Music Revealing the Greater Ages: "Scaling" out the NT/OT Fulfillments

Dear reader: this writing is in tutor/student dialogue format for more entertaining discourse. Enjoy!

TUTOR: So, student, you remember that in our very first lesson [Music: Is it Totally Relativistic?], we showed that music is not entirely relative: that even though different cultures may divide the music period differently than the West, or hear different things in our music that we don’t hear, nevertheless, if we use natural law and harmonics, the Western scale of 12 notes follows as the simplest natural and objective music that exists and that has more than one note. Hence, Western Music is not arbitrary but rigorous and natural.

STUDENT: Yep, got that. And you said this because you indicated that from here on out in our lessons, we will show that natural music contains some mind-blowing analogies of Catholic mystery and doctrine that cannot be denied objectively and can only be questioned about divine intention. Is that right?

TUTOR: Absolutely, and in fact, in the most recent lesson, we showed that the Greater Ages of the World, both in the joys and sorrows, follow a simple musical scale, namely, from the base note of the key all the way up [or down] to the octave inclusive. Moreover, we saw that the octave was a kewl metaphor: that just as the first and last notes of the scale are effectively the “same” note, only higher or lower, so the first and last phases of human history, whether in joy or sorrow, have basically identical characteristics, differing mainly only by whether Old or New testaments; more specifically, the world in the beginning is totally wicked, sparing a remnant [Noah and his family], and the world at the end is totally wicked [the great apostasy] sparing a remnant [small portion of Gentiles and most Jews]. Too, the world at the beginning is destroyed by water, at the end, by fire, and the first world is starting to be redeemed, whereas at the end, it is being utterly redeemed.

STUDENT: Yes, that was great, and a lot of fun. So now, what are we up to today?

TUTOR: Yes, we are going to build on the greater ages by showing that the process we hinted at before has some interesting analogies to it.

The thing here is to go back to our original lesson with objective music; there, we saw that the most basic fractions of the string give natural notes. More specifically, we saw that the ½ fraction was the simplest: it gave us the octaves, but no more, hence, no more than one unique note. We consequently saw that we needed to graduate to the next more complex fraction, the 1/3. From there, we found that 1/3 is all we need in order to build the twelve notes of Western, or objective, music. The development of such involved firstly noting that the 1/3 mark was the “fifth,” or, that is, the fifth step in the pure scale of joy [do, re, mi, …] . From there, the process ended up working out to taking “successive fifths of fifths,” and repeating until, if it were possible, we wind up where we were to begin with, namely, as above, the octave.

STUDENT: Yeah, I remember that. But I have to ask, what analogy can we possibly draw from this?

TUTOR: Well, it goes like this: If we have already seen that these notes that we are developing are ages of redemption in the world, then what this lesson will show is that the trajectory that occurs as we develop these notes follows a really cool pattern.

STUDENT: Really? What is that?

TUTOR: Well, amongst other things, the notes alternate between a New Testament (NT) phase back to an Old Testament (OT) phase that prefigures it. Then, after the OT prefigurement, the next note is the next NT phase after the one that was seen last, and so forth, more or less.

STUDENT: That sounds cool. Is there anything else here, as you insinuated?

TUTOR: Yes, and that is this: when we start the process, we have exactly three notes that are known: the first, the fifth, and the eighth, or octave.

STUDENT: Right, for the first note is the first great redemption of man, the Flood, the fifth is the fifth step, the fifth light of human history, which is the first Coming of Jesus, and the eighth note is the final phase of light, the Second Coming and New Creation.

TUTOR: YES! And, in fact, this is the first incredible observation: out of all human history, these three steps are the foundational ages of the Plan, AND, the only phases in the CREED! Meaning, we have the beginning, the end, and the most pivotal middle point!

STUDENT: Holy cow! You are right! Cuz the Creed only includes three ages: first, the beginning, the Father Almighty’s Creation [I believe in God, the Father, Almighty, CREATOR of heaven and earth, which implies the Fall and the Flood, since, whenever this first element of the Creed is treated in Catechism, the initial ages of humanity are mentioned: Original Justice, the Fall, and the Flood]. Then after the Father and Creation, the Creed moves on to the essential components of Jesus’ life [conceived, born, suffered, crucified, rose, ascended], or the middle age of the world, the First Coming of Jesus, and finally, the very end, the Second Coming! [From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead].

