Healing Tones

Creativity is possible only in a unified field where balance, harmony and ease
prevail in the Human Being.

Cymatic images by John Stuart Reid of Cymascope Institute

WE LIVE IN A TONAL UNIVERSE shaped by twelve tones and their harmonics. A harmonic is an overtone created by a root or progenitor tone. I will go to my ATTUNEMENT WITH SACRED SOUND book for an explanation. (Click on the image above to enlarge)

HARMONCS AND THE GOLDEN MEAN RATIO

A “HARMONY OF NUMBERS”

Let’s take a few pages to delve into the fascinating phenomenon of harmonics, also known as “overtones.” Simply explained, sounds create sounds, in much the same way as a single ripple on the surface of water creates a whole series of ripples that move outward to create a beautiful pattern of concentric circles. Dr. June Wieder explains this vibrational phenomenon and its discovery by Pythagoras: When we hear a note played on a musical instrument or sung by a voice, it is not just pure single tones that are heard, but a mixture of tones called partials. The lowest frequency is called the fundamental and the higher frequencies are referred to as overtones. Each overtone is a geometric multiple of the fundamental. These overtones (harmonics) give beauty and fullness to sound.

In the 6th century BC, Pythagoras, using a single-stringed instrument called the monochord, developed a theory of musical harmony based on whole-number ratios. He believed that by studying the monochord, one could come to know the secrets of the universe (one string, one song). He told his followers that when dealing with harmonic principles, they should ignore their ears, because hearing was prone to variation and error. He wanted them to work primarily with the harmony of numbers.

Pythagoras related the pitch of a tone to the length of the string that creates the sound. The shorter the string, the higher is the note that is created. Instead of using measured lengths, Pythagoras worked out a system using ratios of the lengths, a process that leads to a 12-note scale. This system is still in use today. To Pythagoras, harmony was created by a numerical ratio that not only occurred in music, but also was an essential component in architecture, and was even perceptible in the heavens. This special ratio — designated phi, and equal to 1.618 — has been referred to as the Golden Mean, the Golden Ratio, the Golden Section, and the Divine Proportion. (Wieder, Song of the Spine, pp 23-24)

On overtones, Ted Andrews writes: Almost every sound, musical or not, has overtones… These vibrations are set in motion at the same time as the primary, or progenitor, tone. For example, if the note of middle C is struck on the piano, the strings for the notes of C, G, E, B-flat, etc. above middle C also begin to vibrate — although barely audibly. Four or five overtones are normally detectable and recognized in music, but theoretically the overtones extend much further than the human ear can detect. Thus, when we use music, sound, words, affirmations or prayers, we need to be aware that we are setting in motion overtones that will affect us as well. Those overtones are determined by the emotional and mental states of our energies and influence the manner in which our prayers manifest our intentions—or fail to do so, as the case
may be. (Andrews, SACRED SOUND)

“The Inner Overtones or Sacred Sound Current”
In his masterfully written book on vocal toning, Sound Medicine—The Complete Guide to Healing with the Human Voice, Wayne Perry writes in chapter 22, The Inner Overtone or Sacred Sound Current: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – St. John”

“This Word is not, as is usually believed, a written word. Actually, it is a power that emanates continuously from the Supreme Being, the Power that created and now sustains the vast universe of universes.”

The saints and perfect masters teach their disciples how to contact this power, which is everywhere present…and is heard by initiates as the most enchanting and enrapturing harmony or melody. This music is not only beautiful, it is also purifying and uplifting. It purifies the human mind, and then draws the soul upwards with an irresistible Power—the Power of Love of the Supreme God Himself.” (Manaraj Sawan Singh)

“For ages mystics and sages have made reference to the Sacred Sound or Celestial Melody that can be found within every one of us. It is the eternal, primordial Sound, which emanating from Divine Loving Consciousness or God, manifests and sustains creation. It is a holistic Sound reverberating throughout the entirety of existence and resonating in every cell of the human body, giving us life and consciousness.

“The real Masters of the Sound Current are those who have achieved the ultimate and highest state of consciousness through meditation on the Divine Sound within while still resident in the physical body. On the spiritual plane, these masters are One. They have traversed the many inner regions of sound, light, love, and spirit—humbly and lovingly offering us the benefit of their wisdom and direct experience. When a spiritual seeker is ready, the master reveals the secrets of the Inner Overtone or Sound Current and the means by which we may return “home” on it…

“The outer instruments of sound can be seen as imitations of and a metaphor for the pure, inner sounds. For example, the ringing of bells is mentioned in the scriptures of all religions. Bells hang from domes within Buddhist and Hindu temples. Whoever enters the temple rings a bell. In the human head, which is also similar to a dome, one may hear the Inner Overtone or Divine Melody. In the same manner, Christian churches have high steeples in which a bell is hung. These are based on the shape of the nose. In the human body, “temple of the living God,” when the soul is concentrated at a point between the two eyebrows, the “seat of the soul,” one hears the sound of the bell.”

