Sound as a Divine Element - Part II
- josemelosoundscape
- May 26
- 12 min read
In this two-part blog series, we invite readers to explore the deeper dimensions of sound beyond its conventional understanding. Together, we will uncover how profoundly sound is interwoven with every aspect of life — from its origins and creation to the principles that govern its existence, movement, and mechanics. Through this journey, the series examines sound not only as something we hear, but as a powerful force that shapes perception, communication, nature, technology, and human experience itself.
The Mystery of Sound
Excerpts from Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Mysticism of Sound and Music, 1996
“The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe”
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Sound is perceptible activity of all-pervading life. Different sounds differ in their outer expression, but within it is one and the same activity which directs all sounds. It is in expression that sounds differ, because of the different instruments through which they are expressed. The deeper we penetrate into the mystery of sound, the more we are able to trace the link that connects all sounds. This link is what the musician calls harmony, and it is in harmony that is hidden the secret of joy and peace.
As one sound is directed by another sound, every motion is caused by another motion. Therefore, no activity can take place without a directing activity, and that activity which directs all is called God. Freewill remains, since each sound, in its outward manifestation, hides within itself its directing activity, so that behind what man calls freewill there is hidden God’s will.
As sound takes varying manifestations through different instruments, one sound helps another, harmonizes with another, and one sound differs from another, or covers it. All this is merely caused by the instruments, their response to the directing power within, and their relation to each other.
This symbolism explains all the different aspects of life, and shows that good and evil, pleasure and pain, right and wrong, all come from one source.
There are two stages in every activity: action and result. Action manifests itself in audibility, and results in visibility. The Bible states first there was the word and then came the light. The Qur’an says that first the word was spoken and then all became manifest. This is seen in every activity which descends from the invisible to the visible. From the world of sound there came the world of forms. That’s why the Hindus call Nada Brahma, the Sound-God, the Creator.
Since all things are made by the power of sound, of vibration, so everything is made by a portion thereof, and man can create his world by the same power. Among all aspects of knowledge, the knowledge of sound is supreme, for all aspects of knowledge depend upon the knowing of form, except that of sound, which is beyond all form. By the knowledge of sound man obtains the knowledge of creation, and the mastery of that knowledge helps man to rise to the formless. This knowledge acts as wings for a man; it helps him to rise from earth to heaven, and he can penetrate through the life seen and unseen.
The whole manifestation being the phenomenon of sound, the knowledge of sound acts as a guide in the maze of names and forms. That is the reason for the great importance attached by the yogis to mantra yoga which to the Sufis is dhikr (Zikar). There is nothing man cannot accomplish by the power of dhikr, if only he knows which dhikr, how to use it, and for what purpose.
Just as there is creative power in sound, so is there also destructive power.
The more one follows the path exploring the mysteries of life, the more life becomes revealed to one. Life begins to express its secrets, its nature. What is required of man is an honest following of life’s law, and nothing in this world is more important than the knowing of human nature and the study of human life. That study lies in the study of self. And it is the study of self which is really the study of God.
The Music of the Spheres
“Venus draws a pentagram around the Earth every eight years. The Moon squares the circle. Everything in the heavens moves around everything else, dancing to the Music of the Spheres.”
John Martineau, A Little Book Of Coincidence
Every celestial body has its own sound. The Sun, The Earth, Jupiter, even blackholes emit sound. Every feeling, person, animal, tree, plant contains a melody, a song, a perfect arrange of apparently chaotic vibrations and all this existence dances to the rhythm and melody of a universal harmony referred as a ‘universal standing wave.’
Even though this concept was documented during ancient Greece, the principle inherent to the ‘music of the spheres’ had actually been already accessed thousands of years before by ancient civilizations.
The beauty of understanding, and the importance of knowing the mythological meaning of the ‘music of the spheres’ is empowering towards a general view of all existence. It refers to the law of music that is working throughout the universe, and that in other words may be called the law of life: the law that is hidden behind all aspects of life and works out the destiny of the whole universe. This whole world is a phenomenon, one doesn’t need to look anywhere else. The paradise is around us and within us, we just need to open the channels and connect with this harmony of vibrations.
This universal harmony among all existence is what we call ‘the music of the spheres’, and why music is considered a sacred art. “…For in music the seer can see the picture of the whole universe…” All the spheres throughout the cosmos obey a law and are, at the same time, part of that law.
To lay this concept in a scientific perspective, various scientists and mathematicians tried to prove it with numbers. Pythagoras (c. 570 BC – 495 BC) , had a vision about the universal nature of sound: There is something more to sound than just a mere quality of matter in motion.
Because matter produces sound when in motion, Pythagoras thought that planets moving in orbit should also produce a sound. In a geocentric diagram Pythagoras created eight steps from the earth to the ‘highest skies’ (summum caelum). Between the earth and the moon, there is one full tone; between the moon and Mercury, one half tone; and between Venus and the sun, one and a half tones. He measured distance based on relative speed: faster moving planets were closer to the earth, and slower-moving planets farther away. These ratios corresponded to tonal musical intervals in the Pythagorean scale.
Has mentioned, it was thought that planets, being objects in motion, should produce sound, and because of the distances between them, as we saw in module I, they should produce a harmony: the ‘music of the spheres.’ “There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.” Pythagoreans believed this relationship gave music powers of healing as it could harmonize the out-of-balance body. They also explained that the sound and the harmony of the planets was apparently inaudible on Earth because it was continually sounding and humans had no point of comparison.