TUTOR: Amen! You got it. So already, before we even start the scale development, the most base starting points are the base times of history. Consequently, , if we return to what I said, then by developing the scale, the process works like this, overall: first an NT age is encountered, then an OT age that prefigures it; then a next NT age arises, the one after the previous, then that age’s OT equivalent, and so forth. The only exception is that towards the end of the process, an excursion into what we can call the imperfect notes [sharps/flats] occurs, and even these have a similar alternation; finally, once they complete, we are back to where we were with the pure steps of the key and finish up.

STUDENT: That sounds utterly radical AND excellent. Let’s do it!

TUTOR: You got it. Firstly, we need to lay out the list of ages for reference. Here they are, from the days of creation analogy, which we can find here: The Creation Days and the Beast Heads as Image of the Whole of Salvation History

Phases of Darkness

1. 1The Fall and Wickedness of Noah's Day

2. Babel

3. Egypt Enslaves

4. Pre-Exile Apostasy of Jews

5. Maccabees, OT Antichrist Antiochus

   ***New Testament***

6. Pagan Rome persecutes (50 - 300~)

7. Minor Apostasy of Gentiles, 1900 - present

8. Great Apostasy, NT Antichrist

Phases of Light

1. The Flood

2. Confounding of tongues and formation of Hebrew People, Abraham

3. Exodus, OT Kingdom, Prophets

4. Babylonian Exile, Jewish Repentance, Restoration to Holy Land and Temple

5. First Coming of Christ, formation of Church

   ***New Testament***

6. Catholic Christendom and Development of Church doctrine (~300 - ~1900)

7. [future] Minor Chastisement, Catholic Restoration, Age of Our Lady’s Peace, Fullness of Gentiles

8. Second Coming of Christ, General Resurrection, New Creation

STUDENT: Looks good. In other words, like we just saw, the first notes are 1, 5, 8, which, as above, are the Flood, the First Coming of Jesus and His Marriage to the Church at the end of time.

TUTOR: Yes, so now, we need to take fifths of fifths to develop the scale.

STUDENT: OK, but how do we do that, seeing as the original process you introduced me to in the first essay was going to become terribly messy fractions.

TUTOR: You’re right. Well, there is a way to get around this, namely, those messy fractions are merely the places on a neck upon which a guitar maker would place the frets. We don’t need to know that. All we need to do is work with the final product of the notes as they exist, and just move around the fret board as necessary simply using the basic step, or fret rule, for fifths.

STUDENT: Ok, sounds good. So what, may I ask, is this fifth rule.

TUTOR: Yes, it is simply this: to get the “fifth” of a note, we either move forward seven half steps, or frets, or else go backward five half steps [or frets]. Toward that end, the way to decide whether to use the forward or backward rule is to just use the one that keeps us in the same octave.

STUDENT: Yes, I remember that, since if we just keep going forward, we get higher and higher, and then we’ll have to dry our eyes from all the tears we cried, and…

TUTOR: Yeah, yeah, we been through that before.

STUDENT: Will I have to hear about that later?

TUTOR: Keep going and I will bring in the punishment squad.

STUDENT: And what will they do, that I should be afraid?

TUTOR: First, they’ll batter your skull cap, then they’ll brand your buns. And if that doesn’t work, they’ll SEND IN THE NUNS!

STUDENT: I understand your point. The Nuns are the Frightening Creatures from Hell! I will behave!

TUTOR: Good. So anyway, there is an even simpler process than all the horrible fractions.

STUDENT: Ok, what is that?

TUTOR: Basically, it is this: the actual notes we have in the do re mi… , or derivatively, 1 – 8, are not right next to each other on the frets. They span the whole 12 frets, which means in some cases consecutive notes of the do re mi are a full step apart, that is, two frets, whereas in a couple places, they are only a half-step apart, as in one fret. Long story short, it works out that for the majority of the time, if n is a note in our do re mi, or that is, in 1, 2, 3, …, 7, 8, then the fifth of n is four notes forward in the do re mi, or that is. n + 4, (NOTE: the 4 here is NOT four frets, but four phases forward in 1, 2, 3, ...8!). Similarly n – 3 is usually the way to get the same fifth. In this regard, as with above, which of these to use is simply what keeps us in the octave 1, …, 8, not before or after.

