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The Musical Octave

In http://vaczy.dk/ (am 09.11.19)
Thomas Vàczy Hightower

About Myself!
There is a saying: “Show me your book collection and I will tell you who
you are.”
Instead, I will confess what kind of music I prefer to listen to, and you
may then have an idea of who I am.

In the case of modern classical music, I

prefer Bela Bartók to Schönberg. My
favorite composer is Ravel. Late
classicism, such as Brahms, is not my
cup of tea!
I choose Baroque music rather than
Viennese classicism; Händel rather than
J.S.Bach.
Among Renaissance composers I prefer
Palestrina to Monteverdi.
In my later years, I noticed in myself a certain
fatigue in listening to classical music. It had
nothing to do with the quality of performance,
so I could not quite figure it out until I heard a
radio discussion about classical music, where
someone characterized our recording
technology as a curse for living music by its
massive repetition of the old repertoire: a
“living museum” where contemporary music
is performed as an obligation.

Maybe the contemporary music is too

intellectua? There is too much brain and too little body and heart!
Actually, the same can be said about Jazz. In my early days Jazz and Swing
were my favorites; Duke Ellington and friends, for example.
When Jazz began to be intellectual and removed itself from the dancing floor,
it lost its vitality and drive and became ego-centered.

I find a special joy in Folk music, especially Celtic music (and its modern
form, e.g. as in Scotsman Andy Stewart’s music), though Folk music from any
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part of the world (World music) can capture my heart for its genuine
expression of real emotions.
Lately I have been uplifted by the pure and intense emotions in religious music,
especially Jewish sacred music with its strange mix of mourning and elation.
Throughout the long tradition, I find Jewish music extraordinarily present and vital.
For dancing Reggae is my rhythm, especially The Inner Circle.
Concerning entertainment, I prefer Bobby Darin for Frank Sinatra or the other
“rat pack” guys.

When we come to Rock & Roll and Beat music, I do not agree with Niel
Young's words, that rock & roll will never die. Fame & money did the kill! I
do not think that fame & money are bad as such. As a rule of thumb: art is
created for those who have the money. It is a painful fact. But think about it -
and hear the advertising sound track!
However, it is unwholesome for the musician when fame and money are the
prime reason for presenting music. Unfortunately, so much “music” is
permeated with the ego of the musician, who just wants to show off.
So it may come as no surprise that the Irish van Morrison is one of my favorites.
He shows his struggle with his ego, when he “eats his humble pie”.
An example of a proper attitude in performing music is the famous opera singer
Luciano Pavarotti. When he has finished a marvelous aria, one can see how in
humble joy he expresses his gratitude to a higher force – his creator or muse – for
being able to perform. His gesture demonstrates his understanding of his role; he
knows that he is “only” an instrument, a tool for the music that is much bigger
than himself.

A classical example is Beatles verses Rolling Stones – joy verses power!

It may disturb some, that I am dead tired of Bob Dylan! I find Leonard Cohen
much more clean and comfortable to be in company with. The same applies to
Simon & Garfunkel, who are the returning choice to be played over the years.
Poul Simon is simply a fabulous in the art of creating balance between text,
melody and rhythm.

Another guy who has followed me most of my adult life is “the man in black”.
I consider Johnny Cash a fine example of presence and sincerity.
Strange enough, I have first recently got to know his friend, Roy Orbison, who
was a pioneer in the “thing”, later called Rock & Roll .
What an angelic voice Orbison had, what a genius in song writing and
composing. How can his (nearly 4 octaves range voice) carry so much
emotion and intensity? He just stood still as a rock on the stage, hardly
moving his lips, the eyes covered with big dark glasses, and filled the whole
room with timeless music.
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An opposite to Roy Orbison is the French sing-a-song writer, Jacques Brel. He

was an explosion of sound, movement and gesture. He could visualize the
song in a combination of voice and body.

For me is the key point in music the intent behind the music; the underlying
emotion in the sound, that reflects the real being of the musician(s). The real
sound does not come out of the studio/the producer, but out of the musician,.

Concerning myself

I have to reveal that I am neither a musician nor an academic scholar in

musical theories. I graduated from a Danish high school in 1962 and worked
in the film industry for 12 years, the last five years as a freelance movie
director and TV producer. Due to family responsibilities, I gave up the
unreliable film business and took steady work as a nurse.
I am half Hungarian / half Danish, married to an American (where the
Hightower name comes from). Most of my life I have lived in Denmark,
except for a half-year stay in Australia.
My writings are purely an outcome of my own studies of acoustic and music
for the last 2 decades. My interest in the Musical Octave stems from decades
of study in a school of the Ouspensky/Collin tradition.
My writings can neither lay claim to having scientific value nor be viewed as
an academic treatise. They are more like essays.

Concerning the origin of my web pages: The Creation of Musical Scales and
The Sound of Silence are written entirely by me with references stated either
in the text or in the reference list. So are the others except the web pages, The
One Voice Chord and The Power of Harmonics. They should be considered as
notes. They contain many long quotes from mentioned sources, collated and
edited by me, and so they are not the real product of my hand, but notes for
background information.

My method

My attempt to juggle with scientific data by viewing them in the light of

spirituality and consciousness is risky. Such a blend can easily tend to pseudo-
scientific phraseology – or worse, to cheap, pseudo-religious commonplaces.

I am therefore anxious to emphasize that my writings have nothing to do with

religion or faith, which is an entirely different category of the human mind.
The attempt to blend science and religion is odious and is not my intent!
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In the last century we witnessed several idealistic theories, (fascism

/communism), which were canonized to taken the place of religion, and with
catastrophic outcome.!!!
In the 21st Century, endorsed especially by fundamental Christians in the USA, a new
subspecies is trying to force its way into the educational systems. It is called Intelligent
Design. It is intended as a counter to Charles Darwin's evolution theory, but is not
sustained by proper scientific method. It is an attempt to brush up the myth of Creation
as a “scientific” theory; but I do not understand why religion and myths should be
disguised – unless a hidden agenda is at work?

However, we should not forget how the development of modern science

started in the late Renaissance: It was founded as a method to study and
understand God’s Creation.
Writing about the metaphysical properties of music and sound is a risky
business. I advise keeping to sound common sense, as I have tried to do.

Thomas Váczy Hightower, 2003-11.

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The Creation of Musical Scales, part I   (P. 7)

from a mathematical and acoustic point of view , where the underlying laws
of creating a musical scale will be investigated. 2002-9.

The Creation of Musical Scales, part II (p. 25)

will focus on the acoustic laws behind the musical scales on a global scale,
and how numbers and mathematics play a part in creation of the intervals in
the octave. 2002 - 2009.

Basic acoustical laws

  The Sound of Silence    (p. 49)
where the law of octaves will be extended to the meta-
physical properties of music and sound bringing into
focus the strange behavior of the pendulum. Updated
version of The Musical Octave, 2007.
The Sound of Silence, part II, (p. 81)
continue the exploration of the metaphysical aspects
of music and sound. Updated version of The Musical
Octave, 2007.
The Harmony of the Spheres (p. 116)
Since Pythagoras pronounced that concept many scholars has wondered what
he meant. 2003

Music and Society (p. 129)

Does music shape the history and society? Is there a cycle of feminine &
masculine influence? Signs of the fatherless, dream society, 2007.

Time is breath (p. 139)

Gurdjieff expressed that hint for his students and they began to elaborate.
2003.

Information Theory and Cybernetics (p. 143)

The mental aspect of living organism interaction with
the world according to Bateson. 2004.
 Vortex energy (p. 158)
inter-dimensional "free" energy machines by some of the pioneers, 2000-8.
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Additional notes
The One Voice Chord (p. 168),the Tibetan tantric chanting and
balancing the chakras. October 2000

The Power of Harmonics (p. 178), and its effect on consciousness

and health. October 2000 
Literature and reference to The Musical Octave:  (p. 193)
Mail me a comment: mail@vaczy.dk
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The Creation of Musical Scales,

part I
from a mathematics and acoustic point of view, 

by Thomas Váczy Hightower.

    The focus will be on the acoustic laws behind the musical scales and how
numbers and mathematics play a part in creating the intervals in the octave.
Which factors have significance for creating a musical scale? Why is the
division of the octave so basically common in different musical traditions, and
what make them differ? Why is the ancient Greek Pythagorean scale basically
identical with the old Chinese scale? What causes the modern Western
musical scale, the Equal Temperament, to be ‘disharmonious’ compared to the
Eastern scales?

Music has often played an important part in shaping a culture. Some say that
music is the hidden power in a culture. In ancient societies it was considered a
serious public matter, a foundation for the culture. The musical scale itself and
the right tuning of intervals can make all the difference as to how chaos or
order. It also ensures that humans are in accord with earthly as well as
celestial influence.

The more metaphysical aspects of music and sound and its influence at the
level of consciousness and healing can be studied in my second part, The
Musical Octave II, where I will mix different levels and categories into a
larger picture.

In this thesis I will perform an analysis of four different musical traditions and
their basic scales: 

·         the ancient Chinese

·         the Indian musical tradition 

·         the old Greek music 

·         the following European musical scales.

By looking at the many tuning systems worldwide, one common factor is

outstanding, the octave. The word derives from Latin and means ‘eighth’. It is
the 8th step in the diatonic scale consisting of 7 tones, containing 5 full tones
and 2 semitones. The eighth tone in the diatonic scale, which is the most
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common in the world, completes the octave on a pitch that in frequency is the
double of the fundamental tone.

This universal unit, that divides the realm of sound by the factor 2, can be
subdivided in three basic ways: 

1) By a geometric progression, with any number of equal intervals, such as the

common Western mode, the Equal Temperament with 12 semitones, and other
numbers. 
A geometric progression is a sequence in which each term (after the first) is
determined by multiplying the preceding term by a constant. This constant is
called the common ratio of the arithmetic progression. The octave sequence is
a geometric progression; so is the golden section.

2) By proportions with low number ratios, e.g. Just Intonation with its triads
of major Thirds, or by other harmonic relations to the tonic (Modal music),
e.g. Pentatonic or Septonic (e.g. Indian music).
Systems of proportions are used in Modal music, e.g. the harmonic mean and
the arithmetical mean in the division of an octave.

3) By generating Fifths, e.g. Pythagorean Tuning or The Chinese Scale.

There are hybrids too, such as the Mean Tone Temperaments.

The habits of hearing

The reason there are so many different ways to divide the octave and display
such a range of scales can be found in the fact that there are no formula that
can fit the octave perfectly. The different ratios expressed in numbers are
prime inter-related, so a common divisor is not possible in an octave - unless
some notes or keys are sound disharmonious.
Different musical traditions embrace this schism depending on what they
consider best fit for their musical expression. The culture in which the musical
scale has emerged is a profound reflection of that particular culture.

The Eastern music tradition considers the fine-tuned intervals of much more
importance than the Western, which prefers first harmonious chords in any
key. Consequently there are intervals which are perceived as consonant in the
West, but considered dissonant in the East.

What it comes down to is habits. A musical scale is deeply ingrained. It

shapes the way one hears tones in succession in a fixed pattern. There have to
be at least three elements in defining a mode, just as three notes are needed to
define a chord. 
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In the modulating cyclic systems, where every sound is mobile, it is necessary

to repeat the ‘body of harmony’ (tonic, fifth or fourth and octave) in order to
establish the meaning or mood of the note, but in the modal system one note
alone, by changing its place, can produce the effect of a chord.
The modal frame, being fixed and firmly established in the memory of the
listener, has no need to constantly repeat chords as in harmonic music, in
order to express the numerical relationship.
That shape of ingrained intervals goes more or less out of tune, when changes
of key or transposition moves the frequencies up or down. It is the way
enharmonic notes arise. Increasing pitch by a half tone is not the same as
decreasing by a half tone. They are two different notes. 

Expressed graphically, the frequencies’ ratios behave exponentially - in a non-

linear curve - (which is displayed e.g. by the logarithmic spacing of the frets
on the neck of the guitar), so a discrepancy is produced by moving the set
frame up or down. This discrepancy is expressed in the different ‘commas’,
such as the Pythagorean comma or the smaller Syntonic comma (the comma
of Didymos).

The notion of harmony is different too. In the West the perception of harmony
is ‘vertical’ - meaning as chords played at once. The Eastern tradition of
harmony is ‘horizontal’. Each tone is carefully played, and by attention over
time adds up in the memory to harmonious chords.

Laws of acoustic
Before we deal with the creations of musical scales, we have to dwell on the
underlying foundation of scales, namely the physical laws of sounds.
Acoustics is a branch of physic that is complicated and extensive, so I have
only chosen - in a brief form - those parts we need to look at in order to
understand the invention of musical scales.

Sound is vibrations, but three conditions have to be in place, if a sound is to be

heard:
1) The vibrating source for the sound – an oscillator.
2) A medium in which the sound can travel, such as air, water or soil.
3) A receiver for the sound, such as a functional ear or a microphone.

The sound wave is a chain reaction where the molecules of the medium, by
elastic beats, push the other molecules in a longitudinal direction - quite like a
long train getting a push from a locomotive.
It is a longitudinal displacement of pressure and depressor in a molecular
medium such as air or water. Any sound is initiated by an oscillator, which
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can be a huge range of devices and instruments, each one having its own
definite characteristic sound.

The sound waves should not be imagined as waves in water caused by e.g. a
stone in a pond, though the picture appears to be alike. 
Sound waves are longitudinal: pressure waves - back and forth.
Water waves are transverse: the main movements are up and down in a
circular motion. 
Please note that longitudinal pressure waves will reappear in the description
below of logarithmic, standing pressure waves.

Moving string

Plucked strings exhibit transverse waves in a back and forth movement,

locally producing a pulse along the direction in which the wave itself travels,
with a speed depending on the mass of the string and its material but usually
lower than airwaves. (A good explanation is given by The University of New
South Wales, Australia.)

The frequency of the string itself is the same as the frequency of the air waves.
The wavelength is different due to the dissimilarity in speed.
The length of the vibrating part of the string is in inverse proportion to the
frequencies. The period of oscillation = 1 / frequency. This is an important
acoustic law that applies to any conversion of period into frequencies. If, for
example, you divide an octave string by 2/3, the ratio of the sound will be 3/2
of an octave, a fifth. 

Oscillators

To produce sounds, a vibrating body, an oscillator, is

needed.
An oscillator can be any kind of a vibrating body from an
atom to an astronomical object, but since we are here
working with musical sounds, we are referring to
oscillators such as musical instruments or the human
voice box, that produce standing waves or periodic waves
in a system of resonators that enhances and amplifies the
tone and generates harmonics.

The heart and aorta form a special resonant system when breathing is ceased.
Then the heartbeat seems to wait until the echo returns from the bifurcation
(where the aorta forks out in the lower abdomen). Then the next heart beat
sets in. In this synchronous way a resonant, standing wave of blood is
established with a frequency of about seven times a second. This harmonious
mode requires for its sustenance a minimum amount of energy, which is an
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intelligent response from the body. In deep meditation a similar mode is

established. It is interesting to notice that this mode of 7 Hz is close to the
Schumann resonance.

Standing waves

Standing waves are a kind of echo that moves back and forth, since the waves
are reflected between two solid points, basically, a or fixed string. For wind
instruments with an open end, the impedance (the resisters from the air) works
in a similar manner. There are also closed pipes that resonate a bit differently.

When a fixed string is plucked, the

potential energy is released in a
transverse wave, that in a split
second begins to initiate a division of
the string into different moving parts,
where some points are not moving.
These stationary points are called
nodes.  How many nodes the string is
divided into when it vibrates depends
on the material, the tension, and
especially how and where it is
plucked or bowed, etc. But here we
try to get a general picture of the
nature of standing waves in a
plucked string.

When the potential energy is stopped at the fixed ends, the kinetic energy is at
its maximum and continues in a 180° phase shift the opposite way. We thus
have two waves with the same frequency and amplitude traveling in opposite
directions. Where the two waves add together or superpose, movement is
canceled out and we have stationary nodes that occur a half wavelength apart
and constitute the standing waves.

The repeating shifts between potential and kinetic energy in a moving string
draws one’s attention to a similar pattern we can observe in a pendulum and
its simple harmonic motion.

The numbers of nodes, the non-moving points in a standing wave, is equal to

the number of harmonics or partials created in the standing wave.

The same pattern can be observed with fine sand on a metal plate set in
vibration by a bow. The standing waves automatically divide the length and
width of the plate into an integral number of half wave-lengths. It is only then
that a standing wave can be sustained. That pattern is the most energy-
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effective form nature can provide. (A similar pattern is the rhythm

entrainment, where random oscillations after a while begin to oscillate in
unison).
Standing waves cannot exist unless they divide their medium into an integral
number of half waves with their nodes. A standing wave having a fractional
wavelength cannot be sustained.

The same standing waves pattern can be formed in a three-dimensional box.

This pattern will look just like a highly enlarged crystal, if we assume that the
aggregated particles or grains in the box fluid are analogous to the atoms in a
crystal.
The key word in standing waves is order. In short, by using sound we have
introduced order where previously there was none.

Harmonics
Any vibrating body that is set in a standing, resonant motion, produces
harmonics. For musical sounds the harmonic series is usually expressed as an
arithmetical proportion: 1,1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6...1:n.
The first and second harmonics are separated by an octave, frequency ratio
2:1, the 2nd and 3rd by a perfect fifth (3:2), the 3rd and 4th by a perfect fourth
(4:3), and 4th and 5th by a major third (5:4), and the 5th and the 6th by a
minor third (6:5), and so on.

A composed (periodic) tone contains a multiple of various frequencies in

whole numbers, (integers – 2,3,4,5,6…25…) of the fundamental frequency. 
They are named harmonics. Each voice or musical instrument produces its
own characteristic set of harmonics, also called formats, that enable the ear to
identify the sound because the ear and the brain perform a Fourier analysis of
the sound. (Some wind instruments, for example, produce only odd
harmonics).

In order to understand the composed tone, one has to turn to a French

mathematician from the 19th Century, Jean-Baptiste Fourier, who in 1822
proved that any complex periodic curve – in this case any tone – is composed
of a set of sine curves that contain the fundamental sine frequency + another
sine curve with double the frequency + a sine curve with triple the frequency,
and so on. 

A simple Harmonic motionis typified by the motion of a pendulum, which is

sinusoidal in time and demonstrates a single resonant frequency.
The formula for The Harmonic Series is the sum, ∑ 1/n = 1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 +
1/5 +1/6 +…diverges to infinity, when n goes from 1 to infinity. Another
common way to express the harmonics is, the fundamental f, then 2f, 3f, 4f,
5f....nf harmonic.
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To have an idear of the harmonics in the string you have to imagine an

idealized stretched string with fixed ends vibrating the first 4 modes of the
standing waves. This can be expressed as the relationship between
wavelength, speed and frequency, a basic formula where the wavelength is
inversely proportional to the frequency when speed is a constant (k) since it is
the same string:

Let's work out the relationships among the frequencies of these modes. For a
wave, the frequency is the ratio of the speed of the wave to the length of the
wave: f = k/wavelength. Compared to the string length L, you can see that
these waves have lengths 2L, L, 2L/3, L/2. We could write this as 2L/n, where
n is the number of the harmonic.

The fundamental or first mode has frequency f 1 = k/wavelength = k/2L,

The second harmonic has frequency f2 = k/wavelength = 2k/2L = 2f1
The third harmonic has frequency f3 = k/wavelength = 3k/2L = 3f1,
The fourth harmonic has frequency f4 = v/wavelength = 4k/2L = 4f1, and, to
generalize, The nth harmonic has frequency fn = k/wavelength = nk/2L = nf 1.

All waves in a string travel with the same speed, so these waves with different
wavelengths have different frequencies as shown. The mode with the lowest
frequency (f1) is called the fundamental.
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Note that the n'th mode has frequency n times that of the fundamental. All of
the modes (and the sounds they produce) are called the harmonics of the
string. The frequencies f, 2f, 3f, 4f etc are called the harmonic series.

The diagram displays the harmonics in a span of 5 octaves, where the

fundamental is C with the frequency of 32 Hz. As the octaves progress the
numberes of new harmonics increase with the factor of 2.

How Nature performed such a mathematical division, an arithmetic progression, is

beyond my apprehension, but it is surely a mighty prominent and well-proven law.
Intuitively I feel that the number 2, or its inversion ½, is the mega number. Remember
the integer numbers of ½ waves (nodes) in the standing wave.
The harmonic series is special because any combination of its vibrations produces a
periodic or repeated vibration at the fundamental frequency.

The Harmonic Scale

Since the harmonic series plays such an important part in music, it should be
obvious to use the harmonic series as the notes in a scale. This is also valid
since the harmonic series contains all the possible intervals used in music,
although the order in which those intervals appear does not properly constitute
a musical scale. The main difficulty is that all its intervals differ from one
another and become smaller as the scale rises.

The problem with modulation is obvious since each interval is not alike.
Further, the need for a fixed structure to establish a musical scale, a body of
harmony established by the three prime intervals, cannot be fulfilled by using
the harmonic series as a musical scale.
Nevertheless, the series of the first sixteen harmonics can be considered to
form a mode that is interesting in comparison with the musical scales used
throughout the history of music.

If we take C as a starting point, we first notice the appearance of the octave,

C', 2/1, then the fifth, G, 3/2, then the third, E, 5/4, then the harmonic Bb 7/4 –
lower than the usual Bb, and forming with upper C', the maximum tone 8/7.
After this appears the major second, D, 9/8, which forms with E a minor
second, 10/9.
Then come the harmonics F#, 11/8, A-, 13/8, and finally, the seventh, B, 15/8.

The remaining eight of the first sixteen harmonics add no new notes, as they
are at exact octave intervals from earlier harmonics in the series.
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We have to understand the way the harmonic series display itself in a chain of
octaves, where each new octave contains twice as many harmonics as the last
octave.

By looking at the ratios, the denominator indicates the octave, the numerator
states the number of harmonics in that octave. Considering only the first
sixteen harmonics, we thus obtain a scale of eight tones formed of the
following intervals:

Notes C D E F# G A- Bb B C'
Ratios 1/1 9/8 5/4 11/8 3/2 13/8 7/4 15/8 2/1
Savarts   51 46 41 38 35 32 30 28

Notice that each interval gets smaller as the pitch rises.

Calculations of sound ratios

Another feature in the realm of sound is the exponential factor, because sound,
like many other physical events, behaves exponentially - not in straight
lines. Harmonics are not linear either.

There are two ways to calculate ratios of frequencies: 

1) One can work with the ratios as they are, often pretty long numbers, and the
calculation is a bit twisted, since in adding two sound ratios one has to
multiply; to subtract you have to divide; and to divide a sound ratio you have
to take the square root.
A common example is the Equal Temperament, where the octave has to be
divided into 12 equal parts.
One semitone is the 12th root of 2, (21/12) . If you want to divide the whole
tone, 9/8, you have to take the square root of 9/8, or (9/8) ½ = 3/2*2½.

2) The other way, which makes the calculation more straightforward, is to

convert the ratios into logarithmic unities such as cents or savarts.
Logarithmic calculations make it easier to operate with pitch intervals or
frequency ratios, since the size of a pitch interval is proportional not to the
frequency ratio, but to the logarithm of the frequency ratio. This makes the
calculation of ratios simpler, by a plain process of adding, subtracting or
dividing.

Savarts, named after a French physicist, and cents are both logarithmic
systems developed to make it easy to compare intervals on a linear scale
instead of using fractals or frequency ratios (f2/f1). 
A Savart is calculated as the logarithm (base 10) of the frequency ratio and,
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for convenience, multiplied by 1000. We then have an interval expressed in

terms of a savart unit. 
The interval of an octave in savarts is the logarithm of 2, which is 0.3010...
expressed as 301 savarts. 
Savarts have an advantage over the widely used American system, cents, since
savarts is designed to fit any frequencies ratios (f2/f1), while cent by
definition is based on one scale, the 12 semitones in the Equal Temperament.

Cent is also a logarithmic unit, which by definition is based on the tempered

scale of 1200 cents/octave. A semitone is therefore 100 cents. This definition
is a bit more complicated than the plain savart, since the exact relationship of
frequencies to cents is expressed by this formula: 1200 * (f2/f1) / log 2 = 3986
* log10 (f2/f1).
E.g. the interval of the perfect fifth calculated in cents is: the log 10 3/2 =
0.1761.. The fifth in cents is 3986 * 0.1761 = 702 cent.

The Octave

This interval is the very most outstanding division of sound and music and is
recognized in all musical traditions through time on the globe. The division of
the octave has been made differently depending on musical tradition, but alr
the world in all times the octave has been recognized as the basic unit that
constitutes a beginning and an end.
‘Octave’ derives from Latin and means the ‘eighth’. It is the 8th step in the
diatonic scale consisting of 7 tones, 5 full tones and 2 semitones. The eighth
tone in the diatonic scale, which is the most common in the world, completes
the octave on a pitch that in frequency is the double of the fundamental tone.

Graphically, one could say that an octave expresses or represents a circle.

Several octaves shape a spiral, where the same fundamental is above or below.
The obvious mystery about octaves is that tones an octave apart sound similar,
though the frequency is the double or the half.
They pertain, so to speak, to the same family; from the same root, unfolding in
the spectrum of frequencies. They have the same Chroma. They always
double up the frequencies in the ascending mode or halve them in the
descending mode.
Again we see the basic, universal division of one into two, as we first
mentioned in the paragraph about the standing waves. Just remember the
awesome sight of the pregnant egg-cell dividing itself. The law of octaves
belongs not only to the realm of sound, but can be observed as manifesting
itself throughout Nature around, and in astronomy above.
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The Fourth

The very harmonious Fourth is a kind of a puzzle, with its prime interval in
the ratio of 4 : 3. It is not represented in the first 16 harmonics in the series,
though the 3rd and 4th harmonics are separated by a Fourth. It has taken me
some time to figure it out.
In order to understand the importance of the Fourth, we have to look at the
previous prime interval, the Fifth, with the ratio of 3 : 2. The 2nd and 3rd
harmonics are separated by a Fifth. These two intervals together constitute an
octave. They are complementary intervals.

Furthermore, by going down by a Fourth into the octave below, one reaches
the Fifth in the sub-octave, which has half the frequency. In other words: a
descending Fifth, 2:3, divided by ½, equals 4:3, a Fourth.

In the musical language the Fifth is called the Dominant and the Fourth the
Sub-dominant, which plays a very dominant role in music all over the world.
In all the musical scales that are obtained by the generating interval 3:2, the
opposite movement – lowering by 4:3 – makes it possible to fit the generated
intervals into one octave.

Music and mathematics

Music and Numbers  are often said to be as brother and sister, different but
related. In addition, we have to take into consideration numerical
representation, which plays an important role in Eastern music but is ignored
in the Western tradition.

Composite sound

A musical sound or tone is a composite sound containing a multiple of

overtones or harmonics. In musical practice the tone is not only dependent on
its pitch and amplitude (loudness), but also on its specific numbers of
harmonics (formats), which ‘color’ the tones so that each instrument or voice
has its characteristic sound. 
This has nothing to do with musical compositions aiming to ‘paint’ colors, or
the blue notes in jazz music. ‘Overtone’ originates from the German
Obertone, which refers to the various numbers of partials or harmonics that
are produced by the strongest and lowest fundamental note, and fused into a
compound or complex tone.

In his book On the Sensation of Tone from 1877, Herman von Helmholtz
formulated the theory about the consonant and dissonant intervals based on
the numbers of beats generated when two tones or a chord are played. 
 18

It was first about 100 years later that Promp was able to prove a more
consistent theory, the Consonant Theory, which now is generally accepted. 

Beats

When two tones (or chords) are played simultaneously, another important
acoustic phenomenon takes place, called ‘beats’. When the frequencies of two
tones are close to each other, a periodical beat can clearly be heard, caused by
the interference of the different waves, which alter the amplitude so an
intensified rhythmic beating, floating tone is heard as a third tone.
There are other interference patterns besides beat frequencies, but this will do
in this instance.

Some intervals or chords

produce more beats in the
higher harmonics than others,
and those are picked up by the
ear as unclean, muddy or
unpleasant, and are labeled
dissonant.

The intervals which make

fewest beats are called
consonant, such as an octave,
the perfect fifth, the perfect
fourth – the three prime
intervals, or ‘The body of
Harmony’ as described by
Aristotle; the basis for the
musical scale.

A general rule about sound

ratios is that the simpler the
ratios between sounds are, the more their relations are harmonious, while the
more complicated the ratios are, the more dissonant are the sounds.

Pythagoras was the first in the West to formulate the law of musical pitches
depending on numerical proportions. From this he based his underlying
principle of ‘harmonia’ as a numerical system bound together by interlocking
ratios of small numbers. This discovery probably led him to the idea of the
Harmony of the Spheres. 

His vision of ‘The Music of the Spheres‘ aroused deep emotions in me. It
alludes to the seven planets known at that time, and has puzzled generations
 19

since it was declared. Johannes Kepler dedicated most of his life to attempting
to solve that notion.

The auditory system

The receiving part, the human ear, is equally important. The recent discoveries
(The Consonant Theory) of the function of the basal membrane in Cochlea as
a Fourier analyzer, and the role the critical band plays in the perception of
rough or smooth sound, dissonance and consonance, gives a consistent theory
for some of the hearing functions.

When the frequency ratios are narrowed down

to such small intervals that our auditory
system is not capable of differentiating, the
harmonics become fused because of the
critical band, a relatively new discovery,
(around 1970-80 by Plomp a.o.) which refers
to the overlapping amplitude envelopes on the
basilar membrane in the Organ of Corti in the
Cochlea. 
Trained ears are able to detect the harmonics
up to the 6th or 7th harmonics.
←Schematic graph of the Cochlea

When the interval between two tones decreases, their amplitude envelopes
overlap to an increasing extent. A rough, harsh tone will be heard, which
anyone can hear when two notes with less than minor 3rd separation are
played simultaneously. This is very shortly the key to understand the theory of
dissonance and consonants, which is the foundation in the origin of scales.

There are a lot of more acoustic laws and theories of fusion of pure tone
components and other acoustic phenomena such as masking, except to state
that the inner ear performs a partial frequency analysis of a complex musical
tone, a Fourier analysis, sending to the brain a distinct signal recording the
presence of each of the first seven or eight harmonic components; in addition
the brain receives signals from the part of the basilar membrane activated by
the unresolved upper harmonics.

Several experiments by different scientists suggest that the brain determines

the pitch of a complex tone by searching for a harmonic pattern among the
components separately resolved in the inner ear. If the deviation from a true
harmonic series is too large, the brain gives up the attempt to find a single
matching set of harmonics. Then the components are heard separately, rather
than as a fused tone.
 20

This explains the ‘missing fundamentals’ in the harmonic spectrum of a bassoon

playing E3, because the ear does not ‘hear’ the fundamental tone, but the harmonic.

Breakthrough in the science of hearing

Helmholtz beat theories was commonly accepted for about 100 years, before
the Noble Prize winning Hungarian scientist Békésy in 1960 made a new
breakthrough by his discovery of the role the basilar membrane plays in the
hearing of pitch.
He derived by anatomical studies a relationship between distance along the
basilar membrane and frequency of maximum response. A high frequency
pure tone generates a wave that travels only a short distance along the basilar
membrane before reaching its peak amplitude; the hair cells at the position of
the peak are fired, and the brain receives signals from the corresponding nerve
fibers. These fibers evoke a ‘high frequency’ sensation.

A low frequency tone generates a wave that travels

most of the way to the helicotrema before rising to its
peak amplitude and dying away. Signals from nerve
fibers connected to this region of the basilar membrane
evoke a ‘low-frequency’ sensation in the brain.

Other theories than the above ‘place theory’ have been

brought forward, among them the ‘temporal theories’,
i.e. emphasizing the use of the timing information in
nerve signals.

Helmholtz dismissed

The modern Consonance Theory of Plomp extended the

discoveries of Békésy with some new important findings, that gave whole new
meanings to the concept of hearing. The beat theory of Helmholtz was finally
dismissed in favor of the well experimented and proven Consonance Theory,
in which the ears Discrimination Frequency and its Critical Bandwidth plays
an important part.

The Critical Band

As the interval between two tones decreases, their amplitude envelopes on the
basilar membrane overlap to an increasing extent. A significant number of
hair cells will now be responding to both signals. When the separation is
reduced, e.g. to a tone, the amplitude envelopes overlap almost completely,
implying a strong interaction between the two sounds, which is heard as a
harsh, rough sound: a dissonance.
 21

When two pure tones are so close in frequency that there is a large overlap in
their amplitude envelopes, we say that their frequencies lie within one critical
band. This concept has been of great importance in the development of
modern theories of hearing and, one must add, gives a much better
explanation for the ear’s determination of consonant or dissonant intervals.

Logarithmic intervals and frequency distributions

This portion is a bit of off the key with the musical scales. However, when (in
2007) I read about Cislenko's logarithmic intervals in the book Tools of
Awareness, I felt immediately that here is new, first-class research about the
basic concept of a scale. You have to go above the level of sound and reach up
to the level of sizes of bodies.

In 1980, the Russian biologist Cislenko published what is probably one of the
most important biological discoveries of the 20th century. The published work
was Structure of Fauna and Flora with Regard to Body Size of Organisms
(Lomonosov-University, Moscow).
His work documents that segments of increased species representation were
repeated on the logarithmic line of body sizes in equal intervals (approx 0.5
units of the decadal logarithm).
The phenomenon is not explicable from a biological point of view. Why
should mature individuals of amphibians, reptile, fish, bird and mammals of
different species find it similarly advantageous to have a body size in the
range of 8 - 12 cm, 33 - 55 cm or 1,5 - 2,4 m?

Cislenko assumed that competition in the plant and animal kingdoms occurs
not only for food, water or other resources, but also for the best body sizes.
Each species tries to occupy the advantageous intervals on the logarithmic
scale where mutual pressure of competition also gave rise to crash zones.
However, Cislenko, was not able to explain, why both the crash zones and the
overpopulated intervals on the logarithmic line are always of the same length
and occur in equal distance from each other. He was unable to figure out why
only certain sizes would be advantageous for the survival of a species, and
what these advantages actually were.

The logarithmic frequency distributions by Dr. Hartmut Mulier

Cislenko's work inspired the German scientist Dr. Hartmut Müller to search
for other scale-invariant distributions in physics. The phenomenon of scaling
is well known to high-energy physics.
Müller found similar frequency distributions along the logarithmic line of
sizes, orbits, masses, and revolution periods of planets, moons and asteroids.
Being a mathematician and physicist he did not fail to recognize the cause for
 22

this phenomenon in the existence of a standing pressure wave in the

logarithmic space of the scales/measures.

Scale is what physics can measure. The result of a physical measurement is

always a number with measuring unit – a physical quantity.
Imagine that we have measured 12cm, 33cm and 90cm. Choosing 1 cm as the standard
measure (etalon), we will get the number sequence 12 - 33 - 90 (without measurement
unit, or as the physicist says: with unit 1). The distances between these numbers on the
number line are 33 - 12 = 21 and 90 - 33 = 57.
If we were to choose another measuring unit, such as the etalon with 49,5cm, the
number sequence would be 0,24 - 0,67 - 1,82. The distances between the numbers have
changed into 0,67 - 0,24 = 0,42 and 1,82 - 0,667 = 1,16.

However, on the logarithmic line, the distance will not change, no matter what
measuring unit we choose. It will always remain constant.
In our example, this distance amounts to one unit of the natural logarithm (with radix e
= 2,71828...): ln 33 - ln 12 ≈ ln 90 - ln 33 ≈ ln 0,67 - ln 0,24 ≈ ln 1,82 - ln 0,67 ≈ 1.
Physical values of measurement, therefore, own the remarkable feature of logarithmic
invariance (scaling).
So, in reality, any scale is a logarithm!

Any scale is a logarithm

It is very interesting that natural systems are not evenly distributed along the
logarithmic line of the scales. There are ‘attractive’ sections which are
occupied by a great number of completely different natural systems; and there
are ‘repulsive’ sections that most natural systems will avoid.

Growing crystals, organisms or populations that reach the limits of such

sections on the logarithmic line will either grow no more or will begin to
disintegrate, or else will accelerate growth so as to overcome these sections as
quickly as possible.
The Institute for Space-Energy-Research I.M. was able to prove the same phenomenon
also in demographics (stochastic of world-wide urban populations), economy
(stochastic of national product, imports and exports world-wide) and business economy
(stochastic of sales volume of large industrial and middle-class enterprises, stochastic of
world-wide stock exchange values).

The borders of ‘attractive’ and ‘repulsive’ segments on the logarithmic line of

scales are easy to find because they recur regularly with a distance of 3 natural
logarithmic units. This distance also defines the wavelength of the standing
pressure wave: it is 6 units of the natural logarithm.

In fact, the world of scales is nothing else but the logarithmic line of numbers
known to mathematics at least since the time of Napier (1600). What is new,
however, is the fundamental recognition that the number line has a harmonic
structure, which is itself the cause for the standing pressure wave.
 23

Leonard Euler (1748 ) had already shown, that irrational and transcendental
numbers can be uniquely represented as continued fractions in which all
elements (numerators and denominators) will be natural numbers.

Prime numbers

In 1928, Khintchine succeeded in providing the general proof about prime

numbers. In the theory of numbers this means that all numbers can be
constructed from natural numbers; the universal principle of construction
being the continued fraction. All natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... in turn are
constructed from prime numbers, these being natural numbers which cannot
be further divided without remainder, such as 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 19, 23, 29,
31, ... (traditionally 1 is not classed as a prime number although it fulfills all
criteria).

The distribution of prime numbers on the number line is so irregular that so

far no formula has been found that would perfectly describe their distribution.
Dr. Muller found that the distribution of numbers is indeed very irregular - but
only on the linear number line.
On the logarithmic number line, large gaps of prime numbers recur at regular
intervals. Gauss (1795) had already noticed this.

The reason for this phenomenon is the existence of a standing density wave on
the logarithmic number line. The node points of this density wave are acting
as number attractors. This is where prime numbers will 'accumulate' and form
composite numbers, i.e. non-primes, such as the 7 non-primes from 401 to
409.
Hence a ‘prime number gap’ will occur in this place. Precisely where non-
primes (i.e. prime clusters) arise on the logarithmic number line, there it is that
matter concentrates on the logarithmic line of measures. This is not magic; it
is simply a consequence of the fact that scales are logarithms, i.e. ‘just’
numbers.

So the logarithmic line of scales is nothing else but the logarithmic number
line. And because the standing pressure wave is a property of the logarithmic
number line, it determines the frequency of distribution of matter on all
physically calibrated logarithmic lines - the line of ratios of size, that of
masses, of frequencies, of temperatures, velocities, etc.
Finding a node point on the logarithmic line is relatively easy, since the
wavelength of the standing density wave on the logarithmic number line is
known, and the calculation of all nodal points is done by a simple formula.
The distance between adjacent node points is 3 units of the natural logarithm.

The frequency ranges around 5 Hz, 101 Hz, 2032 Hz, 40,8 kHz, 820 kHz,
16,5 MHz, 330,6 MHz, etc. are predestined for energy transmission in finite
 24

media. This is also where the carrier frequencies for information transmission
in logarithmic space are located.
Frequencies that occur near a note point are very common in nature, as well as
in technological applications.

I wish to thank Dr. Willy de Maeyer for his help in the subject of this deeper scientific
nature of scales. More similar kinds of mind-puzzling statements in sound and music
can be found on my page The Sound of Silence.

This is a brief resume of those factors in hearing that are closely related to
perceiving an interval or chord. We will skip the many other acoustic
phenomena, because here we will only try to give an account of the reasons
why musical scales are created as they are.
 25

The Creation of Musical Scales

from a mathematic and acoustic point of view, Part II,

by Thomas Váczy Hightower

   My first search was to look at musical practice in ancient times, not only in
Europe but all over the world. There were several other musical scales besides
the diatonic scale, where the semitones were located in other places than from
me-fa and si-do. In the Gregorian modals, for instance, the different placement
of the semitones creates the specific modes.

Pentatonic Music

In pentatonic folk music semitones do not exist. By practical experience,

people have found out that the five-note scale allowed the possibility of
playing in any key without significant disharmony. Theorists would say that
the scale was composed of ascending and descending fifths, only in two steps
in each direction. A pentatonic scale can be played by only using the black
keys on the piano.

EASTERN MUSIC

After a study of ancient main cultural music, mainly Chinese and Indian, I
realized how universal the concept of the octave was in every musical culture.
According to Helmholtz, the Arabic and Persian scales, and the Japanese and
the Pacific scales are also within an octave. However, the division of the
octave differs from culture to culture.
Arab music divides the octave into sixteen unequal intervals. The Persians
divided their octave into 24 steps, so they must have used quarter tones. From
excavated Egyptian flutes, a seven note scale C, D, E, F#, G, A, B, has been
discovered, which is identical with the Syntolydian scale of ancient Greece.
Japanese music used mainly a pentatonic scale.

Chinese music

Music was the cornerstone of the Chinese civilization, the longest living
culture in history. It was considered to embody within its tones elements of
the celestial order. The audible sound, including music, was but one form of
manifestation of a much more fundamental form of Super-physical Sound.
The fundamental Primal Sound was synonymous with that which the Hindus
call OM. The Chinese believed that this Primal Sound, Kung or ‘Huang
Chung’ (directly translated ‘yellow bell’) was, though inaudible, present
 26

everywhere as a Divine Vibration.

Furthermore, it was also divided into 12 lesser Sounds or Tones. These twelve
Cosmic Tones were emanations of, and an aspect of, the Primal Sound, but
were closer in vibration to the tangible, physical world. Each of the 12 Tones
was associated with one of the 12 zodiacal regions of the heavens.

Audible sound was conceived as being a physical level manifestation of the 12

tones. Sound on Earth was a kind of sub-tone of the celestial vibration. It was
believed to contain a little part of the celestial tones' divine power.
“As above, so below”, as the Egyptian Hermes Thot said. In the Lord’s
Prayer, a similar wish is spoken.

For the ancient Chinese, the alignment with the divine prime tone was the
Emperor's most important task. The alignment of earth with heaven, and man
with the Supreme, was literally the purpose of life. The entire order and affairs
of the State were dependent upon the right tuning of the fundamental tone, the
‘yellow bell’, or Kung.

As an ancient text warns: “If the Kung is disturbed, then there is

disorganization; the prince is arrogant.”
If the Kung was out of tune, because the celestial realm has changed, disorder
and inharmonious behavior in society became obvious. Every instrument
(including measuring instruments) was tuned and utilized in accordance with
the holy tone.

The instrument that could give to man the fundamental tone for a musical
scale in perfect harmony with the universe was the key to earthly paradise,
and essential to the security and evolution of society.
It became the Chinese Holy Grail.
One legend tells of the amazing journey of Ling Lun, a minister of the second legendary
Chinese Emperor, Huang Ti. Ling Lun was sent like an ancient Knight of King Arthur
to search for a special and unique set of bamboo pipes. These pipes were so perfect that
they could render the precise standard pitches to which all other instruments throughout
the land could be tuned. 

That sacred tone, which relates to the Western modern pitch of F, was
considered as the fundamental cosmic tone. The Chinese were aware of the
slow changing cosmic influence, and consequently the Kung has to change
accordingly. The Emperor had the task of tuning the Kung so it was in
alignment with the cosmic tone.

Tuning the Sacret Kung

Cousto has in his book The Cosmic Octave an interesting observation on this
matter. He relates the Kung to the frequency of the Platonic Year. The
duration of the Platonic Year, (The Pythagorean Great Year) is about 25,920
 27

years and represents the amount of time the axis of the Earth takes to complete
a full rotation. 

The vernal equinox is the point at which the equator (of Earth) intersects the
ecliptic (or zodiac), which is the position of the sun at the beginning of spring
- March 21st.
The vernal equinox takes an average of 2,160 years to travel through one sign
of the zodiac. This period of time is known as an age. It is not possible to state
exactly when one age is ending and a new beginning, because the signs
overlap to a certain degree. 
The journey of the vernal equinox through each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac
equals one great year of approximately 25,920 years. (Presently we are on the
cusp of Aquarius as the age of Pisces is ending). 
This number of years is close to the high number of generating fifths when we
come into a cycle of 25,524 notes. 

Cousto calculates the note of the Platonic year to be F in the Western Equal
Temperament pitch, which is found in the 48th octave with a frequency of
344.12 Hz., or in the 47th octave to be 172.06 Hz. Note that the corresponding
a' has a frequency of 433.564 Hz. (Modern Western concert pitch is 440 Hz.)
Calculation: 31 556 925.97(the tropical year in seconds) * 25,920 (Platonic year). Since
the length (of a vibrating string, or the period of time) is in reverse proportionality to the
frequency, the length of the Platonic year in seconds shall be the denominator. The
frequency is very low, so we will raise the frequency to the range of hearing by
multiplying with the necessary amount of octaves, e.g. 48 octaves so we arrive to
344,12 Hz. (47 octaves will be the half, 172,06 Hz.)
If we want to reach the spectrum of light, we multiply with 89 octaves which leads us to
a frequency of 1/31 556 925.97 * 1/25 920 * 2 89 = 7,56 * 10 14 Hz. corresponding to a
wavelength of 0.396 micrometer, which we perceive as violet near the ultra violet. This
is the color of the Platonic Year. The complementary color to violet is yellow. Their
fundamental tone was called the yellow bell.

It is a wonder for me how the ancient Chinese could be aware of their sacred
fundamental tone, Kung, being in accordance with the Platonic Year, and
choose the great rhythm of the Earth. 

Creation of a scale

It might be a surprise that the diatonic scale was the foundation for the ancient
Chinese and the Indian music, though the musical theory and practices differ
from the Western. 

