The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

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Topical Guide 92

peterleroy.substack.com
A Topical Guide to the Personal History

Topical Guide 92

Mark Dorset

Eric Kraft
Sep 17, 2021
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Topical Guide 92

peterleroy.substack.com
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Philosophical Concepts: The Harmony of the Spheres

World Views, Mistaken

The musica universalis (literally universal music), also called music of the spheres or harmony of the spheres, is a philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies—the Sun, Moon, and planets—as a form of music. The theory, originating in ancient Greece, was a tenet of Pythagoreanism, and was later developed by 16th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler. Kepler did not believe this "music" to be audible, but felt that it could nevertheless be heard by the soul. The idea continued to appeal to scholars until the end of the Renaissance, influencing many schools of thought, including humanism.

Wikipedia, “Musica Universalis”

Life and Death

GUPPA DIED when I was twenty-five, of a heart attack. Gumma died when I was twenty-eight, of cancer.

Little Follies, “The Static of the Spheres”

     I have always tried to live, but I have passed life by. I think this is what most men feel. To forget oneself one must not only forget one’s own death, but forget that those one loves will die and that the world will come to an end. The thought of the end fills me with anguish and fury. I have never been really happy except when drunk. Unfortunately alcohol destroys memory and I have only retained blurred recollections of my moments of euphoria. Life is unhappiness. That does not prevent me from preferring life to death, existence to non-existence, because I am not sure of being once I have ceased to exist. Existence being the only mode of being I know, I cling to this existence, for I cannot, alas, imagine any mode of being apart from existence.

Eugene Ionesco, Fragments of a Journal

[more to come on Monday, September 20, 2021]

Have you missed an episode or two or several? 

  • You can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide.

  • You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed.

  • At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of “My Mother Takes a Tumble,” “Do Clams Bite?” and “Life on the Bolotomy,” the first three novellas in Little Follies.

  • You’ll find an overview of the entire work in  An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy. It’s a pdf document.

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The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK
The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.
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Topical Guide 92

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