STUDENT: Ok, I think I get this, but when does it fail?

TUTOR: Yes, again, as we discussed earlier, this n + 4 or n – 3 works for a while til we get toward the end, and then it fails in that n – 3 yields not a pure note in the 1, 2, … 8, but rather a flat! Remember the flats?

STUDENT: Yes, those are the five notes left in the twelve that do not fully fit In the pure key of 7. They are kind of imperfect, and discordant if you will. As you say, they are referred to as sharps, or flats, depending on your perspective.

TUTOR: Right. So long story short, when, toward the end, we hit that first flat, the process of development stays in the flats until it works out all of them. Finally, when the same flats are through, we wind up at the pure OT phase that we were originally aiming at [but which was interrupted by the flat sequence]. Finally, in this last OT phase of joy, the next note is 8, and we are done. This is for the scale of joy. For the sorrow, it is somewhat different. But we will get to all that.

STUDENT: OK, I tell you what, I need some examples, cuz this is heavy s***.

TUTOR: Sure. First, let’s represent the ages of light from above for easier reference:

Phases of Light

1. The Flood

2. Confounding of tongues and formation of Hebrew People, Abraham

3. Exodus, OT Kingdom, Prophets

4. Babylonian Exile, Jewish Repentance, Restoration to Holy Land and Temple

5. First Coming of Christ, formation of Church

   ***New Testament***

6. Catholic Christendom and Development of Church doctrine (~300 - ~1900)

7. [future] Minor Chastisement, Catholic Restoration, Age of Our Lady’s Peace, Fullness of Gentiles

8. Second Coming of Christ, General Resurrection, New Creation

So again, we have 1, 8, and 5. 1 and 8 are done, for nothing further is derived [remember, those are the ½ fraction, and it only gets us octaves]. Hence, we develop the 5. Now, by our rule, the fifth of a note n is either n + 4, or n – 3 [phases].

Let us see what we get: again, we start at 5, the First Coming of Jesus, which is also when Jesus forms the Church and betroths Himself to it.

So, then, clearly, the next fifth is either 5+4 or 5-3. 5+4 = 9. which is out of the octave [9 >8], so we use 5 – 3, or 2.

What is 2?

STUDENT: 2 is the confounding of tongues and calling of Abraham or, that is, the formation of the Old People of God, the Hebrews, to whom, in a certain sense, God betrothed Himself. And whoa, that clearly prefigures the stage 5. In fact, the confounding of tongues at Babel also were undone at Pentecost by the gift of tongues!

TUTOR: Yes, keep going!

STUDENT: You got it. Toward this end, It is clear from here that since the first octave is too close to the OT phases, our process of building fifths will involve going +4 phases from the OT step, and -3 phases from the NT step.

TUTOR: Yes, very good observation. Go ahead.

STUDENT. You bet. So 2 + 4 = 6. 6 is the illuminative way for the NT Church, the doctrinal development for the Holy Ones of New, as well as the NT Kingdom of Catholic Christendom. Not surprisingly, 6-3 is 3, the illuminative way for the Old, the Exodus, giving of the Law, the OT Kingdom of Israel, and the Prophets.

Next, 3 + 4 is 7, the Unitive Way of New, or the Age of Our Lady’s Triumph and Peace, the restoration after the Minor Apostasy of our times.

Now, however, as I take the fifth of 7, or 7-3 phases, it should be phase 4, but looking at the guitar fret, five half steps or frets back from phase 7, is fret 11 – 5 = fret 6, or the flat note before phase 5 [fret 7]. In other words, fret 6 is phase 5 flat, or 5?. What can we do with this, teacher?

TUTOR: Very good question. The rule here is, associate a flat note with the note that it is a flat of, meaning, associate n? with n. Hence, above, treat 5? as 5, and continue the process of fifths. If we follow this way, all five flats will develop from here, and when they are through, we will arrive at the pure phase 4, which Is what we wanted to begin with. As a consequence, since the flat is just one half step beneath the pure equivalent phases, the process of 5? onward—when we, again, associate n? with n—just works out as we did before with 5, etc, noting that once five steps of flats have traversed, we are back to 4.