For the old Chinese, their musical scale was developed by the circle of perfect
fifths up to 60 degrees or keys, the 60 Lü, though they usually only used the
first 5 fifths in their pentatonic music, because they knew that these represent
the limit of consonance in modal music. In addition, the ancient Chinese saw a
 28

symbolic representation in the pentatonic scale, rooted in their belief in music

as being the representation of the relationship between heaven and earth (the
five elements). 

The Chinese were well aware centuries ago of the existence of our modern
Equal Temperament. They dismissed such a tempered scale not only for its
badly false notes, but mainly because the tuning was not in alignment with the
cosmic tone.
According to the book by David Taime, The Secret Power of Music, 3 was the symbolic
numeral of heaven and 2 that of the earth; sounds in the ratio of 3:2 will harmonize
heaven and earth. As a way to apply that important concept, the Chinese took the
foundation note, ‘Huang Chung’, and from it produced a second note in the ratio of 3:2.

A more in-depth explanation made by Alain Daniélou in his ”Music and the
Power of Sound”:
“Music, being the representation of the relationship between heaven and earth,
must quite naturally have this confirmation of a center or tonic (gong)
surrounded by four notes assimilated to the four directions of space, the four
perceptible elements, the four seasons, and so on. "

“The pentatonic scale thus presents a structure that allows it to be an adequate

representation of the static influence of heaven on earth. But a static
representation of a world in motion could not be an instrument of action upon
that world. It is necessary to evolve from the motionless to the moving, from
the angular to the circular, from the square to the circle. To express the
movements of the universe, the sounds will have to submit to the cyclic laws
that, in their own field, are represented by the cycle of fifths.”

The spiral of fifths

As we have already seen, the fifth is

the third sound of the series of
harmonics, the first being the
fundamental and the second its
octave. According to the formula of
the Tao-te ching, “One has
produced two, two has produced
three, three has produced all the
numbers”, we can understand why
the third sound, the fifth, must
necessarily produce all the other
sounds by its cyclic repetitions. 
←Observe the feminine &
masculine notes respectively pink &
blue.
 29

The first to be produced will be the four principal sounds, which form
comparatively simple ratios with the tonic. 
For the sake of convenience we will use Western notes: See Chinese& Western Music.
I, C 
II, G = 3/2
III, D = 9/8 = (3/2)2 * ½ (lower an octave)
IV, A+ ( a comma sharp) = 27/16 = (3/2)3 * ½ (lower an octave)
V, E+ (a comma sharp) = 81/64 = (3/2)4 * ¼ (lower 2 octaves). 
These five primart sounds represent the elementary structure of the perceptible
world, the pentatonic scale. These sounds are used in music, as you can play
the five black keys on the piano. Howevwer, the next two fifths have to be
added as two auxiliry sounds:
VI, B+, (a comma sharp) = 243/128 = (3/2)5 * ¼ (lower 2 octaves)
VII, L+F? (sharpen a major half tone) = 729/512 = (3/2)6 * 1/8 (lower 3
octaves).

The seven-notes Chinese scale

C D E+ (F)¤L+F#1/1 G A+ B+
1/1 9/8 81/64 4/3 (729/512) 3/2 27/16 243/128

¤ Let us note here that the most striking difference between the system of
fifths and that of harmonic relations to a tonic, resides in the perfect fourth,
which is an essential interval in the scale of proportions, but in the scale of
fifths it is an augmented fourth as its sixth fifth, (3/2) 6.. 

The two auxiliary sounds – 243/128 and 739/512 – should not be used as
fundamentals, though they are needed for transpositions, because they belong
to the scale of invisible worlds, and therefore we can neither perceive their
accuracy nor build systems upon them without going out of tune.
Instead of starting from C, we could have begun one fifth below, that is to say,
from F, and we would have obtained this essential note without changing
anything in our scale, except that, since we begin with a masculine interval
instead of a feminine interval, the character of the whole system is modified.

The five successive fifths, whether in an ascending or a descending series,

represent the limit of consonance in modal music too. Beyond this limit, no
interval can appear harmonious, nor can it be accurately recognized. A rule
originating from the same principle was also known in medieval Europe,
where the tritone was prohibited as diabolical, that is, as connected with forces
that are supernatural and therefore uncontrollable. 
Folk music in its pentatonic form had understood this too by only using the
span of two fifths up and down.
After these seven notes, the next five notes generated by the series of fifths are: 
VIII, bDb lowered a minor half tone, IX, bAb lowered a minor half tone, X, bEb a
minor half tone lower, XI, bBb a minor half tone lower, XII, F+ a comma sharp.
 30

We now have twelve sounds, which divide the octave chromatically into
twelve half tones. 
The twelfth fifth (note 13) in a 7 octave span brings us back to the
fundamental, but with a slight difference.
It is higher than the fundamental by one comma, the Pythagorean comma (312
/ 219 = 531,441/524,288, (5.88 savarts or 23.5 cents). It is, therefore, in our
notation, C+, one comma sharp.
In this way, successive series of twelve fifths will be placed one above the
other at one-comma intervals, up to the 52nd fifth (note 53) which fill the
octave. 

The Chinese continued the cycle of fifths up to 25,524 notes, with a basic
interval of 0.0021174 savarts. This cycle is very near to that of the precession
of the equinoxes, or the Pythagorean Great Year, which is of 25,920 solar
years. Why the Chinese continued so many octaves in the cycle of fifths could
have something to do with their reference tone, Kung.

In practice, for reasons that are symbolic as well as musical, after the 52nd
fifth (53rd note) the Chinese follow the series only for the next seven degrees,
which place themselves above those of the initial seven-note scale, and they
stop the series at the 60th note. The reason given is that 12 (the number of
each cycle) * 5 (the number of the elements) = 60. 

The scale of 60 Lü

The Chinese scale, being invariable, constitutes in effect a single mode. Every
change in expression will therefore depend upon modulation, a change of
tonic.
Firstly, the choice of gender: fifths whose numbers in the series are even are
feminine. The odd numbered fifths are masculine.
The choice of tonic is dependent on complicated rules and rituals, whose main
purpose is to be in accordance with celestial as well as earthly influx or
circumstances. Accordingly, the Chinese have to choose the right key for the
hour of the day and the month, even during a performance.
It is an extensive scheme, but to get an idea we can say that it corresponds to
political matters, seasons, hour of the day, elements, color, geographic
direction, planets and moon.
This scale of fifths, perfect for transposition because of its extreme accuracy,
also allows the study of astrological correspondences and of terrestrial influx
in their Tone Zodiac. 

We notice that the Chinese scale is very similar to the Pythagorean tuning,
which was also produced by generating a perfect fifth (3: 2). When the
Chinese derived their scale goes back to 3000 BC, when European stone-age
 31

man was still beating wooden logs. The prevalent opinion in the West about
our music superiority should hereby be moderated.

The Indian music system

The ancient Indians had a less formalized approach to their music than the
Chinese. Generally speaking they emphasized the personal inner
contemplation more than the outward organized rituals. One can say that they
sought inner alignment with the divine supreme by means of the sounds AUM
or OM, which were (are) the earthly sound of the prime creator, Brahman. 

For the Hindus, as the Chinese, the spoken or chanted words were the carrier
of some of the creative energy, and composed by the prime Creator.
Pronounced correctly, it was believed that special words were able to alter
humans’ thoughts and feelings and literally change and form physical matter.

Raga is the basic form in classical Indian music. There is a whole system of
Ragas, which differ respectively between North and South India. Originally
there were only 7 Ragas. These may have been the remnant of an ancient
reference to the seven Cosmic Tones: the seven principal notes, or savaras,
connected with the seven main planets, and two secondary notes
corresponding to the nodes of the moon. This brings the total number of notes
in the scale to nine principal notes, which is related to the nine groups of
consonants of the Sanskrit alphabet.

The Raga system grants musicians freedom of expression within the

limitations of a certain inviolable mode. Since music was so important a force
in altering phenomena upon Earth, they considered it would be unwise,
dangerous, and perhaps even suicidal in the long run to allow musicians to
perform whatever they wished.

The Indian solution was then to apply a system of rules which, while
effectively determining what type of music was performed and even its
spiritual atmosphere and the period of the day, did not indicate the notes
themselves. This was a convincingly successful solution to the problem that
the music of ancient civilizations always came up against.

The Chinese had a more rigid system. They created variations by use of
instruments, and especially in the expression of the single note. The
dimensions of tone color, or timbre, were highly developed in the East. The
ear had to learn to distinguish subtle nuances. The same note, produced on a
different string, has a different timbre. The same string, when pulled by
different fingers, has a different timbre, etc. Furthermore, and very important,
the whole spiritual being of the musician himself was crucial. That applies
also to Indian music.
 32

As in the Western diatonic scale, the Indian scale was based on 7 main notes:
SA, RE, GA, MA, PA, DHA and NI. If we go back to the most ancient texts
on music, the scales were divided into two tetrachords, similar to the ancient
Greeks, and later put together with a whole tone (9/8) between, Ma – Pa, so a
full octave was completed. 
The Indian notes relate broadly to the Western ratios, though the tuning is
very harmonious and creates a world of difference. We have to emphasize that
the use of harmony as we know it was, but is no longer, musically practised.

Here is a crucial point. The Indian music is modal. There is a strong

relationship to the tonic. When a third is played it always relates to the third
degree; whereas in Western harmonious tradition the third has a relative
position, because it can be the root, the fifth or third of a chord. 
Eastern listeners often make remarks such as: “Beethoven symphonies are
interesting, but why have all those chords been introduced, spoiling the charm
of the melodies?”
The modal music of India is 'horizontal' as the Western is 'vertical'. The
vertical, harmonious system, in which the group of related sounds is given
simultaneously, might be more direct though also less clear. The accurate
discrimination of the different elements that constitute a chord is not usually
possible.

The modal, horizontal system, on the other hand, allows the exact perception
and immediate classification of every note, and therefore permits a much more
accurate, powerful and detailed outlining of what the music expresses.
One can say that the attention span in the Eastern musical language has to be
much longer since, in time, the different and distinct sounds adding up in the
listeners mind create the chords or the whole musical idea. Only then, by
remembering with attention all the elements that constitute the musical
image, can the full meaning finally be understood. 
The Indian musical system operates with a combination of fixed and mutable pitch, so
the key can be recognized along with variable notes. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th
notes are variable, but the 1st (Sa or Do) and the perfect 5th (Pa or Sol) are immutable
and of a fixed pitch. The drone is accordingly often Do-Sol (Sa-Pa), which becomes the
ultimate open chord containing all other notes within it as a series of subtle harmonics.
This drone (a constant note or tonic), whether actually played on an instrument like the
tampura or simply heard within oneself as the Om sound, is the constant reference
without which no Indian musician would play.

One must not be confused by the vast use of micro intervals, sliding or
bending the notes, prominent in Indian music. The musicians can freely use
these microtones as private points, often moving freely between two notes as a
kind of infinitely exploitable space, eventually returning home to the tonic of
the Raga. The musician has a freedom to play tones as his inspiration demands
so long as he obeys the sacred rules of types and its mood.
 33

The 22 Shrutis (degrees)

Musical intervals can be defined in two ways, either by numbers (string

lengths, frequencies) or by their psychological correspondences, such as
feelings and images they necessarily evoke in our minds. There is no sound
without a meaning, so the Indians consider the emotions that different
intervals evoke as exact as sound ratios. The feeling of the shrutis depends
exclusively on their position in relation to the tonic, and indicates the key for
the ragas. 

The 22 different keys or degrees encompass what the Indians consider the
most common feelings and reflections of the human mind. They were aware
of the division of the octave into 53 equal parts, the Pythagorean Comma, and
its harmonic equivalent, the comma diesis, (the syntonic comma, the
difference between the major and the minor tones).
However, they chose the 22nd division of the octave for reasons based on the
limit of human ability to differentiate the keys, as well as for psychological
and metaphysical reasons. The symbolic correspondences of the numbers 22
and 7, (7 strings and main notes), could also play a part since the relationship
between the circle and the diameter is expressed as the approximate value of
Pi, 22/7.

The modal or Harmonic division of the octave

Indian music is essentially modal, which means that the intervals on which the
musical structure is built are calculated in relation to a permanent tonic. That
does not mean that the relations between notes other than the tonic are not
considered, but that each note will be established first according to its relation
to the fixed tonic and not, as in the case of cycle of fifths, by any permutations
of the basic note. 

The modal structure can therefore be compared to the proportional division of

the string (straight line) rather than to the periodic movement of the spiral of
fifths.
All the notes obtained in the harmonic system are distinct from those of the
cyclic system, which is based on different data. Though the notes are
theoretically distinct and their sequence follows completely different rules, in
practice they lead to a similar division of the octave into fifty-three intervals.

The scale of proportions is made of a succession of syntonic commas, 81/80,

which divide the octave into 53 intervals. Among those, 22 notes were chosen
for their specific emotional expressions:

Note degree Interval Value in cents Interval Name Expressive qualities

1 1/1 0 unison marvelous, heroic, furious
 34

2 256/243 90.22504 Pythagorean limma comic

3 16/15 111.7313 minor diatonic semitone love
4 10/9 182.4038 minor whole tone comic, love
5 9/8 203.9100 major whole tone compassion
6 32/27 294.1351 Pythagorean minor third comic, love
7 6/5 315.6414 minor third love
8 5/4 386.3139 major third marvelous, heroic, furious
9 81/64 407.8201 Pythagorean major third comic
10 4/3 498.0452 perfect fourth marvelous, heroic, furious
11 27/20 519.5515 acute fourth comic
12 45/32 590.2239 tritone love
13 729/512 611.7302 Pythagorean tritone comic, love
14 3/2 701.9553 perfect fifth love
15 128/81 792.1803 Pythagorean minor sixth comic, love
16 8/5 813.6866 minor sixth comic
17 5/3 884.3591 major sixth compassion
18 27/16 905.8654 Pythagorean major sixth compassion
19 16/9 996.0905 Pythagorean minor seventh comic
20 9/5 1017.596 just minor seventh comic, love
21 15/8 1088.269 classic major seventh marvelous, heroic, furious
22 243/128 1109.775 Pythagorean major seventh comic, love

The Ancient Egyptians

The ancient Egyptians had similar beliefs to the Chinese and Hindus. In their
Book of the Dead and other sources, it is stated that God, or his lesser servant
gods, created everything, by combining visualization with utterance. First the
god would visualize the thing that was to be formed; then he would pronounce
its name: and it would be. 

From as late as the reign of Alexander II, a text dating from about 310 BC still
has the God of Creation, Ra, declaring: “Numerous are the forms from that
which proceeded from my mouth.” The god Ra was also called Amen-Ra,
with the prefix ‘Amen’. The Egyptian priesthood understood well the word
Amen, or AMN, and it was equated with the Hindu OM.

Egyptian music, as does Greek, most probably had its roots in Indian music,
or at least in that universal system of modal music whose tradition has been
fully kept only by the Indians. 
The pyramid can easily be a symbolic representation of Earth with its four
perceptible elements, and all its characteristics that are regulated by the
number four – the four seasons, four directions of space, etc.; especially the
projection of the single into the multiple.
 35

WESTERN MUSIC
Pythagoras

The Greek philosopher Pythagoras (570 - 490 BC) spent 22 years in Egypt,
mainly with the high priest in Memphis, where he became initiated into their
secret knowledge of Gods. When the Persians conquered Egypt, he was kept
in captivity in Babylon for sixteen years before he could return to Greece and
begin his teaching. 
I began to study the theory of the Pythagoreans and their esoteric schools.
Very little is known of them. Pythagoras demanded silence about the esoteric
work. This historic school was founded in the Greek colony Kroton, in
southern Italy, about 2,500 years ago.

I realized after reading dozens of books about the matter what an outstanding
role that school played in the establishment of western civilization. He created
an entirely new concept. Any person - man or woman - who had a sincere
wish for knowledge could enter the school stepwise, with a number of
initiations. The tradition of a priesthood’s monopoly of knowledge of God
was broken.

Pythagoras' study of the moving string and his discovery of the harmonic
progression of simple whole numbers was the first real scientific work and
creation of modern science. But his vision went far beyond present science in
his deep understanding of the integration of the triad: A – science, B – work
on being, C – love and study of God. Something modern science could learn
from!

Nicomachus of Gerasa

Nicomachus the Pythagorean (second century B.C.) was the first who wrote
about Pythagoras’ legendary encounter with ‘the harmonious blacksmith’ and
the weights of the 4 different hammers being 12, 9, 8 and 6, that determined
the variation in the pitches Pythagoras heard.
This story illustrates how the numerical proportions of the notes were
discovered. His methodical measuring of the hammers and how the sound was
produced and related (collecting data), then making experiments with strings,
their tension and lengths (repeating the findings and, with mathematics,
formulating them into a law), was the first example of the scientific method.

We will not dwell on the question of the force of the impact or the tension of
the strings, which later was discovered as the square root of the force, but just
stick to the proportion of weights and the pitches he heard, which led him to
his discovery.
Pythagoras' experiments led to the combination of two tetrachords, (two
fourths), separated with a whole tone, 9/8, which constitute an octave. He
 36

changed the traditional unit in Greek music, the tetrachord, into the octave by
an octachord.

In the time of Pythagoras the tradition was strongly based on the seven strings
of the lyre, the heptachord. The Greeks considered the number 7 sacred and
given by the god Hermes, who handed down the art of lyre playing to
Orpheus. The seven-string lyre was also related to the seven planets, amongst
other things the ancients venerated.
The lyre often, but not always, consisted of seven strings comprising two
tetrachords, each one spanning the most elementary concord, the fourth, both
joined together on the note mese.

According to legend, a son of Apollo, Linos, invented the four-stringed lyre with three
intervals, a semitone, whole tone and a whole tone comprising a fourth; the fourth, ‘the
first and most elementary consonance’ as Nicomathus calls it, and from which all the
musical scales of ancient Greek music eventually developed.
Trepander of Antissa on Lesbos, born about 710 B.C., assumed a mythological status
for his musical genius. His most lasting contribution was perhaps his transformation of
the four-stringed lyre to the instrument which became institutionalized by tradition to
the heptachord.
Trepander did before Pythagoras extend the heptachord from its minor seventh limits to
a full octave, but without having to add the forbidden eighth string.
He removed the Bb string, the trite of the conjunct tetrachord, and added the octave
string, E1, yielding a scale of E F G A C D E1.
This arrangement left a gap of a minor third between A and C, and seemed to have
enhanced the Dorian character of Trepander's composition. 

Harmonia

Only Pythagoras escaped censure for adding an eighth string to the ancient
and venerated lyre because of his position as a great master and religious
prophet. His purpose was to teach man the unifying principle and immutable
laws of harmonia by appealing to his highest powers - the rational intellect
and not to his untrustworthy and corruptible senses. Pythagoras altered the
heptachord solely to engage man's intellect in proper ‘fitting together’ -
harmonia - of the mathematical proportions.

Plutarch (44-120 B.C.) states that for Pythagoras and his disciples, the word
harmonia meant ‘octave’ in the sense of an attunement which manifests within
its limits both the proper fitting together of the concordant intervals, fourth
and fifth, and the difference between them, the whole tone. 
Moreover, Pythagoras proved that whatever can be said of one octave can be
said of all octaves. For every octave, no matter what pitch range it
encompasses, repeats itself without variation throughout the entire pitch range
in music. For that reason, Pythagoras considered it sufficient to limit the study
of music to the octave.
 37

This means that within the framework of any octave, no matter what its
particular pitch range, there is a mathematically ordained place for the fourth,
the fifth, and for the whole tone. It is a mathematical matter to show that all of
the ratios involved in the structure of the octave are comprehended by the
single construct: 12-9-8-6. 
For the Pythagoreans, this construct came to constitute the essential paradigm
- of unity from multiplicity.

The arithmetic and harmonic mean

We see that 12:6 expresses the octave, 2:1; 9 is the arithmetic mean, which is
equal to the half of the sum of the extremes, (12 + 6)/2 = 9.
Further, 8 is the harmonic mean of 12:6, being superior and inferior to the
extremes by the same fraction. 
Expressing this operation algebraically, the harmonic mean is 2ac/a+c, or in
this series, 2*12*6/12+6 = 8. 

Among the peculiar properties of the harmonic proportion is the fact that the
ratio of the greatest term to the middle is greater than the middle to the
smallest term: 12:8 >8:6. It
is this property that made
the harmonic proportion
appear contrary to the
arithmetic proportion.

In terms of musical theory,

these two proportions are
basic for division of the octave since the fifth, 3/2, is the arithmetic mean of
an octave and the fourth, 4/3, is the harmonic mean of an octave.
The principle of dividing the string by an arithmetical proportion is done by
the formula: a:b is divided by 2a:(a+b) and (a+b):2b.

The ancient Greeks presumably did such division in their studies of the
singing string of the monochord.

The semitone

We have already seen that in the diatonic genus each tetrachord was divided
into two full tones and one semitone. A full tone derives from a fifth minus a
fourth, 3/2 - 4/3 = 9/8. The semitone will be 4/3 - (9/8 + 9/8), or 4/3 - 81/64 =
256/243. 
This semitone is called leimma, and is somewhat smaller than the half tone
computed by dividing (for musical ratios dividing means the square root) the
whole tone in half: (9/8)½ = 3/2*2½.
 38

The square root of 2 was for the Pythagoreans a shocking fact, because their
concept of rational numbers was shattered. (For me it represents the beauty of
real science, because it revealed the flaws in the Pythagorean paradigm of
numbers). Their own mathematic proved with the Pythagoreans’ doctrine of
the right-angle triangle (the sum of the squares of the two smaller sides of a
right-angled triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse) that in music, as
in geometry, there are fractions, m/n, that are incommensurables – such as the
square root of 2, which cannot be expressed with whole numbers or fractions,
the body of rational numbers, but with irrational numbers not yet developed.
This discovery was held as a secret among the Pythagoreans and led to the
separation of algebra and geometry for centuries, until Descartes in the 17th
century united them again.

For music it meant that there was no center of an octave, no halving of the
whole tone, no perfect union of opposites, no ‘rationality’ to the cosmos. 
The semitone could be the ‘door’ to other dimensions!

My task here is to give some clues to the meta-physical functions of

semitones, which seem to involve the potential to shift to a different world or
enter another dimension. The key to attaining a different spiritual world exists
in the search for the exact right tone that resonates with that particular ‘door’
to other dimensions and worlds. The human being contains more dimensions
than just three spatial dimensions. 

Philolaus

We have to bear in mind that Pythagoras himself left no written record of his
work; it was and is against esoteric principles. Neither did those few students
who survived the pogrom of Pythagoras. It is one in the next generation of
Pythagoreans, Philolaus (ca.480- ? B.C.), who broke the precept of writing
down the master’s teaching. However, Philolaus' records are lost, so it is
Nicomachus’ fragments of his writing, in his Manual of Harmonics, that is
actually the only source posterity has.

According to Nicomachus / Philolaus, the whole tone, 9/8, was divided

differently from the Pythagoreans method, by representing the whole tone
with 27, the cube of 3, a number highly esteemed by the Pythagoreans.
Philolaus divided the whole tone in two parts, calling the lesser part of 13
units a ‘diesis’, and the greater part of 14 units, ‘apotome’. Philolaus had, in
effect, anticipated Plato's calculations in the Timaeus!

Timaeus by Plato

Plato (427-347 B.C.) gave in his work Timaeus a new meaning to the
Pythagorean harmonic universe by – in a purely mathematical method –
 39

enclosing it within the mathematically fixed limits of four octaves and a major
sixth. It was determined by the numbers forming two geometrical
progressions, of which the last term is the twenty-seventh multiple of the first
term:
27 = 1+2+3+4+8+9
The two geometric progressions in which the ratios between the terms is 2:1
and 3:1 are, respectively:
1-2-4-8 and 1-3-9-27.
Combining these two progressions, Plato produced the seven-termed series: 1-2-3-4-8-
9-27. The numbers in this series contain the octave, the octave and a fifth, the double
octave, the triple octave, the fifth, the fourth and the whole tone. The entire compass
from one to twenty-seventh multiple comprises, therefore, four octaves and a major
sixth. In numerical terms it contains four octaves, 16:1 * 3:2 (a fifth) * 9:8 (a whole-
tone) equals 27:1.
Plato then proceeded first to locate in each of the octaves the harmonic mean, the fourth,
then the arithmetic mean, the fifth. By inserting the harmonic and the arithmetic means
respectively between each of the terms in the two geometric progressions, Plato
formulated mathematically everything Pythagoras had formulated by collecting acoustic
data.

Plato did, however, independently of the Pythagoreans, compute the semitone

in the fourth, which consists of two whole tones plus something, which is less
than the half of a whole tone, namely 256:243, the leimma.
According to Flora Levin in her commentary on Nicromachus' ”The Manual
of Harmonics”, Plato went further than Pythagoras by completing all the
degrees in a diatonic scale:

1 9/8 81/64 4/3 3/2 27/16 243/128 2

E F# G# A B C# D# E'

Plato's calculations led to the inescapable fact of no center to the octave, no

halving of the whole tone with rational numbers, no rationality of the cosmos.
Nicomachus did his part in covering up the secret by misrepresenting Plato
and putting off some of the shattering discoveries of irrational numbers to
some future time.

The semitones in the different modes

Pythagoras had practiced music long before he transformed the heptachord

into an octachord that led him to discover the mathematical laws determining
the basic structure of an octave. He had fully understood the therapeutic value
of music in healing the body and soul. Most of all, he knew the set of
conditions for melody. He recognized strongly that every tetrachord on which
melody was based embodies the ‘natural’ or physical musical progression of
whole tone-whole tone-semitone. 
 40

He maintained the fundamental structure of both tetrachords in his scale, and

for musical reasons he understood that this distribution of intervals had to be
maintained for all melodic purposes with their configurations and inversions.
This was the foundation of the ancient Greek music, which further developed
into The Greater Perfect System.

The confusion of systems

The Greek music has an inherent confusion of musical systems: a mix of the
cyclic system of perfect fifths (Pythagorean tuning), and the modal system
(tetrachords). We can only get a very faint idea of what ancient Greek music
really was about because European theorists through time have made errors
and misunderstandings. 

In reality, the Arabs and the Turks happened to receive directly the inheritance
of Greece. In many cases the works of Greek philosophers and
mathematicians reached Europe through the Arabs. Most serious studies on
Greek music were written by Arab scholars such as al-Färäbi in the tenth
century and Avicenna a little later, while Westerners - Boethius in particular -
had already made the most terrible mistakes. 
It is the Arabs who maintained a musical practice in conformity with the
ancient theory, so to get an idea of ancient Greek music, we should turn to
Arab music.

The Pythagorean Tuning

The musical scale, said to be created by Pythagoras, was a diatonic musical

scale with the frequency rate as:

1  9:8  81:64  4:3  3:2  27:16  243:128  2.

This scale is identical to the Chinese cyclic scale of fifths, if we take F as the
tonic.
 It has 5 major tones (9/8) and 2 semitones, leimma (256/243), in the mi-fa
and si-do interval.
The third, 81/64, is a syntonic comma sharper than the harmonic third, 5/4.
Here is the seven-notes Chinese scale:

C D E+ (F)¤L+F#1/1 G A+ B+
1/1 9/8 81/64 4/3 (729/512) 3/2 27/16 243/1

¤ Let us note here that the most striking difference between the system of
fifths and that of harmonic relations to a tonic resides in the perfect fourth,
 41

which is an essential interval in the scale of proportions.

The scale of fifths has an augmented fourth as its sixth fifth, (3/2). 

The Pythagorean scale was based on the three prime intervals: the octave, the
perfect 5th and the perfect 4th. “Everything obeys a secret music of which the
‘Tetractys’ is the numerical symbol” (Lebaisquais).
By generating 12 perfect fifths in the span of 7 octaves, 12 tones were
produced. In order to place the tones within one octave, the descending perfect
4th (the subdominant) was used, and a 12-note chromatic scale was made.

He discovered what later was called the Pythagorean comma, the discrepancy
between 12 fifths and 7 octaves gives (3:2)12 > (2:1)7. Calculated through, it is:
129.74634 : 128 = 1.014. Or in cents: 23.5. Do not mistake Pythagoras' Comma
for the syntonic comma, equal to 22 cents, which is derived from the difference between
the major tone and the minor tone in the Just Diatonic Scale, or discrepancy between the
Pythagorean third and the third in the harmonic series which is 5:4.

As far back as 2,500 years ago the Pythagorean figured out that it was
impossible to derive a scale in which the intervals could fit precisely into an
octave. The ancient Greeks explained this imperfection – the comma – as an
example of the condition of mortal humans in an imperfect world.
This fundamental problem with the 3 prime ratios: 2:1, 3:2, 4:3 – which can
be formulated in mathematical terms as interrelated prime numbers having no
common divisor except unity – has been compromised in a number of
different temperaments of the diatonic scale up to our time.

In ancient Greek music several other modes were used based on the
tetrachords with a span of the perfect fourth. Later, two tetrachords were put
together with a full tone in between so an octave was established. A number
of different modes were used in practical music performance. The different
placement of the two half tones made the different modes.
An account of ancient Greek contributions to musical tuning would not be complete
without mentioning the later Greek scientist Ptolemy (2nd C. A.D.). He proposed an
alternative musical tuning system, which included the interval of the major third based
on that between the 4th and 5th harmonics, 5 / 4. This system of tuning was ignored
during the entire Medieval period and only re-surfaced with the development of
polyphonic harmony.

Gregorian church music

From those ancient Greek modes the Christian Gregorian church derived its
music, though their names were a complete mix-up of the original Greek
names for their modes. What is important in this context is the placement of
the two semitones in the octave. They were placed differently in order to
create different modes that produced a special tonality or mood. The
interaction between tones and semitones made each characteristic mode.
 42

The Gregorian church music from the late Middle Ages developed an amazing
beauty and spirituality. We owe the monks – and Hildegard von Bingen - a
debt of gratitude for their part – singing to worship the refinement of the soul
and Divinity.
A side effect was the healing power in the strong proportion of higher
harmonics, which invigorating effect Alfred Tomatis has described in my
page The Power of Harmonics.

As long as musical practice was mainly monophonic, the number of scales

could be many. When the wish for harmonious polyphonic singing was
appearing, the elimination of scales began because only the scales that were in
agreement with the harmonics could be used.

Polyphonic music

The development in musical practice from monophonic to polyphonic, and

after the Renaissance (the end of 15th century) to harmony, made it necessary
to have especially the third harmonized. The Pythagorean third (81:64) is a
syntonic comma larger than the harmonic third (5:4). The need for
harmonizing the third in the part-songs became imperative as the polyphonic
music became predominant.

Just Intonation - a scale of proportion

Since the major triad became the foundation of harmony in Western music,
the Pythagorean scale has largely been discarded in favor of the Just Diatonic
Scale, or the scale of Zarlino (1540-94). 
The frequencies of the notes in a root position major triad are given by the
fourth, fifth and sixth harmonics in the harmonic series, i.e. the frequencies
should be in the ratio 4: 5: 6. (1-5:4-3:2).

The Major Triad as a generator

If we look at this triad as C, E, and G, the tonic triad, and associate it with its
dominant G, B, D and the tonic’s sub-dominant F, A, C, each of which has
one tone in common with the triad of the tonic, we obtain the complete series
of tones for the major scale of C:

1  9:8  5:4  4:3  3:2  5:3  15:8  2.

This scale consists of three different intervals: major tone 9/8, minor tone
10/9, and major half tone 16/15. Therefore, when the tonic is changed, we
shall obtain sharps and flats of different nature in order to keep the frame of
the scale, and the very notes of the original scale will in some cases have to be
raised or lowered by one comma (the difference between the major and the
 43

minor tone).
Those who are familiar with Rodney Collin's The Theory of Celestial Influence will
notice that the Just Intonation is the scale he applies to his great work on octaves by
multiplying by 24.

The scale of Zarlino (Just Intonation) is basically a mix of notes generated by

fifths, which allows right transpositions and notes which make correct
harmonic intervals; so in practice, two different systems are used conjointly,
which results in awkward transpositions. 

The Mean Tone

In musical practice, especially when playing with key-instruments or the

simple modulation of keys, the Just Intonation causes many difficulties,
mainly due to the fact of the major and minor tones. The two different
intervals of a tone in this scale was for that reason modified during the 17th
century into a mean or average of the major and minor tone. Since these two
tones together equal a major third, the mean tone is equal to half of the major
third, or 193 cents.

This temperament is not surprisingly called Mean Tone temperament, or 1:4

comma mean tone (the fifths are all equal, but have been tempered by 5.5
cents, a quarter of a syntonic comma) and was the most used temperament in
Baroque music.

There were some problems with the enharmonic notes. The two diatonic
semitones do not add up to give a (full) tone. The Mean Tone semitones are
117.5 cents. So if one wishes to play in more than six major and three minor
keys, there is trouble. This is because en-harmonically equivalent notes will
not have the same frequency. Additionally, this temperament has some real
false notes, called ‘wolf notes’, due to the 3.5 cents short fifth, so the circle
will fall short of closure by 12 x 3.5 cents = 42 cents.

Equal Temperament

The ultimate compromise appears in Equal Temperament, which is a circular

temperament. The Pythagorean comma (as approximately 24 cents) made the
circle too large. If the 12 perfect fifths –702 cents – are equally distributed but
contracted with 2 cents each, the
circle of fifths will be complete into a
circle.
In the late 17th and 18th centuries a
number of circular temperaments
were employed making use of this
device. It is often said that J.S. Bach's
 44

48 Preludes and Fugues were written to demonstrate the effectiveness of

Equal Temperament. However, recent research (Barnes 1979) has shown that
he probably wrote them for a circular temperament similar to one devised by
Werckmeister (known as Werckmeister III), where the distribution of fifths
was unequal; some were 6 cents smaller, some were perfect.

The Equal Temperament as we know it is completely equally distributed,

slightly diminished fifths (700 cents), that at one blow eliminates the question
about different frequencies of the enharmonic notes and modulation
limitations.
The octave is equally divided into 12 semitones of 100 cents. The frequency
ratio for each of the semitones is the twelfth root of an octave: (2/1) 1/12 =
1.059463094.../1.

This temperament has two scales, a major and a minor. The difference lies in
the third, sixth and seventh, which are a half tone lower in the minor scale.
Note that the same intervals are present in the minor scale as in the major
scale, although the order is different.
We will not deal with the harmonic minor scale or the melodic minor scale.

Let us make a comparison in cents of the above mentioned scales with the Just
Diatonic Scale (Just Intonation) as base:

  Scale C D E F G

Just Diatonic 0 0 0 0 0

Pythagorean 0 0 +22 0 0

Mean Tone 0 -11 0 +5.5 -5.5

Equal Temperament 0 -4 +14 +2 -2

In the western culture Equal Temperament is now so established and its

tonality so tuned in our ears, that it sounds just right, though the third and the
sixth ought to give problems because they are pretty much sharper than the
much purer and expressive Just Intonation.

The artificial Equal Temperament

The great German scientist from the 19th Century, Hermann von Helmholtz,
who was also a capable musician, made a strong stand for the Just Intonation
 45

scale. He claimed in his On the Sensations of Tone that... “continual bold

modulational leaps threaten entirely to destroy the feeling for tonality.”
Further he states: “The music based on the tempered scale must be considered
as an imperfect music... If we suppose it or even find it beautiful, it means that
our ear has been systematically spoiled since childhood.”

Professor Helmholtz brought many examples of beautiful use of Just

Intonation in singing by use of the English system ‘Tonic Sol Fa-ists’, which
overcame the difficulties of modulation by using a different musical notation
system. Strings and wind instruments could also perform this; so can modern
keyboards.
The discussions about Equal Temperament versus Just Intonation have continued up to
present time. Daniel White has on his web page Tuning& Music Scales Theory made an
in-depth analysis of this matter, concluding that ET sounds ‘sweeter’ than JT.

Compared with the other scales we have gone over, the Equal Temperament
has no definite relations between the sounds since it has lost its relationship
with simple ratios. The more complicated the ratios are, the more dissonant
are the chords. We have been used to the muddy sounds, but people in the
East who are trained in modal memory and clear harmonic relations cannot
conceive the meaning of Western music.
The Equal Temperament has, in spite of its obvious weakness, made it possible for great
composers to create beautiful music with extraordinary numbers of new chords and
modulations. 
In the twentieth Century the tendency to move away from simple ratios between notes
to sound ratios even far away from Equal Temperament became manifest in atonal
music.

Modern Dodecaphonic music

In modern times a number of atonal scales has been developed to serve the
new dodecaphonic music (Schönberg, Berg, Webern), where the classical
notion of harmony and rhythm is dissolved. Basically, the ancient diatonic
scale with its five whole tones and two semitones has been replaced with a
pure chromatic scale, which is a main factor in the change from melodic tonal
music to atonal dodecaphonic music.
Though I am very fond of non-figurative art, the modern atonal music is still
difficult for me to enjoy spontaneously. Educated people assure me of the new
beauty in contemporary music, which I can hear with my head, but not with
my heart.
I have, however, observed a certain indifference in the mainstream of classical
music, and find myself attracted to the early European music and folk (World)
music.

My main objection to the atonal dodecaphonic music lies in its detachment from the
physical world. The scale belongs to the invisible realm because it is created by ratios
 46

far away from the small numbers, which are related to the perceptible world and basic
emotions. 
In the ancient musical systems we have seen how closely the musical scale had to be
related to the perceptible world represented mainly as small numbered ratios (low
number of generating fifths in the cyclic system or simple harmonic ratios in the modal
system).

Cyclic and modal numbers

In this world of five elements in which we live, no prime number higher than
five can enter into a system of sounds representing melodic or harmonic
relations. The Chinese system of cyclic fifths even refuses to get beyond this
number five; all its intervals are expressed in terms of powers of two or three.
The number for cyclic systems is three.
Some modern theorists are using the terms ‘3 limit scale’and ‘5 limit scale’.

The introduction of the factor of five brings us to the harmonic modal scale, of
which the characteristic intervals are the harmonic major sixth, 5/3, the
harmonic major third, 5/4, the minor third, 6/5, the major half tone, 16/15
(24 /3*5), the minor half tone, 25/24, (52 /3*23 ) the syntonic comma, 81/80,
(34 / 24 * 5), and so forth.
Compared with the Equal Temperament, the tempered half tone is something
like 1,059,463,094 / 1,000,000,000 against the major harmonic half tone
16/15.

The number five ‘humanizes’ the music. It makes the music an instrument of
expression of tangible reality. The introductions of higher prime numbers,
such as seven, would take us beyond this reality into regions that are not
within the scope of our normal perceptions and understanding.
Seven is considered the number of heavenly as well as infernal regions. We
have actually no means of knowing to which side it may lead us!

In my opinion you can only touch humans deeply if you play harmonious or
tonal music, because these tones belong to the real world and the man who
walks the Earth. The scale has to be more or less in accordance with the lower
harmonics in the series. The way we hear and analyze sound is actually much
the same as the standing wave in a string. The basilar membrane in the inner
ear behaves like a ‘string’, and the ‘software’ in the brain is designed to look
for the harmonic series. It is the most agreeable - and most basic. What it all
comes down to is that the only measure for all phenomena is the human.

Reference tone

Before a concert begins, a reference tone, the concert pitch, is played so the
instruments can tune their middle a'. In modern times the pitch was set to 440
 47

Hz. by the second International Standard Pitch Conference in London 1938. It

is a high pitch compared to the older concert pitch of 435 Hz., which was
introduced by the French government in 1859 in cooperation with musicians
such as Hector Berlioz, Meyerbeer and Rossini.
The concert pitch has varied in earlier times, depending on country and time.
In the book On the Sensation of Tone by Helmholtz, a record of concert pitch
in Europe covers many pages. The characteristic for Western music is that
concert pitch is arbitrary. It has no relation to forces above man. There is no
reference to earthly or celestial influx, but only to an artificial standard.

For the old Chinese the tuning of their fundamental tone, Kung, was a matter
of utmost importance for their civilization; it had to be in alignment with the
Cosmic tone so the celestial influence could be channeled into society by
music. 

We earlier mentioned Cousto's calculations (in his book The Cosmic Octave).
He relates the Kung to the frequency of the Platonic Year. The note of the
Platonic year is found to be F in Western Equal Temperament pitch, which is
in the 48th octave with a frequency of 344.12 Hz.

The Indians’ method had the character of meditation, since the musician not
only has to tune his instrument to the keynote in the prelude, he also attunes
himself to it, and gives the audience the opportunity to do so too. This long
introduction is essential since the musicians have to tune in to the ‘sadja’, the
everlasting, never-ceasing tone. According to Indian tradition it stands for
primordial vibration, which is called ‘nada’ and expresses the universal OM.

The OM sound, according to Cousto, corresponds approximately to the C

sharp in the small octave of the present day tuning system (136 Hz), and to the
32nd octave tone of the Earth year. It means that in lowering 136 Hz tone by
32 octaves, the resulting frequency will be as slow as the amount of time it
takes the Earth to circle the sun.

It is interesting to note that the Indians arrived at this tone, which we can
calculate mathematically, ‘simply’ through intuition and meditation.
(The calculation is: A day consists of 86,400 seconds. A tropical year has 365,242 days
= 31,556,925,9747 seconds. The reciprocal value multiplied by 232 = 136,10221 Hz.)
Concert pitch in western music, which is 440 Hz for the middle A, ought to be
435,92 Hz based on the note corresponding to the average solar day,
according to Cousto.

“It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing”

Those who are familiar with the jazz (swing) musician, Duke Ellington, will
‘hear’ Ella Fitzgerald sing this song. The reason I will end on that note is to
 48

make clear that music is more than scales and right tuning. Music contains of
four major elements:
Melody, Rhythm, Harmony and Interpretation or Intention.

Having this in mind I will continue with The Sound of Silence, where I will
extend the law of octaves into realms other than scales and tuning by an
elaboration on the metaphysical properties of sound and music.

The Sound of Silence 

Some metaphysical properties of sound and music

by Thomas Váczy Hightower.

"What is the sound of one hand clapping?" This kõan from Zen can in many
ways stand as a header for this treatise, because my aim is to encircle the
metaphysical properties of sound and music.
Metaphysics means a level above the physical matter. So this little treatise is
about inaudible sound, other vibrating phenomena than sounds, about the
silence underneath the music; the silence deep inside oneself where God
resides.
I had in my young days a strong encounter with nature and mother Earth, when I was
visiting Greenland. Standing by the inland ice, I heard for the first time the sound of
silence. It nearly struck me to the ground, so strong was the pressure. I felt so
insignificant, so little, just a spark in the wilderness. Then a quiet tone from the depth of
myself began to fill me up, and slowly the sound within  made me feel alive and strong
 49

again. Some say that it could be my life song, I heard. It surely made me so immense
alive yet appalling alone, but in the same time in communion with some mighty powers.
I found myself chanting, and my feet seem nearly not  touching the ground, so light
hearted I walked.
John Cage, a 20'st. Century composer, has in a interview told about an outstanding
experience in a scientific sound dead laboratory. Much to his surprise, he heard two
sounds. He explained his experience to the sound engineer as a high pitch "white" sound
and one low, fizz sound. "Oh, yes", the engineer said, "the high sound is you nervous
system, and the low sound is the roar of your blood pulsing through your veins."

Thies pages will try to grab something with symbols and letters, which is
incommensurable with what I am writing about. The spoken words carry
much more than printed words. Hearing music affect you stronger than
reading about it. A singer and musician such as Paul Simon, who created the
song, "The Sound of Silence"(Simon & Garfunkel), is in way a level higher in
terms of adequate language to express this dichotomy.
When I named this page, I was not aware of where the title came from. Recently I
played my old Simon & Garfunkel records, and recalled where The Sound of Silence
originated from. Wikipedia informs, that Simon wrote the song in the aftermath of the
assassination of J.F.Kennedy.

A quote from "The Life of Music" by a Sufi musician, Hazrat Inayat Khan,
makes the right setting: 
"Music should be healing; music should uplift the soul; music should inspire.
There is no better way of getting closer to God, of rising higher towards the
spirit, of attaining spiritual perfection than music, if only it is rightly
understood."

Here I will focus on the potentials and opportunities we have to embrace the
vibrating Universe and to gaze at the hidden fabric of patterns in the awesome
Nature. Man has an unique capacitive of awareness to perceive this inter
connected world.
Intuitively we know that, so I would like to support that feeling with
examples, that will puzzle your brain and give you a broader perspective of
the amazing, vibrating Universe.

One can study musical theories, acoustics and hearing as I have given a
briefing in The Creation of Musical Scales, but it does not actually explain,
why music and chanting effect our emotions and in some moments bless our
soul. In this page I will expand the scope.

My method

My methodology is not scientific - more like a jigsaw puzzle, where intuition

and emotions fill out the missing pieces in the whole picture. I will however
use scientific data, but pull them together in my own mix of intuitive links and
connections, hoping this way will give a broader picture, than mainstream
 50

science can provide.

This does not mean, that the hard scientific method is questionable. It has for
centuries proven its enormous success, and is necessary for a solid foundation.
It has, however, its limitations when it approaches more intangible phenomena
such as consciousness and the spiritual power of man. 

My aim is to melt spirituality (consciousness) and scientific data into a puzzle

about the magical power of vibration and sound.
When I refer to spirituality and consciousness, it applies to a mental state
limited by ones own being. Spirituality is the underlying general, creative
force in science and art, and in the psychological development of the being of
Man.
It prepares the soul for the love of God - much in accordance with the
philosophy of the ancient Pythagoras. He stressed the importance of exact
discipline such as geometry and mathematics as a counterbalance to the more
intangible work on being and development of the soul.

