Hayyei Ha’Olam HaBa' (1280 book on ecstatic techniques).
|
| Pavlov | Scientist |
Referenced regarding 'Pavlov's dogs' and conditioned stimulus.
|
| Rumi | Poet/Mystic |
Referenced regarding Sufi chant-dances.
|
| George | Associate |
Mentioned at the very end of the page as being 'with' Michael Murphy (likely George Leonard, though the text cuts off).
|
Organizations (3)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Stanford University |
Where the narrator met Michael Murphy during freshman year.
|
|
| Esalon |
Refers to the Esalen Institute (spelled Esalon in text), described as a center for mystical pursuits.
|
|
| House Oversight Committee |
Indicated by the footer stamp 'HOUSE_OVERSIGHT'.
|
Timeline (2 events)
Freshman year (Narrator's timeline)
Unknown
Narrator played a mix of classical and modern jazz themes for an unidentified woman.
Unknown
Narrator
Unidentified Female
Locations (1)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
|
Location of Esalon (Esalen).
|
Relationships (2)
It was in my freshman year at Stanford University when I met Michael Murphy
Narrator
→
Social/Personal
→
Unidentified Female
she laughed lasciviously as though tickled by this sensual violation of musical canon
Key Quotes (3)
"Rigid things can more easily fracture."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013509.jpg
Quote #1
"Mysterious are the conditions of attentive (preoccupied) and none attentive, (fugued out) disappearing time."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013509.jpg
Quote #2
"It was in my freshman year at Stanford University when I met Michael Murphy, later to co-found Esalon, the California center for mystical pursuits and naked mud bathing."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013509.jpg
Quote #3
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,387 characters)
mix of classical and modern jazz themes that I called “How High the Moonlight
Sonata,” she laughed lasciviously as though tickled by this sensual violation of
musical canon. A boogie-woogie Bach two and three-part invention brought more
excited disapproval.
Sonata,” she laughed lasciviously as though tickled by this sensual violation of
musical canon. A boogie-woogie Bach two and three-part invention brought more
excited disapproval.
Mysterious are the conditions of attentive (preoccupied) and none attentive,
(fugued out) disappearing time. I found a musical way for it to happen when
improvising: continue to shuffle a small set of notes that stay within the melodic field
of the tonal center of an unchanging tonic chord. In contrast, most melodies and
their chords leave the tonal center to which they return in harmonic and melodic
progression. We can call these conventional tonal centers unstable fixed points.
They are attractive repellers of melodic and harmonic expectation. It has been
mathematically proven that these hyperbolic systems are globally stable. In
contrast, a melody that remains stuck in the tonic chord, a purely contracting stable
fixed point, is technically a chant. Paradoxically, it can be shown that this kind of
fixed point is globally unstable. Rigid things can more easily fracture. The rich,
altered states of consciousness that emerge while hearing the beat of Tibetan
monks meditating, the Sufi chant-dances of Rumi and the John Coltrane and
McCoy Tyner’s endless, single chord, tenor/piano dialogues exemplify the
bifurcation to hallucinatory new stuff arising spontaneously from the experience of
unchanging repetition. Constant repetition of the conditioned (expected) stimulus
drove Pavlov’s dogs, especially those with “nervous temperaments,” into frozen,
catatonic states. Abulafia’s 1280 book on ecstatic techniques, Hayyei Ha’Olam
HaBa, recommended the recitative rearranging of a finite set of Hebrew letters,
frontward and backward, many times, using prayer melodies, until “...the heart will
suddenly become aware of the intellectual, divine and prophetic...” and hitbodedut
will rest upon him. The instructions were “...combine letters (and associated musical
notes)... reversing and rolling them around rapidly until one’s heart begins to feel
warm.”
(fugued out) disappearing time. I found a musical way for it to happen when
improvising: continue to shuffle a small set of notes that stay within the melodic field
of the tonal center of an unchanging tonic chord. In contrast, most melodies and
their chords leave the tonal center to which they return in harmonic and melodic
progression. We can call these conventional tonal centers unstable fixed points.
They are attractive repellers of melodic and harmonic expectation. It has been
mathematically proven that these hyperbolic systems are globally stable. In
contrast, a melody that remains stuck in the tonic chord, a purely contracting stable
fixed point, is technically a chant. Paradoxically, it can be shown that this kind of
fixed point is globally unstable. Rigid things can more easily fracture. The rich,
altered states of consciousness that emerge while hearing the beat of Tibetan
monks meditating, the Sufi chant-dances of Rumi and the John Coltrane and
McCoy Tyner’s endless, single chord, tenor/piano dialogues exemplify the
bifurcation to hallucinatory new stuff arising spontaneously from the experience of
unchanging repetition. Constant repetition of the conditioned (expected) stimulus
drove Pavlov’s dogs, especially those with “nervous temperaments,” into frozen,
catatonic states. Abulafia’s 1280 book on ecstatic techniques, Hayyei Ha’Olam
HaBa, recommended the recitative rearranging of a finite set of Hebrew letters,
frontward and backward, many times, using prayer melodies, until “...the heart will
suddenly become aware of the intellectual, divine and prophetic...” and hitbodedut
will rest upon him. The instructions were “...combine letters (and associated musical
notes)... reversing and rolling them around rapidly until one’s heart begins to feel
warm.”
It was in my freshman year at Stanford University when I met Michael
Murphy, later to co-found Esalon, the California center for mystical pursuits and
naked mud bathing. He is the author of Golf in the Magic Kingdom and with George
Murphy, later to co-found Esalon, the California center for mystical pursuits and
naked mud bathing. He is the author of Golf in the Magic Kingdom and with George
9
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013509
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