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You are here: Home / Cycle-of-Life Season / 7 Assessing / Temperance – Balance – Symmetry – Proportion

Temperance – Balance – Symmetry – Proportion

Francis Picabia, Balance (1919)
  • Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. [Erich Fromm]
  • The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice. [Widely attributed to Benjamin Franklin.]

Not just in politics but in life, proportion is an important value, which is related to judgment.

Opposites include extremism.

Real

True Narratives

True narratives about economic justice for workers:

With China's emergence as an economic power, the United States is newly concerned about the balance of economic and military power.

Some people's idea of balance may be other people's idea of the ridiculous. Commonly, propagandists promote an ideal in direct contravention to its expression.

Artificial economic bubbles are notorious for leading to calamity:

Temperance:

In the 1920s the United States lived under a Constitutional Amendment that banned alcoholic beverages. Spurred by "temperance societies," this episode in history, ironically, exemplifies intemperance.

 

Documentary and Educational Films

Imaginary

Visual Arts

Shadow side:

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

George Frideric Händel, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (The Cheerful, the Thoughtful, and the Moderate Man) (1740) (100-140’), is a pastoral ode studying two alternating moods, or tempers. “The texts of Parts I and II are based on the two delightful companion poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso written in the previous century by the 22-year-old John Milton. The first of these poems depicts the joys of the active or extroverted life, the second the joys of the contemplative or introverted life.” “. . . the piece honors an Enlightenment aesthetic of balance and self-control that still resonates today.” Live recorded performances are by William Christie & Les Arts Florissants; Paul McCreesh & Gabrieli Consort; and Nicholas McGegan at Harvard in 2016. Excellent performances on disc are by John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists; John Nelson, Bach Choir & Ensemble Orchestral de Paris in 2000; Paul McCreesh & Gabrieli Players in 2015; and Rudolf Lutz & Orchester der J.S. Bach-Stiftung in 2017.

Two minimalists have highlighted the idea of symmetry:

To my ears, twentieth century piano trios outside the lingering tradition of French romanticism do not convey as clear a sense of attentive listening as do their nineteenth century counterparts; they seem distracted by the concerns of their era. Still, they strike a scrupulous balance between the three instruments.

Though they were written early in the Romantic era, Robert Schumann’s piano trios are more nearly like those of the twentieth century than they are like their contemporaneous works. In addition, because of Schumann’s inner turbulence, they are on the gray-dark side of temperance and balance. Listen to the works also for the balance among the instrumentalists, which Schumann preserved. “Schumann’s trios, like his symphonies, gravitate toward the middle in sound and substance. Neither the piano nor the violin use much of their higher registers, and Schumann being Schumann, there is no superficial brilliance in any of the parts.”

“Counterpoint is the relationship between two or more melody lines that are played at the same time.  These melodies are dependent on each other to create good-sounding harmonies, but also are independent in rhythm and contour.” “Counterpoint is a musical style of composition that employs more than one voice; however, rather than having a melody line and a harmony line, each voice is equally important in the composition and carries part of the melody. Counterpoint is a form of polyphony that creates a dialogue between the treble clef and the bass clef, and each contributes something meaningful to a joint conversation instead of one serving a supporting role to the other.” “Good counterpoint requires two qualities: (1) a meaningful or harmonious relationship between the lines (a ‘vertical’ consideration—i.e., dealing with harmony) and (2) some degree of independence or individuality within the lines themselves (a ‘horizontal’ consideration, dealing with melody).” Several Renaissance composers notably developed this style.

Other works:

Alvin Ayler presented simple melodies, interspersed with wild creative improvisational jazz riffs.

LPT is a ten-piece Afro-Cuban salsa band whose style could best be described as one of controlled energy. Though their rhythms drive forward consistently, they always remain controlled and balanced. Their albums include:

Albums:

From the opposite side:

Fictional Narratives

In the meantime, while some sang, the rest talked together tumultuously all at once; it was no longer anything but noise. Tholomyès intervened.  "Let us not talk at random nor too fast," he exclaimed. "Let us reflect, if we wish to be brilliant. Too much improvisation empties the mind in a stupid way. Running beer gathers no froth. No haste, gentlemen. Let us mingle majesty with the feast. Let us eat with meditation; let us make haste slowly. Let us not hurry. Consider the springtime; if it makes haste, it is done for; that is to say, it gets frozen. Excess of zeal ruins peach-trees and apricot-trees. Excess of zeal kills the grace and the mirth of good dinners. No zeal, gentlemen! [Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862), Volume I – Fantine; Book Third – In the Year 1817, Chapter VII, The Wisdom of Tholomyés.]

Tempering medieval justice:

Every city during the Middle Ages, and every city in France down to the time of Louis XII. had its places of asylum. These sanctuaries, in the midst of the deluge of penal and barbarous jurisdictions which inundated the city, were a species of islands which rose above the level of human justice. Every criminal who landed there was safe. There were in every suburb almost as many places of asylum as gallows. It was the abuse of impunity by the side of the abuse of punishment; two bad things which strove to correct each other. The palaces of the king, the hôtels of the princes, and especially churches, possessed the right of asylum. Sometimes a whole city which stood in need of being repeopled was temporarily created a place of refuge. Louis XI. made all Paris a refuge in 1467. [Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris, or, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831), Volume II, Book Ninth, Chapter II, “Hunchbacked, One Eyed, Lame”.]

Film and Stage

Poetry

Loved a little, Worked a little…

Those were very fortunate people,
Who considered Love an obligation,
Or they just loved their task,
I remained busy all my life,
Loved a little, worked a little,
Sometimes love was a snag in the way of my work,
While sometimes duty didn’t allow me to love with passion,
Ultimately I got upset of the situation,
And left both my love and my work incomplete.

[Faiz Ahmed Faiz, “Loved a little, Worked a little”]

Two poems by John Milton express the value of balance:

From the dark side:

Music: songs and other short pieces