EURHYTHM Ȕ a wonderful term signifying perfect harmony Ȕ

From Harmony Ȕ from Heavenly Harmony
This universal frame began;
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man.

Heavenly Harmony of Mind and Action, of impression and expression, is the poetry of movement and of life. It includes principles that should animate life itself and all forms of education, mental, physical, and artistic. It produces character, spirit, soul, a something even higher than mind. It embraces the simple love of beauty for its own sake, the ideal upon which the vigour of the ancient Greek mind and body depended, as opposed to the material love of gain and might, which led to the downfall of the powerful Roman Empire. It develops national character by producing spirit by thought and right by thought in action as opposed to the creation of intellectual superiority by educational cram, and might by empirical physical training.

Thought in action makes individuals intellectual units, whereas empiricism turns individuals into machines. Thought in action is the one and only way of getting that harmony of mind and body that is indispensable for artistic movement.

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamd upon my sight,
A dancing shape, an image gay.
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.

I saw her upon nearer view
A spirit yet a woman too.
Her household motions light and free.
And steps of virgin liberty;

And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller between life and death.
The reason firm, the temperate will.
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill.

Dance, song, picture, language, and music contribute proportionately to the eurhythmic setting of a musical play, but all must conform to the law of co-ordination and to the laws of harmony and colour. The theme, the illustration, and the climax of the opera, the poem, the dance, and the picture, co-ordinated by the eurhythmic spirit of simplicity, represent the art of a healthy nation.

Eurhythm has a power through its production of character and spirit, and by its training in clear thinking (in the words of Sir Clifford Allbutt) to nourish the centre of creative life and action Ȕ the imagination.Ȧ

Eurhythm is all-powerful in that by thought it raises action from the low nervous level of reflex action to the high nervous level of full consciousness of action, by simple yet scientific and artistic methods Ȕ by a system of thoughtful breathing and physical movements Ȕ in which the purposeful outcome of a full understanding is the dominant factor, beginning with simple, thoughtful breathing and physical exercises, leading on_ to the complicated, thoughtful movements in accomplishments (games of skill, the accomplishments of painting, singing, and dancing), and the gradual but certain development of the true sentiment and artistry which by its co-ordination of mind and body produces the life and spirit of character.