It is risky to juggle with scientific data by viewing them in the light of

spirituality and consciousness. Such a blend can easy tend to pseudo-scientific
phraseology or worse to cheap, pseudo religious commonplaces.
I am therefore anxious to emphasize, that my writings has nothing to do with
religion or faith, which is an entirely different category of the human mind.
The attempt to blend science and religion is odious and is definite not my
intend!

In the last decade, especially by fundamental Christian in USA, a new subspecies is

trying to force its way into the educational systems, called Intelligent Design. It is
designed as a contrary to Charles Darwin's evolution theory, but does not contain the
proper scientific method. It is an attempt to brush up the myth of Creation as a
"scientific" theory, but I do not understand why religion and myths shall be disguised,
unless a hidden agenda is at work?
In the last Century we have witness several idealistic, but totalitarian social theories,
which was canonized to taken the place for religion and with catastrophic outcome, such
as Fascism and Communism.
In this Century we have experienced a new, bloody blend of religion and politics in
rigid, totalitarian regimes in the Middle East. It is shocking to see, what an impact
small, radical, political Islamic groups can have on the entire world. To use religion as a
justification for killing will apparently never cease.

However, we shall not forget, how the development of modern science started
in the late Renaissance: It was founded as a method to study and understand
Gods Creation. One of the pioneers was the Danish astronomer, Tyge Brahe,
(1556-1601), which systematic and precise observations of the orbiting plants
was the foundation for his student Johanes Kepler's scientific theories.
 51

The wish to study and understand the Creation of God was also deeply rooted
in the founding fathers of the classical physics, Isaac Newton (1642-1727),
and chemistry, Robert Boyle (1627-91). They considered themselves as
philosopher of Nature. In those times faith and science was able to work
wonderful together. Charles Darwin (1809-82) did also consider his work,
"The origin of species", as an account of Gods hand, though he later became
agnostic due to the loss of his dearest daughter.
A reader (John Thomas) has kindly mentioned Paul Feuerabend, a 20th.Century
philosopher of science, who suggested, that science should be separated from the state
in the same way, that religion and state are separated in a modern secular society. He
considered the close funding from the government as a serious threat to the freedom of
science. 
I do recall my father words about the freedom of science, when the Communism still
was in power. He was a professor of History in the University of Budapest. Much to my
surprise, he stated, that the freedom of science did not differed much between the West
and East. The means of control was different. In the East the politic makes the direct
control. In the West, the indirect control is carry out by money and funds. 

Key words to table of contents

 Levels of consciousness, levels of reality

 The Hologram - Natures information storage

 Some physical/ mathematical characteristics of the 4 th and 5th

Dimension 

 Zero-Point-Energy and Super String Theory

 Dimensions and Scales

 Scalar wave - higher dimensional influx?

 The Cosmic octave

 The pendulum and its strange behavior in rest positions

 Time traveling on regular basis

 The Platonic Year (The Pythagorean Great Year)

 Music can shape the mind and alter the society

 The Music of the Spheres

 Brain waves - octaves below musical octaves

 52

 Information theory and Cybernetics; way of communication in complex

living systems.

 The mystic of Pythagoras’ Comma, the Calendar and measurement of

space, not time.

Man as a multidimensional being

Writing about the metaphysical properties of sound and other vibrating

phenomena is risky business. Keep your sound common sense, as I have tried
to use mine, when I am surveying or mapping consciousness. What can
awareness, intuition and meditation actually do to enhance consciousness. Can
different forms of music and chanting be a tool for opening a gate to a
multidimensional world in which man, the Earth and the Universe is inter
connected?
Such notions as consciousness, meditation and higher dimensions are just words. A
fishing net applied to catch the fish. When you have caught it, you throw away the net.
When there is silence!
Well, I am still working on the fishing net!
The purpose in mentioning meditation and consciousness apples more as
recommendation of useful tools and techniques, than a description of such.
There are two senses of dimension. The specific physical application: the sphere has one
dimension more that a circle; and the linguistic meaning: the artist made a new
dimension with his creative power. The director of a motion picture has one more
creative dimension, than an artist of a single frame of a picture.

Our body is much more than a vehicle for our mind and soul. It is an ideal
antenna, a marvelous tool right between the quantum world and the heavenly
bodies to establish a dialogue between our consciousness, Earth and Cosmos. 

In this context man is considered as an entity with a cellular body, a mind

(molecular body) and a soul (electronic body) as a triad. By using such
description of three bodies of man, I have open the possibilities of moving
beyond the limitation of one body in 3 common space dimensions.
In ancient cultures there are numerous accounts of a living presents of realities
beyond the 3D + time. Shaman, medicine men or religious leaders
incorporated higher dimensions in their magic and rituals, which has been
observed by anthropologists.
In my ½ year stay in Australia, I gathered material about the Aborigines 40,000 years
culture and especially records about the merits of medicine men of high degree.
"Dreamtime" and multidimensional worlds was not just a poetic show off for tourists,
but had for the older generation still a living presents.

A twist on locality

First I will give an example from the quantum mechanics, that made a strong
impression on me, when I read about it some decades ago. It was about  Bell's
 53

theorem from 1964. He proved, that the results predicted by quantum

mechanics could not be explained by any theory, which preserved locality.
It was a severe blow to the basic of science and Einstein's principle of
Relativity since Bell demonstrated, that on the quantum level locality does not
exist. Either particles are aware of each another beyond the speed of light, or
they are connected beyond the local event in the huge space. 
Of cause a lots of experiments in the late twentieth Century were done by
experimental physicists, and the predictions of quantum mechanics proved to
be accurate.
Though I am not a physicist, I can see the significance of the under laying
reality in some way is connected beyond our physical world in a higher
dimentional space.

The fifth dimension

In this portion I have to lean on a recent published (2006) book  by Dr. Willy
De Maeyer & Dr. Gabriele Breyer, called "Tools of Awareness", covering in
depth all the subjects and more, than I have been writing about in thise pages.
It is the most comprehensible book on these matters, I have read. Here I will
give a taste of higher dimensions application in physics.

Already in 1921, the Polish mathematician Theodor Kaluza combined

electromagnetism and gravitation as a unified theory. Kaluza added a fifth
(spatial) dimension to Minkowski's 4D-space, and tried to show, that
Einstein's General relativity theory and Maxwell's electro dynamic equations
could be gathered in the 5th. dimensions.
The Kaluza-Klein theory was later considered inadequate, and the
development of the Super-string Theory required at least 10 dimensions to
unified gravitation and electromagnetism. See further down.

A common 5-D potential is responsible for both electromagnetic field and

gravitational field. The "bleed-off of this 5-potential in the 5th dimension into
our 3 space world, is the well knowen electromagnetic force field (which is
wrapped around each point in our 3-space). This is our common electric
power.
The gravitational force field in the 5 dimension "bleed-off" very weak - by a
smaller factor of 1042 for electrons- in and through our 3-space, according to
Col. Tom Bearden. This tiny "bleed-off" gravitational force field is not
recognized by the scientific establishment.

Scalar wave - higher dimensional influx?

Since I read about Scalar waves on the Internet more than a decade ago, I was
unable to figure out, what this officially non existing waves was about. It is
first after reading "Tools of Awareness" (2006), I began to get the notion of
 54

the basic idea, though as a layman I do not understand the scientific

underlying arguments.
This is an attempt to explain the disturbing evidence and experiments since
Tesla demonstrated the ability to tap into energy beyond the fundamental law
of the energy equilibrium.
Too many "crazy" scientists have since demonstrated energy producing
devices, that yield more energy, than is available in the system. So called over
unity, or free energy devices. But what if they are tapping into higher
dimensional realms?

Bifilar coils

Bifilar coils (with opposing windings) are extremely interesting devices.

These types of coils when powered do not create an external magnetic field.
Their construction is similar to that of a normal solenoid, but each turn of the
coil carries the current in opposite directions.
The opposing currents create an overall canceling effect, thus no major
external field is produced. A bifilar coil will produce almost no inductance to
a changing, or AC current. This makes them useful for creating non-inductive
wire wound resistors.
Scalar theory suggests, that this type of coil produces scalar waves, but since
the standard model of physics do not accept scalar waves as a valid theory, the
traditional physics is really in big trouble by giving an acceptable explanation
for what really is going on.
Therefore, bifilar coils are often mentioned along side so called over unity, or
free energy devices.

This is because the vacuum fluctuations, or Zero Point Energy are like
canceled vibrations with a massive energy density, and are seen as scalar
waves. Standard scientific theory tells us, that the entropy (disorder) of a
closed system always increases and therefore  should no useful energy be able
to be extracted from the vacuum.

Tesla's bifilar coil

The image shows a patent by Nikola

Tesla for a type of bifilar coil. In this
configuration the two wires are
wound the same way and then
connected in series so that the current
flows in the same direction. This
allows the magnetic field to combine
and produce a larger overall field.
Prof. Dr Meyl has been able to
construct such a device with stunning
 55

results.
Test devices as well as advanced demonstration systems are now available,
though officially, the longitudinal electric Tesla waves, electrostatic energy
flow and electro dynamical over unity devices, do not exist.
A Tesla wave is a longitudinal electro-scalar wave. Other theorists claim that Tesla's
longitudinal wave is a longitudinal magnetic wave, but this is not how Nikola Tesla
described the longitudinal wave phenomenon. Also the Russian scientist Ignatiev back
engineered Tesla's energy transmitter as a transmitter of longitudinal electric waves
without magnetic field component.

The alteration of Maxwell's genius equations

There is a long story about the scientists in-ability to comprehend the genius
of James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electrodynamics. Firstly Maxwell was
very modest, when he published his electro-magnetic theory in the second half
of the 19th Century. Secondly, the equations was difficult to understand and
there was no experiments to confirm the theory.

After Maxwell's death a single man - Oliver Heavside - directly altered

Maxwell's equations. Heavside did with intent eliminating Maxwell's most
advance part of the equations concerning localized electro-gravitation.
It is Heavside's alerations of Maxwell's equations, that has produced the
theory taught throughout the West today as "Maxwell's theory."
In his numerous publications, Col. Tom Bearden makes clear, that the Soviet
scientists on the contrary did assume the possibility of local space-time
curvature. This is particularly ironic since the basis for just such an
experimental theory was produced by Maxwell himself in his original theory
of electromagnetism.

However it should be kept in mind, that when Einstein wrote his general
theory of relativity, he probably did not know, that the original work of
Maxwell already indicated the unification of gravitation and
electromagnetism, and indicated the ease with which local space-time could
be electro-gravitationally curved locally and engineered.

Because of Einstein's limiting assumption of no local space-time curvature, it

has been assumed by the Western scientists, that direct experimentation with
general relativity in the lab could not be possibly done.
On the astronomical scale the general theory of relativity was soon proved to
be as predicted.
John Wheeler summed Einstein's equations up as: "Space tells bodies how to
move, and bodies tell space how to curve".

I can recommend Ray Tomes' main page: Cycles in the Universe. His page,
Harmonic Theory, is in my opinion the most in depth theory of Harmonics I
have come across, and he write so clear and made impressive graphics.
 56

Quantum electrodynamics and Zero-Point-Energy

Again I have to draw on Dr. De Maeyer & Dr. Breyer's book, "Tools of
Awareness", which is a goldmine of information’s and reference about
scientific theories, that unlock hidden sources of energy.
Before quantum mechanics was generally accepted, classical physicists
rejected the existence of the ether and considered the vacuum of space to be
truly empty.
From quantum mechanics arose a mathematical term in the description of the
ground state of any oscillating system called the zero-point energy. (The term
"zero-point" refers to zero degrees Kelvin, which means this energy exists
even in the absence of all heat!).

If we calculate the lowest possible energy of a harmonic oscillator, we get a

bigger answer, when we use quantum mechanics, than when we use classical
mechanics. The difference is called the "zero-point energy".
Quantum physics and astronomy are often working on the same problem. In these years
"the dark matter" or "dark" energy is a serious problem for astronomers, and some of
them are using vacuum-energy theory to explain the presents of most of matter and
energy in the universe can not be seen. The accelerate expanding universe creates
growing vacuum, and adding up the minute energy in vacuum to universal proportion,
could make up the missing 9/10 of the energy in the universe.

When Dirac in the 1930's showed, how electron-positron pair production

could arise from the vacuum fluctuations, quantum electrodynamics was born.
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle allowed quantum mechanical systems to
"borrow" this energy for short periods of time. The ether came back in
science, this time not as a material substance, but rather as a randomly
fluctuating energy.
Since I do not understand electrodynamics laws, I will just state, that quantum
mechanical effects arise from matter's interaction with ZeroPointEnergy, and
the energy density of the ZPE at each point in space should be infinite!
In "Tools of Awareness" there is an account of different ways to calculate
ZPE, working with small wavelengths of Planck's constant, where the
outcome vary between infinite and huge definitive energy.

Science has not yet been able to tap into zero-point-energy. Some pioneers has
however made experiments with vortex energy, that produced uncontrolled
energy release way over the amount of the energy input. This is a violation of
the known law of energy equilibrium.
It is strange, that no prestige or money was/is granted to further explorations.
On the contrary, the pioneers of vortex energy was prosecuted and their labs
was destroyed.

*************************
The reason I trouble you with quantum theories, is just to point out the
 57

existent of a multidimensional world.

However, it is not new. Indigenous people from ancient time did not show
much doubt about higher dimensions. They lived accordingly to its existences,
and shaman and medicine men showed them in their magic. Higher dimension
was a vital part of their daily life.

If super string theory turns out to be correct, the idea of a world consisting of
10 or more dimensions is one that we will need to become comfortable with.
But will there ever be an explanation or a visual representation of higher
dimensions, that will truly satisfy the human mind? The answer to this
question may forever be unknown.

Later I will tantalize your brain with more of that sort. My conjecture will be,
that the higher, dimensional space also applies to the cellular world, to human
beings.

Self-reference
One distinctive feature about the human mind is its awareness of its self. We
are bound to understand oneself by means of oneself, namely by self-
reference.

This paradox was first formulated in western culture by the ancient Greek
philosopher Epimenides', who came from Crete, and formulated one sentence,
that has haunted logical thinkers since:
"All Cretans are liars". There are others
versions such as "I am lying", or "This
statement is false".
A paradox is typically a kind of
communication, where a part of the
statement has a negative assertion and is
referring to itself.
An important discipline in information
theory is meta-mathematics. It is about
what can be proved in a mathematical,
logical axiom system.
In the beginning of the 20th Century
Whitehead/Russel released a book,
Principia Mathematica, which dealt
with the relationships between categories and their elements in an attempt to
solve the logic of paradox. A category cannot be an element itself, which
would create a paradox, but have to be on another level of abstraction or
another logical type.
Meta is a Greek prefix meaning "after", and was first known used by Aristoteles'
Metaphysics, which was the book he wrote "after" his book about physics.
 58

Those having read Douglas Hofstadter's bestseller "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal
Golden Braid" may better understand the meaning of violation of the language system
by self-reference. Professor Hofstadter points out the many loops that operate in our
language – and thinking system.

By stating "I am conscious" we are dealing with a similar problem of self-

reference. One has to ask what is observing the "I" that claims it is conscious.
It has to be an "I" on a higher level outside or above the "I" that states it is
conscious! Is that higher "I" outside the brain in the person that makes such a
statement? Is there some kind of a loop here?

Self-reference is a loop, because it refers to something inside the system, the

person itself by that person. 
Is the person who states "I am conscious" in imagination or deceived by
wishful thinking? Probably, but not necessarily - it depends on that person’s
level of consciousness and development of being.
This is a critical question: is there a level of consciousness, that exists "above"
or "outside" our brain that thinks it is conscious?

My answer or guess is an existence of a multidimensional self. (Dimension

above the 4th. is well established in the world of science.)A reference point or
entity on a higher level. A higher self. In that case there is a way out the trap,
the self-reference loop. 

The meta-meta symbol level may in my understanding be located above the

actual brain in another dimensional body. You have to raise your attention
above the system, (divided attention) and elevate to a macro level, in order to
observe that system. 
The right music, sound or rhythm has in my view a possibility to support such
kind of work. This is why any culture at any time have used music & sound to
reach to a higher grounds.
Of course one can ask, what observes the next level of consciousness?
In the end we have to say God, the Absolute or the Universal Consciousness.

Mind and Nature

Gregory Bateson, an American who was an anthropologist, but was in close

connection with the key players in the creation of the 20 Century information
theory, which method and terminology he altered and extended in his own
way. He described himself as a behavioral scientist and his field work gave
him materials to formulate a theory of the immanent mind in Nature.

His definition of mind in complex living systems has nothing to do with the
common idea of a "religious" mind in Nature. He did not accept the notion
transcendence, as the keen scientist he was, but considered control and self-
 59

regulating as a mental aspect, which did not belong to a part of the system, but
was inherent in the whole system. 

The individual mind, which is immanent in the circuit within and outside the
body, is only a subsystem of the supreme mind. This larger mind is not some
transcendental deity. It is still immanent in the total interconnected social
system or planetary ecology.
It is an entirely self-adjusting unity, which "think, act and determine" and the
boundaries do not coincide with the organisms or parts involved, but is
weaved in or incorporated into the whole system. 

In the terminology of Bateson, mind does not imply the common notion of the
self or consciousness, but the mind of the many involved systems. He uses a
simple example to illustrate what he understood as mind. (The tricky part is
basically connected to the semantics in the western thinking.)

"The man cuts down the tree with an ax."

In the language itself we have already established 3 different parts of the

process independent of each another. The man, the axe and the tree. The
ratification of the process is already done by the language, in separating into 3
different things with the assumption that it is the man, who contains the will
power and controlling the process. The language itself has already divided the
cycle, (which is a simple cybernetic feedback system) into 3 separate parts
which interacts.
However, according to Bateson, the mind does not belongs to the man!

He took a closer look: each blow by the ax is modified and adjusted in

accordance with the marks of the ax in the tree. The cybernetic description is
based on the differences. First there is the distinction between the blows, the
marks in the tree, which is perceived by the mans eyes as a difference. The
brain transforms the input from the retina as a difference, and gives new
information to the muscles for a new blow. A simple trial and error loop,
always referring to the point of reference in the tree. The recipe for the
process is A-B-C-a-b-c-a1-b1-c1-a2....
What is transmitted around the cycle are "differences that make a difference",
which is Bateson's definition of a basic idea, the smallest unity of information.
(The mathematical terminology in the Information theory will state
differences as bits.).

Bateson's statement was, that the mental aspect - the mind - was laying
immanent in the whole circuit, not in the brain of the man.  
Strictly in the cybernetic sense one can say, that the crucial guiding factor is
the differences in the marks on the tree, not the brain, which only respond to
the differences. See for more in my page about Information theory.
 60

Electrostatic fields

There are different names for those fields around the body, that could serve as
a connection or an intermediary to higher worlds, such as Auras, Astral body,
"the higher bodies of Man" or chakras above the 7th. These are meta physical
terminologies. Other more biblical notions such as Soul and Spirit could be in
that category too. 

We can turn to a more scientific terminology by looking at the oscillating

fields, that surround our body. 
The electromagnetic and electrostatic fields making op and shaping our body
are relative strong and serve to hold our atoms and molecules together. They
weaken as they move outside our body. There is a relative strong field about 4
inches outside the body. Then it weaken strongly and fade slowly out to 20
inches. The strengths of the field depends much on the vitality of the person.
If the vitality is low by sickness or depression, there will be practically no
field at all.
Actually, it is a electro dynamic field caused by the motion of the body. The
heart/aorta blood system is the main supplier of the pulsing motion of the
body. The body resonance measured from the fingertip in a normal state,
shows a peak frequency around 12 Hz.

Meditating resonant mode of 7,8 Hz

Here comes an interesting phenomenon: if a person is

able to meditate properly, the breathing becomes so
gentle, that the metabolic rate of the body slows down
and the heart beats too. The blood flow in the
heart/aorta system reach a state, where the usual
interference by the resistance in the aorta change into a
resonant mode. The whole body will stay in a coherent
motion about 7 Hz. It seems that the natural frequency
of the normal body lay in the same range, so a nice
resonate system is working with a little effort and the
amplitude of the electro dynamic field increase by factor of three.
Nature has a tendency to choose energy saving systems. In regard to
oscillating bodies with frequencies in the same range, the vibration of the
bodies will begin to work together in the same pace, rather than continue with
different frequencies. This phenomenon is called rhythm entrainment and can
be observed in many different cases.

If we stay with our meditating person, who is spreading a fine tuned signal out
to the world. Other meditating people are sending a similar signal and there is
a chance to come in rhythmic entrainment.
The Earth itself has an electrostatic field which lay between the surface and
 61

the ionosphere, a cavity in which a resonant system produce a standing wave

with a fundamental frequency around 7.8 Hz. It is called Schumann wave after
its German discoverer.

Though the size of a human and the Earth differ a lot, we can suggest a tuned
resonant system, that can couples well to a person in deep meditation and an
exchange of energy can take place. 
This is occurring at a very long wavelength of about 40,000 km., or just about
the perimeter of the planet. So now we have signals from a meditating soul,
who can be in touch with the whole Earth in about one seventh of a second
through the electrostatic field in which we are embedded. Such a long
wavelength have no obstacles and its power does not weaken much over long
distances. Telepathy seems to have a good chance to be conveyed. So does
mass hysteria too!

The brain

This example is meant as an illustration of the potential of our body. There are
other ways where the level of consciousness can move above the physical,
vibrating body. 
My guess is that we could look at our brain as a highly sophisticated, re
programming "response machine" embedded in a bigger cybernetic system. It
is presumably a resonant neural network, that on an immanent level process
and store information's needed for orientation and survival in life, but also
have the ability to receive more subtle and remote input. The brain has many
bands of information’s.

The brain waves

The brain has its own set of vibrations it uses to communicate with itself and
the rest of the body. EEG equipment distinguishes these waves by measuring
the speed with which the brain neurons fire in cycles per second. The
frequency bands and wave patterns depends of the state of the mind.
Briefly there are 4 levels of consciousness:
Beta waves (12-25 Hz) dominate our normal waking state of consciousness when
attention is directed towards cognitive tasks and the outside world. Beta is a "fast"
activity, present when we are alert or even anxious, or when engaged in problem
solving, judgment, decision making, information processing, mental activity and focus.

Alpha waves (7-12 Hz) are being considered a basic rhythm of brain assemblies, and are
present during dreaming and light meditation, when the eyes are closed. As more and
more neurons are recruited to this frequency, alpha waves cycle globally across the
whole cortex. This induces deep relaxation, but not quite meditation. In alpha, we begin
to access the wealth of creativity that lies just below our conscious awareness. It is the
gateway, the entry point that leads into deeper states of consciousness. Alpha waves aid
overall mental coordination, calmness, alertness, inner awareness, mind/body
 62

integration and learning.

Alpha is also the home of the window frequency known as the Schumann Resonance,
which propagates around the planet. When we intentionally generate alpha waves and
go into resonance with that Earth frequency, we naturally feel better, refreshed, in tune.
It is. in fact, environmental synchronization.

Theta waves (4-7 Hz) occur most often in sleep but are also dominant in the deepest
states of meditation (body asleep/mind awake) and thought (gateway to learning,
memory). In theta, our senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused on the
mindscape-intemally originating signals. Theta waves are associated with mystery, an
elusive and extraordinary realm we can explore. It is that twilight state which we
normally only experience fleetingly as we rise from the depths of delta upon waking or
drifting off to sleep. In theta, we are in a waking dream; vivid imagery flashes before
the mind's eye and we are receptive to information beyond our normal conscious
awareness. Theta meditation increases creativity, enhances learning, reduces stress and
awakens intuitive and other extrasensory perception skills.

Delta waves (0-4 Hz) are the slowest but highest in amplitude. They are generated in
deepest meditation and dreamless sleep. Delta waves confer a suspension of external
existence and provide the most profound feelings of peace. In addition, certain
frequencies within the delta range trigger the release of a growth hormone which is
beneficial for healing and regeneration. This is why sleep, deep restorative sleep, is so
essential to the healing process.(from "Tools of Awareness" by Dr. Willy De Maeyer &
Dr. Gabriele Breyer).

Steven Lehar, an independent researcher, former Professor of Cognitive

Psychology at Salem State College, has kindly mailed me an alternative
paradime of neurocomputation:

I too have been thinking a lot about resonance, and its relation to
consciousness, and the connection between mind and music. I have a theory
that the patterns of our experience are expressed in the brain in the form of
standing waves. In other words, the operational principle of the brain is more
like a musical instrument than a computer, and the "input" to that instrument is
the same as the input to a musical instrument, i.e. it is like the damping of
fingers on strings or over holes that control the pattern of resonance in the
instrument, and the "output" is both a musical tone, and a spatial standing wave
pattern in the body of the instrument."
 Harmonic Resonance Theory     A Chartoon Epistemology

Itzhak Bentov suggests in his elevating book, "Stalking the Wild Pendulum", that our
brain is not the source of thoughts, but an amplifier of thoughts. The tiny impulses are
magnified by the brain, and only then they become a thought. The thoughts does not
originate within the brain. It is our field outside our brain, the astral, mental or causal
bodies, that receive the tiny impulses and implant them in the brain, which amplify them
into thoughts as we know them. "Thoughts" exist below the threshold of recognizable
thoughts.  
This theory support many phenomena such as isolated scientists, who worked on the
same discovery, (or the hundred monkey syndrome).
 63

The Hologram - natures information storage

If we drop a few pebbles in a little pan with water, we will soon see a complex
pattern of waves interfering with each another. Let us say that we can freeze
that interference pattern very quick, so we will have a sheet of ice with the
pattern. If we illuminate the interference pattern with the same light under
which the information originally was recorded, an 3 dimensional image of the
pebbles appears in space.
The ice sheet has stored the information about the pebbles that has caused all
the ripples. 
If this ice sheet or lens breaks into pieces and one piece is illuminated the
same way as before, we will still have a 3 dimensional image of the pebbles-
though it may be not so clear.
We know that the waves from each pebble crossed the face of the whole pan,
naturally, they must have interacted with each other across the whole surface.
As each wave can be traced back to its source, so will a piece of the whole
also preserve information about the whole.
This is the essence about hologram.
There are evidence, that our brain store information in a holographic form. This is a
very compact way of storing information's. The genetic code carried in our
chromosomes could be another example. Each cell in our body carries all the
information's needed to produce a copy.

The power of coherent light

A key element in the process of storing information as a hologram is the

orderly behavior of the waves in the system. They must be consistent both in
velocity and in wave lengths. Otherwise there will just be chaos. This is where
coherency comes in - an order of a certain kind.
Coherent light is the basis of which good holograms can be made. The most
common source of coherent light is a laser. It produces light of just a single
color - monochromatic light, and the light is emitted in an even, "flat" form
and extremely fixed phase. This makes it possible for laser light to stay in a
narrow, even beam over very large distances.

The coherent laser light is necessary in order to create holograms. There has to
be a coherent reference source similar to the source, that illuminate the object
so an interference pattern can be recorded and recreated in the same way. 
A simple way to make a holographic picture, is to split the light into two
components by a half mirror - a semi transparent mirror. This allows part of
the beam to continue undisturbed, while part of it is deflected to another
mirror, which is guiding the beam to the object, we want a holographic picture
of.
 64

We have two beams; one is going straight to the film. That is the reference
beam. The other beam is lead to the object, which the light will illuminate and
interact with. The disorganized reflected light from the object will then reach
the film and form an interference pattern with the reference beam. 
When the film is illuminated with the reference beam, a holographic picture is
created. 
We notice the importance of the reference beam, the pure, virgin and
untouched source, which serves as a baseline for comparison.

Our whole life is a constant struggle making such comparisons. Our senses,
which describe our reality to us, are making these comparisons all the time.
Unfortunately, our senses, having no absolute reference line, must generate
their own relative base line.
In general we perceive information's and adapt them in relation to their
differences only.
We have no absolute measure of anything, as far as our reality is concerned. 

Hermes Trismegistus

If we for a moment give up the common notion about sound as air waves the
ear can hear, and extend it to a member of the universal family of vibrations,
we will open up for the Hermetic Principles, that tell us about the Universe is
nothing more or less than an endless number of vibrations and rhythms from
the atoms to the stars.

Hermes Trismegistus, Thrice Great Hermes, the scribe of the Gods, as the
ancient Greeks named the mystical Egyptian God Thoth, was said to create by
the sound of his voice alone. The sacred writings of the ancient mystery
Schools over the world, were attributed to him as mediator of divinely
revealed wisdom. 
While there are many mystical and spiritual paths, the Principles laid out by
(the post atlantian?) Hermes Thoth seem to be incorporated in all of these
paths. There were Seven Principles upon which the entire Hermetic
Philosophy was based, describe in ”The Kyballium: a study of Hermetic
Philosophy”:

1.      The principle of Mentalisme: "All is mind"

2.      The principle of correspondence: "As Above, so Below".
3.      The principle of Vibration:" All is in vibration".
4.      The principle of Polarity: " Everything is dual".
5.      The principle of Rhythm: " Everything flows".
6.      The principle of Cause and Effect: " Everything happens according to Law".
7.      The principle of Gender: " Everything has its Masculine and Feminine
Principles"
 65

  As the ancients seemed to know, everything in the Universe is in a state of

vibration.  

Hierarchies of motion

If we use a scientific language of this age, we first have the subatomic

particles, which have properties such as: charge, a spin, magnetic moment and
"charmed", "colored" quarks. Stepping up in size, the are atoms made of a
nucleus and electron shells. The electrons are rapidly orbiting the nucleus
while at the same time rotating about their own axes. We are talking about
vibrations in the category of a million billion times a second (10 15 Hz). 
The next level is molecules where atoms are bound in groups, which have a
much lower vibration due to the larger mass, but still in the category of
Gigahertz (109 Hz). 
If we look at an aggregate of atoms in a crystal, we find at they vibrate about
their fixed position in the lattice of the crystal. At this level we still find the
two kinds of motion: a circular spin like motion and a reciprocating, to and fro
motion at relatively fixed points.

Concerning large molecules the atoms are confined to relatively fixed

positions. Any free branches will tend to exhibit pendulum like movements
and rotations or resembling the movement of a stretched vibrating string. 

The organic cell, the building blocks of all organisms,  is a further step down
in vibration (kiloHz) due to the many molecules tied together in a complex
order. The movements of simple organic life such as plankton, we find only
one kind of motion: the reciprocating or to and fro motion much like the
swing of the pendulum. The spin we have seen for the atoms and molecules
are gone.

Looking at the specialized nerve cells, neurons, linked together in a nervous

system, nature has made it possible to translate a sensory input into a "Morse"
code of action and rest, that can adapt the fast vibratory rate of molecules into
an acceptable frequency response of the cell.
Our sensory system operates by means of electro chemical  substances
creating a pulse or spikes by simulations. Action comes when the neuron fires
a spike. Rest arises as the cell is regenerating. Out of this action-and-rest code
our brain translate the sensory input into a perception of our reality.

Throughout the animal kingdom we find that the reciprocating motion

prevails. There are almost no spin in living organic bodies. The heart beat and
the pulsing blood flow make a pendulum like or oscillating behavior.
When we reach into the next step in the hierarchy of sizes to the celestial
bodies, the movements of orbiting and spin reappear. Our planet system
 66

behaves in that double motion, rotating about their axes while in the same
time orbiting around our sun.

The Cosmic Octave

Humans are living on the surface of Lady Gaia (the Earth) in her biosphere,
the thin film of organic life. I would like to give a very short introduction to a
portion of the Gurdjiff-Ouspensky system, that display the universe as one
descending octave, the Ray of Creation, since it is the study of that system,
that made me start the study of octaves.

The passage of Forces

The Ray of Creation shows the

passage of forces in the descending
Cosmic Octave. It begins with the
high do as the Absolute. The
interval, do-si, is filled by the Will
of the Absolute, unknown to man.
The tone si represent All Worlds,
the tone la contains All suns, the
tone sol is our sun, the planets in our
solar system is represented by the
tone fa.
Between the planets and Earth, in
the fa-me interval, the passage of
cosmic influence formed as
interacting triads of active,
neutralizing and passive forces, are
stopped. (The active force is called
Carbon, the passive force is Oxygen
and the neutralizing force is named
Nitrogen.)
Therefore the planets can not pass their influence direct to Earth, so in order to
make a passage, a special contrivance was created, which we call the organic
life on Earth. In this scope humans can be considered as sensitive nerve-ends
of the Earth. 
So humans are tiny little receptors on the surface of Earth for the cosmic
influences and can fill out the link in the great "food chain".

Octaves inside the octave

One of the faculties of an octave is the property of having octaves within the
octave. One tone in an octave can branch off into a new octave and so on. In
the Cosmic octave there is such an example in the lateral octave. 
 67

Organic life on Earth is created in the form of a lateral octave, where the Do is our sun,
Si the planets and La, Sol, Fa the organic life on Earth, which bridge the interval. Then
Mi in this additional octave enters into the Earth and Re into the Moon. 
After the tone re the cosmic octave has its low 'do', which is also the Absolute. One
Absolute is All, the other is Nothing. But there can be no two Absolutes, for by its very
nature, the Absolute is One. Therefore All includes Nothing and Nothing includes All. 
In our subjective, dualistic perception of the world, opposites can not be grasped as
actually being One. This dichotomy is one of the many, we face when we are dealing
with the big questions in our existence. 

The pendulum

In the following I will - with assistance of Itzhak Bentov and his book
"Stalking the Wild Pendulum" - explain why the simple movement of the
pendulum convey an astonishing account of our existence and reality.
There seems no mystic in the old-fashioned pendulum in the clock. The laws
of classical mechanics tell us that it is a simple harmonic motion. At the point
of rest the acceleration of the weight is maximum. The potential energy is
maximum; its velocity is zero; and the time required for changing the velocity
of the weight is zero.

Peculiar things begins to happened, if we look at the zero point from the point
of view of quantum mechanics! 
We have to scale down below atoms -even elementary particles - level, down
to the quantum level, and watch the micro movement as it approaches the
turning point. 
When we go below the distance of Planck, which is about 1.6 x 10 -33 cm, we
enter a new world, where time and space become "grainy" or chunky. 
Planck's length represent the smallest region of space, that can be described
meaningfully.
Juggling the fundamental constants in a different way yields one, and only
one, fundamental unit of time: the Planck's time, which is about 10 -43 sec. 
By combining the fundamental constants of gravity, Planck's constant (E=hv)
and the speed of light (the three constants of physics), it is possible to obtain a
unique basic unit of length and time. (John Gribbin in "In search of
Schrödinger's cat")

The pendulum can be anywhere in the Universe

This distortion of time and space at the quantum level means, that a pair of
events would occur in either time or space: The pair do not connected
casually, but by a random fluctuation.
Suppose that a material point can traverse space without necessarily requiring
any chunk of time for the process. If so, a chunk of space has been spanned
without any time elapsing. That tiny piece of distance divided with zero time
yields infinite velocity - no matter over how short a distance.
 68

I have to continue a little more with quantum mechanics in order to fully

understand the oscillating behavior. There is a principle in physics stating, that
any event which is not prohibited by the law of physics can take place.
So what happens really to the pendulum in the point of rest, the split second
where it shift phase? All the points in the pendulum behave the same way,
therefore all of it must for a tiny fraction of a second move at infinite velocity.

But can a physical object move faster than the speed of light?

The principle of Uncertainty

We have to turn to another pioneer in quantum physics, to Heisenberg and his

principle of uncertainty. This principle states, that in trying to measure two
parameter of a particle, for instance, its momentum and its position, we find
that the more accurately we measure its momentum (mass * velocity), the less
we can know about its position, and vice versa.
If we know the exact momentum of a particle, then its position is completely
unknowable, and vice versa.

We also know when the pendulum is in the changing point, when it is at rest,
its velocity is zero. But the momentum, at low speed at least, is equal to
velocity multiplied by mass. We know the velocity is zero, so when we
multiply any quantity with zero, we get zero.
According to Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty, the position of the
pendulum at rest becomes diffuse and completely indefinite. 
In other words, the pendulum can be just about any place in the Universe for
just a tiny fraction of time with infinite speed.

The rapid disappearance of the pendulum into the Universe is so fast, that we
do not detect it in our level of existence and reality. 

The reason we have used the swing of a pendulum as a showcase, is because

the pendulum represents any system, that oscillates or move back and forth,
whether such an oscillator pulsates concentrically, goes around in orbits, or
turns about itself.

From the standpoint of one observer, there are always two points at which
either of these systems appears to be at rest. To be completely at rest means,
that the movement has reached the point, where it change or reverse direction.
That point of rest implies somehow a disappearance of matter in a infinite or
almost infinite velocities.
Infinite speed and total rest seem somehow complementary. Again we face a
condition where extremes meet its opposite. At our level of reality we can not
be aware of the atoms in the pendulum, that oscillates at a rate of 10 15 Hz. We
can simply not observe it!
 69

What is reality?

One way or another the aspect of reality comes down to movements. At the
sub atomic level the world is made up of a void, a vacuum, which is filled by
pulsating, oscillating electro-magnetic fields, that in turns move between two
points of rest. The point of rest is reached through a period of motion. We
have seen how weird the pendulum behaves at that level, which is called the
objective reality.

When we reach the level of human in the hierarchies of motion, we are limited
to the subjective reality by the total sum of impressions conveyed to us by our
senses. The nervous systems translate the objective reality for us into a Morse
code of action and rest, which are oscillating electrical states of our nervous
system.

There is a common factor in both realities, that is connected to what I will call
the meta physical notion of being "real". Itzhak Bentov's definition of "real"
means there has to be a change or motion occurring between the two states of
rest to create reality.
It is the motion that forms the reality. If there is no change, there is a state of
perpetual rest, and a state of perpetual rest means no perceptible reality. 
The tangible reality exist for us only as long as there are movements. When
the movements stops, matter and "solid" reality become diffuse and disappear
into the void of rest.
This description of the tangible reality is not new. Actually, the old Tibetan Buddhist
masters states, that "the tangible world is movement, not a collection of moving objects,
but movement itself. There are no objects 'in movements'. It is the movements which
constitutes the objects, which appear to us: there are nothing but movements".
(Alexandra David-Neel and Luma Yongden from their book, The Secret Oral Teachings
in Tibetan Buddhist Sects).

Subjective time or expanded consciousness

It is generally known and experienced, that in moments of present, actual

danger time "slows" down and the impressions are received at a much higher
speed. The nervous system switches to a faster mode, to a much wider band of
information. In terms of telephone systems from analog cables to light cables.
(See Information Theory)
Even higher speeds in consciousness are recorded in the near death
experience, where ones whole life is presented in seconds, (as one is taping
into the Akashic record?)

The slow down of time can be experienced in a less dramatic way, if one
master the art of meditation, or is trained by biofeedback to produce theta
brainwaves. If one can obtain such meditative state and at the same time is
able to watch the second hand of a clock, there are chances to be surprised by
 70

finding, that the second hand has come to a stop! As soon the intellect
discover what has happened, the second hand will accelerate into its normal
pace again, unless one has long training in meditation. 

Time-traveling on regular basis

The only time travel machine there is accessible is so far I know the human
mind. I do not mentioning the body, since mass as Einstein has shown, will
increase by an astronomical size approaching the speed of light. 
Shaman and mystic's have through time demonstrated time traveling.
Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce are known examples in our culture.
The trick is to leave the body for a while. The technique might be diversified,
the aim as well, but it is possible for an entity, that correlates and make sense
of the information submitted to it by the brain, to be absent and far away.
The out of body experience (and time travelling) has been well documented by Robert
Monroe in his books, which are highly recommended. 
A more secret aspect of out of the body performance, was conducted by the US defense
forces during the cold war under the name, "remote viewing of natural targets".
According to Discovery channel the most skilled remote viewers performed very high
accuracy in the controlled tests. The interesting part in those tests was, that they viewed
the random moving target in advance of time. The saw the target a hour before it was
there.

In the following I, again, will relate to Itzhak Bentov, an American engineer,

who practiced life long meditation, which was the base for his book, Stalking
the wild Pendulum, because he present - in my view - the most consistent
theory. 

In the analysis of the pendulum we have found that the body also oscillates in
a pendulum like fashion about 7 times in a second. Each time the body reach
the point of rest about 14 times a second the "observer" or the entity having no
physical mass, expand at a very high speed into space.
Where does the observer goes in those split seconds of perpetual rest when the
natural boundaries of space and time collapse?

Not only to the end of the rainbow, but everywhere in the universe. For a very
short moment it becomes a "star" - Miss Universe - with mighty omnipresent.
It is an awesome expansion of consciousness. A shame we are not aware of it. 
Or maybe somewhere deep inside a tinkling little voice says, I know! The
intuitive gut feeling, knowing the harmony with the universe.

Space/time diagram

The fastest action in the physical world is naturally limited by the speed of
light. In a four-dimensional space/time diagram the vertical direction stands
for time, the horizontal direction represents the three space dimensions. A 45
 71

degree diagonal line indicate the boundaries between space and time
representing the speed of light. The cross section is the "now" point.
In the advanced physics there are some hypothetical particles called tachyons, which
can move beyond the speed of light. Tachyons may also be the anti gravitational
particle, that eliminate the gravitation in the expanding universe. Suppose that the
tachyons travel at almost infinite speed, which implies that they are moving practically
along the horizontal space axis without much regard to the vertical time axis. In no time
they can be everywhere. They behave space-like, not time like. They have
omnipresence.

Concerning mortals beings the objective coordinates in the space/time

diagram are still representing the time like universe as we know it in normal
consciousness, so the subjective coordinates overlap or stay parallel. 

In case of the higher meditative state of rest where the out of

body observer fill the universe in a space like behavior, the
situation change dramatic. The subjective time/space
coordinates separate from the objective and rotate about the
"now" point, the common center. The subjective time line has
gained an arbitrary angle to the objective time line. Projecting
with a parallel line to the objective time line we see, that the
subjective time is longer than the objective time.

The more the subjective time line angle approach the space axis,
the more subjective time is at hand and consequently an
increasing space like manner. In an altered state of
consciousness, we are rapidly expanding into space. An
expansion of consciousness leads to an expansion into space.

We have to remember, that the observer as an entity with no

physical mass can slip through the velocity of light barrier.
However, the observer is still tenuously linked to the physical
body, and the physical senses still relay messages to the out of
body observer in an undistorted form. 
The values of the subjective/objective time ratio increase rapidly as we
go beyond 89 degrees. The ratio is over one million at an angle at
89,9999 degrees. The subjective time becomes infinitely long at 90
degrees, because cosine at 90 degrees is zero.

Level of consciousness

From the above we have describe a person's level of

consciousness by the ratio of his subjective time to his objective
time. The range of these ratios is very broad depending of the
ability to hold an expanded state of consciousness.
It starts as small wandering of attention as the example with the clock, where
 72

we was able to slow down the second hand for a brief moment. A step further
could be hypnotic time dilation, or dreaming, which is in fact an altered state
of consciousness. It is first in deep meditation or trance by trained people that
the ratio can be significant and persistent. The angle does not close or become
zero, but fluctuates at some distance from the objective time axis.
The consciousness index is: subjective time / objective time. E.g. 4 seconds / 1
second = 4.

The subjective time coordinates rotates together with the subjective space
axis, so the subjective time stretches as well as the observer expand into the
subjective space. The space axis approaches the objective time axis. The "time
like" subjective space is becoming objective time. This means that the
observer travels in what is supposed to be the space, but actually is moving
through his own and others peoples objective time. Depending of direction it
means traveling in the objective past or future. 

Clairvoyants often use the term, "I am going into your past", describing the
movement though time. Time is space for the clairvoyant, who might even
give some predictions of ones future, but since the future is made up of
probabilities depending of human free will, such travel into the future should
be vague and uncertain. 

Untrained people are not aware of those fast out of the body experiences.
They do not reach the normal conscious thinking level, but remain in the
subliminal level. Trained observers who can stay at a high level of
consciousness for a while and stretch the subjective time, managed to be
imprinted with impressions from other dimensions and realities.

But what is actually going on with the body. We have to imagine the huge
amounts of atoms we consist of. They oscillates at a rate of 10 15 Hz. and
disappear and reappear at their own rate and we have no chance to notice such
rapid phenomena. Further more it is very unlikely that all the atoms in our
body vibrate synchronously or coherently; presumably only parts or areas are
blinking on and off gradually.
The key to higher consciousness seems to consist in coherency - to be one.
Spiritual masters from different traditions have stated the necessity of being
one unit. The language may differ, but the meaning is to bring the legions into
one army; to be one.
If total coherency occurs in the body, as may be the case for ascended masters,
the whole body will blink off and on as a unit, and truly miraculous events can
take place.
 73

Two aspects of consciousness

Let us examine some basic premise about consciousness by expanding it to

apply to any being or matter. We can say that an atom have consciousness
because it can respond to stimuli. Since all physical reality is constructed of
atoms in a smaller or larger aggregates, we can say, that a given mass contains
a certain amount of consciousness. The percentage will vary in quantity and in
quality according to the
different evolutionary level. 
There is a certain relationship
between the number of
responses per stimuli, or the
quantity of consciousness, and
the level of quality. We will
express the quality of
consciousness in terms of
frequency response. The higher
the quality of consciousness, the
higher the frequency response
range of the system.
So quantity of consciousness is
given in terms of number of
responses a system is capable of
as a reaction to a stimulus.

Quality of consciousness is the

degree of refinement or
intelligence of such responses
and their range expressed in terms of frequency response. 
Each frequency range stands for a certain reality band.

The ladder of evolution

In Nature we have a spectrum of realities, each occupied by a population

having a certain level of consciousness. Each band or step of the ladder has its
own range of frequency response (quality of consciousness), which could be
the vertical line. The horizontal line display the range of information handling
capacity of the (nervous) system (quantity of consciousness). 
In the bottom of the diagram we have an atom. Next step could be a virus,
then a plant, next an animal, then a human, and above the human reality band,
the realm of astral or emotional reality, further up the mental reality, then the
"causal" or intuitive reality band, and above some spiritual levels approaching
the maximum energy exchange level with the universe and control over the
nature, e.g. changing water into wine.
The point in such a diagram is to give a picture of different level of realities.
 74

This spectrum of realities do not have sharply defined boundaries, but to some
extend reach into each an other. 

