Why is a nonhuman sound image such as whale song so appealing?
Whales, I think, do not manipulate and control their environment like we do, but they consciously express themselves within it. Like both artists and scientists, they are describing the phenomena brought to their brains through their senses.
It’s no wonder, then, that to us whale song sounds so sad and melancholy to us, seeing that the phenomena they are receiving through their senses is that we have decimated their population, and they are probably in mourning.
If the population of whales was as complete as it was several hundred years ago, the whale song we hear might be a lot more joyous. It might be a lot more like the song of crickets that some people have recorded, which (if it’s not a hoax), played back at slow speeds creates symphonic music of real power.)
One might then realize that whales (and crickets) are as close to god, if not closer, than we are. Perhaps if we joined hands with them (or fins or wings) in song, and with all of the other beings on the planet, we would be bringing ourselves that much closer to God.
If there is a god.
At least it would bring us into a divine kind of harmony with ecosystems.