Harmony of the Mind

Life is like a song, like music, in that it has a melody, a harmonious rhythm. In our lives we are surrounded by people, relationships and events that give us balance. Everything from our feelings to our thoughts and actions move along in a harmonious continuum, until of course that inner song is disturbed- disturbed perhaps by a near death experience, a traumatic encounter, or even heartbreak. And with these disruptions we struggle to regain the mental and soul filled peace that once kept us afloat in our day to day lives.

In the story “Harmony of the Spheres” by Salmon Rushdie, a character by the name of Eliot Crane spins into a whirlwind of madness and consequently kills himself by placing a shotgun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. What causes Eliot to carry out this suicidal act? What causes many people to lose their balance to the extent that they take their very own lives? Now, I am no Doctor, nor do I claim to have the qualifications to properly diagnose a mental disorder of any kind; however I feel Rushdie’s story gives us a little insight into the contributing factors which could lead to the loss of a persons sense of balance and harmony, the same sense of balance and harmony that keeps our sanity peacefully intact.  

In the story Rushdie suggests that a biochemical imbalance plays a pivotal role in ones sanity, along with hereditary. After Eliot has killed himself, the narrator describes the gun: “The weapon had belonged to his father, who had put it to the same use.”

But there were other contributing factors that ultimately lead to Eliot’s demise.

Eliot Crane, as the narrator describes, “Was not the hyper-rationalist he claimed to be. His immersion in the dark arts was less than scholarly. But because of his brilliance, I took him at his own estimation… he made it sound perfectly rational to sell a haunted house double-quick, even lose money on the deal.” (pg 136)

This inspires me to believe that there is in fact, a fine line between what is genius and what is insane. Elliot Crane seemed to be a real genius, someone that thought outside of the box, and also someone who had a “less than scholarly obsession” with the hidden arts. His thinking revolved around such topics as Mesmer’s theory, Animal Magnetism, secrets of the great pyramid, mysteries of the Golden Section. I suppose that it was this obsession with dark theories and secrets (in combination with a chemical imbalance), that caused Eliot to experience so much insight, so much confusion,  and a bewilderment of ideas, that it  kept him from finding balance, a rhythm, a steady peace of mind, literally driving him insane.

A separate character in the book also looses his sense of balance, when his harmony is rattled by deception. This occurs in the end of the story as the narrator finds that Eliot Crane had a secret affair with his wife; that Eliot’s disgusting written rants about their sexual encounters were not merely “fantasies” but in fact a harsh reality- a reality that consequently caused “The collapse of harmony, the demolition of the spheres of his heart.” (pg 146)

I believe that everyone’s harmony is disrupted from time to time. For example when we lie in bed, after an event filled day and thoughts are flying from every direction- thoughts of friends, thoughts of family, thoughts of class, thoughts of religion, thoughts of politics, and so forth, and we Struggle to find a balance, a harmonized peace of mind that puts us to rest. With this I can imagine the difficulty for anyone, particularly those who have a heritable chemical imbalance, to find a sense of balance in the world when ideas, theories, mysteries and thoughts are swimming throughout the mind daily in a complicated flux. Perhaps Eliot Crane simply could not shut off his clouded mind as he worked feverishly on a two-volume study of overt and covert occultists groups and obsessed over hidden arts, and so in the end, in a desperate cry for harmony, he reached for his shotgun and put his mind to rest, forever.