Looking at the diagram as a whole we see that the relationship between the
quantity and the quality of consciousness is given by a curved line. As this
line is approaching to top which we can call the absolute, it becomes almost
parallel, meaning accumulating all beings. In other words, the absolute
contains all the consciousness there is in the universe. It is the source of all
consciousness.
An example of the consciousness of a plant is described in Carlos Castaneda's book,
The Teachings of Don Juan, where the spirit of the peyote plant, Mescalito, was a very
powerful theacher. If the book is a fraud, it does not take away a vivid description of the
reality of a plant.
In Robert Monroe's book, "Far Journeys", one can find a very interesting account of the
astral world. I find Monroe's writing about his out of body experiences highly reliable.
Stanislav Grof, the Czech/American pioneer and research worker in human
consciousness and trans-personal experience, has a long row of books border on this
subject, especially in "The Cosmic Game", Explorations of the Frontiers of Human
Consciousness..  

The "sea" of the absolute

Earlier we have stated that our reality is coded in terms of movement and rest.
When an oscillator is in a state of rest, it tunnels into a space like dimension,
which implies infinite speed, that are equivalent to a state of rest. It becomes
omnipresent. 
It has attained a state of just "being" for a very short period of time. As soon
the oscillator gets into movement, everything is back to usual. We are dealing
with two components of reality: movement and rest.
We can make a bold comparison: this state of "being" can be compared with
the absolute, since both imply no motion, no action, just total rest - just
"being". 
At the same time, it is a state of high potential energy, because the state of rest
is equivalent to infinitely high velocities. Further more, the two contrasting
concepts of movement and rest, become reconciled in the absolute. 

The bottom line is, that this state of reality, can be an absolute reference line
against which all in the world or in creation, can be measured. The absolute is
an ever present baseline for all the other realities.
This sounds as a the master hologram, where we have the undisturbed
reference beam, the absolute, and a experienced or modulated out of phase
beam, the relative reality.

The absolute can be pictured as a boundless deep sea. The surface of the sea is
very calm and so smooth, that it is invisible and not in existence but contain
the potential of any existence.  
 75

Ripples or waves break up the surface and makes it visible. By analogy, when
motion or vibrations appears in the absolute, it becomes visible or manifest,
and we call it the relative or physical reality.

From the consciousness diagram we have a display of levels of realities. We

can compare the size of the ripples or waves to the different realities, but the
"deep" layers of the sea will never be disturb; a state of eternal rest will
prevail.
The different type of ripples will correspond to the level of consciousness.
Some will have a low quantity of consciousness and a low frequency
response, while "fine" high frequency ripples will correspond to the highest
level below the absolute.

Mind over matter business

We have earlier stated that matter "contains" more or less of consciousness. In

view of the above mentioned it would be more correct to acknowledge, that
matter, being made of quanta of energy, is the vibrating, changing component
of pure consciousness. It is all made of the same "stuff" in different forms.
Water, e.g. is still water either in form of ice, liquid or in steam or vapor. 

Realities are made up of two components, one is the steady reference line or
immutable background. The other is the dynamic, vibrating aspect of the same
thing. So mind and matter are both made of the same basic stuff. The
difference has to be found in the composition of vibration or ripples. Matter
belongs to larger and slower waves, which implies that it possesses less
energy of the absolute. 
Mind is made op of much finer ripples, which indicate that it contains more of
the consciousness of the absolute. So the common concept of mind over
matter should be formulated as mind "over" a different aspect of itself.
It may be a comfort to realize that no matter how relative or remote we are
from the absolute, we are still made of the stuff of the absolute. (This make
me think of the phrase: we are all made of dust from the stars.)

To sum up this extremes business about the absolute, one can say, that the
absolute is an infinitely fine relative, in which the size of the waves is so
minute and the frequency so high, that they are invisible. Movement and rest
is fuse into one. In this state the energy is tremendous high and is full of
creative potential, plus full of intelligence. This stands for a self-organizing
capability to any entity in creation. 
Our reality is a vibratory reality - from sub nuclear level to atomic, molecular,
and macro levels. Every thing is oscillating between two states of rest.
Everything is producing a vibration, a "sound". 
 76

Vibrating bodies

 We have investigated the pendulum in the moment of rest. Let us now have a
look of the full swing of the pendulum and think above grandfather's clock. 
Imagine our beloved Earth orbiting the sun in a period of a year as an
astronomical 3 dimensional pendulum, where the gravitation field is the
"string" in which the Earth is tied to the Sun. 
This is a simple circular, periodic motion, that also apply to the law of a
pendulum pictured as grandfather's clock, which only moves linear. As long
as the time required for the to-and-fro movement is not changed, we still have
a simple harmonic motion, whether it is a circular, elliptical or linear.

A point of confusion may enter this conversion of circular motion into

harmonic motion because subjectivity plays a part. The two extreme points of
the pendulum, e.g. at which there is no apparent motion, are different for
different observers, unless the event is observed from the same angle and
same place. 
The bottom line is, that any uniform circular motion, whether it is that of an
electron or of a planet, can be converted into
a simple harmonic motion of a pendulum.

According to the formula of the pendulum, the

length of the string can be calculated:
L = T2 * g / 4pi2 ,where T is the duration of the
pendulum back and forth, g is the gravitational
acceleration on earth, pi is the proportional number
of the diameter and circumference of a circle.
The length of a pendulum, that correspond (scaled
down) to the 24th. octave of a tropical year, is about 88 cm. and oscillates in 1.88 sec.
(A pendulum of a fourth or four times this length does so as well).

The Indian sitar

Turning to India the length of the string of a sitar - a common musical

instrument - is 88 cm. (in most cases). This is not a coincidence. 
The basic note of a sitar, Sa, is in accordance to the frequency of the year, (see
below) which is 136.10221…Hz. in the 32nd octave. So we have 2 (32- 24) = 28 =
256th overtone or harmonics of a frequency of a pendulum with a length of a
sitar string.

According to Indian tradition it stands for the primordial vibration, which is

called "nada" and express the universal OM.
The OM sound, according to Cousto, corresponds approximately to the C
sharp in the small octave of the present day tuning system (136 Hz) and
corresponds to the 32nd octave tone of the Earth year. In reverse order it
means, that by lowering 136 Hz tone by 32 octaves, the resulting frequency
 77

will be as slow as the amount of time it takes the Earth to circle the sun.
It is interesting to note that the Indians arrived at this tone, which we can
calculate mathematical, "simply" through intuition and meditation.

The tone of the year

It takes the Earth 365.24219879 days to orbit the sun and make a tropical year.
This period shall be converted into seconds in order to gain the corresponding
frequency, which is 1 / 31556925.97.. = 0.000000031..Hz. This frequency
shall then be multiplied by 2, until the octave note reach the range of
hearing. Having multiplied 32-times by 2, the audible frequency is equal to 1/
length of period x 232 = tone frequency of a tropical year = 136.10221…Hz. 
This frequency is slightly  below the note C# (C sharp) in the chromatic scale. 
About 40 octaves higher one obtains the matching frequency of the visible
range.  

The concert pitch

Before a concert begins a reference tone, the concert pitch, is played so the
instruments can tune their middle a'. In modern time the pitch is set to 440 Hz.
by the second International Standard Pitch Conference in London 1938. It is a
high pitch compared to the older concert pitch of 435 Hz. which was
introduced by the French government in 1859 in cooperation with musicians
such as Hector Berlioz, Meyerbeer and Rossini.
The concert pitch has vary earlier depending of Country and time. In the book,
"On the Sensation of Tone" by Helmholtz, a record of concert pitch in Europe
covers many pages. The characteristic for the Western music is, that concert
pitch is arbitrary. It has no relation to forces above man. There is no reference
to earthly or celestial influx, but only an artificial standard.

For the old Chinese the tuning of their fundamental tone, Kung, was a matte
of outmost importance for their civilization and had to be in alignment with
the Cosmic tone so the celestial influence could be channel into the society by
music. 
According to Custo the Kung relates to the frequency of the Platonic Year.
The note of the Platonic year is F in the Western Equal Temperament pitch,
which is found in the 48th octave with a frequency of 344.12 Hz.

The Indians method had a character of meditation since the musicians not only
in the prelude had to tune his instrument to the keynote, he also attunes
himself to it, and gives the audience the opportunity to do so too. This long
introduction was essential since the musicians had to tune in to the "sadja", the
everlasting, never ceasing tone. According to Indian tradition it stands for
primordial vibration, which is called "nada" and express the universal OM.
 78

The OM sound, according to Cousto, corresponds approximately to the C

sharp in the small octave of the present day tuning system (136 Hz) and
corresponds to the 32nd octave tone of the Earth year. It means that by
lowering 136 Hz tone by 32 octaves, the resulting frequency will be as slow as
the amount of time it takes the Earth to circle the sun.
Foucault's pendulum in Paris has nothing to do with the frequency of the Earth. The
pendulum is demonstrating the spin of the Earth by an ingenious suspension of the
pendulum, so it is free of the ground (Earth) and relates to the fix stars.

The tones of the Earth

The period of an average solar day lasts 24 hours = 86400 seconds. Using the
same way of calculations as above, we have in the 25th octave or the 2 25 the
partial note of a solar day the frequency at 388.36 Hz. (The sidereal day is 23
hours and 56 minutes and the difference between the average day is about 1
Hz in the 25th octave)

The 388.36 Hz corresponds approximately to a G' in the well tempered scale

with a A' at 435.92 Hz. as the reference tone (concert pitch). The common
modern concert pitch, A', is 440 Hz. so we see, that the reference tone is out
of tune with the tone of day. This concert pitch was decided at the 1939
standard pitch conference in London and is used throughout the West.

It is an entirely arbitrary decision and is not in harmony with neither the Earth
nor Cosmic tones. The concert pitches used in India and China are in
resonance with the Earth year and The Platonic year.
The older concert pitch, A',  introduced by the French government in 1859
was 435.4 Hz. and much more in tune with the tone of the day. 
The frequency of the well tempered chromatic tuning system changes from one
semitone to the next by the factor 21/12 = 1.059463...The matching chromatic A' (2
semitones up) for the note of a day will be 435.92 Hz.

The corresponding Earth notes and concert pitch will accordingly be:

The
Western
average G  388.4 Hz 25th octave
pitch
day 
India
The year C sharp 272.30 Hz 33rd octave
pitch
The
China
Platonic F 172.06 Hz 47th octave
pitch
year
 79

This has only been a brief tour into the world of vibrations by stalking the
wild pendulum.  There are many other metaphysical aspects of sound and
music, which will be presented in the next part.

Thomas Váczy Hightower, © 2003-7.

The Sound of Silence

part II

by Thomas Váczy Hightower

 80

Standing waves

In the first part of The Sound of Silence we have mainly investigated the
broaden concept of motion, the pendulum and its strange behavior at the
quantum level. Now we will explore other meta physical aspects of music and
sounds.

Standing waves is an essential phenomenon in the creation of the musical

tone. In my page The Creation of the Musical Scale there is a description of
standing waves.
Here we will just state, that standing waves automatically divide the length of
a string or an air column into an integral number of half wave-lengths. It is
only then, a standing wave can be sustained. That pattern is the most energy
effective form nature can provide. (A similar pattern is the rhythm
entrainment, where random oscillation after a while begin to oscillate in
unison).  
Standing waves can not exist unless they divide their medium into an integral
numbers of half waves with its nodes. A standing waves having a fractional
wavelength can not be sustained.
The same standing waves pattern can be preformed in a plate or a 3
dimensional box too. This pattern will look just like a highly enlarged crystal,
if we assume that the aggregated particles or grains in the box fluid are
analogous to the atoms in a crystal.

  The key word in standing waves is order. In short, by using sound we

have introduced order where previously there was none.

de Borglie waves

On the quantum level sound does not have

meaning, but standing wave does still perform
order, when we are looking at the orbiting
electrons in an atom. In the early 20th. Century
spectrum analysis showed 7 levels or series for
the orbiting electrons, but it was unclear how the
electrons was able to maintain they fixed orbits.
The quantum physicist de Borglie came up with
an explanation, when he in 1923 proposed, that
the electrons not only existed as particles, but also behaved as waves of
matter, which interfered with themselves as standing waves. By this order the
numbers of electrons are maintained in their orbits. de Borglie's theory was
later proved by experiments.

The orbit is only stable if it meets the condition for standing waves. The
circumference had to be an integer number of the wavelength. The
 81

consequence is that only special values of radius and energy is allowed for the
electrons, if they stay stable and do not emit energy. They are quantized.
Niels Bohr's atom theory stated in contrary to the classical law of
electrodynamics, that the electrons do not emits energy, photons, as long as
they energy integers are in accordance with the properties of standing waves.

Table of the Elements

The periodic
tables of
Elements
reflexes the
wave pattern
of atoms.
Usually the
table is
displayed with
7 series of
quantized atoms, where the first level contains the lightest atoms, Hydrogen
and Helium. The atomic weight depends mainly of the number of neutrons
and protons in the nucleus and is increasing down the diagram. I have changed
the periodic, vertical level with octaves.
If we look at the atomic weight, which is not indicated in this table of
elements due to clarity, we will notice, that the law of octaves to a great extent
is displayed by the double atomic weight for each descending octave. In
addition, each main octave contains inner octaves on the horizontal, group
level, so we can view the Table of Elements as a square of octaves.

This way of viewing the table of elements as a square of octaves does not
have a scientific value. The atomic weight numbers do not in many cases
show a strict octave behavior.
However, I find in the general display of the table of elements too many
coincidences of octave patterns, that I dare bring this point of view. Nature
does not reveals itself as a finished, perfect framework. There are flaws
everywhere, cracks for the light to enter and space for the continuous creation.

Just think about is: the universe as we at the present time can observe: it is only a
fraction of what really is out there. Literally speaking only the top of the iceberg. The
empty space is loaded with invisible matter and energy, the "dark matter",  which only
indirectly can be detected and calculated by the rotation of galaxies. It is mind shaking,
that science still have to figure out what kind of matter, that occupied most of the
Universe.

In accordance with the cosmogony and the theory of the Big Bang for about
13,5 billion years ago, only Hydrogen and Helium existed in the new born
Universe. The gravitational pull in clouds of those two elements shaped the
 82

stars, and the creations of the following elements slowly began under heat and
pressure in the plasma. By the dead of a star, the new elements was and is
continuously released  into the inter stellar space. Some of the heavy elements
can only be produced by Super Nova's.
I like to view the on going creation as a big descending cosmic octave, where
the first notes was Hydrogen and Helium.

Music in the East and the West

In western tradition the legendary Orpheus, the Greek inventor of the 7 tone
scale about 1200 BC, created the music in order to open the hearts of men for
the divine 7 Rays. How the music actually was played in ancient Greek is
speculation other than it was a sacred ritual, as in the East. They played the
music differently, but the aim was the same.
It was first in the end of the 15th Century, when the change in the Western
society with the Renaissance, the alteration in the focus became prominent.
The close attachment to the church became more detached as the need or
demand for music serving kings and the rise of rich business dynasties. The
music changed more and more to the honor of man and to the glory of his
outward manifestations. 
The development in musical practice from monophonic to polyphonic and
after the Renaissance to fully "harmonious" music, made it necessary to have
especially the third harmonized. The Pythagorean third (81:64) is a syntonic
comma larger than the harmonic third (5:4). The need for harmonizing the
third in the part-songs became imperative as the polyphonic music became
predominant. 
New musical scales was developed to serve that requirement, such as the Just
Intonation.

In the East the music remained as a tool for letting the heart sing its praise for
the sublime God, the one inside as well as for the Universe.
The question remains: does music have a power that is above cultural
differences? Does objective music exist? 
Reijo Elsner has written an interesting article about Russian Icons: "Are Icons
a form of Objective art?" 

The concept of harmony

It is general knowledge, that the notion of harmony comes from the ancient
Greeks word, harmonia. It was a key word of the Pythagoreanism and meant
primarily the joining or fitting of things together. Originally it was connected
to the concept of cosmos. Its musical meaning was established by the early
fifth Century B.C. according to professor Guthrie ("A History of Greek
Philosophy", Vol. I,) first seen from Pindar. 
The numerical explanation of the universe was a generalization from the
 83

discovery made by Pythagoras himself and revealed the numerical ratios

which determine the concordant intervals of the scale. We find it clearly in
Aristotle's explanation of Pythagoras' harmony of the spheres and also in
Plato's statements. (see my page The Harmony of the Spheres)

However, as Burnet notes, there was no such things as harmony in our sense.
Harmonia meant tuning, or scale or octave. Classic Greek music was melodic,
modal, without use of harmonious chords as we are used to.
Plutarch (44-120 B.C.) stats that for Pythagoras and his disciples, the word
harmonia meant "octave" in the sense of an attunement which manifests
within its limits both the proper fitting together of the concordant intervals,
fourth and fifth, and the difference between them, the whole tone. 
Moreover, Pythagoras proved that whatever can be said of one octave can be
said of all octaves. 

The essential point was, that the three intervals, the octave, the fourth and the
fifth, were regarded as primary and fixed; as the element out of which any
musical scale or composition was build. The other notes was not fixed and
could move accordingly to the different modes.  

Order and beauty - the concept of cosmos - was imposed by the three fixed
notes with the ratio of 1:2, 2:3 and 3:4 on the chaotic range of sounds from the
other untied notes. 
This is for me a graphic display of hamonia; an integration of order and chaos.
Harmony does not in my interpretation means pure harmonious tones, but
permitting dissonance between the column of consonance creating harmony. 
In our time there is a tendency to disregard the dissonance in the harmony
concept making it to a sentimental, sweetish stuff. This is an unhealthy denial
of real life consisting of chaos and order - dissonance and consonance.  

The ancient Greeks had a profound understanding of balance and proper

proportions. It was not accidental that they chose words on the temple of
Apollo as "Nothing too much" or "Observe limit". 
Chaos meant for the Greeks unlimited - evil. Limit stood for order,
moderation - beauty. 
The Greek genius in thought and art, represented the triumph of ratio,
meaning on one hand the intelligible, determinate, measurable, as opposed to
the fantastic, vague and shapeless. There had to be a proportion of things both
in themselves and as related to the whole.

The integers 1,2,3 and 4 add up to 10, which was considered perfect and
contained in itself the whole nature of numbers. This number was graphically
represented by the figure known as the Tetratys, which became a sacred
symbol for the Pythagoreans.
One have to notice, that already the ancient Greeks had observed the number 10 as
 84

prominent, about 2000 years before the introduction of the decimal system by the
Muslims, who imported it from India.

Numbers was responsible for "harmony", the divine principle that governed
the structure of the whole world. For the Pythagoreans the numbers had and
retained, a mystical significance, an independent reality. Phenomena were
secondary, for the only significant thing about phenomena was the way in
which they reflected numbers.
That attitude was utterly different from that of a mathematician of today.
Mathematics had for the Pythagoreans and also later for Plato a metaphysical
as well as a purely mathematical significance. See Lambdoma or the
Pythagorean Table and Barbara Hero.

The Golden Section or Phi-ratio

Mathematics and art has since Pythagoras discovery of the connection

between numbers and tones had a deep relationship. The golden section, the
Phi ratio, was considered by the ancient Greek as the most superb proportion
and a cornerstone in art. Plato considered this proportion as a part of creation.
In the Middle Age it was called the divine proportion and associate with the
Trinity. The Golden section combine nature, mathematics and art in a
wholesome unit with transcendental and eternal properties. 
The outstanding feature of the golden section is the unique way, it can
decrease or increases by keeping its exact proportions. The grow pattern in
Nature reflexes this fixed proportion, which also is common in five-sided,
pentagonal symmetries, that also contain Phi ratios. 

The Golden Section has a geometric as well as an arithmetical expression, and

basically it can be define as a specific way of dividing a line. When the whole
line (a+b) relates to biggest section (a) as the biggest section relates to the
smallest section (b), we have a Golden Section. The arithmetical expression is
a mean proportional: a+b/a = a/b. It is a quadratic equation, where the roots of
the ratio a/b = 1+5½ /2 = Phi = 1.618034....

Calculations of the quadratic equation: a+b/a = a/b ↔ ab + b2  = a2 ↔ a2 - ab - b2 = 0.

Since it is the ratio a/b, we shall calculate, we have to divide the last equation with b2
which is: a2 /b2 - ab/b2 - b2 /b2 = 0; paraphrase as (a/b)2 - a/b - 1 = 0; the square roots of
a/b = 1 ± 5½ /2. Since a and b is positive lines only the positive value is used. The
approximate value of Phi ratio is 1.618034... The negative value is - 0.618034...The
reciprocal value of the decimal is the same, or a/b - 1 = b/a.

 There is a lot to tell about the Golden Section. The practical application in art
and architecture is well known, e.g. Leonardo da Vinci. An example in our
time was the architect le Corbusier, who developed a system of modules based
on the golden section. 
In music the Phi ratio does not show importance properly due to the intangible
 85

nature of music. (The Golden Section for an octave lays close to a diminished
sixth.)

The Solar System and its Phi ratio

One of my readers, John Pritchard, has kindly made me aware of the special
relationship The Golden Section and its Phi ratio has to our Solar System. The
ratio that separates the 9 planets plus Ceres (in the Asteroid belt ) is nearly an
exact match with the Phi ratio. The calculation can be made in different ways,
but they come to the same conclusion. Their mean distance from the Sun
follows the grow spiral from the Golden Section.
http://solargeometry.com/DistCalc.htm ;
http://www.goldenmuseum.com/index_engl.html

It is astonishing, that astronomers, who dedicated so much effort in studying

the Harmony of the Spheres, such as Kepler, did not see the Phi ratio. (More
details in my page The Harmony of the Spheres.)

I will leave the awesome Phi ratio, and move to the Fibonacci numbers, which
also reflex's the growth patterns in Nature, and in a strange way is connected
to the Golden Section.

Fibonacci numbers

A famous Italian mathematician, Leonardo of Pisa, also called Fibonacci,

issued in 1202 BC a book, "Liber Abaci", which at that time contained the
knowledge of mathematics using only the new Arabian number system. It was
here he presented a series of numbers which was a solution of a problem
dealing with theoretic rabbits breeding.
It was first later, that the magnitude of Fibonacci number sequence became
known by great mathematicians as Euler and Bernoulli and later by Binets in
his formula for Fibonacci numbers.
The peculiar thing in Binets' formula is the irrational number - square root 5 -
where Fibonacci numbers only are whole numbers. We remember square root
5 in the Phi ratio, the Golden Section, and the awesome fact is, that the
limiting value of the coefficient series (progression) of Fibonacci numbers is
the Phi ratio: 1.6180341.... or Fn / Fn-1 when n is going towards eternity.

It is thought-provoking, that nature has chosen the Fibonacci progression for

its principle of growth among the innumerable. However, it is a very simple
additive progression: one number is the sum of the two previous numbers, and
it possess the characteristic of approaching the Phi ratio most swiftly. The two
first numbers is the same, namely 1, them starts the addition.
By displaceing the Fibonacci sequence with the nearest previous number, a
sequence of ratios are produced. You can see for yourself, how farst the ratio
 86

of Fibonacci numbers are approaching the Phi ratio:

1/1, 2/1, 3/2, 5/3, 8/5, 13/8, 21/13, 34/21....F n /Fn-1 ....Phi.
 1,  2, 1.5, 1.66... 1.6, 1.625, 1.615..1.619...Fn /Fn-1....Phi.

The sequence of Fibonacci numbers are displayed in Nature in numerous

ways, whether it is the position of leaves and seeds or the spiral of growth in a
snail shell, which is similar to the Golden Section spiral. What is more
surprising is the Fibonacci numbers appearance in probability calculation and
Pascal's triad, which was discovered by a theorist of numbers, Edoward
Lucas, in the 19th Century.
The use of Fibonacci numbers can be seen in architecture, a few times in
modern literature and especially in modern dodecaphonic music, where the
tonal order has been disintegrated and occasionally a new order was formed
by Fibonacci numbers in the sequence of tones. 
(I have seen web pages, which claim that the Fibonacci numbers produce a musical
scale by repeating the beginning numbers. I am not able to see such scale fits the
practical  needs in common music)
A famous example in modern music was the Hungarian composer, Béla
Bartók, who searched for "principles which can be serve as a law" (le
Corbusier) by using the golden section and Fibonacci series as the
underplaying principle in all the musical elements and especially the
proportion of duration of movement in music.

The Voice

The voice is an indication of the developmental level of a human being. It

carries the signature of the being, who is speaking.
The voice is our breath, the essence of our very life; our being, with sound
added to it. The voice is therefore a true mirror of inner health and mental
stability, or lack of it. It reflex the full range of emotional excitement or
disinterest. For those who can hear, the voice resonant the spiritual attainment
of the speaker.
The same can be said about the way we laugh.
The tonal quality of our speech has more significance, on a subtle level, than
what we actually say. Words are idle, if they are pronounced without the
resonance of internal concord. The voice reflexes our whole being and our
true intent. Any child can hear that, when we are scolding them.

Sound has the property of affecting the listener more direct and emotionally
than sight, which is process in the brain as an distant object. Sound influences
the receiver in a closer, more subjective way. It attains deeper emotional
levels other places in the ancient brain. Smells have even a more instinctive,
(sexual) impact. Sounds and smells are received as a molecular input, while
sight is an electronically transmission.
 87

Chanting, intoning or singing is therefore a part in rituals or ceremonies of any

culture through time. Singing together is a old and simple way of tuning the
hearts and minds to a common aim.
There are also highly personal songs, belonging only to the individual through whom
they come. Healing Songs, Life songs, mantra are examples of such.
Soul song is another personal sound therapy, which Andrea Arrowsmith, Inner Sounds
of Light Institute so kindly have made me aware of.
She states, that almost deaf she have all her life heard and played music on inner realms.
Nature and all living things have keynotes and soul songs from inner realms, that she is
able to "hear". Keynotes resonates from the soul level, always intertwined with angelic
choirs and music of the spheres.

The most important is the intention that is conveyed in the sounds. Although
we might not verbalize our true thoughts, they emanate from our unconscious
mind as we sing, and our own feeling are often purified in the process. This
has been experienced by keen overtone singers.

 Toning and "Overtones"

Both these practices are ancient and have been incorporated in one form or
another into the songs of major religions. The call to prayer heard five-times
daily in Muslim cultures is a type of chanting combined with Toning.

Toning is a system of healing that utilizes vowel sounds to alter vibrations in

every molecule and cell in the body. I have read it is simple to learn and
extremely powerful. Toning fills the atmosphere with sounds that reverberate
long after the singer has quit. People find themselves inwardly silent and often
unable to speak once the Toning process has been directed at them. When they
do return from the mild trance the sound has placed them in, they are quiet
and at peace and restored to balance internally and externally. They say the
sound excites them, releases emotional trauma and physical discomfort, at the
same time instilling mental unity and spiritual love.

The word Overtones originates from the German word, Obertone, which refers to the
various numbers of partials or harmonics that are produced by the strongest and lowest
fundamental tone and fused into a compound or complex tone. 
In the 19th Century the German physicist Ohm was the first to formulate this
scientifically in his acoustic law, and Herman von Helmholz did a thorough research in
the field of harmonics and issued the first consistent body of theories in musical
acoustics. About hundred years later his beat theory was replaced by the Consonant
theory containing the Critical Band notion. See more in The Creation of Musical Scales.

The chanting of Tibetan monks is replete with harmonics in a highly rare

manner that affect and stimulate the chakras.
 88

Throat singing

In the western world Throat singing is also called overtone singing, harmonic
singing, or harmonic chant. The most known Throat singing is the Tibetan and
Mongolian chanting, but also many other regions in the World are practicing a
similar type of singing, that manipulates the harmonics resonance's created as
air travels through the human vocal folds and out the lips.

The harmonic frequencies created by the human vocal apparatus are harnessed
in throat singing to select overtones by tuning the resonance in the mouth. The
result of tuning allows the singer to create more than one pitch at the same
time, with the capability of creating six pitches at once. Generally the sounds
created by throat singing are low droning hums and high pitched flute like
melodies. 

The Tibetan monks believe, that in the creation of the 'One Voice Chord', they
do not 'make' the sound themselves. Rather, they become a vehicle through
which the sacred sound may manifest. This is a basic principle contained in
the Tibetan Buddhist teachings of sacred sound. The chanting of the Gyuto
and Gyume monks embodies this understanding of sound and their powerful
multi-phonic chanting exemplifies the application of this principle. The
harmonics which they create are a result of their becoming one with sacred
sound.  

Western fascination of chanting monks

Since I wrote about the Tibetan "One voice chord" and Mongolian chanting,
Hoomi singing, I have received several mails from Westerner practicing
singers, who teach and perform throat singing, and they all tell me, that the
technique actually is easy and do not require deep studies of Buddhism, still
less spiritual enlightment, in order to perform the deep chordal chanting. 
They point out that Western musicologists and scholars in their research of
Tibetan chanting are infatuated by a well meaning but often incorrect
fascination of the mysticism of the chanting monks.

Concerning the widespread propensity to mysticism among Western scholars

of Tibetan chanting, I will quote a mail from a well known practician, Steve
Sklar, who is a longtime student, performer and teacher of Tuvan Throat-
Singing and Tibetan voice. He has a much more down to earth approach. He
has even made on-line lessons in Throat Singing. Steve Sklar wrote:

"Since our earlier correspondence, I've tried to further investigate this issue of the
monks' voice. I have indeed received some criticism for saying that there is indeed a
technical basis for their peculiar chant voice. My point is that the voice can be
understood and that there is no need to perpetuate myths about it. The Tibetan voice is a
powerful and beautiful thing, valid in its own right, and not in need of romanticizing.
 89

The actual technique simply involves the use of the ventricular folds in addition to the
vocal folds, and often a lowering of the larynx / trachea, enhancing the deep sound by
lengthening the air column of the vocal system.
Conversations with Tibetan monks and ex-monks still point to learning by exposure to
and imitation of the elder monks. Some can produce the sounds as young boys, prior to
joining the monasteries. Some, including some very highly regarded monks, cannot
chant in the low chordal voice.
The Tibetans DO sometimes mention a reincarnational propensity towards various
practices, such as memorizing texts or being good at chanting. Some have mentioned a
belief, that I may have been a monk in a prior life, hence my skill at producing the tones
and teaching."

The Medicine of the Future

Healing by sound has become a growing field, which already Edgar Cayce
predicted a half century ago as the "the medicine of the future". This do not
mean, that I overlook thousands of years practice of healing by music and
sounds. There are multitude of cases in any culture, where music was applied
to ease the distress or release the pain. I am referring to the many electronic
devices that have been developed to heal with much more precision and direct
effect.

Before we start the intangible topic of healing by sound, the placebo effect has
to be mentioned, since it actually is in the domain of alternative medicine with
its mobilization of mental energy.
It started in 1955, when H.K.Beecher was testing new medicaments and made a control
group with plain chock tablets and discovered surprisingly, that on average 35% of the
patients reacted positive to the "useless" tablets. He published an article, "Is the placebo
powerless?, and caused a lot of turmoil. He concluded, that the power of imagination
had an significant effect and the placebo effect became soon a factor in modern
medicine. 
Placebo is Latin meaning "want to please" and the interest for placebo has historical
roots. In a medical connection it appeared first time in 1772. The physician William
Cullen described in a lecture, how he as a last resort prescribed a placebo for a doomed
patient to please him, and as a scientist to see what might happen.

I modern medicine the pleasing function of placebo is considered un-ethical.

The testing function is carried out as a double blind test to eliminate possible,
suggestive influence by the doctor. However, the New Age holistic paradigm
has opened the interest of the medical establishment in the mental power of
spontaneous healing. It recognizes the psychic regeneration of the immune
systems and do not rule out unknown factors in microbiology.

Social, psychic-somatic ailments

When a doctor is able to make a diagnosis, the patient has a disease, and a
treatment can commence. However, in this post-industrial age a astonishing
 90

amount of disorders or ailments, which are not able to be diagnose by regular

medical findings. The symptoms are complex and un-specific: Chronic
fatigue, back pain, despondency or weak depression, whip-lash, fibromyalgi
or chronic pain syndrome, unaccountable paralysis.
We are talking about ailments, where the social circumstance is the major factor in
producing the psychic, somatic disorders. This is still surround by taboo, since the side
effect of modern, high effective work is considered as an acceptable price for the
common good. Especially women has been hit by this new "diagnosis".
(Infants families where both parents are full time working are under inhuman strain,
especially in Countries, where the wage of maids is high and homework is considered
low status.)
A century ago a common "diagnosis" for such disorder was hysteria, and the treatment
was hysterectomy. To day this kind of fashion diagnosis mainly apply to women with
work injury. They need a diagnosis for their insurance case or the early retirement
pension. In Scandinavia about 40 % of the workforce, mainly women, has been labeled
unfit for full time work.
In short, when we are talking about disorders, we have to face the social circumstance.

Now we can start the brief introduction to healing sound. A more in depth
account can be found in The Power of Harmonics. 

Cymatic therapy

Ono of the pioneers in using sound to heal was an English osteopath, Dr. Peter
Guy Manners, MD. He became aware of Dr. Jenny's cymatic experiments, a
Swiss scientist, who spent ten years observing and photographing the effects
of sound upon inorganic matter. He himself was inspired by work of Ernest
Chladni, an eighteenth-century scientist, who put sand on a glass plate and
vibrated them with a violin bow creating harmonic patterns. 

Dr. Manners, working under the premise, that disease is an "out of tune ness"
of some aspects of the body, created a cymatic therapy and utilizes the
Cymatic instrument, which contains thousands of different composite
harmonics designed to place the body back into alignment and health. 

An other example among many is an American MEd, Sherry Edwards, who

has developed a bio acoustics healing system called "Signature Sound
Works".
The human voice is in fact unique in its sound pattern, as good as a "finger
print".  Sherry Edwards used this feature to analyze voices of sick and healthy
people by advanced electronic devices in order to find a correlation between
voices in disease and physiological and psychological disorders. After having
found particular frequencies in distress or simply missing, she chose those
frequencies, generated them and loaded them on tape. Those frequencies are
by earphones sent into the hearing system of the brain in order to manipulate
brain waves and seemingly trick the brain to simulate dormant brain waves so
the delinquent frequencies can be canceled or modified in the body/mind
 91

integration process and reconditioning. Brain waves as octaves

Robert Monroe, known for his books and research about out-of-body-experiences, has
used specific low frequencies in a two-channel mode in order to produce "difference
tones" (which means 2 sound waves that are subtracted from each other, and the result
is a low frequency) in the brain, evoking synchronization of the brain’s two
hemispheres.

 Resonance

Most solids can be affected to oscillate. The wave it produces, its frequency
and shape, depends on the form of the body, the weight, and the material. A
string e.g. swings in certain standing modes depending of the length of the
string, its thickness and kind of material. The same applies to the sounding
board of musical instruments that resonates and amplifies the oscillation of the
string. With wind instruments the standing waves in the air pipe is the
resonator.

A solid has also its own natural oscillation, which frequencies can be in a
narrow or broader band depending on material and construction. The
soundboard of many musical instruments has a broad bandwidth, e.g. the
piano, in order to resonate and amplify the wide number of octaves.
The violin has a smaller bandwidth, which produces a stronger resonance,
though especially with bad violins the frequencies of its own natural
oscillation will be re-enforced by resonance and a strong howling tone will be
made. The vibration of the string has hit the sound boxes own vibration and a
resonance is made.

If a resonator has a its own resonance at f Hz it will begin to vibrate when it is affected
by waves with f Hz, but also affected by waves in an interval around f Hz. The width of
that interval is the bandwidth of the resonator. 
Another important factor for resonance is the resistance of the material - its damping of
the waves. Any vibration decays exponentially in time. The amplitude of the vibration is
the expression of the damping.
Bandwidth and damping is in direct ratio, so a resonator with a wide bandwidth will
also perform a strong damping, while a resonator with a small bandwidth will have little
damping and consequently a strong resonance.
There are mechanical, electrical and acoustic resonators, including the human voice
box. 

The heart and aorta formed a special resonant system when breathing is
ceased for a while. Then the heart beat seems to wait until the echo returns
from the bifurcation (where the aorta forks out in the lower abdomen). Then
the next heart beat sets in. In this synchronous way a resonant, standing wave
of blood is established with a frequency about seven times a second. This
harmonious mode requires for its sustenance a minimum amount of energy,
which is an intelligent response from the body. In deep meditation a similar
 92

mode is established. 
It is interesting to notice that this mode of 7 Hz is closed to the Schumann
resonance.

Schumann resonance

The reason I introduce the resonance phenomena is to extend its scale to our
Earth in order to introduce the Schumann resonance.

The space between the Earth

and the Ionosphere forms a
cavity, which can support
electromagnetic standing
waves with wavelengths that
are comparable to the
planetary dimensions. Within
the lower atmosphere to a
height of 60 – 70 km above
the Earth’s surface the finite
electrical conductivity of the
atmosphere is maintained
primarily by cosmic rays.

The combination of the nearly

perfectly conducting terrestrial surface boundary and the highly conducting,
but dissipate, ionospheric outer boundary separated by an insulating layer of
non conducting air, creates an approximately spherical concentric cavity, the
"Earth-ionosphere cavity" with electrically conducting walls.

These resonance's, called Schumann resonance's, have been observed at many

different locations and can, in principle, be detected from any place on the
planet with a radio receiver tuned for extremely low frequency (ELF) range of
frequencies 3 – 300 Hz.

The resonance's are very weak and are easily obscured by nearby lightning
and numerous other unrelated sources of man-made noise. However, away
from these unrelated disturbances, the Schumann resonance's constitute the
principal component of the natural background of the electromagnetic
spectrum over the frequency range 6 – 50 Hz.

Resonance properties of the Earth's ionosphere cavity were first predicted and
discussed theoretically by W.O.Schumann in 1952. Schumann and König
made the earliest experimental detection of the resonance in 1954.
 93

In the following decades, extensive studies and development of advanced

electronic devices have displayed slight variations of the Schumann resonance
due to the time span it is monitored and where and how the antenna is
constructed and placed.
Mark Barner has kindly send me updated information about Schumann
Wave: 
"There has been a lot of misleading information regarding the value of the "Schumann
Wave". There is no one specific value for it, due to the ever-changing nature of the
Earth's ionosphere. Conclusion: Any modal frequency of the "Schumann Wave"
phenomenon may vary by as much as 22.5% (or more) over an arbitrary span of time.
This is due to changes in the minimum and maximum height of the ionosphere, it's
composition and it's thickness. Note also that beyond the 4th modal harmonic, all
wavebands will increasingly overlap. Therefore, to declare the value of 7.83 Hz as the
"absolute, correct and only "Schumann Wave" frequency is to commit an error."
http://www.bwgen.com/presets/desc45.htm

The most common order of the Schumann resonance is in Hz: 7.8, 14, 20, 26,
33, 39, 45… n,
where 7.8 Hz is the fundamental frequency and the following frequencies are
the squeezed or overlaping harmonics of the standing wave.
These non-hertzial electromagnetic standing waves of terrestrial resonance's
are interesting, if we look into the human brain wave pattern, EEG, and the
human heartbeat displayed on ECG.
Scientists who want to incorporate spirituality and consciousness into their
science have found, that harmonic geometry and the frequency window of
heart coherence during meditation, is to be in a similar bandwidth (1-30 Hz),
which characterized not only transcendence in brain EEG and heart/aorta
resonance, but also the Earth's natural electro-magnetic resonance frequencies
(Schumann resonance).

Maybe Mother Nature has not chosen this as a mild coincidence. The Heart,
the Brain, and the Earth all have their key information broadcasting on the
same channel!

As far back as I can remember, I have had a special comfort in sitting under a tree,
especially out in the forest. It has nothing to do with the cool shadow, but intuitively I
have chosen that place in order to find myself and the tranquility, that is needed to be in
tune and unification with Nature and Earth. I felt myself much alone in those days of
childhood, and sitting for hours under a tree gave me comfort and peace of mind.

Now we have devices to test and measure the Earth's magnetic ELF
frequencies actually falling into resonant alignment with a powerful and
coherent human heart intention.
 94

 Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla, who died mysteriously in 1944, had already discovered the
electromagnetic standing waves (Schumann waves) in the "Earth-ionosphere
cavity" in the late 19th century. Tesla’s wireless power system is well
documented - both in patents and available literature. The idea, as I
understand it, was to treat the Earth as a spherical capacitor, and to charge the
ground with standing electric waves. Tesla tested this system at his Colorado
Springs lab in 1898-1899. He then designed a full blown functional and
complete system to be built at Wardenclyff on Long Island.
Marconi's theft of his radio, the refusal of JP Morgan to finance something he
couldn't charge everybody for, and the advent of the World War I, prevented
the completion of the project.

It is difficult to know to which extend the scientific establishment really

understands Tesla's "free energy" system. Some are of the opinion that the
"Magnifying Transmitter" would tap energy out of the electrical field of the
atmosphere, thereby "becoming" a "free energy" device. However, J.P.
Morgan's refusal to continue financing was based on the fact, that any fool
could receive the power without having to pay for anything more than an
antenna.
Tesla was the most famous, but not the only one, who struggled against
hostile condition, when the development of real unconventional energy
sources began to be possible.
More about vortex energy - multi dimensional, "free" energy machines and
the pioneer work.

All sorts of bizarre claims have coalesced around Tesla, probably as a result of
his unique combination of brilliance and eccentricity. He was the closest thing
to a stereotypical mad scientist this century has known. The stories about his
discovery of amazing suppressed inventions only obscure his genuine legacy.
He invented: AC power, induction motors, generators, transformers and transmission;
HFAC power, radio and wireless communication & transmission; automobile ignition
systems, capacitors, neon & fluorescent lighting, arc lighting, blade less turbines, air-
core resonant transformers ("Tesla coils"), oscillating shuttle circuits...

The brain

 The different rhythms of the body may also be changed by sound. This is
known as entrainment and involves the ability of the more powerful rhythmic
vibrations of one object to change the less powerful rhythmic vibration of
another object and cause them to synchronize their rhythms with the first
object. Through sound, especially chanting or overtone singing, it is possible
to change the rhythmic pattern of our brain waves, as well  as our heart beat
and respiration.
 95

Different brain wave rates have been equated to different state of

consciousness. There are four basic categories of brain waves:

1.      Beta waves, from 14 to 20 Hz, which are found in our normal waking state of
mind.

2.      Alpha waves, from 8 to 13 Hz, which occur  when we daydream or meditate.

3.      Theta waves, from 4 to 7 Hz, which are found in states of deep meditation and
sleep, as well in shamanic activity.

4.      Delta waves, from 0,5 to 3 Hz, which occur in deep sleep and have been found in
very propound states of meditation and healing.

 How the brain really works is not figured out by science since there are many
basic unsolved questions. Brain Research index

An independent researcher, Steven Lehar, former Professor of Cognitive

Psychology, presents on his webpage a harmonic resonance theory, that could
explane the spatial brain problem: "the harmonic resonance theory of spatial
representation finally offers a plausible solution to the profound spatial
problem in the brain, that circumvents the combinatorial problems inherent in
a neural network or spatial template solution to this problem, a spatial
standing wave pattern".
In a mail he wrote:
"I have a theory that the patterns of our experience are expressed in the brain in the form
of standing waves. In other words, the operational principle of the brain is more like a
musical instrument than a computer, and the "input" to that instrument is the same as the
input to a musical instrument, i.e. it is like the damping of fingers on strings or over
holes that control the pattern of resonance in the instrument, and the "output" is both a
musical tone, and a spatial standing wave pattern in the body of the instrument."

Oscillating fields

Every organ, bone and tissue in the human body has its own separate resonant
frequency. Together they made up a composite frequency, a harmonic, that is
your own personal vibratory signature. This signature encircle the body with a
field, which some gifted people can see as an aura and it can be recorded by
means of Kirlian  photography.

There are different names for those fields around the body, that could serve as
a connection or an intermediary to higher worlds, such as Auras, Astral
bodies, "the higher bodies of Man" or chakras above the 7 th. 

But we can turn to a more scientific terminology by looking into the

oscillating fields, that surround our body. 
The electromagnetic and electrostatic fields making op and shaping our body
 96

are relative strong and serve to hold our atoms and molecules together. They
weaken as they move outside our body. There is a relative strong field about 4
inches outside the body. Then it weaken strongly and fade slowly out to 20
inches. The strengths of the field depends much on the vitality of the person.
If the vitality is low by sickness or depression, there will be practically no
field at all.
Actually, it is a electro dynamic field caused by the motion of the body. The
heart/aorta system is the main supplier of the pulsing motion of the body. It is
between 6.8 and 7.5 Hz. This motion is spread to the whole body. Even the
brain oscillate a little. 

The band width of the brain

Looking at the hearing faculties of a human being, we know, that the input to
the hearing center in the brain is around 1 million bits per second. One bit is
the smallest piece of information there is, namely 1 or 0, yes or no, first
formulated by the Hungarian scientist, Leo Szilard. 
The input from the 5 senses is about 11 million bits per second. No wonder
the head is so warm! What an enormous work to process and get rid of all the
unnecessary information from that huge input. So the big question that has
puzzled scientists for many decades is, how can the brain handle all this
information so only relevant messages reach the conscious part? In this
context consciousness means the ordinary state of mind where the necessary
information for maintaining orientation in life is taking place.

