The War of Rhythms
Life is rhythm. Our biorhythms regulate our whole being. From our sleep-wake cycle, to our appetites, to our heartbeats, to our breathing, to our blood pressure, to our endocrine system which controls the rhythm of our cells and organs …. We live the rhythm of life.
The rhythm of life oscillates as it goes into the silence of sleep at night and awakens at the beginning of a new day. The richness of sleep is experienced as the body rejuvenates itself and readies itself to partake of the energy which the sun once again infuses into the whole of life. We see plants and animals too synchronising their lives with the rising of the sun to its setting. The Sun binds all life forms.
While there are biorhythms within our bodies, there is also a biophony present in nature; sounds which have a certain rhythm, like the songs of birds heralding the dawn of day and signalling the time to rest and sleep at dusk. Certain fish too sing in chorus at dawn and dusk. Different animals have their own rhythms. Some are active during the day; some are active during the night and some during twilight.
Nature’s music is also created by the geophony of the rhythmic pouring and drizzling of rain, the sound of the raging rivers inasmuch as the gurgling of rivulets and the rustling sound of a breeze as it creates the seductive swaying of lithe plants, leaves and flowers.
B. Pijanowski, Professor of Landscape and Soundscape Ecology says,
“Natural sounds are an auditory link with our environment, one we need”.
Rhythm gives rise to patterns. From the pattern of waves to the regularity of tides, to the pattern of seasons when different flowers blossom and trees lose their leaves and sprout new ones, to the patterns of birds migrating, to the patterns of hibernation and mating among animals, to the patterns in the desert sands, to the patterns of the mountains created by the rhythms of nature over so many eons, to the pattern of the clouds as they gently or discordantly move through the sky. There is an innate beauty in these rhythms and patterns.
However, this beauty is rapidly eroding. Technology is replacing biology. The artificial is replacing the natural. It’s a war of rhythms. The rhythm of technology seeks to displace the rhythm of natural life. Our lives are no longer guided by the rising and setting of the sun and moon. Technology demands an acceleration of speed and instantaneity. We live in an age of compression. So, we try to do more in the same amount of time or try to do the same in less amount of time. Our work compulsions keep us awake late into the night. The satisfaction of our entertainment needs take us into the wee hours of the morning. Our circadian rhythms are getting disturbed. We are experiencing increasing levels of stress. It is as if life is experiencing Arrhythmia. An irregular and abnormal rhythm. It’s as if technology is creating an ectopic centre of its own outside of the heart muscle region which is causing irregular beats and the hiccupping of the natural heart.
We are destroying the biophonic rhythm of birds and bees through our decimation of forests, trees and mangroves which are their natural habitats. Our use of pesticides, through their accidental consumption, are killing certain species of birds. There is indicative research to show that cell tower radiation may be responsible for killing sparrows.
The geophonic rhythm of nature’s sounds are becoming irregular. Catastrophic cyclonic winds are becoming a regularity instead of a rarity. Rivers are running dry and becoming silent. The dune buggy sounds in the desert sands are harming and disorienting animals like the kangaroo rat or the Mohave lizard.
The anthrophony of noise pollution created in this artificial and technological landscape is having a deleterious effect on the whole of life. Again as B. Pijanowski states
“Society’s growing ‘nature deficit disorder’ is likely to increase as we replace these (natures’) sounds with the din made by humans.”
Patterns are getting distorted through ecological imbalance, thus causing climate change. There is a disruption of seasons and weather conditions. The undulating hills are either being mined excessively or destroyed for commercial development of infrastructure.
Other irregularities like the sudden locust attacks on crops or the emergence of life-threatening viruses or the deadly bush fires are threatening to become the new normal. As Yeats the poet said
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”
Life has become like a fibrillating heart which needs a defibrillator to give it an electrical jolt and bring it back to its normal rhythm. Do we have the will to salvage even a minimum amount of nature to preserve the rhythm of life or are we helplessly going to succumb entirely to the onslaught of the rhythm of technology?
Earth was made for human biology and the fulfilment of nature in the ecology of life. If machines take over then a new earth which is not biology or nature based will need to be created for the new emerging man or cyborg or robot.
