Perfection can be of three different kinds. Divine Perfection is one of these three, but, of course, it cannot be humanly apprehended.
There is another type of perfection, which is open to intellectual apprehension. We appreciate geometrical symmetry or perfect physical balance. We marvel at a skillful singer hitting every musical note at a perfect pitch, the same going for a proficient violinist. But in these last two examples the point of this entry already makes itself felt. Any aesthetically sophisticated listener, and especially, a hypersensitive percipient of what is known as "the perfect pitch," will tell you that the sound borne out of it is always artificial, “unfeeling,” and basically lacking that elusive but indispensable component, which is associated with human emotion.
Maria Callas was not admired for the perfect pitch, which, incidentally, she seldom delivered. The very best singers and the best string players have always striven to convey their unique personal emotions by singing or playing “under the pitch,” and occasionally, “over the pitch,” which means “imperfectly”!!!
And here comes the bottom line, which I have already followed elsewhere, usually philosophically and most significantly, theologically. Perfect symmetry, perfect intellectuality, perfect rationality can never be perfect from a more comprehensive point of view. In fact, they are all deficient in their complementary partner, that is in asymmetry, emotion, irrationality. As I said elsewhere, I am convinced that perfect divinity is a healthy and equitable combination of rationality and irrationality, from which it follows that perfect rationality can never be perfect.
It is therefore the appreciation of that higher form of perfection, which constitutes the aesthetical acumen, leaving the so-called “perfect pitch,” and all of its formally perfect, but aesthetically and emotionally deficient brethren, on a lower, much inferior rung of human experience.
There is another type of perfection, which is open to intellectual apprehension. We appreciate geometrical symmetry or perfect physical balance. We marvel at a skillful singer hitting every musical note at a perfect pitch, the same going for a proficient violinist. But in these last two examples the point of this entry already makes itself felt. Any aesthetically sophisticated listener, and especially, a hypersensitive percipient of what is known as "the perfect pitch," will tell you that the sound borne out of it is always artificial, “unfeeling,” and basically lacking that elusive but indispensable component, which is associated with human emotion.
Maria Callas was not admired for the perfect pitch, which, incidentally, she seldom delivered. The very best singers and the best string players have always striven to convey their unique personal emotions by singing or playing “under the pitch,” and occasionally, “over the pitch,” which means “imperfectly”!!!
And here comes the bottom line, which I have already followed elsewhere, usually philosophically and most significantly, theologically. Perfect symmetry, perfect intellectuality, perfect rationality can never be perfect from a more comprehensive point of view. In fact, they are all deficient in their complementary partner, that is in asymmetry, emotion, irrationality. As I said elsewhere, I am convinced that perfect divinity is a healthy and equitable combination of rationality and irrationality, from which it follows that perfect rationality can never be perfect.
It is therefore the appreciation of that higher form of perfection, which constitutes the aesthetical acumen, leaving the so-called “perfect pitch,” and all of its formally perfect, but aesthetically and emotionally deficient brethren, on a lower, much inferior rung of human experience.
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