Sophisticated laboratory tests performed by many different scientists has

shown, that normal consciousness can process only around 16-20 bits per
second. Depending on what kind of intellectual work they are testing, the
number of bits differs a little but the upper limit is 50 bits/sec.
Especially the American scientist Benjamin Lebet (German origin) has done
pioneer work in that field. Even during open surgery in the brain he has
performed many tests while the patients are awake and communicating.

Professor Helmar Frank’s approach differs from the general empirical method
by looking at the central maximum stream of consciousness as a subjective
time quantum (Subjective Zeit Quant, SZQ), the smallest moment of
perception. That quantum fits well with humans' capacity of hearing and
seeing. Sound impulses up to 16 beats per sec. are heard separately, but over
16 beats it's merged into a continuous sound. The same applies to the speed of
pictures. Over 16-18 frames per sec. will compose a smooth movement.
It is an astonishingly small capacity - about 16 bits per sec. the conscious
mind can process. On the other hand, it has access to a large memory bank.

As it has been pointed out about great story tellers such as H.C.Andersen and tales
collected by the Grimm Brothers, that their writing, though containing little information
 97

in bits, is able to access the long path to the memory bank so a huge amount of
information can be released. Their words are pregnant so they can release and create
many associations.

Please note that the above mentioned tests are limited to one channel at a time.
The tests do not reflect the many other channels of information, we receive
simultaneously. Though they may not be noted, they still "color" the few bits
of information.

The sub-limit perception - meaning all the input from our senses the
consciousness is not aware of, are enormous; about 11 millions bits/sec. As it
is stated in the theory of information-entropy: the more information the more
entropy. So the big work of the brain is to throw away information - to forget,
which is done by heat. About a million times less information is allowed to
enter the consciousness.

What is interesting is also the delay in real time (0.5 sec) and the simulation of
data the brain performs. The most surprising for me is the simulation of
referring the events back in time to the moment, where the actual registration
of the event occurs. EEG can record that as "the readiness potential" 0.02
seconds after the action or simulation.

I do not of course refer to the instinctive or moving parts, that react almost
instantly, but to the intellectual part that interprets those few bits, that are
made available, when the millions of bits are thrown away as heat.

When one thinks about it, it makes sense. It takes time to process the 11
million bits/sec and only make the intellectual part aware of what is relevant
for orientation in life. When a tiger is after you, the information about a
beautiful flower you are passing, cannot in that situation be considered worth
paying attention to!
We have to bear in mind that the above-mentioned small numbers of bits apply only to
the intellectual capacities of the brain. The sub-limit perception from all our senses and
the processing from the other centers of intelligence - instinctive, moving and emotional
– add enormously to the small amount of intellectual data.
A more extensive account of man as a cybernetic system:  Information theory.

Dimensions and time

In an ordinarily state of mind humans perceive the world as 3 dimensional, the

3 space dimensions. The 4th dimension manifest it selves as an entirely new
direction giving space to a new realm. In mathematics the imaginary numbers
containing the negative square root can be regarded as such.
The 4th dimension is called time, and can usually not be seen or directly
detected. (see the 4th dimension and Möbius tape).
The mathematician Minkovski officially pronounced it as a physical fact in
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1904 and the physical constants have to be 4 th dimensional, e.g. Planck's

constant in quantum physics. Later Albert Einstein made good use of the 4 th
dimension in his Theory of Relativity. 

Due to our particular size we can observe movements of a certain magnitude

or speed, e.g. the hand of a clock showing seconds can be seen, but not hours,
or watching the clouds move but not be able to see the grass grow. The
perception of time must change due to size or cosmos. A May fly will
perceive a thunderstorm entirely different than a human, which life span for
the sun will be detected as a spark!
Time seems to be very unlike in different cosmos' unless we look at the
amount of breath a being makes in a lifetime. It mounts up to be about the
same for every being, while the duration of breath differ enormously. In
Genesis it is said, that God created the world in 7 days. To comprehend this
timetable the human time perception is not useable.

"Time is breath", as Gurdjieff pronounced for his students in Moscow during

WW1.

 Humans as multidimensional bodies

The reason I have presented some logical deductions of the nature of the 4 th
dimension is to establish an idea of higher Dimensions inserted into lower
Dimensions. In doing so I want to expand the notion of worlds within worlds,
and further on to consider a human as a multidimensional body beyond the
third and fourth Dimensions. Several traditions refer to such realm as the
astral and mental body.

In the Western culture we traditionally discard, what we are unable to measure

physically and what we are not able to repeat in controlled environments.
Although that method surely establish a solid foundation in science and have
had an immense success, it eliminates other more intangible phenomena such
as consciousness and the whole being of man. 
History shows that scientists first had an intuitive grasp of what is going to
unfold, when a major breakthrough in science was made.

Dean Radin, PhD. has in his book, "The Conscious Universe"- the scientific truth of
psychic phenomena, made a strictly scientific account on mind over matter cases. As a
Bell Labs researcher he began to study ESP and Para psychological phenomena as it
was a cutting edge science, and on bases of empirical science, he found so many
evidences of focused mind interference with physical matter, that he consider Phi
research as a whole new field for modern science.

Technology has provided humans with extra capacities by means of devices

and at the same time diminish human's own by birth abilities. The mechanical
clock, e.g. withers away ones own faculty to estimate time, or electronic tools
 99

substitute human's own hidden abilities to communicate, e.g.

telepathy.Aboriginal populations and native tribes over the world have in
many cases demonstrated "miracles" such as shape shifting, moving the
"body" to another location in an instant, clairvoyance and remote seeing, time
traveling, etc.
I have myself looked into that subject. The Australian Aborigine’s ancient culture had a
long tradition of what we will call magic. A highly valuable book on that matter is
"Aboriginal Men of High Degree" by the Australian professor in anthropology,
A.P.Elkin.

 Higher vibrations - a misleading new age concept.

Sun sign or Zodiacs

In the East the Tone Zodiacs is much older than in the West. The oldest
Western Tone Zodiacs is that of Ptolemy’s ”Harmonics ”(2. Century AD), in
which the circle corresponds to the Greek two-octave system. He did several
books about the synthesis between music, the psyche and the cosmos. The
Tone – Zodiacs signs was one of his many analogies, properly rooted in the
Babylonians tradition of astronomy and numerology. (The Babylonians
divided the circle into 360 degrees and placed the Zodiac on the
circumference.)  

The different Tone Zodiacs was actually correlated with the whole tone scale
in circular temperament. The problem is, that the many non circular
temperaments had to be modified to fit the circle. The ancient Chinese e.g.
eliminated the ”Pythagorean Comma”, the 12 th Fifths produce, in order to fit
the notes to the circumference.  

Since music theory in most cultures are one octave base, Tone-Zodiacs
generally correlate the twelve signs with the twelve notes of the tempered
chromatic scale, where the half notes are the same frequency either they are
sharp or flat e.g. F# = Gb.  
 An interesting correlation between
musical intervals and the astrological
aspects was already pointed out by Kepler,
who was an astrologer as well as an
astronomer.  Omitting the geometrical
matter, his observation is basically that
one can regard the zodiacal circle as a
length to be divided as one would stop a
monochord string. Comparison of the
whole length to the greater portion
remaining will then give the interval
corresponding to the aspect. Here is three
primary divisions:
Opposition (planets 180 degrees  apart).
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Ratio of whole circle to half: 360: 180 = 2:1. Interval: Octave.  

Trine (planets 120 degrees apart), ratio to whole to greater part, 360:240 degrees = 3:2.
Interval: Perfect Fifth.
Square (planets 90 degrees apart), ratio of whole to greater part, 360: 270 degrees = 4:3.
Interval: Perfect Fourth.

The three most powerful aspect are expressed by the same ratio as the three perfect
consonance’s in music. One can amplify this to make a complete table of aspects in
modern astrological use and find the musical intervals corresponding to them.  

Pythagoras' Comma, a symbol of renewal

Comma means in Greek, incision. It alludes to the little rest that arises from
the 7 octaves and the 12 fifths in the acoustic, mathematical calculation of the
12 chromatic notes in an octave. In the 7 octaves span the 12 fifth's does not
fit completely, they are about 23.5 cents bigger. (Cents is a logarithmic unit
common used in acoustic) The ratios in vibrations are stated in dictionaries as
524288 : 531441 or approximately 80 : 81.

We can quickly see how these numbers are made: 7 octaves are (2:1)7 = 128. 12 fifth's
are (3:2)12 = 129.74634… ; 128 < 312 /212 ; 212 = 4096; by multiplying with 4096 on
both sides of the < we have: 128 x 4096 = 524288 < 312 = 531441.

The ancient Greeks believed in simple small numbers. Their holy tetractys
expressed among other relationships the 3 sacred ratios 1:2, 2:3, 3:4 in a triad
symbolizing the realm of Nature, the world of Humans and the realm of the
Divine. The square symbolized the reunion of humans and the divine.
These 3 ratios were considered holy intervals. Music is derived from a Greek
word, which means "Any art over which the Muses presided." A muse was
any one of the 9 sister goddesses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne.
The discrepancy between divine music and earthly ears, called a Pythagorean
comma, was deeply understood by the ancient Greeks. 

Pythagoras is said to be the first who formulated this schism between pure
mathematical divine intervals and the practical, human need to have a scale
available in musical practice. 
(See also the page The Calendar and the Pythagorean comma.

Music was a cornerstone in ancient religions and was considered as an

important tool to educate and tune the human mind and heart for the divine,
thereby shaping the civilization.

The Pythagoras Comma was an indication that there IS more than humans are
able to conceive. For the comma was not a slight interval less than 7 octaves,
but in excess of them. In the ancient world this fact was widely conceived of
as a symbol of renewal. The cycle of twelve perfect fifths did not close and
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finish a cycle of seven octaves, but exceeded it, and thus, as it were, spiraled
upward in the cycle of fifths.
Pythagoras' comma, then, can be seen as being God's own anagram written
into the very laws of the universe and physics. It is by the name of this
anagram that man is heir to the promise of eventual resurrection and ascension
out of the dim caverns of mortality.

The audible music was imperfect and low in vibrations compared to the
divine, the music of the Spheres - though a faint echo of the divine music was
able to reach the earthly world.
The Comma could indicate a beginning of a new and higher realm, a gate to
the spiritual world, or a seed of the divine in humans. 
In Christian tradition it could refer to the dormant seed of Christ planted in
every human.

The Platonic Year or the Pythagorean Great Year

The cycle of fifths can continue much further than the twelfth fifth (note 13),
where we are back to the fundamental but it is 23.5 cent higher (5.88 savarts)
than the fundamental, a Pythagorean Comma higher. The following 12 fifths
will place themselves one comma above the former ones, so the 24th fifth
(note 25) will be one comma above note 13, or 2 commas, 11.74 savarts,
above the fundamental, C++. 
In this way successive series of twelve fifths will be placed one above the
other at one comma intervals, up to the 52en fifth (note 53).
At this stage, after the 52nd fifth, the octave is filled up (52 x 5.88 savarts) and the 53rd
fifth, (note 54) comes out of the octave and inserts itself  between the fundamental and
the 12th fifths, thus forming, above the fundamental a small interval of 0,84 savarts.
Thus begins a new cycle, which in its turn, with a period of 53 fifths, will divide the
octave into small intervals of 0,84 savarts
The next cycle will appear during the seventh series of 53 fifths, when the 359 fifths
(note 360) comes out of the octave and forms with the fundamental, a new even smaller
interval of 0.47 savarts.(since the comma of 0.88 savarts is 7 times smaller, 7 series of
53 fifths is needed to fill the octave).
Then there is a cycle of 666 notes with a basis interval of 0.035 savarts.

When we come to the cycle of 25,524 notes

with a basic interval of 0.002174 savarts, it
begins to be interesting, since this cycle is
near the precession of equinoxes or the
Pythagorean Great Year, which is 25,920
solar years. (The numbers of fifths are based
on Alain Daniélou's calculations in "Music
and the Power of Sounds").
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I have been tempted to make a comparison with the cycle of fifths and the Platonic Year
in spite of the differences in unite. It is in conflict with basic scientific principle to mix
different set of units such as years and notes. This bold assumption have caused some
legitimate reaction from readers. Dennis Rossi writes, that precession of the equinoxes
was discovered in China at a later date. It is attributed to Yu Xi in 320 CE. He found a
value of about 72 arc seconds per year or two times the value found by Hipparchus, the
Greek astronomer. However, "astronomers as early as the Han era noted that winter
solstice shifted with respect to lunar lodges".
I did tried to calculate the cycle of fifths with a lunar year instead of solar year but the
numbers did not fit anyway. So far I am not able to produce a valid explanation of how
the ancient Chinese did tuned their fundamental tone, Kung, to the Platonic Year.

Cousto has in his book, The Cosmic Octave, an interesting observation on this
matter. He relates the Kung to the frequency of the Platonic Year. The
duration of the Platonic Year, (The Pythagorean Great Year) is about 25,920
years and it represents the amount of time the axis of the Earth takes to
complete a full rotation. The vernal equinox is the point at which the equator
(of Earth) intersects the ecliptic (or zodiac), which is the position of the sun at
the beginning of spring - March 21st.

The vernal equinox takes an average of 2,160 years to travel through one sign
of zodiac. This period of time is known as an age. It is not possible to state
exactly when one age is ending and a new beginning, because the signs
overlap to a certain degree.
The journey of the vernal equinox through each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac
equals one great year of approx,  25,920 years. (Presently we are on the cusp
of Aquarius as the age of Pisces is ending.) 
The precession of equinoxes cause in the span of millenniums do not only change the
fixed stars inter related position, but there have to be a shift of sign in regard to the
equinoxes as well as Solstices.
Since the (vernal) equinox takes an average of 2,160 years to travel through one sign of
zodiac, means that for 2,160 years ago, when the ancient Chinese looked at the zodiac,
the "beginning" sign in the vernal equinox was one sign away from that it is now. Or
two signs away for nearly 4,500 years ago, when the Egyptian ISIS was known.

As I mentioned previously it is most likely a coincidence, that the Platonic

Year is close to the high number of generating fifths, when we come into a
cycle of 25,524 notes. 
It is however a wonder for me, how the ancient Chinese could tuned their
sacred fundamental tone, Kung, so it could be in accordance with the Platonic
Year and choose the great rhythm of the Earth. So far, I choose to think, that
the Chinese manifested a great awareness and intuition in cosmic influences.

Cousto calculates the note of the Platonic year to be F in the Western Equal
Temperament pitch, which is found in the 48th octave with a frequency of
344.12 Hz. or in the 47th. octave to be 172.06 Hz. 
Calculation: 31 556 925.97(the tropical year in seconds) *  25,920 (Platonic year). Since
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the length (of a vibrating string, or the period of time) is in reverse proportionality to the
frequency, the length of the Platonic year in seconds shall be the denominator. The
frequency is very low, so we will raise the frequency to the range of hearing by
multiplying with the necessary amount of octaves, e.g. 48 octaves, so we arrive to
344,12 Hz. (47 octaves will be the half, 172,06 Hz.)
If we want to reach the spectrum of light, we multiply with 89 octaves which leads us to
a frequency of 1/31 556 925.97 * 1/25 920 * 2 89 = 7,56 * 10 14  Hz. corresponding to a
wavelength of 0.396 micrometer, which we perceive as violet near the ultra violet. This
is the color of the Platonic Year. The complementary color to violet is yellow. The
Chinese called their fundamental tone "the yellow bell".

The schism of heavenly alignment

Through the ages, civilizations have often wrestled with the dilemma of
whether to put up with unpractical musical pitches to keep the pure idealism
in their system of pitch-calculation, or to depart a little from alignment with
the heavenly ideal by taking the practical path of slightly adjusting their notes
in order to harmonize them. 
Though there were individual figures who dissented, the ancient western
cultures generally opted, in their idealism, for heavenly alignment at the
expense of having slightly imperfect relationships between their notes. 
However, by the seventeenth century AD the Western world would have
begun its entry into the present era of science and logic. This era was marked
not only by an attitude of heavy materialism, but also by a most useful
pragmatism. The heavenly alignment in the sacred tuning was abandoned for
the sake of expanding music’s harmonic possibilities.

Surely in the following centuries a new era of sublime harmonic music was
composed in the deep intent to praise God in the music. However the focus
was laid in the heart of each individual instead of the tuning of instruments
and temperament of the scale.

The ancient Chinese culture was a model for a strict, collective system of
tuning of instruments. The reference tone, Kung, relates to the frequency of
the Platonic Year. The note of the Platonic year is F in the Western Equal
Temperament pitch, which is found in the 48th octave with a frequency of
344.12 Hz.
The Indian ancient music had a less rigid system, where improvisations was
allowed within the bordes of certain inviolable modes. The fundamental OM
sound, according to Cousto, corresponds approximately to the C sharp in the
small octave of the present day tuning system (136 Hz) and corresponds to the
32nd octave tone of the Earth year.
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 The power of Music and the power of the Mind

Numerous Chinese legends attest to the power of music and sound. Here is a
quote about the music master Wen of Cheng and how he learned to control the
elements:

"Master Wen was following the great master Hsiang on his travels. For three years
master Wen touched the strings of his zither, but no melody came. Then master Hsiang
said to him: "By all means, go home".
Putting down his instrument, master Wen sighed and said: "It is not that I cannot bring a
melody about. What I have in my mind does not concern strings; what I aim at is not
tones. Not until I have reached it in my heart can I express it on the instrument;
therefore I do not dare move my hand and touch the strings. But give me a short while
and then examine me."
Some time later he returned and again approached master Hsiang, who inquired: "How
about your playing?"
It was spring, but when master Wen plucked the Shang string and accompanied it with
the eighth semitone, a cool wind sprang up, and the shrubs and trees bore fruits. Now it
was autumn!
Again master Wen plucked a string, the Chiao string, and accompanied it with the
second semitone: a languid, warm breeze appeared, and the shrubs and trees bloomed
fully. It was now summer, but he plucked the Yü string and had the eleventh semitone
respond, upon which hoar frost and snow came down, the rivers and lakes freezing up.
When the winter had come, he plucked the Chib string and accompanied it with the fifth
semitone: the sun blazed forth and the ice immediately melted away.
Finally, master Wen of Cheng sounded the Kung string and did so in unison with the
other four strings: beautiful winds murmured, clouds of good fortune came up, there fell
sweet dew, and the springs of water welled up powerfully."

In this story the four outer strings of the zither, and the four seasons, are
symbolic of the ancient conception of the four aspects of man: his abstract
mind, his concrete mind, his emotions and his physical body. (The European
alchemists called them Fire, Air, Water and Earth)
Master Wen could not play until he was able to master his own four aspects of
Being. The vital outcome of the mastery of mind and body was the ability to
play these four outer strings in unison and hereby also learn to play the central
Kung string – corresponding to his Higher Self. From the four-sided base of
the pyramid of life, he had raised himself up to the very apex of perfection.

The moral of the story is twofold: first, we must master our four-fold nature,
before we can attain self-realization. Secondly, only by doing so we can begin
to perform music, which is sublime and divine.

The decline of the Chinese culture

 The ancient Chinese believed, that music could influence the harmony of the
society, and they were very keen on right tuning with the celestial influence,
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so order and harmony could prevail. The Chinese imperial culture manage to
flourish for 4 thousand years, before a decline began in the 19th. Century. The
taste for a modern style in drama and music was beginning to replace the
ancient traditions. The great classical modes were supplanted by styles which
were more popular, noisier, cheaper and imitative. The Western influence may
have played a part, since its music was begun to be appreciated and played on
the expense of their own traditional music.

The fact remains, that the decline in music was paralleled by a general decline
in the culture itself. The emperors of the last dynasty attempted to direct music
back to its former state, but without success. In 1912 it was replaced by a
republic. Yet from its beginning the republic was rocked by instability,
Japanese invation and civil wars, untill the Communist China in 1949 was
founded. 
In this Century, we are begining to see the outline of a new, powerful Chinese
culture.

Does music shape the society?

The general assumption is, that music is a product of the society and a
reflection of its culture. This may be so in many cases, but history has also
examples were new music has been the initial force to alter the society and
even change the cause of history. 

A good example is the American revolution and Independence War against

the British colonial regime. Several years before the actual uprising, resistance
songs began to appear in print and swept the colonies with extremely
popularity. The inspirational, freedom songs was the gathering force for
organizing resistance gropes and the mean for shaping their vision for the
future of their land.
The "Freedom Song" by John Dickinson in 1768 was one of the first and set
the pattern for all those songs, which fueled the minds and spirit years before
the actual physical movement began.
During the Independence War the "Yankee Doodle" was a favorites of
favorites, sung in defeat as well as in the final victory.
Many of the political leaders of the emerging New World, such as Francis
Hopkinson, Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin, were among the
songwriters, in addition to being Freemasons.

The uniting or dividing force of music

The history of USA shows how powerful music can be. The Americans has in
my opinion a special talent for entertainment and music, which has manifested
itself as a world captioning force in the 20th. Century. 
Music has the power of uniting people as well as dividing them. It can be the
 106

medium of creating uplifting (sublime) emotions, unite disagreeable parts or

at least for pacifying the common man.
Music can support people in their idea of an identity, which clearly is
manifested in the generation gap or sub grouping. As a music teacher cried
out: "Beatles is as remote for the young kids as Beethoven!"

What is new is the shot amount of years between generations. 5 years can easy
separate youngster by fashion of music.
The new popular music has created strong space in the mind of the modern
youth creating an idea of identity and affiliation with sub groups.
Before music had the power to unite people. Now it seems to divide.
There is a long tradition for fueling the national or political affiliations by
music, such as the national anthem and party songs. Sometime music even can
built the bridge between hostile groups, though the have not meet. 
An example of such is the West-East Divan symphony orchestra founded by the
famous  Jewish pianist Daniel Barnboim and exiled Palestine scholar Edward Said. The
sole reason of this orchestra was to manifest, that Jews, Muslims, Christens are able to
play music together in spite of deep differences. As Daniel Barnboim said, when he
became honored citizen of  Palestrina: "Playing together does not create peace. Playing
together brings mutual understanding and respect, which is the fundament for peace."
There are other orchestras world wide with similar intentions.

Music as a threat to the government

The concern a regime or an establishment has against new music, demonstrate

what power music is considered by the rulers to have on the mind of the
people. 
A modern example is the repression of Western music, the Communist Russia
and similar dictatorships executed with zealous strength by censorship and
persecution. 
The established hierarchy and control can be questioned or threatened by the
new music introduction to novel modes of consciousness into the society.
Classical music from the earlier imperial zar-regime was aloud, since it
encodes and articulates the structure of a centralized political-economic
system similar to the communist dictatorship. Music composers during the
communist regime was forced to obey the party guide lines and praise the
establishment. 

The Western music, however, reflects in its structure a less rigid form of
hierarchy (democracy), which allows much more creativity and innovation.
The rock n' roll music has in many ways become a powerful medium for the
propagation of the lifestyle of the Western world. Totalitarian states
worldwide try to prevent its youth to hear it well aware of its liberating force.
An example could be the use of rap music created by the young generation in
Iran as a protest against the strict religious government. On the other hand, in
 107

the Muslim ghettoes of France, the rap is about their alienation and hate at the
police.

Music as a weapon

In many historic battles the music had the function of encouraging the fighting
spirit. The Scottish bagpipe was famous in many WWII battles. During the
Vietnam war the eclectic guitar and the protest songs was a powerful weapon
for the drafted youth against that war. The electrification of the music made it
possible to reach a big audience in live concerts, when the record companies
tried to band the protest songs.
Also, in the general battle against the establishment, the new culture of youth
personify in rock bands had great success in capturing the mind and shaping
the new identity. The "Hippie" movement or the "Beat" generation was
supported by the explosion of new music, which subverted the old structure in
the society by praising "freedom" and "individuality", a.s.o.

The entertainment industry is bigger and more powerful than ever. For better
and for worse. I like to say, that entertainment is stronger than military force.
There is much truth in the joke about, what made the communist Russia to
collapse? It was the soap TV series called "Dallas"!
Of cause the so called sex liberation had a powerful "weapon" with the new music. It
was more sexy to be a musician than an engineer! Popular music became the fast lane to
fame, sex and money for underprivileged, ambitious people.
In the course of time the corruption became obvious. Few had the backbone to
withstand the cult status and displayed an abusive behavior and a depraved example for
the fans. 
When old rituals are removed, the empty space has to be replaced by something else.
The vacant space has in my opinion been taken over by "the lord of the
flies"(W.Golding's book). The tyranny of formlessness! When parents e.g. have
resigned their authority, the children make their own regulations even more tyrannical.

The importance of rituals

Rituals give a concrete shape, color and zest to many abstract spiritual ideals.
A wisely planned and solemnly conducted ritual prepares the ground, creates
the atmosphere, suggests the mood and predisposes the mind so that we may
easily detach ourselves from the three dimensional (+ time) worlds and feel
the mysterious presence of the higher intelligence and the Supreme universal
power.

The greatest men in life, the most wonderfully developed in spirituality, have
all come through the discipline of the rituals.
Magic and rituals have long been connected. There is magic in any ceremony
that we do, whether it of a routine nature, such as making a wish on our
birthday, or whether it is a sophisticated ritual involving all kinds of
 108

movements, lights and music.

In both cases we are using the power of the ritual in order to obtain something
in our life, or to enter higher dimensions.

An actual definition of magic is difficult. Scott Cunningham states: "Magic is

the projection of natural energies to produce needed effects." In other words,
every time that we consciously connect to the universal energy in order to
direct it to a specific result that we wish to manifest in our life, we are
utilizing the so called magic.

Rituals are the tools by which we are utilizing and harnessing the power of the
universe. The purpose is to demonstrate the connection between nature and its
laws. Rituals are a reminder to us that we are an intricate part of this vast
universe. Ritual is the form and structure that enables our spirit to enter higher
dimensions. It is the safe space that allows us to open to the deepest part of
ourselves.
Ritual is transformational. You commence a ritual in one state of being and
end in another. The result is always a shift of consciousness. Ritual
contributes to your wholeness by allowing enough safety and freedom for all
the parts of yourself to be expressed.

Considering how much indifferent, space filling "music" has occupied the
modern environment, I would say, that "music" has become a destructive
force itself, preventing one to think and feel for oneselves and make one
numb.
Silence has become a care commodity.

As Aldous Huxley stated: "The twentieth century is, among other things, the
Age of Noise. Physical noise, mental noise and noise of desire - we hold
history's record for all of them. And no wonder; for all the resources of our
almost miraculous technology have been thrown into the current assault
against silence."

Economy, society and music

The history shows how music (and art) served those institutions, that had the
power and money in the society. This statement might sound a bit overstating
for those thinking, that art has its own agenda, but in the long run the
economy rules the art.
For a long time the church sponsored the art. When the king got the upper
hand, the art began to reflect a more mundane expression. With the rise of the
middle class (and introduction of democracy), the art began to fulfill their
need for entertainment, since they had the money to pay for it.
After World War II an entirely new segment of the society began to have
money available for entertainment especially for music, the teenagers. Rock n'
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Roll and later Beat music shaped a new anti-authoritarian culture of youth,
which changed the structure of the society, when that generation entered the
institutions.
Read more at my page about music and society in this age of the fatherless society,
where dreams and feelings are the engine in the society, not the physical needs. The
virtual world is here to stay!

The question of good and evil

My sole concern in these pages has been the positive aspect of music and
sound. How it has the capacity to elevate, enrich and feed the body and soul
for its dormant potential. Music has the ability to soak and clean ones innate
strength. However, it can not create gold, if there is no gold in the first place,
as the old alchemist belived. There have to be a seed, which music can enrich.
Failing this the music is futile.
As a keen music lover it has troubled me to read about the use of music in Nazi
concentration camps. Fine classical music was played for the waiting prisoner doomed
for destruction. The commandant of Auswitzs was a music lover and played his violin
to the thick smoke from the crematory. Adolf Hitler was inspired by Richard Wagner's
"Parsifal". I am too. Does this make me or Wagner to a monster?

The great Father of the Church, Aurelius Augustinus, 354-430 AC, used an
example to illustrate the evil. He will not steal the pear in the garden of the
neighbor for the pleasure of eating the pear, but because it was forbidden. He
wished the evil, because it was evil.
"I stole, because I had a dislike for doing the right, and it urges me to sin," he
confessed.

Humans has their freedom as a birthright given by their creator. Hence, they
make their own choice between good and evil. "The drama of liberty" as the
post war German philosopher, Rüdiger Safranski, label it in his book, "The
Evil". 

Since the legendary Cain killed his brother, mankind has tried to deal with its
enigmatic freedom. Through millennium religion's, philosophical systems and
ethics has attempted to moderate the boundless liberty of man with more or
less success.
In regard to the twentieth Century chaotic bloodshed, Safranski articulate a
question about our modern, technological civilization:
Does it in reality eliminate the freedom to act for the modern man?

The deeds of the individual human is still possible as before, but they are now
woven into so many complex systems, that the desired effect is far from the
final result. Has the dynamic of our complex technological civilization now
reached a point, where it has its own inherent logic, and man is going to be
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"burnt" by its own civilization? Safranski asked, if this degree of civilization

has become disastrous and therefore evil?

Man has liberated himself from Nature by means of institutions and

civilizations. Now the question is: has civilization disengaged its self from
man? Is humanity still in control and is able to make choices between good
and evil? It can make weapons of mass destruction, but does it have a simillar
level of consciousness and devolopment of the heart? Has our modern
technology liberated its self from man and is now rolling as an avalanche
down in the pit?

Man can not do

Augustinus stated, that the nature of mankind stands between God and the rest
of the Nature, which solely was created by the will of God.
Man has his own will, which stem from his given liberty. A will which in
arrogance can lead Man to believe, that he is his own foundation.
God is able to create out of noting, "creatio ex nihilo". The human will can not
do. It can not even do what it desire. When it thinks it has done something
"good" with the right hand, the left hand did not know, what harm it has done.

Man is imperfect in contrast to Nature, whish in its own way is what it is. Man
has to figure out, what he is going to be. In this continued process, he has the
tendency to fall down to be less, than he can be due to the original sin as the
scripture states. 
As Augustinus confessed, it was arrogant and dangerous to refuse Gods offer
to be a part of His will. To deny the spirit of Man to be one with the spirit of
God, means that the spirit of Man is too fond of its self. He commits a
treachery against himself, since he denys the chance to reach beyound his own
limited foundation.

This was a major break from the way of thinking of the Antiquity. Contrary to
Augustine the philosophy of the Antiquity was convinced, that Man could be
a goal for its self, and true knowledge was able to change Man to a better
being.
"Know yourself" so you know, what you can, and only want, what you are
able to do. It was imperative to know ones limits, so one only aspire to what
was possible. When the will and the ability to do has the same extent, the
limitations creates harmony.
In the time of Socrates the harmony between being and doing still might have
had sense.

The modern man does not have such understanding. There is no longer a
synchronization between being and doing. His knowledge is far more, than his
real being actually can understand. His wishes goes beyond, what he is able to
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manage, e.g. bloody revolutions fueled by idealistic theories, and he is able to

do more than he wants, e.g. ecological disasters and social collapse.
The modern Man is deeply disturbed. First he rejects the transcendence by not
aiming for powers above himself, and now he does not even know himself and
his limitations.

Communication according to Gregory Bateson

"A priori one can claim, that all perceptions and responses, all categories of
behavior, all learning and genetics, all neurology, physiology and
endocrinology, all organization and all evolution, can be considered as
communication. This broad field can all be subject to the laws of
communication." 
In fact, it is impossible not to communicate. We are born into the world of
communication, we are a part of it willing or unconsciously, and even after
our death it continues as legacy.

As mentioned in Information theory, Bateson made use of the mind concept in

description of complex cybernetic systems, including the unconscious mind. 
Bateson was an anthropologist and his use of mind in complex living systems
has nothing to do with the common idea of a "religious" mind in Nature. He
did not accept the notion transcendence, as the keen scientist he was, but
considered control and self-regulating as a mental aspect, which did not
belong to a part of the system, but was inherent in the whole system. 

The individual mind, which is immanent in the circuit within and outside the
body, is only a subsystem of the supreme mind. This larger mind is not some
transcendental deity. It is still immanent in the total interconnected social
system or planetary ecology.
It is an entirely self adjusting unity, which "think, act and determine" and the
boundaries do not coincide with the organisms or parts involved, but is
weaved in or incorporated into the whole system. 

For Bateson the mind concept was a description, a model, a map, which
should not be confused with the landscape. In science as in daily life the
mistake of categories is common.
He liked to rephrase Pascal's expression, "the heart has its own reason which
is unknown to the intelligence", to "the heart has its own precise algorithm".
Algorithm is a mathematical recipe for a process or calculation, also used in
computer programming. Bateson used this statement to explain the underlying
premises for our perception, thinking and acting, which is unable to be
captured or understood by the algorithm of the language.
He considered art, music and religion as examples of pre-verbal thinking, a
bridge over the gap between consciousness/mind and pre-verbal perception.
 112

This immanent supreme deity, which he jocularly called the god, Eco, is
permeating man, nature and the universe.

Power of the spoken word

Jesus Christ said: "My words are spirit and they are life and they do
accomplish that whereunto they are sent."

Spirit is the creative cause in the Universe and our words are potent only as
this same spirit is seen as the operative force behind them. It is the activity of
the force of Nature, that makes the seed grow for no seed has power within
itself. It is a container or vehicle of that force. So it is with words. Our
consciousness or awareness of Spirit is the focal point in the power of the
word.

Idle words are impotent and do not create; though they, in a sense, may add to
the state of hypnosis. To fear negative words is to add to their hypnotic
energies and thereby adds to the influence of the negative words. The power
of ignorant or idle words is only, that they may intensify the hypnotic state of
man’s mind, but they do not alter the creative cause in the least.
The power of the negative words is only the modernization of the old idea of
the devil, and is a direct violation of the fact, that there is only the power of
God.

The "I am" statement

When one begins to assemble in his consciousness the activities of any

principle, he begins to say, "I am …" This is the centralizing of the authority
of the principle in him. "I am" renders the mind dynamic instead of letting it
rest in potentiality. It becomes dynamic the moment we focus thought upon I
AM. The focal point is the center always and from it emanates the
authoritative commands that control and determine the entire status of the man
who is capable of manifesting the actualization of his/her command.
This name "I AM" was God to Moses. It has come down through the ages as
"I AM". To the Hindus it is AUM, which means the same. Likewise to the
Christians’ "Amen". The Chinese use it as TAU.

Thoughts create our reality

It has been hard for me to conceive the power of thoughts, though many
reliable sources through time have expressed so.
An explanation might be, that our thoughts usually are chaotic. They are
happening without any real control or focus, whirling around without any
consistent direction or deep purpose. It is an army where the soldiers are
marching against each other instead of following the direction given by the
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king. The powerful army cancels itself out!

When I read Baird Spalding books "Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East",
vol. 1-6, I became quite astonished over what those holy men could do. It surely
demonstrated the miraculous potential humans possess.

Anyway, we are unaware of the miraculous power of thought. I guess, we

have fallen asleep to it! What we experience is the response to stimuli mainly
from the outside world. We call it physical reality and it can be real tough, but
mainly it is a subjective reality. Who has not experienced the change of reality
by a shift in mood or emotion? One can say, that thoughts works as the
mediator or a lens that shape your reality.

Music and sounds that are created from the heart and have the intention to
communicate to other hearts, carries emotions about God and is a reminder of
the divinity deep inside us. Such music put the brain to "soak" so the daily
"noise" is dissolved and give space for  deeper emotions and thoughts, so the
real self has a chance to be present. This is the meaning of real music.

We are born into this Earth with a limited consciousness and have lost the
memory of what we are and from where we come. The Fall of Man as the
scriptures tells, has caused a separation from the mighty Creator God.

The purpose with this life is to remember and recreate WHO WE REALLY
ARE. We recreate under difficult conditions and heavy laws, by our own
choices, that divine being our Father Creator has given to us as our birthright.
Some say that we are Physical Angels, who carry all the elements of the
holographic universe within us; we are ONE spirit in ONE body.

Usually we are not aware of our multi - dimensional body, so we feel lost and
alone. The freedom to choose between right or wrong is often difficult and we
are tempted to blame our Farther for our misery, forgetting that unconditional
love give us the sole and exclusive right to choose. Our consciousness is our
guide.

 The primal vibration

Music contains a secret power, which can shape the mind of man and alter
societies or nations. It is a two-edged sword. It can bring us in alignments with
God and our deepest, real self or diverge us from the supreme influence of our
mighty Creator.

The ancients believed, that music in the hands of the "evil" or ignorant, could
only lead the civilization to an inevitable doom, but in the hands of the
illumined, music was a tool of beauty and power, which could lead the entire
society into a golden age of peace, prosperity and brotherhood.
Even in recent time in Western Europe this belief was expressed. As Andrew
 114

Fletcher, the writer and orator, stated in the Scottish Parliament of 1704:
"I knew a very vise man, who believed that if a man were permitted to make
all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation."

Ancient civilizations were well aware of that power in music and sounds, and took
different measures in order to have the musical supreme influence prevail. The ancient
Chinese civilization, which mirrored this most vigorously, lasted 5000 years.
The most important task for the Ancient Chinese Emperor was to secure the foundation
tone, the huang chang, the musical note which was called Kung. The celestial influence
changed in time and the Emperor had the responsibility of tuning the Kung in perfect
harmony with the divine energies from Above so the harmony in his country could be
maintained.
Every single instrument in China had to be tuned in accordance with the imperial tone.
So closely affiliated was the foundation tone, Kung, to the affair of the state, that the
standard of weights and measurements was calculated from the sacred pipe. A musical
education for the officials was considered as important as the skills for their job.

 There are many paths to re-member and re-create oneself and hereby become
one with our Creator.
 Hence, you too can sing your song to the Uni-verse.

This dissertation has focused on music and sound, which has the potential to
open the gate to the multi dimensional realm of man and let the heart sing its
song in harmony with the Uni-verse. As you may have noticed, this does not
apply to the music, we usually clutter our empty space with.

The Harmony of the Spheres

by Thomas Váczy Hightower.

The concept of harmony

It is general knowledge that the notion of harmony comes from the ancient
Greek word, harmonia. It was a key word of the Pythagoreanism and meant
primarily the joining or fitting of things together. Originally it was connected
to the concept of cosmos. Its musical meaning was established by the early
 115

fifth Century B.C. according to professor Guthrie ("A History of Greek

Philosophy", Vol. I,) first seen from Pindar. 

The numerical explanation of the universe was a generalization from the

discovery made by Pythagoras himself and revealed the numerical ratios
which determine the concordant intervals of the scale. We find it clearly in
Aristotle's explanation of Pythagoras harmony of the spheres and also in
Plato's statements. 

However, as Burnet notes, there was no such things as harmony in our sense.
Harmonia meant tuning, scale or octave. Classic Greek music was melodic,
modal, without use of harmonious chords as we are used to.
Plutarch (44-120 B.C.) stats that for Pythagoras and his disciples, the word
harmonia meant "octave" in the sense of an attunement, which manifests
within its limits both the proper fitting together of the concordant intervals,
fourth and fifth, and the difference between them, the whole tone. 
Moreover, Pythagoras proved that whatever can be said of one octave can be
said of all octaves. 

The essential point was that the three intervals of octave, fourth and fifth were
regarded as primary and fixed, as the element out of which any musical scale
or composition was build. The other notes was not fixed and could move
accordingly to the different modes.  

Order and beauty - the concept of cosmos - was imposed by the three fixed
notes with the ratio of 1:2, 2:3 and 3:4 on the chaotic range of sounds from the
other untied notes. 
This is for me a graphic display of Harmonia; an integration of order and
chaos. Harmony does not in my interpretation means pure harmonious tones,
but permitting dissonance between the column of consonance creating
harmony. 
The ancient Greeks had a profound understanding of balance and proper
proportions. It was not accidental that they chose the formulation on the
temple of Apollo as "Nothing too much" or "Observe limit". 

Chaos meant for the Greeks unlimited – evil.

Limit stood for order, moderation - beauty. 
The Greek genius in thought and art, represented the triumph of ratio,
meaning on one hand the intelligible, determinate, measurable, as opposed to
the fantastic, vague and shapeless. There had to be a proportion of things both
in themselves and as related to the whole.

The integers 1,2,3 and 4 add up to 10, which was considered perfect and
contained in itself the whole nature of numbers. This number was graphically
represented by the figure known as the Tetratys, which became a sacred
 116

symbol for the Pythagorean's.

Numbers was responsible for "harmony", the divine principle that governed
the structure of the whole world.

For the Pythagorean's the numbers had and retained a mystical significance,
an independent reality. Phenomena were secondary for the only significant
thing about phenomena was the way in which they reflected numbers. We
have here an attitude that is utterly different from that of a mathematician of
today. Mathematics had for them and also later for Plato a metaphysical as
well as a purely mathematical significance.

The Harmony of the Spheres

The most remarkable feature of the Pythagorean cosmology recorded by

Aristotle is that it displaced the Earth from the center of the universe and
made it into a planet revolving in an orbit like the other planets. This idea was
unparalleled in per-Platonic thought. Even Plato could not embrace this
notion, which first later became accepted in the heliocentric theory.
The Pythagorean believed that the center of the whole system was occupied
by the central "fire", which could not be seen. The relation to the Sun as the
heat- and light giving body to the central fire was not explained by Aristotle,
but later sources states it as a case of reflection like that of the moon's light
from the sun.

A part of the cosmology of the Pythagorean is their extraordinary theory of

the "harmony of the spheres", which caught later generations in the ancient
world and the Renaissance. 
It is generally accepted by scholars, that Pythagoras himself was the first to
formulate that concept, which reflects the whole cosmic plan and showed the
intimate connxtion between the laws of mathematics and of music. 
Aristotle characterizes the Pythagorean as having reduced all things to
numbers or elements of numbers, and described the whole universe as "a
Harmonia and a number". 

Aristotle continued: "They said too that the whole universe is constructed
according to a musical scale. This is what he means to indicate by the words
"and that the whole universe is a number", because it is both composed of
numbers and organized numerically and musically. For the distances between
the bodies revolving round the center are mathematically proportionate; some
moves faster and some more slowly; the sound made by the slower bodies in
their movement is lower in pitch, and that of the faster is higher; hence these
separate notes, corresponding to the ratios of the distances, make the resultant
sound concordant. 
Now number, they said, is the source of this harmony, and so they naturally
 117

posited number as the principle on which the heaven and the whole universe
depended."

Many scholars has pointed out: how could the Pythagorean s have supposed
that all eight notes of an octave sounding simultaneously would produce a
concordant and pleasing effect?
Others have answered: there is no question of harmony in modern sense, but
only attunement to a perfect scale. When Greeks called certain intervals
concordant, they were thinking primarily of notes sounded in succession. The
word "harmony" means, in the Greek language, first "tuning" and then "scale".

Classical Greek music was melodic, not harmonic in modern sense. Further,
the seven-stringed lyre had only three strings in a fixed tuning, the octave, the
fifth and the fourth, which together made use of the first four integers forming
the sacred tetractys. The other strings were adjustable to the type of scale
required and therefore were called movable. It is therefore likely to assume
that Pythagoras himself only had these concordant intervals in mind, which
sounds very pleasant simultaneously, instead of the seven or eight strings.

Compared with the scattered and few information from the Pythagorean's
themselves about the harmony of the spheres, it is staggering to see what an
impact that notion has caused in later generations. 

Johannes Kepler

The most passionate lifelong study of the Music of the Spheres was done by
Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630). By the end of his career he had solved both
the problem of what law governs the planetary distances and what law
governs their
velocities.
His solution of the
first was geometrical,
that of the second
musical, and his
Third Law of
Planetary Motion
(that the squares of
the periodic times are
to each other as the
cubes of the mean
distances from the
Sun) provided the
link between them.
 118

He also changed the focal point from the Earth to the Sun by converting to the
Copernican system. pondering the question of why there should be only six
planets (instead of the canonical seven), and what governed their distances
from the Sun.

←The solar system in a double logarithmic plot representing orbital speed and distance
from the sun. 

Then he was visited by a mystical intuition that the secret of the solar system
lies in the five regular or Platonic solids. In between the six orbits of Mercury,
Venus, Earth, Mars. Jupiter, and Saturn, he then inscribed the five solids in
this order: octahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron, tetrahedron, and cube; and
behold, not only was the number of six planets accounted for, but their
proportional distances were closely in accord with Copernicus's figures. 
Yet the figures from Tycho Brahe's observations, as Kepler worked on them
year after year, stubbornly refused to fit the regular solids.

Some other factor must be at work. It was the difficulties of calculating the
orbit of Mars that led to the answer and to the overwhelming realization that
the orbits of the planets are not perfect circles, nor even the elaborate
combinations of pseudo-circles which astronomers from Ptolemy to
Copernicus had used to keep the circularity of the heavens inviolate, but
ellipses with the Sun at one of their foci.

From the point of view of time, these explain the variable speeds of the
planets, which move faster as they approach the Sun. 
It remained to find a rationale for the ellipses being just so, and it was to
musical harmony that Kepler turned to.
He compared each planet's angular velocities at perihelion (nearest to the Sun)
and aphelion (furthest from the Sun), and expressed this ratio as a musical
interval.

 This was not all. Kepler had broken new ground in listening to the Music of
the Spheres not from the point of view of Earth, like all his predecessors, but
from the Sun. Henceforth it is no longer a harmony made for the benefit of our
own planet, but the song which the cosmos sings to its lord and center, the
Solar Logos.
Like Eriugena's approaches to the harmony of the spheres with widely varied planets in
speed and distance, (Eriugena was an Irish monk from the 9. Century) each of Kepler's
planets has a variety of notes: there is no question here of a simple planet-tone scale of
any type. Unlike Eriugena, however, Kepler lived in an age when musical polyphony
was the norm. The planetary music must therefore be polyphonic, too.
As Eriugena had already pointed out, the musical possibilities of these sliding scales are
almost inexhaustible. Most of the chords they make together are dissonant to one degree
or another, but once in many years a five or six-part consonance will occur. The time-
scale exceeds human imagination, even human life: a single journey of Saturn up and
 119

down a major third (5:6 is the ratio between its maximum and minimum) takes 30
years!

