The Mystery of the origins of Life has always driven mankind to research. Philosophies, religions, science and arts were born with the purpose of unveiling it. Nevertheless it continues to attract human minds without letting itself be discovered completely; protected not by darkness, but rather by a blazing light.
Many traditional Teachings hold that Sound engendered Creation. It is a fascinating hypothesis, which after all is not so far, at least formally, from the current scientific explanation that puts a ‘big bang’ at the beginning of the manifest world.
Yet it is quite different in its substance, because the former assumes a creating Intelligence at the origin of everything, whilst the second attributes the beginning of life to mere chance.
In any case, it appears clear that if we want to find the Origins, an investigation of the world of Sound is a good starting point.
A Group of researchers, guided by an enlightened disciple (E. Savoini), found itself treading the paths of science and esoteric tradition at the same time, combining the indications given by the Tibetan Master in ‘A Treatise on the Seven Rays’ with the study of sound carried out by a German scientist, Hans Kayser, published in 1950 in the ‘Lehrbuch der Harmonik’, translated as ‘The Science of Harmonics’.
It is interesting to notice, and we don’t think it is coincidental, how the studies of Kayser were carried out at the same time as the presentation of the Tibetan Master’s teaching, between 1920s and 1940s. Anyway, it seems the scientist was unaware of its existence.
Approaching this topic with an open heart and using the analogical mind, it is thus possible to verify how science and esoteric tradition (the designated pillars, together with art, for the evolution of human consciousness) can support and complement each other in simplicity and beauty.
Indeed they are most properly concerned with those questions of Humanity, often unwitting yet powerful, which synthesize and usher us into spheres of thought where it is possible to find answers co-measured to the general current consciousness. In this way they help mankind to carry out its part in the general Plan.
Though in different manners and languages, these forces descend from the same Source, and to keep them separate, or even to consider them antagonistic, causes stalemate or the disharmonious development of consciousness.
***
1. The Purpose
Truth is always the purpose of research, which the researcher, depending on their approach, can or cannot identify with the Divine. By the way, Louis Pasteur said that ‘A bit of science leads away from God, but a lot of science leads back to Him’.
Scientists and esotericists generally agree that universe is a kind of ‘Book of Life’, i.e., a cosmic code that mankind has to interpret in order to be able to approach the Mystery, consciously collaborating with the general evolution.
Basically, it is necessary to learn to read, in order to be able to coherently inscribe our signs in this great Book, thus cooperating with cosmos.
Any starting point is valid to begin this work of interpretation, yet, as said before, it seems that the study of sound, of its nature, laws, and effects, is the preferable method for this time of human history.
We must also keep in mind that the harmonic presentation of the universe is not new in the history of Mankind. We find traces of it wherever culture and art flourish.
Could we think then, at this moment apparently so dark for Humanity, that the first seeds of a new culture and a new civilization are being to be sown?
So let us talk about Sound. Physics defines it as an oscillation, a vibration sent out into Space by a sonic source.
Everything that is recordable by the sense of hearing or by mechanical means can theoretically be called sound. In actual fact, acoustics distinguishes Sound from noise, because the former produces a regular, constant and recognizable wave (although we can also regard as Sound any noises produced in a rhythmic and continuative way), whilst the latter yields irregular and broken waves.
Each Sound is identifiable by its frequency, viz. by the number of vibrations emitted by it in unit of time. Therefore there is no Sound without Number.
This simple observation brings us back to Pythagoras, who stated that what cannot be numbered does not exist.
This is not the place to deal with Number. Yet let us keep in our hearts, as a simple hypothesis, the thought that Numbers are not only indicators of quantity, but real creating powers, magnetic and bearers of a project.
Furthermore, as we all know from experience, Sound expresses a Value, perceived by the psyche, on which it has a deep influence.
We also know that the human ear, even when not trained, is able to recognize the value of a sound, as it responds to out of tune notes with a feeling of discomfort. This shows how easy it is to trace Sound back to its corresponding Number, as well as proceed from Number to its relative sonic value.
Finally, Sound needs a physical means to manifest in the world of form, be it a voice or a musical instrument. This means owns the task of bringing the sonic Entity into manifestation. The more the instrument, constructed according to rules, is refined, properly handled and cared for in an appropriate manner, the more the Sound will reveal its power and become recognizable, yet never perfectly known or reproducible.
In the ternary of Number, Value and Instrument we can immediately see the analogy with Life, Quality and Appearance, or Monad, Soul and Personality. Once again then, Sound appears as a suitable guide to allow a first reading of creation.
The most astonishing characteristic of Sound, however, the one on which Kayser’s studies are focused, is that, once emitted, and as long as it lasts, it creates its own intervals (harmonics) ad infinitum, according to a precise, constant and hierarchic order (i.e., according to the natural series of whole numbers).
This statement justifies the title given to these pages. Sound creates! And it does so because this is its nature. It creates purely because it is emitted and persisting. It creates according to a project, a law and an order that are inscribed in its nature. And by creating its offspring it saturates Space with itself, because each of its harmonics is a new sound, which endlessly repeats the same sonic process, building worlds, each of which develops starting from an interval of the original sound.
In this way the energetic trestle of Life is built!
At this point it becomes clear that the creating Entity cannot give life to something different from Itself. It cannot but generate the universe, drawing it from Its own Life. Whatever Being we want to place at the beginning of creation, we must then recognize that That is us.
It is a beautiful and powerful thought, which gives us the impression of being able to penetrate, at least a little, into the sublime theorem which states that:
‘Life is that energy that generates and multiplies itself’
We could say that Sound is constantly launched for the conquest of the Infinite, which it saturates with the luminous traces of the sonic intervals, hierarchically arranged and to which, cyclically, forms will cling.
Pingback: Music and Color in Nature – TPS Blog – English Area