Hence, 5? is like First Coming, Pentecost, Formation of Church, new People

5? - 3 = 2? , Confounding at Babel, Formation of Old People

2? + 4 = 6? , Illuminative Way of New

6? - 3 = 3? , Illuminative Way of Old

3? + 4 = 7? , Unitive Way of New

That is five flats. Now:

7? -3 = 4 pure, noting that 7? is fret 10 and 10^th fret – 5 frets = 5^th fret, which is phase 4, Untive Way for OT

Finally, phase 4 + 4 = 8, the octave, the Second Coming!

STUDENT: Awesome! That is totally excellent. How about we wrap it up in a similar format:

TUTOR: You got it, noting that the fifths follow this generation:

1

1 + 4 = 5

5 – 3 = 2

2 + 4 = 6

6 – 3 = 3

3 + 4 = 7

7 – 3 = 5?

5?– 3 = 2?

2?+ 4 = 6?

6?– 3 = 3?

3?+ 4 = 7?

7 ? – 3 = 4

4 + 4 = 8

The trajectory of pure notes is then this:

1

5

2

6

3

7

4

8

And then the theology

1: OT Baptism of World by Water, Beginning of Redemption

5: NT Unifiying Tongues, Formation of and Marriage to New People, First Coming of Jesus

2: OT Confounding Tongues, Formation of and Marriage to Old People

6 : NT Illuminative Way

3 : OT Illuminative Way

7: NT Unitive Way

4: OT Unitive Way

8: NT Baptism of World by Fire, Completion of Redemption

STUDENT: This is great; the spacing shows that the outside points of the octave correlate to one another; in each case a wicked world is destroyed and recreated. Then, the formation of the Peoples of God are correlated. Then the illuminative and unitive ways of the People of God are correlated, respectively. Very kewl!

TUTOR: It is amazing, isn’t it? Guess what, we have more to go!

STUDENT: Really? Let’s do it; I am pumped.

TUTOR: You bet, and that is that the minor scale follows a similar trend, although somewhat different toward the end, and will include an additional layer of profundity. Let us work thought it.

STUDENT: Good! Go for it!

TUTOR: Ok, the first thing to note is that the minor scale descends rather than ascends, which creates a slightly different frame of reference. For our purposes, just as we used the open note on a guitar string as a reference point and traversed down the neck for our notes—since down is ascending—here we will use the string at the octave as the starting point for the main minor note of the scale, and descend the notes, or go up the fret board.

STUDENT: You mean, in other words, that if we are to use the top string, or E string, on the guitar, the minor scale will be Em and from the octave fret down to open?

TUTOR: Yes, exactly, but note, the counting of phases is backwards, that is, the first phase is the octave Em, or 12^th fret, phase two is D, phase three is C, 4 is B, and so forth, down to phase 7, F#m and open E, the second Coming. However, note that the issue is really where the pure notes and the sharps fall, so for reference, the scaling of 1-8 is still applicable, just that 1 is the 12^th fret and 8 is the open string.

STUDENT: Yes, that makes sense. Let us go for it

TUTOR: You got it. Since we have already developed much of theology, let us recall the ages of darkness and then calculate the trajectory. Here are the age of darkness again:

Phases of Darkness

1. Anti-Baptism: The Fall and Wickedness of Noah's Day

2. Anti-Apocalyptic Marriage: Babel

3. OT Dark Night of Senses: Egypt Enslaves

4. OT Dark Night of Soul: Pre-Exile Apostasy of Jews

5. OT Martyrdom: Maccabees, OT Antichrist Antiochus

   ***New Testament***

6. NT Dark Night of Senses: Pagan Rome persecutes

7. NT Dark Night of Soul: Current Minor Apostasy

8. NT Martyrdom: Anti-Baptism, Great Apostasy, NT Antichrist

The “fifths rule” of this minor development, -3 or + 4, still applies up to a point. We can work it out:

1

1 + 4 = 5

5 – 3 = 2

2 + 4 = 6

6 – 3 = 3

3 + 4 = 7#

7# - 3 = 4#

4# - 3 = 1#

1# + 4= 5#

5# - 3 = 2#

2# + 4 = 7

7 – 3 = 4

4 + 4 = 8

STUDENT: Before we go any further, let us put the theology together:

TUTOR: Sure. So the pure notes trajectory is as follows, from the data above:

1. OT The Fall and Great Wickedness

5. OT Martyrdom The OT Antichrist and Final Apostasy, Perverse Unity

2. OT The Tower of Babel, Perverse Unity

6. NT Dark Night of Senses, Pagan Rome

3. OT Dark Night of Senses, Egypt

7. NT Dark Night of the Soul, Minor Apostasy

4. OT Dark Night of the Soul, Preexile Apostasy

8. NT Martyrdom, NT Antichrist, Great Apostasy, Perverse Unity, Supreme Wickedness

STUDENT: I notice some differences here. Firstly, it doesn’t always alternate between NT and OT. In fact, the first three events are OT. On the other hand, the NT/OT alternation is present for still two dimensions, the dark night of the senses and the dark night of the soul.

TUTOR: These are good observations. For now, since space is limited, consider the proposition that the first three events, all OT as we see, are caught up in being fulfilled in the ultimate NT Darkness, the last, the Great Apostasy, NT Antichrist and perverse unity. If you think about it, the first three OT events above anticipate this. Can you see it?

STUDENT: Yes, now that you bring it up, it does. For, let us delineate them:

• Firstly, regarding our starting point, phase 1, the first world is like the last world; we have seen this in the darkness analogy of our second session, meaning, in the beginning world, it is mostly wicked, sparing a remnant. In the last world, same thing. In the first world, it was Noah and his family. In the last world, it is a few Gentiles and most Jews. The first world is destroyed by water, the last world by fire. The first world is beginning to be redeemed, the last world has completed redemption.

• The next OT event in the above trajectory is the OT Antichrist and final Jewish apostasy, as well as perverse unity. Here, some Jews are falling away a final time in their history. Too, a brutal persecution by OT Antichrist Antiochus is brewing. Also, this Antiochus, as the same OT Antichrist, is attempting to impose a blanket rule of thumb for all, a perverse unity: that all may act and believe the same. The imposition is one of godless paganism, and resistance by the Jews merits torture and death. This completely foretells the end of the world darkness: the Gentiles will be falling away the final time from the Gospel. There will be an Antichrist who will want full uniformity with a godless agenda. Those who resist will be tortured and killed.

• Finally, the third event above in the OT list of the fifths progression is the tower of Babel. Indeed, Babel is emblematic of a perverse unity, a unity of humanity under the mantle of blasphemous pursuit of materialistic grandeur and utopia. This condition has existed repeatedly in salvation history: In Egypt, in Greece, in Rome, in the modern godless globalist movement. At the end of the world, it will reach its apex: humanity will have the supreme scientific, technological,, economic, and political structure, a structure that all men will place their faith in in place of Jesus and His Church.

Hence, in all these ways, the first three OT developments above are foretastes of the final apostasy of history, the great apostasy! 

TUTOR: Excellent.Do you see any other differences?

STUDENT: Yes, and that is in the sharps.

TUTOR: You are right. Can you explain it?

STUDENT: Yes, here occurs a difference. Before, with the scale of joy, the flats sequence occurs between the 7^th light and the 8^th light. Note, here, technically, the flats occur between the 7^th and 4^th lights, but since the 8^thlight immediately succeeds the 4^th, all the more are the flats between the last two lights, the 7^th and 8^th.

On the other hand, with the scale of darkness, or sorrow, instead of flats, we have sharps, and these sharps are between the6^th and 7^thphases of darkness, not the 7^th and 8^th , or, in other words, not between the last two phases but between the second to last two phases.

TUTOR: Yes, but explain deeper, as this is a little complicated. For example, looking at the progression in darkness, the sharps start after phase 3, not phase 6.

STUDENT: Yes, they start after phase 3 and not phase 6. But phase 6 is before 3 anyway, in fact, just before. Hence, if the sharps are after 3, all the more are they after 6.