The harmonics of planets angular velocities, or the ratios – interval -  seen

from the Sun are as valid today than they were in his time. In addition, the
outer planet discovered after Kepler’s time, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto also fit
into Keple's system.

His method was briefly as follows: The ratios compare the velocities of the
planets at their fastest and lowest speed by calculating how far they go in 24
hours, (it can take many years before the planet in question have reach these
positions) measured in minutes and seconds of arc as viewed from the Sun.
These ratios are then simplified by octave reduction to give an interval
between C and C’

An example of octave reduction: the ratio between Jupiter’s maximum and

Mars minimum speed is as 5:24. That is equivalent to the interval of two
octaves plus a minor third. The two octaves are eliminated by dividing 24 with
4, which gives the ratio of 5:6, a minor third.  
By placing the calculated ratios from the many combinations after their
harmonic numbers of a fundamental, let us call it C, a display of a
harmonically scale is produced. A major part of the planets tones belongs to
the major triad CEG.

In ”Harmonia Mundi” Kepler present a very consistent theory of the music of

the spheres. What was more important was his method. He used exact
observations and formulated the data in a mathematical form, that could depict
nature lawfulness. In this way he became the first modern scientist.

Frequencies of orbiting planets

With reference to the hierarchies of motion, which was explained in the

previous part of The Sound of Silence, part I, we have oscillating bodies on
any level of sizes. On the quantum level we have the double motion of spin
and orbiting. On the level of molecules and cells only one motion - the
pendulum to and fro motion exist.
When we reach into the size of the celestial bodies, the movements of orbiting
and spin reappear. Our planet system behaves in that double motion, rotating
about their axes while in the same time orbiting around our sun.

There is a basic acoustic law to calculate oscillation of a body into frequency.

It is the relationship between the period of oscillation (the time it takes to
complete the period or move back and forth) and its frequency. It is an inverse
proportion: the period = 1/ frequency; (or frequency = 1/ period.) It means that
the reciprocal value of a period of time represents its frequency (in seconds).  
 120

Frequency range can be measured in a basic unit called octaves. In practice

one can form an octave by multiply or divide a frequency with 2. The law of
octaves raise or lower the fundamental frequency by factor 2 to any preferred
level, e.g. to the audible range. It is still the same fundamental tone but in
another octave.

The frequencies of our planets can be calculated with this formula, where the
multiplication by 236 brings the fundamental to an audible range:  1 / period in
seconds (1 day= 84400 sec.) * 236 (numbers of octaves) = frequency in Hz.

Orbiting period in frequency in Hz. in the approximate  chromatic

Planet
days 36th octave tone
Mercury 87.96 9041 c#-d in the 9th octave
Venus 224.70 3539 a in the 7th octave
365.242  a tropical
Earth 2177 c#-d in the 7th octave
year
686.09 (about 2
Mars 1157 c# in the 6th octave
years)
4332.59 (about 12
Jupiter 183 f# in the third octave
years)
10759.21 (about 30
Saturn 73 d in the second octave
years)
Uranus 30689.6 ca. 84 years 25 g# in the 0 octave
60183.6  ca. 165
Neptune 13 below c in the 0 octave
years
90740.5 ca. 248
Pluto 8 c an octave below
years

The approximate chromatic tones are picked from the below frequencies table
for the equal tempered chromatic scale with the concert pitch of middle A = 
440 Hz. The above display of tones does not constitute a musical scale as we
can perceive. Other type of scales do not change much.

2 3 middle C 5 6 7 8 9
.41 130.81 261.63 523.25 1046.50 2093.00 4186.01 8372.02
.30 138.59 277.18 554.37 1108.73 2217.46 4434.92 8869.84
.42 146.83 293.66 587.33 1174.66 2349.32 4698.64 9397.27
.78 155.56 311.13 622.25 1244.51 2489.02 4978.03 9956.06
.41 164.81 329.63 659.26 1318.51 2637.02 5274.04 10548.08
.31 174.61 349.23 698.46 1396.91 2793.83 5587.65 11175.30
.50 185.00 369.99 739.99 1479.98 2959.96 5919.91 11839.82
.00 196.00 392.00 783.99 1567.98 3135.96 6271.93 12543.85
3.83 207.65 415.30 830.61 1661.22 3322.44 6644.88 13289.75
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0.00 220.00 440.00 880.00 1760.00 3520.00 7040.00 14080.00

6.54 233.08 466.16 932.33 1864.66 3729.31 7458.62 14917.24
3.47 246.94 493.88 987.77 1975.53 3951.07 7902.13 15804.27

     It is apparently too demanding for us humans to expect, that our orbiting
plants will present a neat musical scale just from their orbiting periods! It is
more likely that the planetary orchestra is playing for the Sun. The frequency
of the sun.

We have to remember, that time is different from celestial bodies that for
humans. We perceive sound in seconds. For planets the sound unit is more in
the category of years. For the Sun the concept of time is even more
"inhuman". A lifetime of a human is just a "spark" for the Sun!

The time factor is the key to understand the notion of the music of the spheres.
As demonstrated above the sound on the planetary scale has to be raised about
36 octaves to be perceived by humans.

Planetary conjunctions as "Chords"

There is other parameter than periods of orbiting planets to employ in the

search for the music of the spheres. The planetary conjunctions is considered
to be a powerful alignment of celestial forces. Using conjunctions of planets
on a larger scale of time ex. 48 years, clues of a diatonic scale emerge.
Rodney Collin tried this in his book, "The Theory of Celestial Influence",
chapter VI, the Harmony of the Planets. One of his examples displays one of
the major cycle, where Earth, planets and sun are in exactly same position to
the Milky Way or Zodiac.

Planetary conjunctions (Earth, Planet, Sun, Zodiac) as

"Chords"
Planet/octave Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do1
Saturn     X1          
Jupiter X2       X3     X4
Aster-oids   X3     X4   X5  
Mars     X2       X3  
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Venus X3     X4   X5   X6
Mercury X3     X4   X5   X6
Years 24 27 30 32 36 40 45 48
JT temp. 1 9/8 5/4 4/3 3/2 5/3 15/8 2

The time line (24 to 48 years) could be considered as a "string" on a musical

instrument. Planetary conjunctions take place over time according to these
same ratios, that divide up the length of the string in a Just Intonation
temperament. 
Jupiter, e.g. has 3 conjunctions over the time span of 24 - 48 years and strike
the notes do, sol and do1.
There are minor cycles for just Earth, planets and sun producing a similar way
other conjunctions as "chords".

Planets as tones in the diatonic scale

Several have through time made calculations, which place the distance of the
planets from the Sun into a diatonic scale. That might be possible if one step
down in octaves in regard to the outer planets, which are Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus etc. 
Joscelyn Godwin has in his book "Harmonies of Heaven and Earth" in the chapter The
Music of the Spheres a fine historic account for different planetary scales.

The most known examples of planetary "musical scale" are the mentioned
Pythagoras' and Kepler's. In addition, there is a number of other planetary
scales, such as Thomas Michael Schmidt, who derives significant harmonies
from the time-periods of the planets rotations. W. Kaiser composing a scale
based on the mean distances from the Sun.  Emile Chizat, who makes the
Titius-Bode numbers yield a perfect concord. Or Alexandre Dénéréaz working
from the Golden Section of planetary distances.

The principles of order in the solar system

In the 18th century Titius discovered, that all the planets known to
astronomers in his time possessed a special order in the mean orbital distances
from the Sun. The astronomer Bode formulated that discovery few years later
into a law, which, when the outer planets were later discovered, fit the whole
solar system quite accurately. The aberration was not more than few present,
except Mars with 6 %.

These orbits becoming progressively greater by an average factor of 1.68...

Such progression with nearly the same factor could indicates a special
relationship. Astronomers have throughout centuries contemplated over the
 123

planetary movement and intuitive felt a harmonious relationship, the Music of

the Spheres or a hidden lawfulness.

Actual mean
Body Bode's Law
distance in A.U.
Mercury 0.39 0.4

Venus 0.72 0.7

Earth 1.00 1.0

Mars 1.52 1.6

Astro -? 2.8

Jupiter 5.20 5.2

Saturn 9.54 10.0

Uranus 19.19 19/06/10

The Golden Section

The beauty of this relationship became first clear, when John Pritchard in a
mail told me about the findings of the Russian astronomer Butusov, who in
1978 found the answer. Butusov established, that the ratios of the adjacent
planets cycle times around of the Sun are equal or the golden proportion
1,618, or its square 2,618.

The ratio between the planets is simply the PHI ratio, 1.618...or The Golden
Section. The Solar system is a manifestation of the spiral of the golden
section, which is so prominent in Nature and art.
 http://solargeometry.com/DistCalc.htm ;
The chart below use Mercury mean distance from the Sun as the base line,
which fit best to proportion of the golden section.

Planet:         Mean distance in million km per NASA              Relative mean distance where Mer

Mercury               57.91                                                                 1.00000
Venus               108.21                                                                  1.86859
Earth                 149.60                                                                  1.38250
Mars                 227.92                                                                  1.52353
Ceres               413.79                                                                  1.81552
Jupiter              778.57                                                                 1.88154         
Saturn          1,433.53                                                                  1.84123        
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Uranus         2,872.46                                                                  2.00377

Neptune      4,495.06                                                                  1.56488      
Pluto            5,869.66                                                                  1.30580      
Total                                                                                            16.18736     
Average                                                                                        1.61874
Phi                                                                                                 1.61803

There are other ways to calculate the relationship of planets. Below we can
use the common way of calculation in AU with Earth = 1, by dividing each
planets mean distance from the sun with the previous planets solar mean
distance.

Venus' mean distance from sun / Astronomical units: 0.72 divided with
1.87
Mercury's mean distance from sun 0.39
Earth / Venus  1 / 0.72 1.38

Mars / Earth 1.52 / 1 1.52

Ceres (in the Asteroid belt) / Mars 2.77 / 1.52 1.82

Jupiter / Ceres 5.20 / 2.77 1.88

Saturn / Jupiter 9.54 / 5.20 1.83

Uranus / Saturn 19.18 / 9.54 2.01

Neptune / Uranus 30.08 / 19.18 1.57

Pluto / Neptune 39.44 / 30.08 1.31

All planets Average 1.68

Similar order appears for the moons in our solar system, especially for the nearly
circular orbits. The numbers are taken from a Danish astronomical book from 1979.

There are other principles of order in the solar system, such as the planets are
orbiting close to the same plane and the elliptic orbit do not deviate much
from each another.

NASA has released records of the "music" of our planets. From the Voyager
program, e.g. the magnetosphere of Saturn emits waves which, transposed into
audible sound by speeding up and played through a music synthesizer sounds
as a slow, dreamy melody!
Those who have seen the movie, 2001, by Stanley Kubrick, will remember the music of
 125

Richard Strauss under laying the beautiful space pictures. That deep vibration sound in
the "Also sprach Zarathustra" intuitively connect the idea of the vibrating universe.

Man as a microcosm

An explanation for the strong attraction to the concept of the harmony of the
spheres may have something to do with the way man functions and regulates
his body and mind. He is a microcosm where the endocrine glands serve as
vital regulators and transformer of the life energy. The endocrine glands are:
Thymus, Pancreas, Thyroid, Para-thyroids, Adrenals, Posterior Pituitary,
Anterior Pituitary, Gonads and Pineal (function ?).
The interacting nervous controls are three fold: the cerebral-spinal, which serves
conscious control; the sympathetic, which stimulates unconscious or instinctive
functions; and the parasympathetic and vagus, which are explained as slowing down
these instinctive functions.

Looking at endocrine glands placement in the

body we can lay out a schematic diagram,
where the heart is the center and the glands
place themselves as an expanding spiral similar
to that which is found to represent the line of
forces or growth in many natural phenomena. 
Just as galaxy appeared to be an expanding
spiral of suns, and the solar system an
expanding spiral of planets, so could the spiral
of glands in the human body give an impression
of an expanding spiral of functions.

In the solar system it is evident that the sun is

the source of life and energy. The Earth and its
bio sphere can be viewed as a stock of passive compounds on which the
planets serve as a forming, organizing and functional force producing the
whole world of Nature. 
This hypothesis of the planets as the creators of form and function on Earth
has no substantiate arguments in science, either has the harmony of the
spheres. 

This is an attempt to give a hint to why the concept of the harmony of the
spheres have tantalized the imagination of man for so many centuries and why
there have been such a persistent belief in a link between planetary influence
and human behavior and personality.
Astrology has unfortunately degenerated from its original objective study of
correspondences and tendencies towards prognostication and fortune-telling.

The Theory of Celestial Influence by Rodney Collin presented for me the

most coherent theory, where the endocrine glands possess an affinity for their
 126

respective planets due to the magnetism of the particular planet. Each planet
produce by its spin different magnetic fields and the whole solar system can
be consider as a great transformer of cosmic influence.

Collin made a detailed account

on these matter, but here I will
just conclude, that the
endocrine glands are
functioning as a receiving sets
for planetary influences. The
influence varying due to
distance and angle of the Earth
Moreover, he did presented a
very interesting theory of
"planetary types", which has
enriched my understanding of
human psychology.

The bottom line is, as Collin

states: "that the glands in the
order of their distance from the heart, obey the same laws as the planets in the
order of their distance from the sun. Created from the same design, the one
responds to the other. Each gland is revealed as a sensitive instruments, which
not only transforms human energy to the tension required for its function, but
is tuned to a similar instrument on a cosmic scale and obeys its guidance."

What I want to point out is that basically each living being on every scale are
oscillating. E.g. celestial bodies, nature and its numerous entities, humans,
molecules and atoms - probably also the nucleus. See Dimension and Scales.

If one can imagine that notion, then each atom has its signature "sound"
according to its number of electrons. The atoms "sing", as other bodies do on
another and bigger scale.

Together all sing their different songs in union - the Uni-

verse.
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Music and Society

To get a better perspective of social affairs a long historical view may reveal
patterns, which seems to recur in time. Though history does not repeat itself,
some specific behavior and attitudes can be more or less dominant in a cyclic
mode. It can take different forms due to the actual age, but the underlying
tendency shows a swing of a pendulum between opposites.

This cyclic fashion is best know in economy with its boom and recession,
cycles in stock market and bonds, or the swing of fashion and art. Also
morality and sexual behavior does shows a trick or relaxed cycle; sadly
enough also the alternation of war and peace, even rise and fall of
civilizations!
There are many explanations about the wheel of fortune; some ambiguously
related the rise and fall of empires to the power or degeneration of man, others
have more scientific approach such as geo-political or economical reasons.
However, reason and common sense does not too often correspondent with the
actual outcome of historical events. The outback of World War I was the most
recent example of big scale human folly.

One form generally an idea of man in control or responsible for the history.
Suppose there are forces beyond the power of man!
"Human are just puppets pulled by strings", as Gurdjieff pointed out in the
outbreak of the Russian Revolution. Who would then be the puppeteer?
That question has occupied thinkers through time. The cyclic change of
seasons appears evidently by Earths orbiting the Sun.
So may be there is a much more celestial or planetary influence - as many
earlier developed cultures believed. Is the behavior of the masses of human
ruled by celestial influence?
Rodny Collin's "Theory of Celestial Influence" is a persuasive book on these matters.
From that book I have chosen the example of the 84 years cycle of Uranus, which is
stated to have an influence the sexual behavior.

The phases of masculine and feminine influence

Feminine dominance begins 2029 1945 1861 1777 1693 1525 1441 1357 1273 118
Masculine dominance begins 2071 1987 1903 1819 1651 1567 1483 1399 1315 123

The above table display the 84-year cycle of Uranus, which not so much
shows an alternation between overt and hidden sexuality, but rather between a
 128

feminine age and a masculine one.

If we now turn to a study of the planet Uranus itself, we find a very curious
astronomical parallel to this state of affairs. Unlike all the other planets, whose
axes lie more or less at right angles to the plane of the Solar System, the axis
of Uranus lies almost flat upon the plane of its orbit.
This means that, alone of all the planets, it presents its two poles in turn
directly to the Sun and to the Earth. Every eighty-four years its positive pole,
illuminated by the full solar brilliance, shines vertically upon the Earth while
its negative pole lies hidden and in darkness. In the intermediate periods it is
the negative pole, which so directly reflects the Sun's light towards us, and the
positive which lies obscured in the direction of outer space.

If the positive and negative poles of planets have some cosmic affinity for
masculinity and femininity in general, then we can understand why Uranus -
by reason of its unique movement - is the planet which governs the sex
function in man, and further, why the alternating stimulation of the two sexes
on Earth follows the eighty-four year rhythm which we clearly see in history.
Both sexes are always present and always of exactly equal strength, as are any two
poles; but among humankind, as with the poles of Uranus, the light of fashion shines
first upon the one and then upon the other, leaving at each phase the partner invisible
and eclipsed.

The Cycle of Sex

The attitude of an age towards sex is very clearly indicated by its literature,
poetry, art, and above all by its fashion. Innumerable examples of a complete
reversal of attitude towards sex and women in forty years or so can be
gathered in this way.
Such a period separates the etherealized women of Pinturicchio, unnoticeable behind
their cascades of velvet and brocade, from the sensuous promiscuity of Bronzino's
'Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time and the fashionable nudity of the school of
Fontainebleau.
Forty years again separates this from the austere angels and virgins of Greco; while a
further forty brings us back to the fleshly nakedness of Rubens.

These examples refer to the sexuality of women; but this is evidently only half
the picture. And it is interesting to note that in the intermediate periods, when
women are represented as pale, modest and voluminously dressed in neutral
shades, men are seen to blossom into gay colors and fantastic clothes or at
least to pose before the artist in vigorous and excessively virile attitudes.

We have taken our illustrations from fashion, because this is the clearest
mirror of the sexual ideas of a people or a period. At the same time, the idea
of alternating masculine and feminine periods can be equally well
demonstrated in any field of human endeavor.
The Elizabethan age of masculine display is also that of the sea-dogs, whose strange
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piratic life represents a very definite aspect of virility. Such adventurers certainly exist
in every age, but in this one they were in a certain way accepted, fashionable, a social
and sexual ideal.

Again, the two periods may be seen as alternations of struggle and languor in
relation to sex. In the masculine periods, the whole idea of sex will be hedged
round with questions of honor, rivalry, morals; it will be seen as the great
prize, to be guarded and fought for; it will be that which is most of all hard to
get.
In the feminine periods, on the contrary, it will be full of ease and invitation; it
will be not the prize but the gift, the one earthly joy in which all may find
comfort and refreshment. In the one case it is typified by the 'Roman de la
Rose', to which only the purest and best can attain by trial: in the other by
Bosch's Fountain of Delights, in which all may bathe and be vivified.
These two great visions were created, the first a little before a masculine peak (1225),
the second a little before a feminine one (1510), and they symbolize the two
complementary ideals of sex in a very vivid way.

Sex can be combined with every other function to produce endless varieties of
human expression. And in the same way these two phases of the sexual cycle
of Uranus may coincide with any of the other planetary cycles to yield every
conceivable idea and attitude in this relation.
Sometimes sexual cycles will coincide with cycles of war or crime, with
resultant waves of rape and sadism. On the other hand, in some countries
where the racial type is already of a sensuous caste - as in India or Malay -
sexual cycles could combine creatively with "spiritual" ones.
In this case sex becomes a "mystery", symbolic of the creative power of the universe,
and a "way" to mystical experiences and union with God. Though the idea is strange to
the more intellectual and less sensuous racial types of the West, actual physical union
could then be used as a true sacrament, and the intense energies so released be
deliberately harnessed for the enhancement of consciousness.

The fatherless society

The post industrial management and government in the West adapted fast to
the new "anti-hierarchic", individual movement, probably due to a need for
unhistorical, easy manipulated subjects shaped by advertising. The removal of
the old visible, patriarchal hierarchy created a void, where a less tangible
power structure has emerged.
It is symptomatic that the teaching of being critical and at the same time removing the
reference frame, such as history, makes criticism futile and an illusion.

Historians has named this as the fatherless society, where the vertical
hierarchy is disintegrated. The typical masculine function is the removal of the
umbilical cord between the mother and the child figurative speaking. Other
masculine values could be expressed such as "effort makes a difference", or
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"pay before you receive".

In the fatherless society the feminine horizontal values such as "everything is
equal good" or "rights before duty", has become the political correct attitude
in the Western world.
It has nothing to do with the battle of equal rights of gender, since both sex's try to
comply with the feminine values. Lately a few male has begun to point out, that there
are no equalities among the life and sickness between the genders. Men are less seek,
but dies in average 6 years before women. In the Scandinavian countries the alpha-
female dominance has become so massive in children institutions and educations
system, that 20% of the whole male generation  is lost as a under privilege, uneducated
trash.

Some anthropologists has labeled this as a new hidden dominion of "alpha

female" values. The education system e.g. have changed from communicating
vertically (hierarchic), regular knowledge to propagate the horizontal,
sensitive feminine values.
The physical and provocative male behavior is repress in this feminine
environment. This has caused a heavy drop of males reaching a higher
education. Especially the lower classes have difficulties to learn such
intangible demands and are left behind and ostracized. The out-sourcing of
regular, physical work to the "second" world, has left this fast growing group
as aliens.

I think that the popular "rap-music" reflexes this alienation. It is permeated

with frustrate anger and with an excessive use of masculine choice of words
and attitudes.

It is a bit strange to see how common the use of "ipods", mpg players and
mobile phones has become. The continual feed of music and voices has grown
into a "support-lifeline" to security.
An angle to this could be the difficulty of cutting the umbilical cord in a figurative
sense. In the fatherless society the dominate mothers are unable to set the children free
due to mother fixation. The traditional masculine role of releasing the children from the
infantile state by cutting the "umbilical cords" more or less absent. We are experiencing
a generation of navel contemplation and self-sufficient young ones, reluctant to engage
themselves to superior common aims.

The dream Society

The invisible authority can be describe as a displacement from the outside to

the inside. From a person with authority to a network with shared
responsibility. The power figure has dissolved into a web of individuals minds
with expectations and dreams of a meaningful life.
The autonomy of the individual sounds as an improvement. However, the
pressure is now put on your own criterion of success. The power struggle is
now found between the aim of the group and your own integrity. The control
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of behavior is moved from a person with authority to a intangible set of aims,

expectations and feelings of identity.
The degree of social controle did not change. It just changed form. The power
structure is now created by dreams and feelings molded by the fast growing
dream industry.

It may looks as a wild idea, that creating and propagating dreams is the new
gatekeeper of power in the information society, but think about it. The dream
industry is a huge conglomerate of branding, entertainment and story telling.
It is ideas, identity and feelings, that is the engine in the society, not the
physical needs. The virtual world is here to stay!
Though I am definitely not interested in video games myself, the on line game world,
such as Second Life, where you create virtual characters, who interacts with other on
line "avatar's", has caught my surprise, since that virtual world is generated by millions
of people world wide every day. Astonishing many people are actually making a living
of the games by converting the gained virtual gold into real money. There are incidents
in South East Asia where battles in the virtual world have resulted in real killing. 

The BNP of happiness

The middle class has in the Affluent Society attained the level of wealth,
which in the old days only was reserved the upper classes. Unfortunately, the
new middle class did not assumed the virtue of the old upper classes, but
indulged themselves in its vices.
The propagation of abusive behavior of sex, drugs and alcohol is staggering.
The entertainment industry reflexes accordingly this conduct and exploit it.
The raise of the BNP does not seems to increase the feeling of happiness.

The theme in the music industry increased the focus on individual problems
such as sex, loneliness and unfaithfulness in a world, where the freedom of
choices became staggering. The mantra became hedonism since fulfillment of
one needs appeared to be the "only" fixed point in a boundless, dishonorable
society.
Additionally, a frantic worship of youth combined with a strange fear of
taking responsibility is also reflected in the omnipresent infantile music, that
pollute the air waves.
This may sound a bit pessimistic, if you have the idea of general progress and
the development of society consciously rises to a higher level.
I am not so sure of that my selves. I much agree with the definition of
development by a Danish professor of economic: "Development just means,
that when one problem is solved, the solution cause two new problems."
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The importance of rituals

Lately the need for fundamental,

structural guidelines (rituals or rites)
has become obvious in the present, fast
fragmented, global society. The
informal message of the sixties did not
bring people closer by eliminating
formality and common courtesy.
Uncertainty and reservation became
more prevalent, since common rules
and rites has been discarded.
In Tools of Awareness, there is a brilliant
portion about the Role and importance of
Rituals:

As human beings we have not yet

reached those dimensions, where we
can dispense with all sorts of symbols and rituals and devote ourselves to
purely abstract principles. Rituals give a concrete shape, color and zest to
many abstract, spiritual ideals.
A wisely planned and solemnly conducted ritual prepares the ground, creates
the atmosphere, suggests the mood and predisposes the mind, so that we may
easily detach ourselves from the three dimensional (+ time) worlds, and feel
the mysterious presence of the higher intelligence and the Supreme universal
power.
The greatest men in life, the most wonderfully developed in spirituality, have
all come through the discipline of the rituals.

Magic and rituals have long been connected. There is magic in any ceremony
that we do, whether it of a routine nature, such as making a wish on our
birthday, or whether it is a sophisticated ritual involving all kinds of
movements, lights and music.
In both cases we are using the power of the ritual in order to obtain something
in our life, or to enter higher dimensions.

An actual definition of magic is difficult. Scott Cunningham states: "Magic is

the projection of natural energies to produce needed effects." In other words,
every time that we consciously connect to the universal energy in order to
direct it to a specific result, that we wish to manifest in our life, we are
utilizing the so called magic.
Rituals are the tools by which we are utilizing and harnessing the power of the
universe. The purpose is to demonstrate the connection between nature and its
laws. They are a reminder to us, that we are an intricate part of this vast
universe. Ritual is the form and structure, that enables our spirit to enter
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higher dimensions. It is the safe space, that allows us to open to the deepest
part of ourselves.

Ritual is transformational. You commence a ritual in one state of being and

end in another. The result is always a shift of consciousness. Ritual
contributes to your wholeness by allowing enough safety and freedom for all
the parts of yourself to be expressed.
Ritual is so simple and yet so complex, that the more you examine it, the more
profound it becomes. Ritual is the materialization of what you believe and
feel. One can only understand the power of rituals by participating in ritual
acts.
The basic law of liturgy is, "Do not say what you are doing; do what you are
saying."

Ritual embodies and celebrates myth. In the context of ritual, myth is not a
fairytale or a legend, but a narrative that relates to the very life force of the
community. It reinforces the basic beliefs of a community.
Ritual is strong, bold, challenging. It builds up in the community a sense of
longing for what is celebrated, but not yet realized in its fullness.
The sense of transcendence which we experience during a ritual allows us to
see ourselves as we are. Ritual creates an empty space where higher
dimensions may enter in. There is a profound sense of letting go, but in this
letting go one has a sense of experiencing one's life in a deeper way.

The ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, words are still valid: "Ceremony
established the correct manner of physical movement in man, while music
perfected man's mind and emotions".
Same guideline is the ancient text, Li chi: "Music is the harmony of heaven
and earth, while rites are the measurement of heaven and earth. Through
harmony all things are made known; through measures all things are
properly classified. Music comes from heaven; rites are shaped by earthly
design".

The question of good and evil

My sole concern in these pages has been the positive aspect of music and
sound. How has this the capacity to elevate, enrich and feed the body and soul
for its dormant potential?
Music has the ability to soak and clean ones innate strength. However, it can
not create gold, if there is no gold in the first place, as the old alchemist
beloved. There have to be a seed, which music can enrich. Failing this the
music is futile.
As a keen music lover it has troubled me to read about the use of music in Nazi
concentration camps. Fine classical music was played for the waiting prisoner doomed
for destruction. The commandant of Auschwitz was a music lover and played his violin
 134

to the thick smoke from the crematory. Adolf Hitler was inspired by Richard Wagner's
"Parsifal". I am too. Does this make me or Wagner to a monster?

The great Father of the Church, Aurelius Augustinus, 354-430 AC, used an
example to illustrate the evil. He will not steal the pear in the garden of the
neighbor for the pleasure of eating the pear, but because it was forbidden. He
wished the evil, because it was evil.
"I stole, because I had a dislike for doing the right, and it urges me to sin," he
confessed.

Humans has their freedom as a birthright given by their creator. Hence, they
make their own choice between good and evil. "The drama of liberty" as the
post war German philosopher, Rüdiger Safranski, label it in his book, "The
Evil". 
Since the legendary Cain killed his brother, mankind has tried to deal with its
enigmatic freedom.
Through millennium religion's, philosophical systems and ethics has
attempted to moderate the boundless liberty of man with more or less success.
In regard to the twentieth Century chaotic bloodshed, Safranski articulate a
question about our modern, technological civilization:
Does it in reality eliminate the freedom to act for the modern man?

The deeds of the individual human is still possible as before, but they are now
woven into so many complex systems, that the desired effect is far from the
final result. Has the dynamic of our complex technological civilization now
reached a point, where it has its own inherent logic, and man is going to be
"burnt" by its own civilization?
Safranski asked, if this degree of civilization has become disastrous and
therefore evil?

Man has liberated himself from Nature by means of institutions and

civilizations. Now the question is: has civilization disengaged its self from
man? Is humanity still in control and is able to make choices between good
and evil? Or has our modern technology liberated its self from man and is now
rolling as an avalanche down in the pit?

Man can not do

Augustinus stated, that the nature of mankind stands between God and the rest
of the Nature, which solely was created by the will of God.
Man has his own will, which stem from his given liberty. A will which in
arrogance can lead Man to believe, that he is his own foundation.
God is able to create out of noting, "creatio ex nihilo". The human will can not
do. It can surely not create out of nothing. "When it thinks it can do something
with the right hand, the left hand did not know, what it has done."
 135

Man is imperfect in contrast to Nature, which in its own way is what it is. Man
has to figure out, what he is going to be. In this ongoing process.
He has the tendency to fall down to his own foundation due to the original sin
as the scripture states. 
As Augustinus confessed, it was arrogant and dangerous to refuse Gods offer
to be a part of His will. To deny the spirit of Man to be one with the spirit of
God, means that the spirit of Man is too fond of its self.
He commits a treachery against himself since he deny the chance to reach
beyond his own foundation. The human spirit can not liberate its self from its
original God given foundation in order to become its own foundation.

The break from Antiquity

This was a major break from the way of thinking of the Antiquity. Contrary to
Augustine the philosophy of the Antiquity was convinced, that Man could be
a goal for its self, and true knowledge was able to change Man to a better
being.
"Know yourself", so you know, what you can, and only want, what you are
able to do. It was imperative to know ones limits, so one only aspire to what
was possible. When the will and the ability to do has the same extent, the
limitations creates harmony.
In the time of Socrates the harmony between being and doing still might have
had sense.

The modern man do not have such understanding. There is no longer a

synchronization between being and doing. His knowledge is far more than his
real being actually can understand. His wishes goes beyond, what he is able to
accomplish, e.g. bloody revolutions fueled by idealistic theories, and he is
able to do more than he wants, e.g. tyranny and World Wars.
The modern Man is deeply disturbed. First he rejects the transcendence by not
aiming for power above himself, and now he does not even know himself.

The treachery of transcendence

Augustinus did not use the modern notion, transcendence, when he wrote
about the Fall of man. Transcendence is the modern, philosophical concept for
a place, which represent more than the realm of man. It is the abstract notion
for everything beyond man himself, and lead the man to aim for powers
outsides himself.
Augustinus warned man against making himself as the only goal. It is a
warning against committing treachery to himself, because Augustinus
considered missing the possibility to go beyond oneself as a sin.
The human who do not open himself to God, betray his potential to be more
than himself. Hence man commit treachery against his ability to transcend.
In the legend of the Fall of man there was the tree of life and the tree of knowledge's,
 136

which fruits by eating them made it possible to differentiate between good and evil.
Adam & Eve was immortal and lived in Paradise as a pure image of God.
The final liberty was granted by elevating the humans to the image of God. The freedom
to choose among all the trees in Paradise caused the human to be in the image of God.
Adam & Eve lived in transcendence with their creator, until they ate the apple of the
tree of knowledge, and gained the consciousness of self awareness, and chose to hide,
which separated them from their creator.
As Safranski pointed out in his book, The Evil: "The prohibition against the fruit of
knowledge, did already create a pragmatic (self-)contradiction. The acknowledgment of
what was forbidden, was already stated by God long before the fatal tasting of the
apple"
 137

Time is breath
    In the book “In Search of the Miraculous”, an account of Gurdjieff’s
teaching by his student P.D.Ouspensky, there is a section relating how
Gurdjieff stated that “time is breath”.
Ouspensky began to elaborate on that hint by starting with the human breath.
An inhalation and expiration elapse in 3 seconds. In a day and night, this
amounts to 28,800 breaths. Dividing 28,800 days and nights by 365 (a year)
gives about 79 years, which could be the sleeping and waking time – the
lifetime – of a human.
Here is his whole chart from ”In Search of the Miraculous”, published in 1949
by students after his dead in 1947.

The factor 28,800 is in the Gurdjieff/Ouspensky tradition is an important

constant between the chain of cosmos'.
 138

← Gurdjieff's
diagram of all
living; "Each
square denotes a
level of being"
he said. "The
'Hydrogen' in
the lower circle
shows what the
given class of
creatures feeds
on. The
'hydrogen' in
the upper circle
shows the class
which feeds on
these features.
The 'hydrogen'
in the middle
circle is the
average
'hydrogen' of
this class
showing what
these creatures
are."

In the next kingdom below the animals, that of plant life, the duration of one
breath is a day and night. Plants  inhale in the day and exhale in the night. For
the Plant Kingdom, therefore, a day and a night by similar division would be
79 years.
Extending into other kingdoms, from the atom to the galaxy, he found the
number 28,800 to be a constant factor between living worlds in the three
categories - breath, day and night, and life.

A fourth category can be made by dividing a breath (3 sec.) by 28,800, which

gives 0.00010... of a second. This period of time could be considered as the
shortest period of impression for a human, just an electric spark or a flash of
light. For the cellular world, 1/10,000 second could represent a breath, or a
lifetime for a molecule.

Just to make the concept of time more graphic: for the sun a human lifetime
might be perceived as a spark, just long enough to receive an impression.
Ouspensky made these calculation during World War I, which were meant as
an outline for a “time is breath” statement. In the early spring of 1947 he took
his last breath.
 139

Rodney Collin began to reconstruct Ouspensky's teaching for himself in “The

Theory of Celestial Influence". In the chapter “The Times of the Universe”,
Collin describes his version of “time is breath” by a proposal:
“Time is created by rotation about the vital center of a higher world”.

An example is Johannes Kepler's third law, in which he shows that the

relation between distances from the sun (line) and the periods of rotation
about the sun (time) is the relation between square roots and cube roots.
Collin extended this law to other cosmoses, using the method of deduction.
A general principle is deduced by applying these laws in various specialized
cases to see if it works. We will try to implement the above general law on
lower worlds such as Earth and Nature.

We have a general relation between line (linear space, radii) and time
(duration, life span). Kepler's third law states that linear space develops by
cubes, duration develops by squares.
Kepler's method is by induction. He examines phenomena by gathering
multiple facts, classifying them, and attempting to infer laws and principles
from them by means of mathematic. This is the method generally used by
science and Kepler was one of the first since Pythagoras to demonstrate its
effectiveness.

To make the calculation simple, Collin applied the Pi factor, since this
mathematical constant, together with the radius, is implicit in describing[u2] 
circles.
The base will be a human, which linear space can be set to 1 meter - the radius
from the heart to the fingertip. The duration, life span, is set to be 80 years.

  Duration
– life span
Linear space - radii - Pi 3 = 31.8 Classes of beings
-   Pi2 →
factor 10
1 meter Human 80 years
3.18 centimetes Small animal 8 years
1 millimeter Insects & plants 10 months
0.03 millimeter Larges cells 1 month
0.001 millimeter Small cells 3 days

A similar chart for organisms bigger than man can be made, e.g. large trees,
whose linear space should be 31.8 meter with a life span of 800 years. The
progression up to celestial beings does not show an exact fit. Other laws are
involved, but it shows that linear space has significance for life span.
 140

The point is, however, that the number of breaths is about the same, though
the rate of breathing is different.
A helpful reader, Julian Robbins, has mailed this comments:" I’ve heard of life spans as
being related to number of heartbeats rather than breaths. A parrot, a tortoise and an
elephant may all have a life span of around 100 years, but they are very different in
size."

Man is literally revolving about the center of Earth, which is a vital center of a
higher world, and this revolution takes a day and night - a period of waking
and rest. The next smaller cosmos is a cell, for instance, a blood cell. The vital
center it revolves about is the heart.

Another method to estimate the relation between time and life span can be
made by looking at the time a blood cell travels from the heart to a distant part
of the body. It takes between 8 to 18 seconds to make the circulation, leaving
its load of oxygen before returning with carbon dioxide. It takes about 6
seconds to return by traveling the little circuit from the heart through the lungs
and back to the big heart chamber for the new cycle in the body.

An analogy to man's period of waking and rest can be made by considering a

"workday" for the blood cell to be 18 seconds and the rest period 6 seconds.
A proportion in seconds between blood cell and man is: 24 / life of a blood
cell = 86400 / 25228800000, which equals 700,800 seconds = 8.1 days, the
lifetime of a blood cell.

If we use the previously mentioned cube-square formula and we estimate the

radius for the red blood cell at 1/2500 centimeters, with a more exact 130
centimeters radius for a man, we have a size factor of 325,000 times, which
relates to time as cube to square.
The time factor will be about 4727. The human life span is estimated at 80
years. The lifetime of the blood cell is 1/4727 of the human's, which equals
6.2 days.

The different methods give 8.1 days and 6.2 days for the life of a blood cell.
These disparities are small considering the recent knowledge's about blood
cells, whose average lifetime is 120 days from the time they are produced in
the bone marrow to their decay in the spleen.

Although these linear-space calculations do not show an exact correspondence

with life span, I find the theory interesting; it gives another perspective over
the perception of time.
 141

A little Information theory

by Thomas Váczy Hightower

Carl von Bertalanffy, who was biologist, formulated in 1937 a general system
theory, which main point was, that it is not possible to separate a part of a
complex system for investigation without affecting the whole system. 
In quantum physics a similar limitation (Heisenberg's uncertainty relation)
was for other reasons recognized. Another discovery in modern science,
which broke with the classical reversible mechanics, was Fourier-Clausius'
thermodynamics, Bolzmanns statistical extension of the thermodynamics, and
the introduction of entropy. 

In classical science (Newton) the method of isolation and deduction was used
with success on simple, reversible, mechanical systems. However, quantum
physics and the study of living and un linear complex systems revealed the
influence the scientific method had on the system under investigation. The
laboratory and the scientist became an interacting part of the object.

The general system theory gave a method to study organized complex

systems, which was under constant change and self-preservation, such as
biology, anthropology, psychology, economy, and similar "living" systems.

This leads to the science of regulation and control, where the feed-back
function plays a key part, namely Cybernetics created by Norbert Wiener. 
During WWII the need for fast guiding of the anti-aircraft defense gave a
boost in developing guiding systems, Cybernetics, and developing of
calculating machines.
To this framework of new sciences belongs the Theory of Games, created by one of the
20th. Century greatest mathematician, John von Neumann. He was a key player in
formulation of the mathematic language for computers, robots and automatic machines. 
Communications systems such as telephone and radio was also in rapid development
and the theoretical ground work was made by Claude Shamnon form Bell Labs.

Some basic about Information Theory

The basic recipe of communication is: 

channel (add
Sender  code  noise or decoder  receiver
distortion)
convert to words,
Spoken words, transformed to
wireless, cable characters, interpretation
letters, pictures electric impulses
pictures
 142

The exact definition of information can be formulated as a process that

removes or reduces uncertainty, where uncertainty is a given number of
possibilities. 
Information is the process that removes possibilities or alternatives. The
amount of information depend on the numbers of possibilities the source of
information can choose from.  
Information is a measurement of optional alternatives and the more there can
be removed from multiple options, the more information.

The most simple case consists of two options: he comes or he does not come.
If the information's is, that he comes, a definite amount of information is
obtained.
If the case gives 4 alternatives, such as 1) he comes and is happy, 2) he comes
and is sad, 3) he comes and is angry, 4) he does not come, and the given
information is, that he comes and is angry, the quantity of information is
higher, than in the first case with only two alternatives.
The quantity of information is given by the numbers of alternatives. In the
above cases it is 2 and 4. 
In the information theory a mathematical function as the logarithm based on 2,
log2  is most practical, so the quantity of information is in the examples
respectively log2 of 2 = 1, and log2 of 4 = 2.

There are of course much more to take into consideration than the choices of
alternatives, namely the calculation of probability for the available number of
alternatives. One option can have a higher probability than the other, so the
formula for the quantity of information contains also an average calculation in
the receiving signal. 
There are other communications issues than technical. There is the semantic level of
communication in which the problems are of transferring the message to the receiver in
the intended way. There is the question of effectiveness in the communication. How
effectively does the message affect the receiver? This level of guiding and feed-back
belongs to the Cybernetics. 

Bits or the difference that makes the difference

The unity of the quantity of information is measured in bits, which stands for
binary digit. One bit is the smallest piece of information there is, namely 1 or
0, yes or no, first formulated by the Hungarian scientist, Leo Szilard. 

This definition of quantity states an important change in science, since it

leaves the connection with the physical world as it is known in the classical
science. There are no differences in information theory other than the
difference that can be perceived by an observer. 
The key issue is not a physical force or an object as such, but rather the
difference between a white paper on a black table. A none-physical event with
no dimension or matter as such, since the difference lies neither in the paper
 143

nor the table, and not even between paper and table as a physical event subject
to measurement. 

For a classical scientist there are numerous differences in the paper and the
table, but what counts for the information theorist are only those differences
that carries an information (Bateson). It is the message about the property of
the subject or the event, that has meaning. 
The difference in the information theory is an idea. A mental aspect.

This is a philological concept belonging to the realm of ontology. What is

"most" real; the matter (substance) or the information? This huge philological
question is beyond my powers. 
In this context we have to accept that things and events exist as substances and
processes in time and space according to the laws of physics. 
The tricky thing about information is its mental nature. It is an entirely none-
dimensional realm, removed from physical forces such as push, pressure,
momentum.

Concerning energy one has to understand that information requires energy as

any other process does, but that the energy-exchange belongs to the sense
organs, nervous systems and muscle tissue. The flow or quantity of
information is measured in bits, and it is the carrier of information that
consume energy.

The issue here is about a living organism provided with sense organs, by
which it receives information about the surrounding world. A corresponding
organism can receive information about the behavior of the first organism and
in this way there is a continual exchange of input and output and thus a
change of behavior. 
This exchange of messages can take place through many different channels of
communication, and the messages themselves convey different levels of
complexity. From the very simple, such as an open door, the look of a face, to
the most intangible, as the meaning of life or the beauty of music.
The nature of this web of information we are a part of often has the character of a loop.
A message is dispatched and returns later to the sender in an altered form.  

Thermodynamics

It might be a surprise that the information theory is closely connected to the

second law of thermodynamics, one of the fundamental laws in physics,
which expresses the amount of order/uncertainty in a system, and its tendency
to increase entropy. All physical systems will in time evidently become more
mixed and equalized, less organized, loosing structure and gain more entropy.
 144

The formula for the quantity of information is the same as the

thermodynamics law for entropy, since for both systems it is a matter of level
of order or degree of organization. As well as the source of communication as
for a thermodynamics system one can say that when the state of structure is
high, it is characterized with a little degree of chance or uncertainty, hence the
entropy is low and the information high.

In the information theory we are not dealing with classical physical notions
such as mass, power, energy, but with a more intangible notion as form or
structure. Entropy is an expression of the fundamental law of the tendency in
nature to obliterate structures and wipe out forms.
However, for a living organism, the ability to maintain its form and even
increase the degree of organization, is one of its astonishing characteristic.
This means, among other things, that because it is an open system it is able to
import energy and in a sense import negative entropy. Living organisms are
being in - formed. 

So where does order come from? This is a fundamental question for evolution
theorists. Darwins theories appeared too materialistic and one-dimensional for
many scientists, who have worked with information theories and the mental
aspect in living organisms interacting with the surrounding world, which lead
us to Gregory Bateson.

"The difference that makes the difference" according to Bateson

So far this brief introduction to the information theory has outlined the work
of the pioneers, yet an important scientist ought to be mentioned, Gregory
Bateson, an American who was an anthropologist, but was in close connection
with the key players in the creation of the information theory, which method
and terminology he altered and extended in his own way. 

He described himself as a behavioral scientist and his critical use of the

information theory in his field work and in his many publications is
outstanding, since he as a true scientist with a very broad, impartial view,
investigated the natural communication between living organisms such as
humans and mammals. 
Bateson used his method of study on the way schizophrenic families
communicate, which he described as "double bind" and on the Alcoholics
Anonymous rehabilitation program, which gave him material to his analysis
of Western culture. 

The occidental culture was viewed by Bateson as a great complex Cybernetics

system and could be described as any cybernetics system by its protocol and
habitual assumptions.
Bateson renounced an exhaustive catalogue, but pointed out a main feature in
 145

Western thinking, namely the symmetrical relation, which can be described as

two parts related in such a way, that more of a kind of behavior from one part
will make the other part react in the same way respectively, e.g. arms race,
sport games, alcoholics, etc. 
Complementary relations are also different behavior, but the two parts
accommodate to each another in a relationship where the more of the one part
stimulates more of the others accommodation. Examples could be
dominance/submission, care/dependence, sadism/masochism,
exhibitionism/spectatorship.