(Overtones to the tone of the bell are clearly audible in this video)

HARMONICS & RESONANCE

As we saw earlier, when any given pitch is produced, other pitches called overtones, partials or harmonics, sound simultaneously with the given pitch, many of which are inaudible to the human ear. These overtones are higher than the original tone, and in the same intervallic relationship as found in the successive divisions of the string. These are the first 16 overtones or harmonics created using Middle C (256 hz) as the fundamental and extending four octaves:

C (256 hz) – C (octave, 512 hz.) – G (Perfect fifth,768 hz.) – C (octave, 1024 hz.) – E (Major third, 1280 hz.) – G (Perfect fifth, 1536 hz.) – B= (minor seventh, 1792 hz.) – C (octave, 2048 hz.) – D (Major second, 2304 hz.) – E (Major third, 2560 hz.) – F# (augmented fourth, 2816 hz.) – G (perfect fifth, 3072 hz.) – A (minor sixth 3328 hz.) – Bb (minor seventh, 3584 hz.) – B (Major seventh3840 hz.) – C (octave, 4096 hz.) (Goldman, Healing Sounds, p 26.)

This image provides a visual of the parabolic graph made by these harmonics. The twin rows of harmonics represent the universal forces of contraction (overtones) and expansion (undertones), which for many theosophists are at the core foundation of Being, and both necessary for Creation to emerge from Chaos. Applying this to music, one may consider a single tone, say Middle C, surrounded by its overtones and undertones.

THE DIVINE PROPORTION (1.618)

Also referred to as the Golden Mean, as mentioned earlier, as well as the Magic Ratio, the Divine Proportion was closely studied by the Greek sculptor Phidias, and as a result, it took on the name of Phi. The Phi ratio (1.618) can be found throughout the universe; from the spirals of galaxies to the spiral of a Nautilus seashell; from the harmony of music to the beauty in art.

The Divine Proportion presents itself in the very physical nature of Creation. Here we see the Divine Proportion demonstrated by the spiral design in the Nautilus seashell. It is seen as the beauty and organization within the cosmos. It is the harmony and glue that holds the unity of the universe. Here is a line graphic to help you more easily understand the Divine Proportion ratio.

[Line AB is to line AC as line AC is to line CB]
A______________(1)______________B

A______(.618)________C__________B

Line AB is (1) and line AC is (.618) of line AB. Thus we have the ratio 1.618. Another way of saying this is, divide the line so that the longer portion (.618) is to the shorter portion what the entire line is to the longer portion.

To Pythagoras, harmony was created by this special numerical ratio that not only occurred in music, but also was an essential component in architecture, and was even perceptible in the heavens. The Phi ratio of the Diviner Proportion is operative in the creation of what are called “harmonics” or “overtones” in music. As you can see in this line graphic, the pitch Sol, which is the first harmonic called the “dominant tone,” is located in the scale at the point of the Divine Proportion .618. The Divine Proportion and the “Healing Fifth.” (Click on image to enlarge)

A CONCERT OF UNIVERSAL VIBRATIONS — BEYOND DARWIN

“The most fundamental statement of the Pythagoreans was that numbers constitute the unmovable principle of the world; the very essence of reality. When they discovered that the proportions among musical harmonics could be expressed in a simple and exact form, they considered that the cosmos itself was a harmonious system of numerical reasoning: all reality could be expressed by means of relationships among numbers. According to the Pythagoreans the inherent numerical order of sounds was directly related with the very organization of the universe. For them, music was therefore nothing other than the expression of the inner relationships of the cosmos. They even affirmed that all material manifestation was the result of the concert of universal vibrations.

“At the beginning of 20th century, physicists were confused on discovering that, far from presenting itself as predicted as a continuous flow, the energy emitted or absorbed by atoms presents itself in a quantifiable way, in very precise packages. For several decades, they tried to explain this strange phenomenon by seeking a sound new mathematical theory for the atom that would generate these quantum numbers in a natural way. The solution arrived with the proposition of the similarity between the world of electrons and that of musical harmonics —standing waves, thereby happily giving rise to the surprisingly precise wave equation as the fundamental piece of revolutionary Quantum Physics. It thus seems that we are literally made of music, that we are pure abstract relationships in an unsubstantial reality, the acoustic appearance of the quantum void, the silent music and the sonorous solitude that amazed our mystics so much. . . .

“We stated previously that the new science considers the universe in a holistic way; in other words, that it perceives nature as an integrated wholeness, as a non–fragmented, undivided overall movement. We have also seen how the evolutionary dynamics of this unified universe displays its novelties in a discontinuous manner; just as the deepest transformations of evolution come about suddenly and abruptly. This generates a progressively more complex and more inclusive hierarchy of organization levels. We find, once again, a vibrating element —the evolving universe— that channels its energy flow in a highly defined series of levels of stability. Like atoms. Like musical instruments.

“Both in the world of atomic physics as in the world of music, the secret of their sudden leaps and discontinuities in sound was revealed thanks to standing waves and musical harmonics. Could not the same occur in the field of evolution? Does it not sound very coherent that this unified universe that we are starting to discover generates similar creative patterns at its different levels of organization? Does it not therefore sound appealing that the sudden evolutionary changes in the history of the universe respond precisely to these same standing waves that are the explanatory key of both the subatomic and musical world? This has been the basic intuition that has given rise to our hypothesis regarding the rhythm of evolution. . . .”

(Excerpted from BEYOND DARWIN — NON-DUAL EVOLUTION — AN INTEGRAL WORLDVIEW by José Díez Faixat)

I know this blog post is highly technical musically, but I hope that I have given my readers cause for celebrating the wonders of God’s creative genius. He is, after all, the Master Musician and Ultimate Composer of the Music of the Spheres — and He doesn’t do things in a haphazard way but follows His own Laws and Ordinances. Being in tune and harmony with those laws and ordinances, we live out our lives in Love with the Truth of Life.

I welcome your thoughts and insights, reflections and inspirations. Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

tpal70@gmail.com