“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

— Albert Einstein

 

For some time I’ve wondered about the cyclicity of all that’s happening in the universe, and of global laws governing existence. What dictates the rise and fall of civilization? How do collective and individual minds coexist, and does humanity have a collective mind at all?  If the answer is “yes,” then why are people destroying their civilization, instead of protecting it for millions of years, like bees, ants, and even microbes?

 

The genius of the human mind raises society to a higher level through scientific and technological discovery, but the same findings and achievements eventually work against humanity. This goes for genetic and biological experiments and breakthroughs in atomic physics, which have led to the development of atom and hydrogen bombs that put the world on the brink of catastrophe.

 

How do bees and ants decide which of them should be a soldier, a spy, or a worker? Their collective mind puts “societal” protection before the interests of the individual. For people, it is the other way around – personal gain comes first. Why can’t the individual human mind, in all its limitlessness, understand this? All other living beings on earth manage their civilizations on a genetic level, preserving them and often sacrificing their own lives to do so.

 

Where is the instinct for self-preservation of the human race?

 

Collision of individual, even genius, intellects and their ambitions in the fight for primacy leads to clashes between individuals, societies, countries, ethnic groups — and ultimately the crash of civilization. This is the paradox of human nature, where limitlessness of the individual mind conflicts with the principles of survival. The powerful effect of technology changes not only the shape but also the purpose of a human being, while ambitions of dominating groups and characters lead to destruction of the individual both morally and physically.

 

Why don’t humans see this, or don’t want to see?

 

In 2014, I met famous scientist Stephen Hawking at a conference for astrophysicists, and I had a lengthy chat with him and several Nobel prize-winners. It was there and then that the concept for my future symphony came to me.

 

Centuria is a prediction, analogous with the ones of Nostradamus. S-QUARK is a “strange quark” – one of the tiniest material particles found by mankind. I wrote this symphony as some kind of a prophecy of the strange material world to come.

 

I didn’t limit myself to three or four themes in the symphony’s structure. Using the sonata form as a base, I composed with numerous themes to develop and define the symphony’s dramatic composition. Each one represents the complexity of human life, diversity of human individuality, and depth of human emotion.

 

There is also plenty of dissonance and atonality in the arrangement, reflecting the discord present in each person and consequently in each society. The eternal conflict between good and evil is intrinsic to internal dissonance.

 

In the finale of the symphony, all themes compete with each other, overlapping and interrupting one another, forming an atonal cacophony though each remains fully-fledged in its own right, and even reassured. This strange cacophony is the clash of human ambitions, where all resources possible are drawn upon for personal gain, including all the best that humanity has created. The result: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” In the culminating part after the atonal dodecaphony, there is total silence. In the vacuum, a new thread of life emerges, and it all begins again - a new cycle with the same finale.

 

I’m an optimist in life and in music – brought up on The Beatles and Mozart, I believe that melody is the soul of music. With this symphony I’m not trying to portray a bleak future, and I don’t mean to frighten anyone. It’s just how I see what is going on around me. I would be happy if the strength of goodness prevails and mankind turns from the path into the abyss to find truth in its mission on earth. — Stas Namin