Zecheriah 11
11 Lebanon, open your gates!
Let the fire come in
to destroy your cedar trees.
2 Cry, you cyprus trees!
The glorious cedars have fallen
and are rotting.
Cry, you oak trees of Bashan!
The dense forest
has been chopped down.
3 Listen! Shepherds are crying.
Their glorious pastures
have been ruined.
Listen! Lions are roaring.
The forests of the Jordan Valley
are no more to be found.
2 Samuel 1
1 Saul was dead.
Meanwhile, David had defeated the Amalekites and returned to Ziklag. 2 Three days later, a soldier came from Saul’s army. His clothes were torn, and dirt was on his head.[a] He went to David and knelt down in front of him.
3 David asked, “Where did you come from?”
The man answered, “From Israel’s army. I barely escaped with my life.”
4 “Who won the battle?” David asked.
The man said, “Our army turned and ran, but many were wounded and died. Even King Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon
Chapter 4
God’s Creation and Human Creativity
Creativity and Art
2. Harmony
Music expresses the harmony of the universe,
while rituals express the order of the universe.
Through harmony all things are influenced, and
through order all things have a proper place.
Music rises to heaven, while rituals are pat-
terned on the earth… Therefore the Sage cre-
ates music to correlate with Heaven and creates
rituals to correlate with the Earth. When ritu-
als and music are well established, we have the
Heaven and Earth functioning in perfect order.
Book of Ritual 19 (Confucianism)
Music creates order out of chaos; for rhythm
imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody
imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and
harmony imposes compatibility upon the
incongruous. Thus, a confusion surrenders to
order and noise to music, and as we through
music attain that greater universal order which
rests upon fundamental relationships of geomet-
rical and mathematical proportion, direction is
supplied to mere repetitious, power to the mul-
tiplication of elements, and purpose to random
association.
Yehudi Menuhin
True poetry, complete poetry, consists in the
harmony of contraries. Hence, it is time to say
aloud—and it is here above all that exceptions
prove the rule—that everything that exists in
nature exists in art.
Victor Hugo
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Always bear in mind that you stand in relation to others. A dancer expresses the beauty of her art while always standing in the position of an object to her partner. Like a dancer, you should live with the feeling of being embraced in God’s bosom. With such a mind, you can become a handsome man or a beautiful woman. Bring love’s activity and beauty’s receptivity into harmony. (15:171, 1965.10.07)
We need a realm of partners. When man and woman love each other, all kinds of harmony emerge in heaven and on earth. Literature and art emerged centering on the love between man and woman. Literature deals with their yearning to find the original Being (through their love). What is art? It is that which beautifies love. (354:21, September 16, 2001)
A good singer knows the art of harmony, balancing her highs and lows. When she sings her highest note beyond which she can go no higher, she must then come down to a lower note. No one wants to listen to a soprano who keeps ascending; when she skillfully lowers her voice you feel relieved. A soprano who knows how to lower her voice at the right time is a good singer. Likewise, the art of happiness in human life is the ability to go up and down smoothly. (98:50, April 9, 1978)