TUTOR: Got it. And we see further, as the sharps process concludes, it brings us to the 7^th darkness, so that, indeed, the sharps are ultimately in between the 6^th and 7^th nights, which means they occur in the sixth light of human history. This is because the phases of darkness and light alternate, with the darkness first, seeing as a day of creation consists of first evening, then morning , that is, first night then light.

Similarly, with joy, since the flats occur between lights 7 and 8, the flats effectively occur in the 8^thdarkness.

STUDENT: Ok, yes, this is peculiar. Is there any deep meaning we can get from this?

TUTOR: Absolutely. The first to ask is, what do the sharps or flats represent? Any ideas? Hint, they are, as it were, refined notes.

STUDENT: What do you mean refined notes?

TUTOR: I mean by refined notes that they introduce far greater complexity in music than if one simply stays in the pure notes of the key. For example, most light music, as in light rock or contemporary Christian music, just stays in the same seven notes, and only has around three to four chords to it, all the same, basically. It is kind of like the millennial pop fodder of today. Modern pop fodder just spins a wheel to choose one of six possible chord progressions, all brain dead [staying in the same key], and then puts in a generic vocalist, turns on the boom box, and voila, you have a pop song. This is far contrasted to say, John Williams’ Star Wars music. He uses the refined notes with insane brilliance and complexity, yet all the while unbelievably moving. These refined notes add beautiful depth and, again, marvelous complexity to elicit poignant emotions and intellectual response. Again, these five notes, when used intelligently, enhance music far more than if one, again, stays in the narrow pure key box. This also involves changing the key.

STUDENT: I see what you are saying. I was thinking of Yes and Rush. They have complexities, too.

TUTOR: Absolutely. Can you now think what the refined notes might represent?

STUDENT: Well, now that I think about it, it should be common sense: if the seven pure notes are the bigger ages of human history, then these refined notes should image lesser ages of history, if it could be derived, and, perhaps, deeper theological considerations of the Catholic faith. And now that I think about It more, you indicated that music would go on beyond the greater ages to specificities of the faith, as in to quote:

• The Mystery of Truth: Ecclesiological Ages of Doctrinal Development

• The Mystery of Grace: the Full Sacramental Journey

TUTOR: You got it. In fact, the primary meaning of the refined notes here is the consideration of both dimensions, truth and grace. The solution now is to simply argue that the timing of the refined notes in the fifths process tells us the respective times that the refined aspects of the faith are “considered and rejected.” When we do this, the profundity is amazing. Care to give it a try?

STUDENT: Yes! So, once again, the refined notes of joy occur between the 7^th and 8^th lights, or in the 8^th darkness, whereas for sorrow, between the 6^th and 7^th darknesses, or in the 6^th light of the world. Let us now consider how this works out. Well, it is actually straightforward. Here, the first time that the Church considered its refined teachings formally, and with the associated rejection of them by the world, was in the very sixth light of human history, the illuminative way of the Church. Indeed, the great sources of truth went down one by one in between pagan Rome and our modern minor apostasy. For, from 300 -1000, the Trinity and Incarnation was attacked. At 1000, the Supreme Apostolic Successor was attacked. In the late Middle Ages, the general Apostolic Succession was becoming wicked and lax. In 1500, that same Apostolic Succession and Sacred Tradition were rejected in Protestantism. In the supernatural death of the world in Enlightenment, French Revolution, and the like, Scripture and all Divine Revelation were rejected in favor of merely Reason. And finally, in our modern secular apostasy, even Reason is discarded in favor of the irrational atheism, relativism, and materialism.

TUTOR: Excellent. And note, if this is the first time that these things were ever considered and rejected, when will they be rejected the LAST time?

STUDENT: Bingo, the great apostasy, or 8^th darkness, be tween the 7^th and 8^th lights!

TUTOR: Excellent, and one more thing, why do you think the first time they are rejected is in the minor scale, whereas the last time it is in the joyful scale?

STUDENT: You got me on that one?

TUTOR: The answer is this: In the days of creation, as we saw above, DARKNESS comes first, THEN Light. Hence, the process of salvation history BEGINS with the DARKNESS scale, and concludes with the JOYFUL.

STUDENT: That is totally excellent and radical! This has been a veritable adventure.

TUTOR: Rock on! Class dismissed!