The Music of Interrelation

In Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan defines a "sacred" universe as one dominated by auditory media, including the spoken word. "A 'profane' universe, on the other hand, is one dominated by the visual sense. The clock and the alphabet, by hacking the universe into visual segments, ended the music of interrelation" [italics added] (210). So, how can McLuhan's concept of "sacred" vs. "profane" be applied to music, itself?

With the electronic music instrument, any tone can be made available in any intensity and for any length of time. Note that the older symphony orchestra was, by comparison, a machine of separate instruments that gave the effect of organic unity. With the electronic instrument, one starts with organic unity as an immediate fact of perfect synchronization. This makes the attempt to create the effect of organic unity quite pointless. Electronic music must seek other goals. (471)

For Brian Eno, those goals are nothing less than heightened awareness and consciousness itself. As case in point, consider "And Then So Clear". The use of vocoder immediately makes any attempt at organic unity pointless, as McLuhan, notes, but it does speak well of "the music of interrelation." And what we gain through Eno's impressionistic vocal is a mythic understanding of consciousness--clarity--itself, the very substance of sacred music. Check it out.