The universality of music and its importance in the life of man is in many ways analogous to water. It may exist in countless forms and several states. It nourishes and sustains many kinds of internal life. 
It nourishes religions, philosophies, and – sciences, without being identical with any of them. Like beauty it is forever ministering, enriching, and expanding the potentials of human consciousness. This is harmony as controlled dynamic force. Music is disciplined sound. 
It is important that all students of philosophy and comparative religion should appreciate the spiritualizing force of great music. 
It is equally valuable to consider the development of music consciousness and music appreciation through the ages and among the different civilizations which have been enriched by its gentle and gracious persuasion. Music has a meaning for man; it fits into his moods without any compromise of its own integrity. Like water it adapts itself instantly to the shape of its container. In a square vessel, it is square; in a circular vessel it is circular. This is true because of the nature of the element itself, and not because it is catering to the shape of the jug, the vase, or the bowl. We must learn to appreciate the difference between music and noise, but overcome the tendency to consider unfamiliar musical forms as merely untutored sounds. While musical impulses are common to all mankind, musical forms divide into familiar and unfamiliar. As we have difficulty in understanding persons whose ways of life are different from our own, so we have difficulty in recognizing and responding to the arts of peoples psychologically remote. The final measure is sincerity, not proximity, but until we have experienced some kind of social communion with a larger world of human aspirations this communion is comparatively impossible. As psychological sympathy develops we gain the possibility of measuring arts and art values in terms of basic integrity rather than by the false standards of personal taste. We have forgotten completely that great music must originate in a great concept of life. 
It is just as important, in fact more important, to release music from within the self than merely to listen. We need the growth resulting from personal performance as well as the civilizing force of appreciation. To the old philosopher, the human body itself was a musical instrument. It is the musician within the body who must control and direct the impulses which flow outward through the personality. We talk much of the science of living but we should think more about the art of living. By surrounding himself with the art which is meritorious, true and beautiful, the music of integrity which wiII restore his ideals, Products of small minds are no to be compared with those of great minds and cultures. This is all we need to understand, even in a jittery world, to sharpen the edge of discrimination for the choice of surroundings and the environment that will spiritually achieve for us that desirable thing known as the balanced life. - Manly P. Hall

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