Another thinking premise in our culture is the idea of separating a part of the
whole and take unilateral control over that part with the result that the other
part is considered as hostile - to be opposed to what is outside the border.
Such deep-rooted concepts as 'man against nature', 'the individual in contrast
to society', 'we against the others', 'body separated from the soul', overlook
that we are a living part of the whole system.

Bateson's view on ecology

Long before ecology became fashionable, Bateson considered it as his main

concern. He was not too optimistic and did not believe that technology could
save the world. The fundamental premise of thinking has to change
dramatically, if we shall escape
ecology collapse. 

The original definition of

ecology means the study of the
interaction between living
organisms and their
environment and is related to
energy and matter transport over
a membrane or a boundary, e.g.
coral reef, pine forest, a city. 
The diagram displays the
dynamics of the ecological crisis
according to Bateson. Hybris
covers the Western erroneous
thinking such as purposive
thinking, which ignore the
context with the whole of
Nature.
Bateson did however consider that there were more to ecology than balance
sheets, because it did not take into consideration the exchange of information,
entropy and negative entropy, that involve the whole cybernetics system
 146

beyond the exchange between borders in living organisms. It is more like

drawing up a budget of pathways or circuits and dealing with probabilities.

 Mind and Nature

Bateson was a scientist and his use of mind in complex living systems has
nothing to do with the common idea of a "religious" mind in Nature. He did
not accept the notion transcendence, as the keen scientist he was, but
considered control and self-regulating as a mental aspect, which did not
belong to a part of the system, but was inherent in the whole system. 
The individual mind, which is immanent in the circuit within and outside the
body, is only a subsystem of the supreme mind. This larger mind is not some
transcendental deity. It is still immanent in the total interconnected social
system or planetary ecology.
It is an entirely self-adjusting unity, which "think, act and determine" and the
boundaries do not coincide with the organisms or parts involved, but is
weaved in or incorporated into the whole system. 

In the terminology of Bateson, mind does not imply the common notion of the
self or consciousness, but the mind of the many involved systems.
He uses a simple example to illustrate what he understood as mind. (The
tricky part is basically connected to the semantics in the western thinking.):
"The man cuts down the tree with an axe."

In the language itself we have already established 3 different parts of the

process independent of each another. The man, the axe and the tree. The
ratification of the process is already done by the language,  in separating into
3 different things with the assumption that it is the man who contains the will
power and controlling the process. The language itself has already divided the
cycle, (which is a simple cybernetic feedback system) into 3 separate parts
which interacts, but according to Bateson, the mind does not belongs to the
man!

He took a closer look: each blow by the axe is modified and adjusted in
accordance with the marks of the axe in the tree. The cybernetic description is
based on the differences. First there is the distinction between the blows, the
marks in the tree, which is perceived by the mans eyes as a difference. The
brain transforms the input from the retina as a difference, and gives new
information to the muscles for a new blow. A simple trial and error loop,
always referring to the point of reference in the tree. The recipe for the
process is A-B-C-a-b-c-a1-b1-c1-a2....
What is transmitted around the cycle are "differences that make a difference",
which is Bateson's definition of a basic idea, the smallest unity of information.
(The mathematical terminology in the Information theory will state
differences as bits.)
 147

Bateson's statement was, that the mental aspect - the mind - was laying
immanent in the whole circuit, not in the brain of the man.  
Strictly in the cybernetic sense one can say that the crucial guiding factor is
the differences in the marks on the tree, not the brain, which only respond to
the differences.
The phrase: "The ghost in the machine", comes to mind when the PC suddenly goes
crazy. Yet one can say that though the computer and the brain have circuits of their
own, it is the interaction between man and machine that is the issue. The brain, the
nervous system and the body are not the case. According to Bateson, they are all
subsystems, which first when added to the surrounding world become part of the whole
circuit, that has the immanent mind. 

The mental is hierarchic

The learning process is also described as a cybernetic function, where by

repetition the skills sink "down" to deeper layers of the brain - into the
unconscious level. 
The basic recipe is stimulant, response, reinforcement. Bateson assign
fundamental thinking and behavior habits in culture and civilization to this
level. The way we perceive and react to our surroundings is unconsciously
ingrained.
His participation as a guinea-pig in perception experiments by A. Ames, showed to him
how automatic the 3-dimentional space is processed in the brain.
Ames constructed e.g. a trapezoid box in such a way that looking in a peephole, the box
appeared "normally" rectangular. The test person's job was to point with a stick at an
object in that distorted space knowing it is trapezoid, but it was not possible to hit the
object even after multiple attempts. 
After a long learning-process the test person finally was able to accomplish the job. The
odd thing was that it was only possible because the test person began to perceive the
box as what is was, a trapezoid box, and after the experiment the normal space looked
very odd and unreal. 
Bateson tells that after a number of these experiments in Ames laboratory, he could
hardly walk on the street, because he did not believe his normal perceptions. 

It was the information interactions between the different parts released by

differences Bateson was focusing on. Mental systems react on differences,
which means that they compare and make distinctions between differences. A
classification is taking place and hereby hierarchic. Mental systems are
leveled in categories. 
An example from the daily life: The words on the menu card are not the food
to eat!

The map is not the landscape

A discipline in information theory is meta-mathematics. It is about what can

be proved in a mathematical, logical axiom system. In the beginning of the
20th Century Whitehead & Russel released a book, Principia Mathematica,
 148

which dealt with the relationships between categories and their elements in an
attempt to solve the logic of paradox. A category cannot be an element itself,
which would create a paradox, but have to be on another level of abstraction
or another logical type.
Meta is a Greek prefix meaning "after", and was first known used by Aristoteles'
Metaphysics, which was the book he wrote "after" his book about physics.

A paradox is typically a kind of communication, where a part of the statement

have a negative assertion and is referring to itself. The classical example is the
Cretan Epimenedes' statement:
"All Cretan's are lying". This
paradox has haunted logical
thinkers for about 2,500 years and
is still pending.
The theory of dis-continuity
between categories and their
elements is also called "the theory
of logical types", which Bateson
used as the fundament for his
theory of communication.
He pointed out that in humans and
mammals communication, a
mixture of categories and their
elements is done all the time, e.g.
in humor or in play.
The picture is made by Escher. To illustrate different levels of category, I have added
Escher drawing his drawing.

Context

Closely connected to meta-communication is the linguistic notion, context,

which means the coherence or connection in which the message shall be
understood. The underlying assumption is, that anything outside the context,
shall be ignored or let out of the reference frame. 

A simple example could be the sign: 0. If this sign is placed in a context with
ROW, its function is the letter O in the word ROW, but if the context is 203
the sign change to a number 0. So the framework or the environment state the
context in which the message shall be received.
In every language there are many words that are pronounced and spelled the
same, but change meaning in different context. It is so common that we do not
think about it.
In Danish, e.g. the word for 'darling' in another context means 'tax', a third meaning is
'treasure'. A more morbid example is the word for 'married', which in a different none
figurative sense means 'poison'!
As an anthropologist and ethnologist Bateson was puzzled by the way mammals was
 149

able to understand the difference between play and real fight. They seems to know what
context means and are able to respond accordingly. 

Meta-communication or context is actually the rule in daily behavior much to

the despair for logic minds. The violation of logical types and creation of
paradox's are the common stuff in daily communication and may I add makes
the life more spicy. 

Every day we literally experience such context each time we encounter a

frame: television, movies, art, theatre, games, or in a psychological
framework: humor, political address, psychotherapy, orations of different
kinds, etc. We knew as our related mammals, that this is only a game.
Actually, each time we use the word, " I ", a meta-communication sign or a
premise is stated, indicating a context in which I set the rules. 
In addition our behavior is related to which relationship, context, we have
with different persons or groups. The contexts are different if we are with ones
spouse, family, fellow workers, friends, etc.

Learning

From the day we are born, we begin to learn from every interaction with other
humans and gain an understanding of the patterns and relationships going on,
unconsciously or more consciously.  Bateson considered the learning process
as a communication phenomenon and made a hierarchy of learning processes
reflecting the level of automation or unconsciousness. We shall not go further
into learning, but state that the deeper levels of personality such as identity,
character, habits, outlook on life, depend on a input from "a bigger mind"
outside one self.

Context belongs to the world of communication and can not be regarded as a

physical thing separated from the observer, but a message that always depend
on the observer. 
The object has a form or pattern, which contains information depending on the
observer's interpretation. 
An example could be some paw tracks in the wilderness of Africa. A city
tourist on photo safari will most likely observe those imprints in the soil as
animal footprints, but the guide and tracker, who has a long experience of
wildlife in the region, will be able to interpret the paw tracks as very resent
from a full-grown, wounded lion, and will release the safety catch of his rifle
and be on alert.

The band width of consciousness

The amount of information humans receive is immense and economy in the

consciousness is essential for fitness in life. No organism can permit all
 150

information on the conscious level, unless it can process a major part of it on

the deeper instinctive or unconscious level. Habits and already learned skills
belong to that level. This is how economy works. It is selective and
systematic. 

Bateson's suggest that the selection is performed in agreement with purpose,

intent or attention. Here lies the distortion of the total Cybernetic system,
since the aim is a linear cause chain, A-B-C, though the whole mental cycle
structure is A-B-C-A.  In the identification with the aim, C, we loose sight of
the bigger cyclic cybernetic system, where C only is a part. The fulfillment of
the purpose - how legitimate it might be - can cause severe damage to the
whole system.
The human being itself, its relation to the environment, the culture it is living
in, the ecology of nature, are all cybernetic systems. The "purposive thinking"
pull out those sequences of the mind that do not have the cyclic structure,
which is characteristic for a living organism, and distort it to a linear cause
chain.
This way of thinking is very effective though greedy, but not wise. (This make
me think of Gurdjieff's comment about man as "an insane stimuli-response
machine".) 

Communication according to Bateson

A priori one can claim that all perceptions and responses, all categories of
behavior, all learning and genetics, all neurology, physiology and
endocrinology, all organization and all evolution, can be considered
communication. This broad field can all be subject to the laws of
communication. 
In fact, it is impossible not to communicate. We are born into the world of
communication, we are a part of it willing or unconsciously, and even after
our death it continues in form of legend.

As mentioned earlier, Bateson made use of the mind concept in description of

complex cybernetic systems, including the unconscious mind. For Bateson the
mind concept was a description, a model, a map, which should not be
confused with the landscape. In science as in daily life the mistake of
categories is common.
He liked to rephrase Pascal's expression, "the heart has its own reason which
is unknown to the intelligence", to "the heart has its own precise algorithm".
Algorithm is a mathematical recipe for a process or calculation, also used in
computer programming. Bateson used this word to explain the underlying
premises for our perception, thinking and acting, which is unable to be
captured or understood by the algorithm of the language.
 151

Problems with the word self

The common use of the word self lead us to believe that it is well defined and
substantial. Even behavioral science makes frequent use of it, but Bateson
warns against carelessness with that word since it cause confusion and
unscientific waffle.
The Buddhists have a more clear take, since they considers the self as fiction,
and the work is to forget and deny individuality. It is a hard bargain for a
Westerner, so what has Bateson to offer?

He considered the self as an abstract idea without boundary, a quantity or

volume of unknown elements. What they are is an earnest philosophic
question, but since he regard himself as a naturalist, who observes human
beings in their culture and records their habits, conceptions and their picture
of the world, he choose to point out the contradiction in terms of the Western
concepts of the self. 

The general idea of the self is what Bateson calls "the captain of his soul",
which leads to believe that the captain has control and willpower over his
behavior and actions. There are however also a common recognition, that
obscure, unconscious forces lead us to actions out of control. 
This contradiction leads Bateson to focus on the guiding system of the self,
since it seems to operate unstable and unpredictable.

The cybernetic self

His study of the Alcoholics Anonymous rehabilitation program, gave him

material for his analysis of the change of the alcoholic's self, when he
manages to go clean. This radical change of the alcoholic self, indicate that
the self has been altered to a more healthy self sustained creation. The
reprogramming of the self demands a bigger and stronger guiding system, that
is able to overrule the old alcoholic self, characterize as a symmetrical
response to other people can drink - so can I. 
The new self is a harmonizing complementary relation working in the way
that the stronger the wish for alcohol the more need to give in to the AA
program. 
Those who are familiar with the Gurdjieff/Ouspensky system will see the law of three at
hand: 
the alcoholic self is the passive force. The creation of a new self, the wish to transform
to a higher level, require a force with a much higher rate of vibration, the active force.
The gab is too big, so a neutralizing force is needed. The AA system is the neutralizing
force and is the mitigating factor in creation of the new self. 

Bateson operates also with 3 systems: The original drinking behavior. The AA
system characterized by a complementary part-of-the whole relation. The third
system is a superior, bigger mind system composed of the other two less
 152

complicated systems plus a supreme immanent present life force, which

Bateson, who was atheist, characterized as belonging to the concept of God. 

At first this may sound odd, but he had to involve a higher system to make the
logic of Cybernetics work. Secondly, he considered art and religion as
examples of pre-verbal thinking, a bridge over the gap between
consciousness/mind and pre-verbal perception. This immanent supreme deity,
which he jocularly called the god Eco, is permeating man, nature and the
universe.

In a scientific term: the self tend to maintain and preserve its self. This applies
ironically also to the alcoholic self, but since it is in fundamental, sharp
conflict with the supreme meta system, a morphological evolution of the self
can take place, and the alcoholic can embark on a clean life.

For the schizophrenic the case is different, as Bateson points out, since the self is under
a constant destruction and do not have a chance to create a sound and robust self by
calibration, due to the double bind communication in the family. Double bind relations
are a trap, a mission impossible, since it does not leave any options for success. An
example could be that a parent encourage the child to express its opinion and when it
does, it is blamed for being unkindly and disloyal. Or the other way around. A
schizophrenic patient sends a mothers-day-card to his mother with the words: "to the
one, who has been like a mother to me". The message is double bind. 

The morphological evolution of the self, as I understand it, can take place only
in other circumstances less pathological. I am referring to religious revelation
or enlightenment. A less dramatic transformation of the self can take place for
a person earnestly working in groups guided by a teacher with a higher level
of being and consciousness. 

The black box

I will end this brief summary of Bateson's cybernetics theories by introducing

Ashby's black box method, since it displays - in my opinion -  information
theory in a nutshell. W. Ross Ashby's books about Cybernetics are considered
a key source, and they did convince Bateson of the scientific foundation of
Cybernetics.
Ashby's method applies to anything of a complex nature, that is impossible to
gain an insight into and therefore can be describe as a black box. The
investigator has to connect to the box so they together form part of a new
system with feedback. The two parts of the new system interact by means of 
communication.
The scientist formulates some questions by making an input to the box and it
makes a kind of an answer - an output. No response is also an information,
since it tells that the input is invalid.
The investigator makes a careful log over all the occurrences in the system,
 153

which Ashby calls a protocol. In theory there are no limits to the lengths of the
protocol, since there always will be something undone. At some time the
investigator considers the protocol sufficient and begins to make conclusions
about the nature of the black box. 
But the long protocol has to be decoded in order to find some sort of
regularity or systematism in the huge amount of information. The entropy
grows with the length of the protocol. 
The decoding is decisive for the knowledge about the black box. It is possible
that no pattern or regularity can be found in the protocol, so the system could
be chaotic. At least in the span of the protocol since that is what is given of
information. 

The process of decoding or interpretation of the protocol is called constraint

(Ashby) or restraint (Bateson), meaning that the statistical probability of a
certain occurrence will come up where it is expected or presumed. The
random chances are constraint, which give an indication of a pattern or
structure, that could give basis for regularity. 
When a black box protocol shows regularity, a further decoding can be
performed by mathematical calculation and a law free of constraint can
(perhaps) be formulated. A law gives possibilities for prediction, which can be
tested by a new protocol under similar conditions.

Ashby's black box method for complex cybernetic systems is in many ways
similar to the classical method in physics, but with a new, crucial addition: the
observer, the scientist is part of the method. He evidently concludes that
science is always metascience. A metaphor or reflection of the subject. A map
of the landscape. An image of reality.
Everything in life are black boxes. We really do not know what is going on
inside, but through communication between the box and us, we can get an
idea of the double system, that reflect not only messages from the box but also
contains data about ourselves. The way we observe and formulate questions to
the box, is guided by our outlook on life, our culture, and can not be separate
from the information about the box.    

The theory of systems and cybernetics gives a scientific method for studying
living organisms, their interactions and the way they learn to behave in their
environment. The major difference from classical science is the abolition of
the objective observer, who can not be separated from the object.

Sources: Bent Ølgaard (Danish), "Kommunikation og økomentale systemer, ifølge

Gregory Bateson".
Books:  W.Ross Ashby, "An Introduction to Cybernetics". 
Gregory Bateson, "Steps to an Ecology of Mind".
       "           "           "Mind and Nature".
 154

The band width of the brain

Looking at the hearing faculties of a human being, we know, that the input to
the hearing center in the brain is around 1 million bits per second. One bit is
the smallest piece of information there is, namely 1 or 0, yes or no, first
formulated by the Hungarian scientist, Leo Szilard. 
The input from the 5 senses is about 11 million bits per second. No wonder
the head is so warm! What an enormous work to process and get rid of all the
unnecessary information from that huge input. So the big question that has
puzzled scientists for many decades is, how can the brain handle all this
information so only relevant messages reach the conscious part? In this
context consciousness means the ordinary state of mind where the necessary
information for maintaining orientation in life is taking place.

Sophisticated laboratory tests performed by many different scientists has

shown that normal consciousness can process only around 16-20 bits per
second. Depending on what kind of intellectual work they are testing, the
number of bits differs a little but the upper limit is 50 bits.

Especially the American scientist Benjamin Lebet (German origin) has done
pioneer work in that field. Even during open surgery in the brain he has
performed many tests while the patients are awake and communicating.

Professor Helmar Frank’s approach differs from the general empirical method
by looking at the central maximum stream of consciousness as a subjective
time quantum (Subjective Zeit Quant, SZQ), the smallest moment of
perception. That quantum fits well with humans' capacity of hearing and
seeing. Sound impulses up to 16 beats per sec. are heard separately, but over
16 beats it's merged into a continuous sound. The same applies to the speed of
pictures. Over 16-18 frames per sec. will compose a smooth movement.

It is an astonishingly small capacity - about 16 bits per sec. the conscious

mind can process. On the other hand, it has access to a large memory bank.
As it has been pointed out about great story tellers such as H.C.Andersen and tales
collected by the Grimm Brothers, that their writing, though containing little information
in bits, is able to access the long path to the memory bank so a huge amount of
information can be released. Their words are pregnant so they can release and create
many associations.

We also have to bear in mind that the above mentioned tests about our
consciousness are limited to one channel at a time. The tests do not reflect the
many other channels of information we receive simultaneously. Though they
may not be noted, they still "color" the few bits of information.

"There is more to the picture than meets the eyes", contains a lot of sense,
because a human is not a one-channel computer, but a multidimensional
 155

holographic bio-computer, that perceives.

The sub-limit perception - meaning all the input from our senses the
consciousness is not aware of, are enormous; about 11 millions bits/sec. As it
is stated in the theory of information-entropy: the more information the more
entropy. So the big work of the brain is to throw away information - to forget,
which is done by heat. About a million times less information is allowed to
enter the consciousness.

What is interesting is also the delay in real time (0.5 sec) and the simulation of
data the brain - more specifically the part that is conscious, meaning that
which has the attention - performs. The most surprising for me is the
simulation of referring the events back in time to the moment where the actual
registration of the event occurs. EEG can record that as "the readiness
potential" 0.02 seconds after the action or simulation.
I do not of course refer to the instinctive or moving parts, that react almost
instantly, but to the intellectual part that interprets those few bits, that are
made available, when the millions of bits are thrown away as heat.

When one thinks about it, it makes sense. It takes time to process the 11
million bits/sec and only make the intellectual part aware of what is relevant
for orientation in life. When a tiger is after you, the information about a
beautiful flower that you are passing cannot in that situation be considered
worth paying attention to!

We have to bear in mind that the above-mentioned small numbers of bits

apply only to the intellectual capacities of the brain. The sub-limit perception
from all our senses and the processing from the other centers of intelligence -
instinctive, moving and emotional – add enormously to the small amount of
intellectual data.
 156

Vortex energy entering other dimensions

     The strong economical interest in fossil energy production has most likely
caused the elimination of any further development of real alternative energy.
It is odd, that alternative energy in common is applied to old fashion energy
sources such as wind and water. Real alternative energy studies are abandoned
by the scientific communities either by lack of funding but most likely by the
fear of being the laughing stock.
The following is a very brief introduction to some of the "crazy" pioneers in
vortex energy, Additionaly, an attemt to give some theories behind those
experiments, that precent science deneied as possible. Kaluza's unifieded 5th
dimentional unifide theory, ZeorPointEnergy, Tesla's bifilar coils and scalar
waves
 
Already in the 19th. Century,
Michael Faraday made some
remarkable but little known
discoveries in regard to
spinning magnets. Faradays
discovery was simple, but
totally revolutionary. If a bar
magnet is set spinning, the
differential in velocity, down
the radius, of each turning magnetic element, sets up a magnetic vortex. This
effect is more pronounced with a series of bar magnets radiating from a
central spinning hub, or a spinning, magnetic disc.

At a certain threshold of angular velocity, the magnetic vortex sets up an inter-

dimensional energy portal through a vortex resonance.

This simple arrangement is the operating principle of most "free energy"

machines.
In the 20th. Century a number of inventors, including Bruce de Palma and
Adam Trombly, had worked with N-machines or Uni-polar generators.

In the early 1930’s in Austria, Victor Schauberger, e.g. fabricated conical

pipes of special materials, which contained a corkscrew turbine. Operated by
an electric motor, the spiral turbines screwed water into a vortex flow and
directed the water onto a conventional water turbine coupled to a generator.
Schauberger claimed, that as the water was screwed faster and faster, it
suddenly began to produce enormous amounts of energy. Coupled to a
dynamo, the turbine began to produce more electricity than the input motor
was consuming. The system quickly went out of control as the apparatus tore
itself away from its mountings and smashed itself against the ceiling.
When Schauberger experimented with air turbines, he found the same thing
 157

happened. Regardless of the medium, vortex motion seemed to generate

energy, apparently out of nowhere, and also produced a powerful anti-gravity
force.

John R. Searl, a British electrical engineer, had similar experiences in the

beginning of the 1950`s. He constructed an arrangement of spinning discs to
generate and spin an electric charge. His apparatus consisted of a segmented
rotor disc, which was set spinning at great speed through electromagnets at its
periphery. The electromagnets, energized from the rotor, were intended to
boost the electro-motive force. The generator was about one meter in
diameter.
To begin with, it produced the expected electric power, but at an unexpectedly
high voltage. This quickly exceeded a million volts producing a crackling
sound and the smell of ozone.

In Searl’s own words: "Once the machine has passed a certain threshold of
potential, the energy output exceeded the input. From then on the energy
output seemed to be virtually limitless".
Then something really spectacular happened. As the generator continued to
increase in potential, it lifted off the ground and broke free of its mountings
and the engine. It floated in the air, all the time spinning faster and faster. The
air around it glowed pink with ionization and nearby radio receivers were
switched on spontaneously due to electromagnetic induction. Then the
apparatus accelerated off into space and was never seen again.

An American inventor, Joseph Newman, has also found that "free energy"
could be obtained from vortex motion by electromagnetic fields spinning.
Like other vortex generators, Newman’s apparatus appeared to produce
energy out of nowhere – at least from the known dimensions, yet his version
did not go out of control.
Different physicists had tested his device and confirmed, that the input power
in the test was 7 and 14 Watts yielding efficiencies of 700% and 1400%
respectively.
In 1987 Newman had his generator operating as the engine of a car built on a
Porsche chassis. Started by a battery the car ran without any input of fuel at
high speed. However, the American Patent Office refused to grant him a
patent for his invention on the grounds that it was, to all intents and purposes,
a perpetual motion machine, and herby not possible! Consequently the
commercial development of his engine was effectively blocked.

When Trombly attempted to patent his uni polar generator, the U.S. Patent
Office turned him down on similar grounds. Nonetheless, the U.S. Defense
authorities took a court order against him and threatened him with a 10 years
imprisonment for infringing secret government research into uni-polar
generators.
 158

Similar obstacles happened to Schauberger vortex turbines. After W.W.II the

Allies thoroughly discouraged him by putting him in protective custody, and
destroying his apparatus and papers. The American authorities forbade him to
resume his research under threat of re-arrest.

The British authorities treated Searl in much the same way.

Other similar experiments have been opposed, ignored or ridiculed by the
university establishments. If being labeled as a pseudo-scientist did not stop
further research,  prosecution and "accidents" in the lab did the job.

The following is an attempt to produce a theoretical background for real

alternative energy devices:

A twist on locality

First I will give an example from the quantum mechanics, that made a strong
impression on me, when I read about it some decades ago. It was about  Bell's
theorem from 1964. He proved, that the results predicted by quantum
mechanics could not be explained by any theory, which preserved locality.
It was a severe blow to the basic of science and Einstein's principle of
Relativity since Bell demonstrated, that on the quantum level locality does not
exist. Either particles are aware of each another beyond the speed of light, or
they are connected beyond the local event in the huge space. 
Of cause a lots of experiments in the late twentieth Century were done by
experimental physicists, and the predictions of quantum mechanics proved to
be accurate.
Though I am not a physicist I can see the significance of the under laying
reality in some way is connected beyond our physical world in a higher
dimentional space.

The fifth dimension

In this portion I have to lean on a recent published (2006) book  by Dr. Willy
De Maeyer & Dr. Gabriele Breyer, called "Tools of Awareness", covering in
depth all the subjects and more, than I have been writing about in thise pages.
It is the most comprehensible book on thise matters, I have read. Here I will
give a taste of higher dimensions application in physics.

Already in 1921, the Polish mathematician Theodor Kaluza combined

electromagnetism and gravitation as a unified theory. Kaluza added a fifth
(spatial) dimension to Minkowski's 4D-space, and applied Einstein's relativity
theory to the 5th. dimensions.
A common 5-d potential is responsible for both electromagnetic field and
 159

gravitational field. The "bleed-off of this 5-potential in the 5th dimension into
our 3 space world, is the well knowen electromagnetic force field (which is
wrapped around each point in our 3-space). This is our common electric
power.
The gravitational force field in the 5 dimension "bleed-off" very weak - by a
smaller factor of 1042 for electrons- in and through our 3-space, according to
Col. Tom Bearden.
This tiny "bleed-off" gravitational force field is not recognized by the
scientific establishment.

Scalar wave - higher dimensional influx?

Since I read about Scalar waves on the Internet a decade ago, I was unable to
figure out what this officially non existing waves was about. It is first after
reading "Tools of Awareness" (2006), I began to get the notion of the basic
idea, though as a layman I do not understand the scientific underlying
arguments.
It is the attempt to explain the disturbing evidence and experiments since
Tesla demonstrated the ability to tap into energy beyond the fundamental law
of the energy equilibrium.
Too many "crazy" scientists have since demonstrated energy producing
devices, that yield more energy, than is available in the system. So called over
unity, or free energy devices. But what if they are tapping into higher
dimensional realms?

Bifilar coils

Bifilar coils (with opposing windings) are extremely interesting devices.

These types of coils, when powered do not create an external magnetic field.
Their construction is similar to that of a normal solenoid, but each turn of the
coil carries the current in opposite directions.
The opposing currents create an overall canceling effect, thus no major
external field is produced. A bifilar coil will produce almost no inductance to
a changing, or AC current. This makes them useful for creating non-inductive
wire wound resistors.
Scalar theory suggests, that this type of coil produces scalar waves, but as the
standard model of physics does not accept scalar waves as a valid theory,
traditional physics is really in big trouble by giving an acceptable explanation
for it.
Therefore, bifilar coils are often mentioned along side so called over unity, or
free energy devices.

This is because the vacuum fluctuations, or Zero Point Energy are like
cancelled vibrations with a massive energy density, and are seen as scalar
waves. Standard scientific theory tells us that the entropy (disorder) of a
 160

closed system always increases and therefore no useful energy should be able
to be extracted from the vacuum.
Traditional physics is really in big trouble by giving an acceptable explanation
for it. Therefore, bifilar coils are often mentioned along side so called over
unity, or free energy devices.

Tesla's bifilar coil

The image shows a patent

by Nikola Tesla for a type
of bifilar coil. In this
configuration the two wires
are wound the same way
and then connected in series
so that the current flows in
the same direction. This
allows the magnetic field to
combine to produce a larger
overall field.
In the meantime Prof. Dr
Meyl has been able to
construct such a device with
stunning results. Test
devices as well as advanced
demonstration systems are now available.
Officially, the longitudinal electric Tesla waves, electrostatic energy flow and
electro dynamical over unity devices, are nonexistent.

A Tesla wave is a longitudinal electro-scalar wave. Other theorists claim that Tesla's
longitudinal wave is a longitudinal magnetic wave, but this is not how Nikola Tesla
described the longitudinal wave phenomenon. Also the Russian scientist Ignatiev back
engineered Tesla's energy transmitter as a transmitter of longitudinal electric waves
without magnetic field component.

The alteration of Maxwell's genius equations

There is a long story about the scientists in-ability to comprehend the genius
of James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electrodynamics. Firstly Maxwell was
very modest, when he published his electro-magnetic theory in the second half
of the 19th Century. Secondly, the equations was difficult to understand and
there was no experiments to confirm the theory.
After Maxwell's death a single man - Oliver Heavside - directly altered
Maxwell's equations eliminating localized electro-gravitation and producing
the form of the theory taught throughout the West today as "Maxwell's
theory."
 161

Electromagnetic field and gravitational field were then modelled and regarded
as mutually exclusive. Electromagnetic fields, therefore, were thought to
produce no specific gravitational effects in the vacuum itself.
In his numerous publications, Tom Bearden makes clear, that the Soviet
scientists on the contrary did assume the possibility of local space-time
curvature. This is particularly ironic since the basis for just such an
experimental theory was produced by Maxwell himself in his original theory
of electromagnetism.

However it should be kept in mind, that when Einstein wrote his general
theory of relativity, he probably did not know, that the original work of
Maxwell already indicated the unification of gravitation and
electromagnetism, and indicated the ease with which local space-time could
be electro-gravitationally curved locally and engineered.

Because of Einstein's limiting assumption of no local space-time curvature, it

has been assumed by the Western scientists, that direct experimentation with
general relativity in the lab could not be possibly done.
On the astronomical scale the general theory of relativity was soon proved to
be as predicted.
John Wheeler summed Einstein's equations up as: "Space tells bodies how to
move, and bodies tell space how to curve".

Quantum electrodynamics and Zero-Point-Energy

Again I have to draw on Dr. De Maeyer & Dr. Breyer's book, "Tools of
Awareness", which has a goldmine of informations and reference about
scientific theories, that unlock hidden sources of energy.
Before quantum mechanics was generally accepted, classical physicists
rejected the existence of the ether and considered the vacuum of space to be
truly empty. From quantum mechanics arose a mathematical term in the
description of the ground state of any oscillating system called the zero-point
energy. (The term "zero-point" refers to zero degrees Kelvin, which means
this energy exists even in the absence of all heat!).
If we calculate the lowest possible energy of a harmonic oscillator, we get a
bigger answer, when we use quantum mechanics, than when we use classical
mechanics. The difference is called the "zero-point energy".

Quantum physics and astronomy are often working on the same problem. In these years
"the dark matter" or "dark" energy is a serious problem for astronomers, and some of
them are using vacuum-energy theory to explain the presents of most of matter and
energy in the universe can not be seen. The accelerate expanding universe creates
growing vacuum, and adding up the minute energy in vacuum to universal proportion,
could make up the missing 9/10 of the energy in the universe.
 162

When Dirac in the 1930's showed, how electron-positron pair production

could arise from the vacuum fluctuations, quantum electrodynamics was born.
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle allowed quantum mechanical systems to
"borrow" this energy for short periods of time. The ether came back in
science, this time not as a material substance, but rather as a randomly
fluctuating energy.
Since I do not understand electrodynamics laws, I will just state, that quantum
mechanical effects arise from matter's interaction with ZeroPointEnergy, and
the energy density of the ZPE at each point in space should be infinite!
In "Tools of Awareness" there is an account of different ways to calculate
ZPE, working with small wavelengths of Planck's constant, where the
outcome vary between infinite and huge definitive energy.

Science has not yet been able to tap into zero-point-energy. Some pioneers has
however made experiments with wortx energy, that produced uncontrolled
energy release way over the amount of the energy input. This is a violation of
the known law of energy equilibrium.
It is odd, that no prestige or money has been granted to further explorations.
On the contrary, the pioneers was prosecuted and their labs was destroyed.
However, in the begining of this Century, the increasing demand for energy
has raised the price of oil, so it has begone to be ecconomical interesting to
develope non fosil energy.

"Wormholes" and "quantum foam"

John Wheeler applied the theory of general relativity to the ZPE to create a
natural cut off in his theory of geo-metro dynamics. In general relativity, the
texture of space curves as a function of the energy density. When the density
becomes sufficiently great, space pinches like it's forming a black hole.
This gives rise to the formation of hyperspace structures, that Wheeler called
"wormholes."

The resulting view is, that the fabric of space consists of constantly forming
and annihilating pairs of microscopic "mini" black holes and white holes,
which channel electric flux into and out of our three dimensional space. These
mini holes manifest dynamics which could be modelled as turbulent, virtual
plasma, that Wheeler calls the "quantum foam." In this view the elementary
particles are like bubbles or vortices arising from the dynamics of the vacuum
energy.
At first sight it seems to be impossible to tap this energy, since it is extremely
difficult experimentally to observe its existence.

However, the theories of quantum electrodynamics indicate, that all of the elementary
particles are dynamically interacting with the ZPE resulting in vacuum polarization. In
particular, quantum electrodynamics shows, that the different elementary particles
 163

polarize the vacuum differently.

If this is true, it offers virtually limitless energy. It can best be supported by noting that
there are interpretations of quantum mechanics and relativity theory, which imply the
existence of a physically real, higher dimensional space, and the notion of super space is
well discussed in the physics literature.
How the other conditions could be fulfilled as well, can be understood by modelling the
ZPE as virtual plasma. Like plasma, it is nonlinear in its dynamical behaviour; it may be
driven off of equilibrium by the abrupt motion of nuclei, and it might well be sustained
by an energy flux intersecting our 3 dimensional space from a higher dimensional, super
space.

Extended dimensions

In 1919, the Polish mathematician Theodor Kaluza proposed, that the

existence of a fourth spatial dimension might allow the linking of general
relativity and electromagnetic theory. The idea, later refined by the Swedish
mathematician Oskar Klein, was that space consisted of both extended and
curled-up dimensions. The extended dimensions are the three spatial
dimensions that we're familiar with, and the curled-up dimension is found
deep within the extended dimensions and can be thought of as a circle.

Experiments later showed that Kaluza and Klein's curled-up dimension did
not unite general relativity and electromagnetic theory as originally hoped, but
decades later, string theorists found the idea useful, even necessary.

The mathematics used in superstring theory requires at least 10 dimensions.

That is, for the equations that describe superstring theory to begin to work out
— for the equations to connect general relativity to quantum mechanics, to
explain the nature of particles, to unify forces, and so on — they need to make
use of additional dimensions. These dimensions, string theorists believe, are
wrapped up in the curled-up space first described by Kaluza and Klein.

SuperString theory - the 10+ dimensions

In string theory, the elementary particles we observe in particle accelerators

could be thought of as the "musical notes" or excitation modes of elementary
strings.
As in guitar playing, the string must be stretched under tension in order to
become excited. However, the strings in string theory are floating in space
time, they aren't tied down to a guitar. Nonetheless, they have tension. The
string tension in string theory is denoted by the quantity 1/(2 p a'), where a' is
pronounced "alpha prime" and is equal to the square of the string length scale.

If string theory is to be a theory of quantum gravity, then the average size of a

string should be somewhere near the length scale of quantum gravity, called
 164

the Planck length, which is about 1033 centimeters, or about a millionth of a

billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter.

Unfortunately, this means that strings are way too small to see by current or
expected particle physics technology (or financing!!) and so string theorists
must devise more clever methods to test the theory than just looking for little
strings in particle experiments.
String theories are classified according to whether or not the strings are
required to be closed loops, and whether or not the particle spectrum includes
fermions. In order to include fermions in string theory, there must be a special
kind of symmetry called super symmetry, which means for every boson
(particle that transmits a force) there is a corresponding fermion (particle that
makes up matter). Super symmetry relates the particles that transmit forces to
the particles that make up matter.

Super symmetric partners to currently known particles have not been observed
in particle experiments, but theorists believe this is because super symmetric
particles are too massive to be detected at current accelerators. Particle
accelerators could be on the verge of finding evidence for high energy super
symmetry in the next decade. Evidence for super symmetry at high energy
would be compelling evidence that string theory was a good mathematical
model for Nature at the smallest distance scales.

If superstring theory turns out to be correct, the idea of a world consisting of

10 or more dimensions is one that we'll need to become comfortable with. But
will there ever be an explanation or a visual representation of higher
dimensions that will truly satisfy the human mind?
The answer to this question may forever be no.

The reason I trouble you with quantum theories, is just to point out the
existents of a multi-dimensional world.
However, it is not new. Indigenous people from ancient time did not have
doubt about higher dimensions. They lived accordinly to its exsistens, and
shamen and medicine men showed them its magic.

Thomas Hightower, 1998-2009.

References:

"Tools of Awareness", by Dr. Willy de Maeyer & Dr. Gabriele Breyer. A

compelling account about vibratory phenomena and cosmic energy.
 165

Books by David Ash: "Activation for Ascension", 1995, Kima Global

Publishers.
                                "The Vortex: Key to Future Science" , with Peter Hewitt
(Gateway).
                                 "The Tower of Truth", (Camspress).
David Ash is a science graduate of London University. He is a fine example of
"spiritual" scientist, who try to incorporate the spiritual realm into modern science. He
is a writer and travels the world presenting his view in an endearing humors and
inspiring way. In 1995 I followed his lecture about Ascension in Denmark. 

"The Hunt for Zero Point", Inside the classified world of antigravity
technology by Nick Cook. 2001.

Books by Preston B. Nichols with Peter Moon: "The Montauk Project", vol. 1
- 4.

Some Internet portals which have pages about similar "free energy" machines:

 Scalar waves
 Keely Net.
 Alchemical Octave.
 Sympathetic Vibratory Physics.
 166

"The One Voice Chord" 

Tibetan and Mongolian chanting

"One night in 1433 AD, the

Tibetan lama Je Tzong
Sherab Senge, awoke from
a startling dream. He had
head a voice in the dream
unlike any voice he knew.
It was a low voice,
unbelievably deep,
sounding more like the
growl of a wild bull than
anything human. Combined
with the first voice, there
was a second. This voice
was high and pure, like the
sound of a child singing.
These two voices, so totally
different, had come from
the same source and that
source was himself.

In this dream,  Je Tzong Sherab Senge had been instructed to take this special
voice and use it for a new chanting style that would embody both the
masculine and the feminine aspects of the divine energy. It was a tantric
voice, a sound that could unite those chanting it in a web of universal
consciousness.

The next morning, Je Tzong Sherab Senge began to chant his daily prayers.
The sound that came out of him were the sounds he had heard in his dream
– unearthly sounds, tantric sounds – and he gathered his fellow monks
together to tell them of his dream."  (Jonathan Goldman, Healing sound)

That year, 1433 AD, more that 500 years ago, the Gyume Tantric Monastery
began in Lhasa, Tibet. The monks of this monastery learned to chant in the
same voice which Je Tzong Sherab Senge have heard in his dream. It was a
voice that enable each monk to chant three notes at the same time, creating
the ”One Voice Chord”. Within that same century, another monastery in
Lhasa, the Gyuto Tantric college, was founded.  
 167

What is throat singing

In the western world Throat singing is also called overtone singing, harmonic
singing, or harmonic chant. The most known Throat singing is the Tibetan and
Mongolian chanting but also many other regions in the World are practicing a
similar type of singing, that manipulates the harmonics resonance's created as
air travels through the human vocal folds and out the lips.

The harmonic frequencies created by the human vocal apparatus are harnessed
in throat singing to select overtones by tuning the resonance in the mouth. The
result of tuning allows the singer to create more than one pitch at the same
time, with the capability of creating six pitches at once. Generally the sounds
created by throat singing are low droning hums and high pitched flutelike
melodies. 

Different practice of chanting in the West

Michaael Mosley has mailed me following comment:

"The story of the monk having a dream and singing is a nice story, and may actually have
happened, but the Tibetans encountered khoomei {throat singing} much earlier. Their spread
of Tibetan buddhism led them into Mongolia and Siberia where khoomei was already an old
practice of nomadic herdsmen. From time out of mind shepherds and cowboys have sung to
their herds to keep them calm at night - to let them know they protectd and can sleep deeply
without worrying about predators. The combination of needing harmony for the song and the
attempt to mimic natural sounds as sacred to the animistic religion of the area, led to
discovering the ability to sing harmony with one's own voice. 
I myself did this as a child, so it's not that improbable. I did not, however, realize any real
importance in such a thing until I re-learned it as an adult through time spent with Jonathan
Goldman and Jill Purce, who was Jonathan's teacher. There are many people in the west who
can do polyphonic chant, not just Jonathan. It is a rather simple process, more hearing and
practice than technique. The technique is a two minute lesson."

Since I wrote about the Tibetan "One voice chord" and Mongolian chanting,
Hoomi singing, I have received several mails from Westerner practicing
singers, who teach and perform throat singing, and they all tell me, that the
technique actually is easy and do not require deep studies of Buddhism still
less spiritual enlightment, in order to perform the deep chordal chanting. 
They point out that Western musicologists and scholars in their research of
Tibetan chanting are infatuated by a well meaning but often incorrect
fascination of the mysticism of the chanting monks.

Concerning the widespread propensity to mysticism among Western scholars

of Tibetan chanting I will quote a mail from a well known practician, Steve
Sklar, who is a longtime student, performer and teacher of Tuvan Throat-
 168

Singing and Tibetan voice. He has a much more down to earth approach. He
has even made on-line lessons in Throat Singing. Steve Sklar wrote:

"Since our earlier correspondence, I've tried to further investigate this issue of the
monks' voice. I have indeed received some criticism for saying that there is indeed a
technical basis for their peculiar chant voice. My point is that the voice can be
understood and that there is no need to perpetuate myths about it. The Tibetan voice is a
powerful and beautiful thing, valid in its own right, and not in need of romanticizing.
The actual technique simply involves the use of the ventricular folds in addition to the
vocal folds, and often a lowering of the
larynx/trachea, enhancing the deep sound by lengthening the air column of the vocal
system.
Conversations with Tibetan monks and ex-monks still point to learning by exposure to
and imitation of the elder monks. Some can produce the sounds as young boys, prior to
joining the monasteries. Some, including some very highly regarded monks, cannot
chant in the low chordal voice.
The Tibetans DO sometimes mention a reincarnational propensity towards various
practices, such as memorizing texts or being good at chanting. Some have mentioned a
belief that I may have been a monk in a prior life, hence my skill at producing the tones
and teaching."

This "clash" of cultures, the ancient, esoteric tradition against the Western
democratic, practical way of life, is indeed refreshing and hopeful. (This
remind me of a similar story: The outstanding Chinese martial arts fighter,
Bruce Lee, developed from the secret tradition a new style in USA available
for anyone, not only for the initiated Chinese.) 
Unfortunately, I am not able to perform polyphonic chanting myself, so I am
limited to second hand information, which I in the following have clean out
for most of the wail of mysticism. 
However, I am aware of the law of being: a lower being can not recognize a
higher being. Hence, their might be a world of difference in level of being and
conscousness, concealed in the different traditions. 
One thing is the actual technique of producing the chordal voice, which many
has shown is relatively simple. There might be other more subtle shades in the
voice, which only can be produced by beings of a certain level. It is my belief,
that the sound one emits is a reflection of ones being. This does also applies to
the states where something bigger than oneself is taking place and one
experience oneself as a channel or a vessel for something more sublime and
mighty. The ability to be a channel is also a reflection of a clean being.
This is not meant as sitting in judgment over monks versus secular singers.
The benefit from the chanting can be of great value for anybody, who want to
work on themselves and explore the power of sound. In The Power of
Harmonics I have tried to elaborate on that subject.
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The Tibetan One voice chord

Religion is sound. This is how the high priests of Tibetan Buddhism describe
the importance of music in their worship.
The goal of Buddhism is to reach enlightenment by practicing the path to
liberation. To this end, the life of a Gyuto monk involves practicing
compassion for all people with the studying and memorization of sacred texts
at the core of this practice. This memorization is carried out by constant oral
repetition to the tune to which it is later chanted. One important reason for the
vocal recitation is the fact that Tibetans believe that gods and spirits live in
trees, houses, rocks, etc. By speaking aloud, these entities can hear and benefit
from the Buddha’s teachings. Once these texts have been committed to
memory, chanting is continued as a form of worship. It reminds one of the
Dharma, the truth or right path, as well as making positive karma. 

In 1950 Communist China invaded Tibet and began a brutal colonization with
the aim to destroy the powerful and deep rooted religious life. Dalai Lama
and several of his monks escaped to India, where they continued their
tantrum rituals. In addition they began to communicate to the free Western
world with the aim to find a way for a return of Dalai Lama and a possibility
to practice their religion in their homeland.  

The Tibetan chanting was first experienced by Western listeners in 1967, but
since then, the monks have traveled around the world, performing in such
prestigious places as Carnegie Hall and The Sydney Opera House. A number
of CD's with Tibetan chanting has since been released. On the Web there are
many sound samples of Throat singing.

