Music and Mysticism – Dave Kirk

 Music and Mysticism: Sound, as the Fundamental Force of Creation. David Kirkpatrick Box Hill Institute of TAFE Bachelor of Applied Music (Audio Production) Subject: MUS302 Aesthetics Lecturer: Warren Burt Student no: 1237905 3 November 2014 MUS302 Aesthetics Music and Mysticism David Kirkpatrick This essay proposes a theory that many ancient mystic traditions were aware of sound as the fundamental force of creation. The essay will begin with an examination of the creation myths and texts within the esoteric tradition of ancient Egypt, before approaching world religions of the modern era. Following this, the phenomena of sound will be described using scientific terminology, and the modern field of cymatics will then be introduced, in order to observe the sound-­‐creation connection from a physics point of view. Finally, the essay will establish a bridge between these religious and scientific perspectives, through a consideration of Hermetic philosophy. A recurring theme within many religions is that of the creative force as the “Word” or “Breath”. This essay proposes that these terms are analogous to “Sound”. The earliest written reference to this concept is made within the Book of the Dead, an ancient Egyptian text that was used from the beginning of the New Kingdom, approximately 1550 BCE ('Book of the Dead' 2013, Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). This text states, “I am the Eternal, I am Ra… I am that which created the Word… I am the Word.” (Blaha, 2002, p.10) Another reference states, “My lips are the Twin Companies; I am the great Word.” (Clark, 1993, p.60) Within the Book of the Divine Cow, the god Ra manifests the universe and its denizens merely by speaking. As the name of each entity is sounded, the entity comes into being. Here, it is implied that each particular name/word/sound both has, and is, its own corresponding form. (Gadalla, 2014) This same concept is found within Judaism; in particular, the Kabbalistic view. It is a fundamental belief within Judaism that the Hebrew language, as well as the Hebrew alphabet, has divine power. The Baal Shem Tov (1698-­‐1760), founder of the Hasidic movement, stated that, “There are worlds, souls, and divinity in every letter.” (Cohn-­‐Sherbok, 1994, p.53) Orthodox Jews revere and/or fear the power of the name of God, and thus refrain from speaking or writing it. One can only infer that such power must be divine in essence. Combining this idea with the Jewish belief in a single God, one may conclude that God and God’s name are inseparable. (Blaha, 2002, p.18) Thus, within Judaism, we also find the concept of God as the Word. This is further supported by writings from the Old Testament, which are shared with Christianity. 1 MUS302 Aesthetics Music and Mysticism David Kirkpatrick The Old Testament book of Genesis states, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” Symbolically, this passage suggests creation of light, which is another form of vibration, through the utterance of a sound. Within the Gospel of St. John is written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Job 33:4 states, “The breath of the Almighty gives me life.” The Christian mystic, Jakob Boehme (1575-­‐1624), said, “In the beginning was the Word, for the Word as the flowing-­‐out from the will of God was the eternal beginning, and remains so eternally.” (Cohn-­‐Sherbok, 1994, p.140) Thus, we also see the concept of God as the Word/Breath within mystic Christianity. These concepts are not limited to the West. In the Hindu Vedas is written, “In the beginning was Brahman with whom was the Word, and the Word is Brahman.” In the Hindu book, Satapatha Brahmana, it is stated, “In a year he (Prajapait) desired to speak… with his mouth he created the Gods.” The Hindu Puranas also refer to the cycles of creation and destruction as the outwards and inwards breaths of Maha Vishnu. (‘Hindu cycle of the universe’, 2014) In the Mayan book, Popol Vuh, is written, "This is the beginning of the ancient Word... the potential and source for everything done." (Weor, 2013) Om, or Aum, is the primary mantra in Hinduism, representing the sound of the universe. Its four distinct sounds – A, U, M and silence – are said to symbolize creation, maintenance, destruction, and transcendence. Buddhists and Sikhs also use Om to represent the primal vibration. (Morrison & Singh, 2006) Hazrat Inayat Khan, a Sufi mystic, states that vibrations, “make different forms, figures, and colors as they shoot forth, one vibration creating another; and thus myriads arise out of one. In this way there are circles beneath circles and circles above circles, all of which form the universe.” (Khan, 2005) It has been established that mystics from many different ages and places have referred to God and creative power as the Word or Breath. As is often the case, the writings of mystics are not to be taken literally; rather, they are to be understood as poetic metaphors that describe something beyond the realms of linguistics. This is aptly described by a Zen teaching -­‐ “The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.” (‘Zen’, 2014) While the mystics gain their knowledge via direct inner experience of supernormal phenomena (‘Mysticism’, 2014), the scientific method has its foundations built upon the study of physical and 2 MUS302 Aesthetics Music and Mysticism David Kirkpatrick measurable phenomena (‘Scientific Method’, 2014). This essay will now examine sound from a scientific perspective, to further investigate the theory that “Word” and “Breath”, as used in the mystic texts, are poetic references to sound. Sound is the movement of pressure waves within a medium, such as air or water, in reaction to a source of mechanical vibration. These pressure waves travel through the medium due to alternating high pressure (compression) and low pressure (rarefaction), and are measured in cycles per second, or Hertz. (‘Sound’, 2014) While the human ear can only perceive vibrations that occur between 20Hz and 20kHz, certain animals and measurement devices can register sound beyond this range (Rosen, 2011, p.163). Therefore, one may assume that sound is naturally coincident throughout the entire spectrum of vibration, from infinitely low to infinitely high. This statement shows a similarity between sound and the mystic Word/Breath, as both are omnipresent and eternal. Resonance is the “sympathetic vibration of bodies capable of producing sounds as soon as a pitch similar to that of the body or one of its overtones is heard” (‘Resonance’, The Oxford Dictionary of Music). In other words, this is the phenomenon whereby sound traveling in a medium can induce vibration within adjacent bodies that are receptive to the sound and its harmonics. Through acknowledgement of these two phenomena, we can therefore state that vibration creates sound, that sound creates vibration, and that both exist together in an infinite spectrum. With this foundation, one can approach the field of cymatics. Cymatics is the scientific study of how sound/vibration creates geometric forms. Although the field was coined and developed by Hans Jenny in 1967, and although others commented on the phenomena earlier, the origins of cymatics have generally been attributed to Ernst Chladni in 1787. In an attempt to make sound waves visible, Chladni drew a violin bow against the edge of a metal plate covered with sand. This experiment caused the sand to produce repeatable patterns and shapes that are now known as Chladni Figures, and proved a direct connection between sound and physical form. ('Ernst Chladni (1756-­‐1827)' 2014) Hans Jenny’s major contribution was to replace the function of the violin bow with piezo-­‐electric oscillators, which gave far greater control over frequency and amplitude in experiments of this type. 3 MUS302 Aesthetics Music and Mysticism David Kirkpatrick Jenny discovered that as frequency was increased, geometries would form, dissolve, and reform in greater complexities (the reverse was also found to be true). These patterns were repeatable, and were shown to be a function of frequency, amplitude, and the characteristics of the materials used. Jenny also discovered certain conditions whereby the patterns would morph and change indefinitely, despite a constant frequency and amplitude. Jenny’s more advanced experiments with fluids produced various forms, such as wave motions, spirals, and three-­‐dimensional structures. He also noted that many of the patterns found in his experiments resembled those found in the physical world. This developed into his theory that that every cell had its own frequency, and that biological evolution was a direct result of vibration. Of significant interest is how Jenny’s experiments showed that when Hebrew and Sanskrit letters were intoned, the sand took on the same form as the written symbols. (Pettersson, 2009) All of these discoveries led Jenny to state that, “Everything owes its existence solely and completely to sound. Sound is a factor, which holds it together; sound is the basis for form and shape. ‘In the beginning there was the word, and the word was God’; we are told this is how the world began and how creation took shape. If we put that into the modern idiom, we would say that into the great voids of space came a sound, and the matter took shape.” (‘Cymatics: Bringing Matter to Life with Sound’, 2014) Astrophysicists are beginning to agree. In 1996, Alexander Szalay, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, proposed that the clustering of galaxies was a result of sound, and that “the characteristic sizes of structures seen in the cosmos today were imparted by acoustic waves of particular frequencies.” (Cowen, 1997) John Beaulieu, an American music therapist, points out a connection with quantum physics. He noted that, “There is a similarity between cymatic pictures and quantum particles. In both cases, that which appears to be a solid form is also a wave. They are both created and simultaneously organized by the principle of pulse. This is the great mystery with sound: there is no solidity! A form that appears solid is actually created by an underlying vibration.” (Beaulieu, 1987) These scientific experiments and theories provide a key with which to decipher the mystic traditions. 4 MUS302 Aesthetics Music and Mysticism David Kirkpatrick With an awareness of cymatics, one may return to ancient texts and discover significant similarities. The Egyptians believed that prior to the beginning of all things was a boundless liquid/ocean – unpolarised matter -­‐ which was called Nu or Nun. (Gadalla, 2014) This mystic ocean bears a resemblance in quality to the liquid mediums explored by Jenny’s more advanced experiments. The Egyptian Book of Knowing the Evolutions of Ra, and Overthrowing Apep, states, “I (Osiris) brought my own name into my mouth as a word of power, and forthwith came into being.” (Wallis Budge, 2009) In other words, the eternal and formless will of Osiris was capable of inducing vibrations within the cosmic liquid, which created the form of Osiris. One may draw the conclusion that the ancient traditions are speaking of creation as an advanced use of the principles of cymatics, applied to a primordial fluid. Similarly, the Old Testament book of Genesis states, “The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” Hermetic alchemists also share the idea that all form is created out of a primeval liquid. A fundamental concept of Hermetic alchemy is that of the Prima Materia, which denotes a primordial cosmic matter from which all other substances are created. This cosmic matter is also referred to as Our Water. (‘Prima Materia’, 2014) One may note symbolic and linguistic connections between Hermetic alchemy, cymatics, and the previously explored mystic traditions. Hermetic philosophy is based upon seven principles – Mentalism, Correspondence, Vibration, Polarity, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender. While all seven principles relate to the topic of this essay, the scope of the essay requires only an examination of the second, third, and fifth. The principle of Correspondence states, “As above, so below; as below, so above.” (Three Initiates, 1912) The inference is that the universe follows the same laws and patterns on every scale, in every dimension. This aligns with the discovery that neurons have the same structure as the known universe. (Constantine, 2006) This law is also evidenced within the mathematic field of fractals. (‘Fractal’, 2014) The principle of Correspondence thus suggests that the discoveries of cymatics may indeed be applicable at both quantum and universal scales. The principle of Rhythm states, “Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall.” (Three Initiates, 1912) Here is found an analogue 5 MUS302 Aesthetics Music and Mysticism David Kirkpatrick of the mystic in-­‐breath and out-­‐breath of God, as mentioned in the mystic traditions, and the alternating compression and rarefaction of sound waves, as defined in scientific terms. Finally, the principle of Vibration states, “Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” (Three Initiates, 1912) This principle further explains that the differences between matter, energy, emotions, mind, and spirit are not due to an inherent difference in substance, but simply as a result of differing rates of vibration. As stated previously, vibration is an infinite spectrum; matter vibrates at an imperceptibly slow rate on one side of the spectrum, spirit vibrates at an imperceptibly fast rate on the other, and energy, emotions, and thoughts vibrate at different rates somewhere in between. The principle of Vibration therefore offers a clear explanation as to how sound/music can affect one’s body, energy, emotions, thoughts, and spirit -­‐ via the phenomena of sympathetic resonance. The principles of Hermetic philosophy therefore reconcile the mystic traditions with the scientific method. If solidity is an illusion, and if everything in the universe differs only by rate of vibration, then one must again return to the concept of all form emerging from the one same substance – the Egyptian Nu, the alchemical Prima Materia, the cosmic ocean. Ancient mystic traditions seem to have been describing for centuries, in symbolic terms, what science is only beginning to comprehend, that sound is the fundamental creative force, and the principles of Hermetic philosophy offer a way to reconcile the two approaches. Mystics from all ages and places have reiterated the oneness of all creation; the mystic, scientific, and esoteric phenomena of sound explains how this may be so. "The forms of snowflakes and faces of flowers may take on their shape because they are responding to some sound in nature. Likewise, it is possible that crystals, plants, and human beings may be, in some way, music that has taken on visible form." – Cathie Guzetta 6 MUS302 Aesthetics Music and Mysticism David Kirkpatrick References Beaulieu, J. 1987, Music and Sound in the Healing Arts, Station Hill Press, p. 40 Blaha, S. 2002, A Scientific Inquiry Into the Nature of God, the Spiritual, and Near Death Experiences, Janus Associates. 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