Tibetan multiphonic chanting has its own characteristic sound. Gyuto monks
are able to chant in three octaves simultaneously. The sound has been
compared to the Australian digeridoo or resonance of a drum.  The chants are
usually metrical, in both symmetrical and anti-symmetrical measures, and the
chant is produced by a close-throated, constricted style, deep in pitch. The
chants can be monotone or a pattern of three to seven notes and glottal slides
are sometimes added.

Another interesting feature of Tibetan chant is the insertion of meaningless

syllables between the main syllables. This was done to prevent uninitiated
outsiders from hearing the sacred texts. This practice is not unique to Tibet
however, it was also done in sacred Hebrew and Byzantine texts. Other words
are mumbled or omitted because they are part of secret mantras that novices
must work they way up to.
 170

Single monks can perform chants as a form of devotion, or a choir of monks

may chant as part of a liturgical ritual. Studies measuring the frequencies of
the throat singing and the brain waves of the monks have shown synchronicity
in the brain, causing it to emit similar waves to those found in studies of silent
meditation.

The Tibetan monks believe, that in the creation of the 'One Voice Chord', the
monks do not 'make' the sound. Rather, they become a vehicle through
which the sacred sound may manifest. This is a basic principle contained in
the Tibetan Buddhist teachings of sacred sound. The chanting of the Gyuto
and Gyume monks embodies this understanding of sound and their powerful
multi-phonic chanting exemplifies the application of this principle. The
harmonics which they create are a result of their becoming one with sacred
sound.

  Tibetan chanting employs mantric formulas which make up their sacred

texts. These are mantras which are fundamental to their spiritual practices.
Each sacred scripture is an invocation to a specific deity or a collection of
deities. The chanters visualize these deities while creating a Mandala, a
circular cosmological painting which they inwardly visualize in archetypal
symbols. These mandalas may involve over 150 deities and entities, all in
specific placement. This combination of vocalization and visualization allows
the monks to become the embodiment of the energies they are invoking.

Mongolian Hoomi singing

Comparisons are often made between the ’One Voice Chord’ of Tibetan
chanting and the Hoomi or throat-singing style found in the Tuvic region of
Mongolia. This is natura1 since these two traditions are foremost in their use
of harmonics as an integral part of their sacred sounding. The ’Kargiraa’ style
of Mongolian overtone chanting is characterized by an extremely low
fundamental pitch sung with much resonance deep in the chest. Using vowel
sounds, singers produce the low pitch and create harmonics two and a half to
three and a half octaves above that note. 

Before Buddhism became the religion of Tibet, the religion of

the country was an animistic shamanic practice known as
'Bon' (a Tibetan word meaning 'to chant'). Most likely the
Buddhists has been inspired by the much older Mongolian
shamans tradition. Little  information exists about the exact
nature of the Bon chanting techniques, but there are
indications that it was similar to chanting styles utilized by
Mongolian shamans in which open vowels were used to create
harmonics.
 171

The Tibetan Buddhist path to self-realization involves the understanding of

the Three Mysteries. These are the Mysteries of Body, Speech and Mind,
whose experience has been condensed into the mantric formula OM-AH-
HUM. Speech is the interconnector between the Mind and the Body. Speech
is the understanding of sound as the creative force and incorporates the
knowledge of using mantra as a sacred tool for summoning up the
appearance of gods and the forces of the universe. Through the creation of
several tones at the same time, the 'One Voice Chord' may be a further
condensation of the Three Mysteries into an expression of Body, Speech and
Mind as pure tone.

CREATING THE ONE VOICE CHORD 

As earlier stated by Western practician such as Steve Sklar, "the actual

technique simply involves the use of the ventricular folds in addition to the
vocal folds, and often a lowering of the larynx/trachea, enhancing the deep
sound by lengthening the air column of the vocal system."

However, to obtain the sound a "harmonic transmission" is needed. The

student have to be in directly vibratory presence of an expert in order to
transfer the power of sound. 
The way the Tibetan monks learned to create this voice was by being in the
presence of other monks, who already had the voice. 
As Steve Sklar points out, it is not a condition of creating the sound, that one
is a Buddhist or mastering deep meditation. Some have the ability, some have
not in spite of being a life long Buddhist monk. 
I have, however, come across other statements from scholars, who claimes
that "only those who have reached a certain stage in this meditation can
become open enough to be vessels of this sound." Do not take such type of
statements too literally. Find someone who can perform the chord and try. 

MANTRAS

'Mantra' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'the thought that liberates and protects'.
Mantras are sounds or words which when recited have the ability of
changing the consciousness of the reciter. In the Hindu tradition, there are
literally thousands of mantras, each with a different purpose and intention.
Some mantras are designed to unite the reciter with a particular deity or
energy form. Other mantras are designed to empower the reciter with
specific 'siddhas' or powers. Still other mantras are utilized to resonate and
activate the chakras of  the reciter.
 172

CHAKRAS

    Chakras are energy centres located along the centre of the body.
Clairvoyants and others with the ability of seeing these subtle energy centres
are able to view them as vortices of shifting colors, sounds and densities.
Indeed, the meaning of chakra (a Sanskrit word) is 'wheel', and they are seen
as spinning wheels of energy. Knowledge of chakras is by no means limited to
Eastern traditions, though it is from the Hindu and Tibetan systems that the
greatest information about chakras has come. Many esoteric and occult
traditions talk of energy centres along the body and it seems that anyone
with real sensitivity can sense. 

SUBTLE ENERGY

    Subtle energy is energy that seems to bypass the normal measurable
aspects of energy such as heat which can easily be measured by a
thermometer. Subtle energy may be electro-magnetic in nature or it may be
something else. It is, for the most part, energy that cannot be easily seen, felt
or perceived either by normal people or instrumentation. However,
individuals with heightened sensitivity can perceive this energy and new
scientific instrumentation is being invented which can now measure this
energy.

    Nearly fifty years ago in Russia, Semyon and Valentina Kirlian were
experimenting with photographic plates which were exposed to high-
frequency electrical fields. They observed that when a subject placed a finger
or hand on the plate, there appeared some unknown substance surrounding
the physical organ. This substance often varied in brightness, depth and size,
depending upon the health and vitality of the subject. The Kirlians speculated
that they had found a way of measuring the 'aura' of the body, long claimed
to be visible by psychics, seers and sages.

  Within the last decade, Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama, a Japanese scientist, has
invented instrumentation for measuring aspects of the subtle body, including
acupuncture points and chakras. Using highly sensitive photoelectric
equipment, Dr. Motoyama measured advanced masters of yoga as they
activated their chakras. He was able to detect light being emitted from the
chakras of his subjects. With other instrumentation designed to measure
minute changes in electric current, Motoyama was able to show changes in
skin current at acupuncture points, As more and more instrumentation
 173

becomes available, other scientists are making rapid progress in the ability to
measure subtle energy and the existence of the subtle energy centres known
as chakras.

  The concept of subtle energy is nothing new. If we perceive that all is in a

state of vibration, the varying degrees of this vibration would cause things to
have different densities. Working with sound, and particularly harmonics,
enhances the ability to affect many of these subtle energies. The chakras may
be influenced by sound.

    LOCATION OF CHAKRAS

    Chakras seem to be the focal point of manifestation for energy which
makes up the subtle body. From the chakras, the energy is thought to
become more dense, first appearing as the points utilized in acupuncture and
then, as they become even denser, this energy actually makes up the
physical body. In most traditions, there are seven major chakras which are
centrally located along the front of the body.

  The chakras are said to be related to the endocrine system, the 7 ductless
glands of the physical body. The chakras also influence and affect the area of
the physical body where they are located. Many physical imbalances may be
perceived as being the result of imbalanced chakras. The following is a short
summary of the chakras: 

7. The CROWN chakra or HEAD chakra is positioned at

the top of the head. It is associated with cosmic
awareness, highest spirituality, and complete
integration with Source.
VIOLET is the color of the crown chakra and the
musical note is B. - 123.47 Hz (the note B is also called
H)
6. The THIRD EYE chakra is located in the center of the
forehead. This chakra is also called the AJNA center. It
is associated with intuition, understanding,
visualization, and inner vision.
DARK INDIGO BLUE is the color of the third eye chakra
and the musical note is A. - 110.00 Hz

5. The THROAT chakra is positioned in the base of

throat. It is associated with communication, expression
 174

and speaking one's truth.

AZURE BLUE is the color of the throat chakra and the musical note is G. - 98.00

4. The HEART chakra is positioned in the center of the chest, usually shown to be even with the
nipple line. The heart is associated with compassion, friendship, empathy and the ability to
give and receive love.
GREEN is the color of the heart chakra and the musical note is F. - 87.31 Hz
Sometimes the heart chakra is shown as pink, especially in relation to sending love out from
the heart.

3. The SOLAR PLEXUS chakra or THIRD chakra is located midway between the end of the
breastbone and the navel. It is associated with issues of personal power, emotions (especially
blocked emotions), passion for living, and the ability to protect oneself from being the target
of negative or aggressive emotions.
YELLOW is the color of the solar plexus chakra and the musical note is E. - 82.41 Hz

2. The SACRAL chakra, also called the SECOND chakra or the SEXUAL chakra, is positioned in
the area between the navel and the pubic bone. Depending on which sources you read, it can
be shown to be centered on the navel itself or to be aligned with the sexual organs - ovaries in
women and testes in men. It is associated with creativity, sexuality, relationship, and
reproduction.
ORANGE. is the color of the sacral or second chakra and the musical note is D. - 73.42 Hz

1. The ROOT chakra, also called the FIRST or BASE chakra, is located at the base of the spine. It
is associated with issues of survival, drive, ambition, grounding one's energy in the physical
dimension, your life forces, and balancing experiences that create "fight or flight".
RED is the color of the root chakra and the musical note is C. - 65.41 Hz.
(by permission of Hugo Hein, engineer & inventor)

  Composed by Thomas Váczy Hightower, 2004.

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The Power of Harmonics

    In the Creation of Musical Scales, part 1 & 2, the general features of
harmonics has been described. The aim of this portion is devoted to the
spiritual and the psychological power of harmonics as well as the physical
well being.

  Alfred Tomatis is a French physician and specialist in otolaryngology, who

has been working with understanding the function of the human ear and the
importance of listening for forty-five years. In this connection we will look at
his discoveries of sound, which ”charge” the listener. Tomatis found that
sounds that contain high frequency harmonics, such as those found in
Gregorian chants, are extremely beneficial. It is these high frequencies around
8000 Hz, which are capable of ”charging” the central nervous system and the
cortex of the brain. In many of the sacred chants of the different tradition, the
 176

main out put of high frequency harmonics are dominant, which offer
stimulation to the brain.

Tomatis himself discovered this when he was called to help a Benedictine

monastery, where the monks were suffering of fatigued and depression. He
found out, that they usually six to eight hours of chanting - due to a new
decree -  has been ceased, and within a short period of time the monks was
unable to perform their many duties. WhenTomatis re-established their daily
chanting, the monks were soon able to continue their rigorous schedule of
work and prayers.

For Tomatis, a major aspect of the therapeutic affects of vocal harmonics lies
in the conduction of the bones, which are stimulated by resonance of around
2000 Hz. He says:
”The sound produced is not in the mouth, not in the body, but, in fact, in the
bones. It is all the bones in the body which are singing and it is like a vibrator
exciting the walls of the church, which also sing.”

Bone conduction’s actually amplifies the sound through resonance of the

cranium and the skull. According to Tomatis, bone conduction stimulates the
stapes muscle of the ear, which he believes is the key to stimulating and
charging the brain. Tomatis himself manages with a small amount of sleep,
less than four hours a night. He attributes this to his listening to sound, which
are rich in high harmonics.

Tomatis has described a phenomenon, which has been called ”The Tomatis
Effect”, that states that the voice can only create and duplicate those sounds,
which the ear is able to hear. This means that until you are able to hear various
overtones, you will not be able to create them in your voice.
Listening is undoubtedly a key, not only in obtaining the ability of creating
vocal harmonies and improvement of the voice, but of understanding aspects
of other levels of consciousness. In the Hindu tradition there is a great
awareness of listening as a tool for enhanced consciousness. The art of
listening to the outer and inner sound.

Inner and outer sound

In the Vedic language of Sanskrit, there is a differentiation between inner and

outer sound. There is audible sound, called ”ahata”, or struck sound and is the
result of vibration on the physical plane. There is also the ”anahata”, the
inaudible, inner sound which are not the result of some physical vibration, but
rather are ”unstuck” which can ridden like a flying horse to other planes of
existence in meditation.
 177

The American throat singer, Jonathan Goldman , formulates an interesting

statement in the book," Healing Sounds”, the power of harmonics:
I have always wondered if harmonics might not somehow be the bridge
between ”ahata” and ”anahata”, the struck and the unstuck sound, but the
harmonics which are created do not occur themselves from having been
physically struck. Perhaps they are the bridge between the physical and
the meta-physical.” (p.78)

  Pir Vilayat Khan, head of the Sufi Order of the West, said that the overtones
can be followed with the conscious mind and used as ”Jacob’s Ladder” to
climb to other planes of existence.

Sound as a carrier wave of consciousness

If we for a moment give up the common notion about sound as air waves the
ear can hear, and extend it to a member of the universal family of vibrations,
we will open up for the Hermetic Principles that tell us about the Universe is
nothing more or less than an endless number of vibrations and rhythms from
the atoms to the stars.

Hermes Trismegistus, Thrice Great Hermes, the scribe of the Gods, as the
ancient Greeks named the mystical Egyptian God Thoth, was said to create by
the sound of his voice alone. The sacred writings of the ancient mystery
Schools over the world, were attributed to him as mediator of divinely
revealed wisdom. In thus center of learning the knowledge of sound was a
highly refined since based upon an understanding of vibration as the primary
causative form of the universe. While there are many mystical and spiritual
paths, the Principles laid out by (the post atlantian?) Hermes Thoth seem to be
incorporated in all of these paths. There were Seven Principles upon which
the entire Hermetic Philosophy was based. Describe in ”The Kyballium: a
study of Hermetic Philosophy” these are:
1.      The principle of Mentalisme: "All is mind"
2.      The principle of correspondence: "As Above, so Below".
3.      The principle of Vibration:" All is in vibration".
4.      The principle of Polarity: " Everything is dual".
5.      The principle of Rhythm: " Everything flows".
6.      The principle of Cause and Effect: " Everything happens according to
Law".
7.      The principle of Gender: " Everything has its Masculine and Feminine
Principles"

Resonant frequency

Every organ, bone and tissue in the human body has its own separate resonant
frequency. Together they made up a composite frequency, a harmonic that is
 178

your own personal vibratory signature. This signature encircle the whole body
with a field, which some gifted people can see as an aura, and can be recorded
by means of Kirlian photography.

Just as it is possible to set an object into its own natural vibratory state
through resonance, so it is possible to restore the natural motion of an object,
that may be out of tune or in disharmony. We call this disease. When disease
sets in, a different sound pattern is established in that part of the body which is
not vibrating in harmony. Therefore, it is possible, through use of externally
created sound that is projected into the diseased area, to reintroduce the
correct harmonic pattern.

 The different rhythms of the body may also be changed through sound. This
is known as entrainment and involves the ability of the more powerful
rhythmic vibrations of one object to change the less powerful rhythmic
vibration of another object and cause them to synchronize their rhythms with
the first object. Through sound, especially chanting or overtone singing, it is
possible to change the rhythmic pattern of our brain waves, as well as our
heart beat and respiration.

Different brain wave rates have been equated to different state of

consciousness. There are four basic categories of brain waves:

1.      Beta waves, from 14 to 20 Hz, which are found in our normal waking state of mind.

2.      Alpha waves, from 8 to 13 Hz, which occur when we daydream or meditate.

3.      Theta waves, from 4 to 7 Hz, which are found in states of deep meditation and
sleep, as well in shamanic activity.

4.      Delta waves, from 0,5 to 3 Hz, which occur in deep sleep and have been found in
very propound states of meditation and healing.

  The use of music in sacred ceremonies and shamanic rituals has occurred
since ancient times. The changing of these rates creates change in
consciousness.

In our age of science it has been verified that sound can be used to effect and
change our brain waves. In The Sound of Silence, I mentioned the American
engineer, Robert Monroe, who has written books about his out of body
experiences and produced sound tapes for the purpose of synchronizing the
two brain hemispheres in order to create an altered state where out of body or
similar experience can emerge. (I have tested some of these tapes myself, but I
have to admit that I came in a state of flying - though not out of my body.
Maybe my intend was not strong enough!)
 179

 The changing of using resonance and entrainment are the fundamental

concepts behind the use of sound to heal and transform. They are found in
every practice that uses sound, regardless of tradition, belief system or culture.

The psychic Edgar Cayce predicted, that sound would be the medicine of the
future. I surely pray to that and the future is here. Within the last decades,
however, the use of sound as a healing modality is coming more into focus in
both the scientific and the medical communities. There now exist
organizations such as the International Society for Music in Medicine and the
Arts Medicine Association, which draw together doctors, scientists and other
working with sound as a therapeutic tool.

As Jonathan Goldman so keen has detected in his book ”Healing Sound”:

sometimes different people apparently used different frequencies or different
sounds to heal the same problem? A colleague and friend brought his attention
to the missing area in question:
”Sound is a carrier wave of consciousness”

This means that depending upon where an individual’s awareness is placed

when he/she creates a certain sound, the sound will carry information on that
state to the person receiving it. It is the intent or the purpose behind the sound,
that matters. With the word intent, we are really talking about the
consciousness of the sound being created. This encompasses the overall state
of the person making the sound and involves the physical, mental, emotional
and spiritual aspects of that person.

The initial understanding of intention involves our conscious mind, actually

our whole being. A more profound understanding of intent involves what may
be understood as alignment with the purpose of our Higher Selves, or the
Divine Will. That is to be one with the Universal Spirit. It is that aspect of
consciousness that is able to align with the sacred energy of sound.
It is ”Thy will”, not ”my will”.

When we have reached this level of being, our intent is to become a vehicle
for the sacred sound and we are – maybe - able to by-pass the lesser aspect of
one self which is selfish, inharmonious and unable to surrender to the
Universal Will or God.

For most people, the initial understanding of intent is a major tumbling block
in using sound as a transformational and therapeutic tool, for most of us,
including healers, has not reached such a being and have never created sound
with conscious awareness and purpose. Maybe in our intent to be a vehicle for
our Supreme Creator, the tumbling block in a moment of grace becomes a
stepping stone and in that moment we are One with our Creator and therefore
are able to re-create and heal.
 180

The concept of intent relates to the first Hermetic Principle that All is Mind,
for intent stems from the mind of the Creator of sound. All is vibrations and
rhythm. The key is the level of being, the degree of consciousness, the
development of the mind, the purity of emotions, the level of attention that
forms the intent or visualization.

Healing Sound

Resonance is the basis of every sound therapy that I have examined. As you
may recall, resonance is the basic vibratory rate of an object. Everything in the
universe is in a state of vibration. This includes the human body. Every organ,
bone, tissue and other part of the body has a healthy resonant frequency.
When that frequency alters, that part of the body vibrates out of harmony and
this is what is termed disease. If it were possible to determine the correct
resonant frequency for a healthy organ and then project it into that part which
is diseased, the organ should return to its normal frequency and a healing
should occur.

CYMATICS THERAPY

Dr. Hans Jenny, a Swiss scientist, spent ten years of his life observing and
photographing the effects of sound upon inorganic matter. He would put water
and other liquids, plastics, paste and dust on steel plates and then vibrate these
plates with different frequencies. Much of this work was originally inspired by
the work of Ernst Chaldni, an eighteenth-century scientist who put grains of
sand on glass and vibrated them with a violin bow. The sand would take on
the most beautiful and symmetrical shapes. The experiments of Jenny took
this understanding of the relationship between sound and form a quantum leap
ahead.

Dr. Jenny spent thousands of hours experimenting with the effects of different
frequencies upon the different inorganic substances he was using. Within the
hundreds of photo- graphs which he and his staff took are pictures that look
like starfish, human organs, microscopic bacteria and underwater life. In
reality, these shapes are nothing more or less than lifeless mounds of plastic,
dust and other inorganic material that had been exposed to sound.

  Cymatics is the name which Dr. Jenny gave to his work. The name comes
from the Greek kyma, a word which means wave. Cymatics is the study of
wave-form phenomena. It is proof positive that sound has the ability of
creating form. Once they are exposed to sound waves, the inanimate blobs of
liquid, pastes, and other materials in Dr. Jenny's experiments begin to
undulate and move. Slowly as the sound continues to affect them, they begin
to take form. No longer shapeless blobs, these forms pulse and vibrate with
the sounds that course through them, looking for all the world like living
 181

breathing creations. They are, however, not alive, but merely assume the
features of life through the extraordinary power of sound. Once the sound is
stopped, these shapes cease and the inorganic creations resume their shape as
formless blobs.

Dr. Jenny, in Volume II of Cymatics wrote:

”Now it is beyond doubt that where organization is concerned, the harmonic
figures of physics are in fact essentially similar to the harmonic patterns of
organic nature.... In the first place, we have the certain experience that
harmonic systems such as we have visualized in our experiments arise from
oscillations in the form of intervals and harmonic frequencies. That is
indisputable. ... If biological rhythms operate as generative factors at the
interval-like frequencies appropriate to them, then harmonic patterns must be
necessarily forthcoming.”

According to Dr. Jenny, harmonics and harmonious patterns are interrelated.

The intervals created by the frequencies and their harmonics were responsible
for giving shape to the different substances with which Dr. Jenny
experimented.

Barbera Hero

Barbara Hero has demonstrated a similar effect of harmonics using a laser and
scanner system. Barbara placed a mirror under a speaker system which
vibrated the mirror when two different frequencies were created. She then
projected a laser at the mirror and the laser was reflected on to a screen,
revealing the images created by the sounds. Barbara found that those intervals
which were created by the harmonic series created shapes which were
geometrically perfect. These shapes, such as a circle, remained stationary as
long as the intervals were sounding. Intervals which were not harmonically
related created shapes that were not geometrically perfect and their shapes
decayed.

Barbara experimented with the human voice using this laser and scanner
system. The results were the same. When two people sang notes that were
harmonically related, the perfectly symmetrical geometric shapes appeared.
This was especially true when the people created vocal harmonics. When the
voices created sounds that were not harmonically related, the shapes were not
symmetrical.

  The potential of the voice as a healing and transformational instrument

intrigued Dr. Hans Jenny, whose experimental focus consisted of recording
the effects of sine wave frequencies upon inorganic substances. He concluded
Cymatics with the statement:
 182

”But the real work on what might be called melos, or speech, is still to be
done. This brings the larynx and its action in the scope of our studies. And at
the same time, we are confronted with origination of vibrations effects, the
generative element; we must learn about the larynx as a creative organ which
displays a kind of omnipotent nature”.

Dr. Peter Guy Manners

One of the pioneers in using sound to heal is Dr. Peter Guy Manners, MD. An
English osteopath, Dr. Manners became aware of Dr. Jenny's cymatics
experiments and learned of the extraordinary ability of sound to affect form.
Since 1961 he has been engaged in research into the effects of sound upon the
structure and chemistry of the human body.

Dr. Manners is the creator of cymatics therapy which utilizes the Cymatics
Instrument. For over twenty years, he has been treating various illnesses with
sound. Working under the premise that disease is an 'out of tuneless' of some
aspect of the body, Dr. Manners has correlated different harmonic
frequencies, which are the healthy resonant frequencies of different parts of
the body. He states:

”A healthy organ will have its molecules working together in a harmonious

relationship with each other and will all be of the same pattern. If different
sound patterns enter into the organ, the harmonious re1ationship could be
upset. If these frequencies are weak in their vibration, they will be overcome
by the stronger vibrations of the native ones. If the foreign ones prove to be
the stronger on the other hand, they may establish their disharmonious pattern
in the organ, bone, tissue, etc. and this is what we call disease.

If, therefore a treatment contains a harmonic frequency pattern which will

reinforce the organs, the vibrations of the intruder will be neutralized and the
correct pattern for that organ re-established. This should constitute a curative
reaction”.

  The Cymatics Instrument is composed of a portable computer which is about

briefcase size and a sound generator which resembles a hammer-like vibrator.

The harmonics of the Cymatics Instrument are tabulated and reconstructed by

computers and the corrected frequency is then projected directly into the
affected area. The harmonics from the Cymatics Instrument are a composite of
five different frequencies that Dr. Manners has found most effective for
creating sounds that heal the human body. These sounds from the Cymatics
Instrument are very different from the vocal harmonics we have been
discussing in this site. 
They are electronically created and are really single tones. Yet they are
 183

harmonics of the calibrated frequency of the human body. They are usually
octaves of this frequency, brought up many, many times in order to put the
sound into the audible level, or brought down many, many times.
Nevertheless, as tones that are octaves of a tone (whether this fundamental is
in the ELF range or ultra-sonic), these tones can technically be called
'harmonics'.

In the Cymatics Instrument are calculated literally thousands of different

composite harmonics designed to place the body back into alignment and
health. There are the frequencies for every organ in the body and for specific
diseases. There are also frequencies for the emotional and mental problems.
Some imbalances treated with cymatic therapy include: anemia, asthma,
colitis, constipation, diabetes, eczema, glaucoma, heart disease, hernias,
kidney disease, multiple sclerosis, sciatica, sleeping sickness, syphilis and
tonsillitis. If the theory of resonant frequency healing is correct, there would
be few, if any, illnesses that could not be effectively treated with sound.

  Cymatics therapy is but one of the new sound-related therapies, that are
being utilized for healing. While there are many testimonials of people who
have had extraordinary healing through this and other therapies, the hard
scientific data needed for verification of these therapies is often lacking.
A reason for this is, that the proper research needed to collect data that is
suitable for the traditional scientific and medical communities, requires a
lengthy and costly process. Many times grants and funding are needed and
sadly most organizations that give grants will not extend their finances to
unproven methods - which is a case of Catch 22, for how can one prove a
method if the funding is not available?

Nevertheless, though adequate research is not presently available, this does

not mean the various sound therapies do not work. There are an increasing
number of people, who have experienced extraordinary transformations and
healings through the use of different sound therapies.

  How is the frequencies for Cynmatics Instruments determined? Dr. Manners

states, that many of the frequencies were scientifically determined but that
others were the result of radionics, or radiathesia.

Radionics works with the premise that all matter radiates energy. This energy,
which is not simply 'magnetic' or 'electric', operates at very subtle and refined
levels of vibration. Using devices such as pendulums which seem to swing
back and forth in response to this energy, radionic practitioners have been able
to determine frequencies for various parts of the body.

Dr. Manners stated that in actual laboratory tests the frequencies found for the
liver, for example, match the frequencies given by radionic devices. The
 184

laboratory tests take several hours while the use of radionic device may take a
few minutes.

  THE LAMBDOMA AND

HEALING 

Lambdoma Diagram also

called 'The Pythagorean
Table' or the 'Lambdoma' has
been the subject of much
discourse among scientists,
The Lambdoma is credited
with having been discovered
by Pythagoras and was passed
on by the neo-Pythagorean
Iamblichus. The Lambdoma
is an ancient musical
mathematical theory which
relates music to ratios.
Mathematicians and scientists
have studied the Lambdoma
since its discovery. It is said
to hold the many esoteric
secrets of the relationship between matter and spirit, including being a
numerical representation of the World Soul. 
The Lambdoma is composed of two series, One represents the division of a
string which indicates frequencies. The other series represents the
multiplication of it or the harmonic series.

Kayser and the Larnbdoma

In the 1920s Hans Kayser, a German scientist, developed a theory of world

harmonics based upon the Lambdoma. He found that the principles of
harmonious structure in nature and the fundamentals of harmonics were
essentially the same. Kayser called himself and others who adhered to this
philosophy 'harmonicists'. He devoted much of his life to restoring to the
sciences, knowledge of the importance of harmonics. He believed that through
understanding the connection between music and mathematics, it would be
possible to create an understanding of the relationship between tone and
numbers. Thus qualities (tonal sensations) could be derived from quantities
(numbers) and quantities could be derived through qualities. In his book
Akroasis (from the Greek word for 'hearing'), he wrote:
 185

”With the discovery of the relation between pitch and string length, which
could be established numerically, western science was born. Qualities (tones)
were derived from quantities (string or wave lengths) in an exact way.”

Kayser believed that this knowledge of harmonics had become lost and had
created a major schism between science and the spirit. He hoped that a true
understanding of this relationship would create a bridge between the matter
and soul. According to Kayser, the whole number ratios of musical harmonics
corresponds to an underlying framework existing in chemistry, physics,
crystallography, astronomy, architecture, spectroanalysis, botany and the
study of other natural sciences. The relationship expressed in the periodic
table of elements, an understanding of the formation of matter, resembles the
overtone structure in music.

Barbara Hero's Lambdoma frequencies

Another frequency-based healing modality that utilizes harmonics is Barbara

Hero's Lambdoma frequencies.

Barbara Hero is a mathematician and artist who has been working with the
Lambdoma for over twenty years. She believes that the Lambdoma is actually
a formula for hea1ing with sound and she has created a series of tapes
designed to balance and resonate the chakras based upon these frequencies.
Related websites by Barbara Hero.

The chakras are subtle centers of energy located along the center of the body.
They align with the spinal column. Different esoteric traditions believe that
the energy that affects the physical body comes from the chakras. Scientists
are now attempting to validate the existence of the chakras, as well as the
other subtle energy system of the meridians, the basis of acupuncture.
Imbalances in chakras are said to affect the physical body. Balancing the
chakras may therefore balance and heal problems in the physical body.

Investigating the Lambdoma frequencies, it is found that they were all

harmonically related. In fact, the Lambdoma Diagram is nothing more or less
than a table of ratios based upon the overtones. The sounds which Barbara had
put on her tape were simply harmonically related frequencies. It seems quite
possible that the chakras are harmonically related and that they do respond to
harmonically related frequencies.

Many scientists, including Izthak Bentov, author of Stalking the Wild

Pendulum, believe that the etheric fields of the body, such as the astral and
mental, are all harmonically related to each other. The chakras and the
physical body are also understood to have had this harmonic relationship, 
 186

BALANCING THE CHAKRAS WITH THE VOICE

The use of the voice to balance and align chakras has been part of Hindu
Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years. This application of sound is
usually practiced through recitation of mantras. However, there are in the
West developed systems using harmonically related vocal sounds which also
should work on the chakras. There are differences but basically the seven
chakras correspond with sound and color in this way:
 187

7. The CROWN chakra or HEAD chakra is positioned at the top of the

head. It is associated with cosmic awareness, highest spirituality, and
complete integration with Source.
VIOLET is the color of the crown chakra and the musical note is B. -
123.47 Hz (the note B is also called H)
6. The THIRD EYE chakra is located in the center of the forehead. This
chakra is also called the AJNA center. It is associated with intuition,
understanding, visualization, and inner vision.
DARK INDIGO BLUE is the color of the third eye chakra and the
musical note is A. - 110.00 Hz

5. The THROAT chakra is positioned in the base of throat. It is

associated with communication, expression and speaking one's truth.
AZURE BLUE is the color of the throat chakra and the musical note is
G. - 98.00

4. The HEART chakra is positioned in the center of the chest, usually

shown to be even with the nipple line. The heart is associated with
compassion, friendship, empathy and the ability to give and receive
love.
GREEN is the color of the heart chakra and the musical note is F. -
87.31 Hz
Sometimes the heart chakra is shown as pink, especially in relation to
sending love out from the heart.

3. The SOLAR PLEXUS chakra or THIRD chakra is located midway

between the end of the breastbone and the navel. It is associated
with issues of personal power, emotions (especially blocked
emotions), passion for living, and the ability to protect oneself from
being the target of negative or aggressive emotions.
YELLOW is the color of the solar plexus chakra and the musical note is
E. - 82.41 Hz

2. The SACRAL chakra, also called the SECOND chakra or the SEXUAL
chakra, is positioned in the area between the navel and the pubic
bone. Depending on which sources you read, it can be shown to be
centered on the navel itself or to be aligned with the sexual organs -
ovaries in women and testes in men. It is associated with creativity,
sexuality, relationship, and reproduction.
ORANGE. is the color of the sacral or second chakra and the musical
note is D. - 73.42 Hz

1. The ROOT chakra, also called the FIRST or BASE chakra, is located
at the base of the spine. It is associated with issues of survival, drive,
ambition, grounding one's energy in the physical dimension, your life
forces, and balancing experiences that create "fight or flight".
 188

RED is the color of the root chakra and the musical note is C. - 65.41
Hz

Stockhausen and Resonation of the Brain

Another potential healing use of harmonics involves the resonation of the

brain with these sounds. Many people report being aware of vibrations in their
heads when they create vocal harmonics. Sometimes they see light when their
eyes are closed. Others indicate they can actually feel different parts of their
brain being resonated by the harmonics. 

A pioneer in Western overtone singing is the German avant-garde composer,

Karlheinz Stockhausen.  He was able to produce something like 28 overtones
as clear as a bell. He said that he concentrates on a particular point in the brain
above the palate for each overtone and that each overtone is placed higher up
in an area within the brain.
 Stockhausen was the first to compose music created entirely for overtone
singers. His influence in the growth of vocal harmonics has been great.
Among his students were British overtone singer, Jill Purce, and German
overtone singer, Michael Vetter.

Stockhausen had these comments to make about his overtone composision, "Stimmung"
(meaning 'tuning'): 
”You will hear my work Stimmung as one seventy-five minutes long chord. It never
changes.There are only  partials or natural harmonics on a fundamental, the fundamental
itself isn't there. The second, the third, fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth harmonics and
nothing but that ... The singers needed six months just in order to learn precisely how to
hit the ninth harmonic, or the tenth, eleventh, thirteenth, up to the twenty-fourth... It's a
wonderful technique to learn because you become so conscious of the different parts of
the skull which are vibrating, If you met the singers, you'd see how as human beings,
they've changed. They're completely transformed now that they've sung it more than a
hundred times since the World's Fair in Osaka”.

Stockhausen was able to observe physiological changes in the skulls of the

singers he had trained to create vocal harmonics. The question remains: what
exactly are these physiological changes? Are these changes restricted to the
bones of the cranium or are there actual changes in the brain as well? If it is
possible to resonate different portions of the brain through self-created sounds
such as vocal harmonics, this seems a great deal safer than drilling a hole
through the cranium and then attaching electrodes to the brain. This latter
method is the one which is currently the only available way modern science
can stimulate and directly affect the brain.

In interviews, overtone singer Jill Purce has stated:

”Overtone chanting is extremely healing... When you're doing overtone
chanting you're beginning to differentiate mental and physiological processes
that are not normally differentiated. This requires incredible concentration -
 189

you use parts of the brain that you don't normally use - and when you do that
something else happens and you enter into the world of spirit”

THE PINEAL GLAND

Jonathan Goldman tells in his book, Healing Sound, about a mind shaking
experience in a completely dark cave in Palenque in Mexico, where his guide
asked him to perform harmonious singing. When he began to tone harmonics
towards the area the guide has indicated before the lights went out, the cave
began to become illuminated, but it was not ordinarily light. It was more
subtle, but it was definitely lighter in the room. The outline and figures of the
people there could be seen and everyone was aware of it.  
This experience was one of the more dramatic episodes in his life. It was only
later that he began to process the experience and try to understand what had
gone on: "I had been able to use sound to create light". 
His conclusion was: by use of vocally created harmonics, it is possible to
resonate and stimulate the pineal gland.

The pineal gland is a small, pine-cone-shaped gland located in the middle of

the head. Esoterically, the pineal is often associated with the 'third eye' and
was believed by Descartes to be the 'Seat of the Soul'. lt was once thought to
be a vestigial organ and is now known to be a light sensitive clock affecting
sleep and the sex glands.

Research by scientists such as Robert Beck suggest that the pineal is an

organic device which is tuned towards magnetic north to give both humans
and animals their sense of direction, Other scientists believe that the pineal is
a bio-luminescent organ which has the ability to create light.

The pineal is rich in neuromelanin, which, according to scientist Frank

Barr, is a phase-timing, information processing interface molecule which is a
photo transducer. This is a substance which has the ability, among other traits,
of absorbing and converting light energy to sound. 
It also has the ability to turn sound energy into light. Barr believes that
melanin and its brain counterpart, neuromelanin, may be the key link between
the mind and the brain.

Through stimulation of the pineal gland, neuromelanin is produced.

Neuromelanin, a light-sensitive compound triggers the release of a substance
which contains phosphorus, a light-producing chemical. By stimulating the
pineal gland through vocal harmonics, it may be possible that actual fields of
light around the body are enhanced.

While this phenomenon is not too widely known, there does seem to be some
reference to it in certain texts. 
 190

Dhyani Ywahoo, a Native American medicine woman, writes in "Voices of

Our Ancestors", that in the Ancient Mystery Schools the initiations were held
in total darkness. The initiates had to be able to produce their own light.
May be this was done through the creation of vocal harmonics. Spiritual
scientist J. J. Hurtak writes of the phenomenon of creating light through the
pineal gland in The Keys of Enoch:

”The 'light' which activates the pineal gland is not the conventional light of
the sun... the brain produces its own light field on a molecular level... our
neurocircuitry can produce its own light field”.

Jonathan Goldman discussed with Dr. Tomatis his experience of producing

light through sound and suggested the hypothesis of the pineal creating this
light. Dr. Tomatis knew of this phenomenon of creating light through sound,
but believed that this light was created not through the pineal (the third eye)
but through the heart.

It is interesting to note that the heart is an organ which is also extremely rich
in melanin. What would be the healing benefits of creating light in this
manner? The possibilities seem limitless. We would be enhancing and adding
energy to the fields around our bodies, creating or restoring health and balance
to areas of imbalance and disease. These possibilities of resonating the pineal
through sound are yet another example of the potential use of harmonics to
influence and affect the brain for health and well-being.
 191

References
Some Websites: 

Ray Tomes about Pythagoras and the Universe

Harmonic Theories by Ray Tomes

Ray Tomes' Cycle in the Universe

Schuman Resonance:  http://dsentman.gi.alaska.edu/schumann.htm

Keely Net: http://www.keelynet.com/ 

Alchemical Octave :http://bobfoote.angelfire.com/octaves.html

Sympathetic Vibratory Physics:.http://www.svpvril.com/svpweb5.html#TOP

%20pg%205 

English literature:

"Musicophilia", Tales of Music and the Brain. Oliver Sacks, 2008, Picador.

"The Hunt for Zero Point", Inside the classified world of antigravity
technology, by Nick Cook .2002. Broadway Books.

"Tools of Awareness", Dr. Willy de Maeyer & Dr. Gabriele Breyer. 2006,
Willy de Maeyer, Antwerp.

"The Conscious Universe", the scientific truth of psychic phenomena. Dean

Radin. 1997. Harper Collins Publishers. 

"The Cosmic Octave", origin of harmony. Hans Cousto. 2000. LifeRythm.

"Stalking the Wild Pendulum", on the mechanics of consciosness. Itzhak

Bentov. 1977-88. Desteny Books.

"A Brief Tour of Highter Consciousness", a cosmic book on the mechanics of

creation. Itzhak Bentov. 2000. Desteny Books.

"Healing Sounds", The Power of Harmonics. Jonathan Goldman, Element

Book Limited, 1992-96.
 192

"The Manual of Harmonics" of Nicomachus the Pythagorean. Translation and

commentary by Flora R. Levin, 1994, published by Phanes Press.

"Music and the Power of Sound", the Influence of Tuning and Interval on
Coonsciousness. Alain Daniélou, 1943, revised edition 1995, Inner Traditions
International.

"The Harmony of the Spheres", A scourcbook of the Pythagorean Tradition in

Music. Joscelyn Godwin, 1993 Inner Traditions International.

"Harmonies of Heaven and Earth", Mysticism in Music from antiquity to

Avant-Garde. 
Joselyn Godvin, 1987, 1995, Inner Traditions International.

"The Spiritual Dimension of Music", Altering Consciousness for Inner

Development. 
R.J.Stewart, 1987, 1990, Destiny Books.

"The life of Music" Hazrat Inayat Khan, Omega Publications 1988.

"The Secret Power of Music", The Transformation of Self and Society

Through Musical Energy,
David Tame, 1984, Destiny Books.

"A History of Greek Philosophy", Vol. I, 

W.K.C. Guthrie, First published 1962, Cambridge University Press.

"The Oxford Companion to Music". Percy A. Scholes. Oxford University

Press. 1970.

"Les Grand Initiés," Édouard Schuré, 1. edition 1889.

Acoustics

"On the Sensations of Tone," Hermann von Helmholtz, Dover Publications,

1954.
Translated by Ellis (2. edition 1885) from German: Die Lehre von den
Tonempfindungen.

"The Science of Musical Sound," John R.Pierce, 1983, Scientific American

Books.

"Problems for Musical Acoustics", (Workbook for music/sound students in

Iowa based on A.B.Benade's Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics). 
William R. Savage, 1977, Oxford University Press.
 193

"The Musician's Guide to Acoustics", 

Murray Campbell & Clive Greated, 1887, J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd.

"Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics", Arthur H.Benade, 1976, Oxford

University Press.

"Music, Sound and Technology", John M.Eargle, 1990, VNR - vom Nostrand
Reinhold.

Gurdjieff tradition

"The Theory of Celestial Influence", Man, the Universe & Cosmic Mystery. 
Rodney Collin, First published 1954. This edition 1980. Robinson & Watkins.

"The Fourth Way". A record of talks and answers to questions based on the
teaching of G.I.Gurdjieff. 
P.D.Ouspensky. First published 1957. Routledge & Kegan Paul. London.

"In Search of the Miraculous", Fragments of an unknown teaching. 

P.D.Ouspensky. 1949. Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.

"Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson" " An Objectively Impartial Criticism of

the Life of Man", 
G.I. Gurdjieff first published in 1950 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Lim.

"Meetings with Remarkable Men", 

G.I. Gurdjieff first published in UK 1963 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Lim.

Back to The Musical Octave   (The Creation of Musical Scales I & II)

Back to The Musical Octave 2

Index

Danish literature:

Ubevidst intelligens, Du ved mere end du tror. Ole Vedfelt, 2000, Gyldendal

Bevidsthed, Bevidsthedens Niveauer. Ole Vedfelt, 1996.

Træk af den vestlige verdens musik. Fra gregoriansk sang til rock.
Musikhistorisk Haandbog. 
Kjeld Søren Overgaard og Finn Roar.1979.
 194

Gads Musik Historie, Redigeret af Søren Sørensen og Bo Marchner, 1990.

Musikkens Historie. Alfred Einstein. Geschichte des Musik. oversat til dansk
1953.

Durants Verdens Kulturhistorie. Bind 4. Will Durant. (The Story of

Civilisation. vol. 4 . The Life of Greece. 1939/66.) På dansk 1969.

De store Indviede. Edouard Schuré. (Les grand Initides. oversat fra fransk,
1985.)

Frimueriet og Pythagoras. M.A.Lowzow. 1975.

Den Europaeiske Filosofis Historie. Antikken. bind. 1. Karsten Friis Johansen.

1991.

Den græske Tanke. Otto Gelsted. 1967.

Filosofferne før Sokrates. Jørgen Mejer.1971.

Den græske Filosofi fra Thales til Sokrates. Alf Ahlberg. (oversat fra svensk.
Filosofiens Historia. 1952.) dansk udgave revideret 1969.

Hellas. Kultur og Religion. Vol. IV, Tænkere og Tragikere. Vilh. Grønbech.

1944.

Kompendium til forelæsninger over Den Antikke Filosofis Historie. 2.

forøgede udgave, 1975. Johs. Witt-Hansen.

Ind i Musikken. Peter Bastian. 1987.

Hvem Tænkte Hvad. Filosofiens Hvem-Hvad-Hvor. 1960.

Musikteoretisk Oversigt, for H.F. Gymnasier, Seminarier, Højskoler, etc.

Jørgen Sørensen, 1973.

Musiklære og Musikalsk Analyse, II Del, Melodi. Jens Brincker, 1974.

Musiklære og musikalsk analyse, I. Melodi. 2. Udgave. Jens Brincker og

Annemette Kirkegaard, 1993.

Musiklære og Musikalsk Analyse. II Harmoni. Jens Brincker og Inge Bruland,

2. revideret udg. 1990.

Hvad skal jeg vide om musik, Notation og Klang. Ebbe Knudsen, 1971.
 195

Musik. 2. Udgave. Bent Joensen, 1987.

Musik og Samfund, Redigeret af Finn Gravesen, 1977

Musik og Lyd, Arthur H.Benade, 1962, Gyldendals Kvante Bøger.

Vor Tids Fysik, 1966. Oversat fra tysk. Original titel: Knaurs Buch der
Modernen Physik, Walter R. Fuchs, 1965,

Musikkundskab, Hennig Bo Rasmussen, 1971

Fyski med Klang. Om fysik og musik. Jens Ingwersen, Hans Birger Jensen,

Knud Erik Sørensen, 1991

Musikkens Grundbegreber, arbejdshæfte til hørelære og almen musikteori.

Inge Bjarke, 1991.

Den nye pagt mellem menneske og universet, Nye veje i

naturvidenskaben. Ilya Pigogine og Isabella Stengers, 1984. 
(Oversat til dansk (1985) af Johannes Witt-Hansen og Laurits Lauritsen fra La
Nouvelle Alliance: Metamorphose de la Science.)

Musikens Ljudlæra. Hur Tonen Alstra och Uppfattas. Johan Sundberg. 1978,

Proprius Fôrlag, Stockholm.

Forvandlingens Tid. Kanaliseret viden til personlig fred. Kryon. Lee Carroll
1993 Borgen 1996