In 1619. Kepler, like Pythagoras, attempted to explain the proportions of the astronomical and astrological aspects of the universe, in terms of music. But Kepler assumed a different approach. Instead he considered the speed of the planets at the points of maximum and minimum distance where he knew from observations that they move the slowest and fastest respectively in relation to the Sun. Kepler noticed that the ratios between planets’ extreme angular velocities were all harmonic intervals, and he attempted to precisely calculate these ‘world harmonies:’ mercury rotates on its axis exactly three times for every two revolutions around the Sun (2:3 relation equivalent to a perfect 5th). As seen from the Sun, in a frame of reference that rotates with the orbital motion, Mercury appears to rotate only once every two Mercurian years - a 2:1 ratio equivalent to an octave. There is also an inherent geometry between Mercury and Venus, the first and second planets from the Sun. If the three points of Mercury’s “sunrise” noted above are plotted on a circle they form an equilateral triangle. If circles are drawn around the center points that are large enough to touch each other’s circumferences, the orbit of Venus exactly encloses the three circles. The conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn form an equilateral triangle every twenty years. The oppositions likewise form another equilateral triangle, so a six-pointed star is formed over a period of about 120 years. The orbits of all the planets have amazing geometric relationships in an exquisite synchrony of celestial mechanics.
“The planets have long been suspected of hiding secret relationships. In antiquity students of such things pondered the Music of the Spheres, the heavenly bodies singing their subtle and perfect harmonies to the adept.”
John Martineau In A Little Book Of Coincidence
Martineau asks if it is all just a coincidence? If not, what are we to make of these exquisite harmonies and geometric proportions?
If the planets geometric relationships and resonances create, or result in, vibrations or frequencies, an astrologer who is equipped with knowledge of planetary harmonics, could identify what was “out of tune,” or imbalanced, in a birth chart. The ancient art of musical healing might then be used to harmonize the vibrations. What might the implications be for harmonizing the energies of an individual or even the Earth itself?
Indeed, these last questions shed light on the spectrum that science can’t explain. Rudolf Steiner sees it as ‘The realm of the spiritually resonating harmonies of the spheres.’ It is here that we dwell during sleep and in the period between death and rebirth. Rudolph Steiner saw this harmonic distances and proportions as a world of purely spiritual musical resonance, which the sensory ear cannot perceive. For Steiner this is the realm where archetypes meet primal tones to endeavor creation. This realm is in constant movement and ceaseless creative activity manifested in the physical and soul world. Each archetype has the potential to assume countless forms.
To someone that has developed a ‘spiritual ear’, this ‘music of the spheres’ is not merely metaphorical or allegorical but a spiritual reality with which one is fully conversant. In order to perceive this spiritual music, the notions of physical music need to be out of the way, this is music of different nature. What we see as result of light is also sound, musical, in nature.
When the spiritual tone first resounded though the cosmos, it ordered and arranged the planets with a specific harmonic relation between them, What we see now spread across the heavens was given its form by this creative, divine tone. This tone continued further into cosmic space , matter was ordered and shaped to form the solar system. This is the ‘Harmony of the Spheres.’
This music of the spheres is still present today, though ordinary consciousness does not discern it. It is real and exists, and approaches us from without as astral action. It is just that people do not hear it. When we gaze at the Sun, we see these concentrated powers and at night during sleep, the soul lives in these sounds of the spheres, which are kindled to awareness as the astral body becomes conscious again. In the morning we can discern an echo of this world.
Tone creates forms and shapes in matter as observed with the Chladni plates, where grains of sand are placed over a metal plate which is then struck with a violin bow. The vibration makes the grains of sand form regular geometrical patterns. Through the music streaming from cosmic space, the most varied forms and figures appeared; and the forms that were dissolved in the fluid hearkened to this cosmic music and were shaped and ordered accordingly. This dance of substances to the tune of cosmic music gave rise , most importantly, to protein, to protoplasm, as the foundation of all life. Living substances are patterned in accordance with this cosmic music.
Sound and Matter
Cymatics
Cymatics particularly demonstrates how precise sound vibrations can structure matter into any form - and by extension, how vibration stands behind the creation of the physical world itself.
Cymatics refers to the study of Vibration on Matter. It allows for the visual representation of sound at different frequencies causing many geometrical patterns that change as we go along the frequency range.
This study of the effects of sound waves on matter is not a new subject of study, but was vaguely studied first by Robert Hooke in 1680, where he first noticed the phenomena through experimentation with Flour. He was then followed by Ernst Chladni, a German physicist and musician. He was a pioneer in the study of the visible effects of sound on matter. His technique consisted in drawing a bow over a piece of metal whose surface was lightly covered with sand. The resonant vibration of the plate organized the sand in a pattern showing the nodal regions. The results became known as Chladni Figures.
Two centuries later, Hans Jenny, a Swiss doctor, artist, and researcher, like Chladni, demonstrated what happens when materials like sand, spores, iron filings, water, and viscous substances are placed on vibrating metal plates and membranes. Shapes and patterns appear that vary from nearly perfectly ordered and stationary to those that are turbulent, organic, and in constant motion. Jenny called this new area of research Cymatics, from the Greek kyma (‘κῦμα’) (Cyma), which means wave - all sounds are made from vibrations that cause waves to spread in all directions.-The mystery of ‘solid matter’ appears to be contained in sound and vibration.
This is a video recorded in the 60’s, conducted by Dr. Peter Guy Manners[[1]] with the work by Dr. Hans Jenny.When I came across this video, it blew my mind; the patterns we see in these experiments are the same patterns we see in nature: insects, animals, plants. This is the reason that first led me to research about the effects on sound in our actual physical body, and the same reason why cymatics has become a major touchstone for all types of modern Vibrational Medicine and Vibrational Science. It empirically demonstrates - in a way that is visual and immediate - the power of vibration to create and change physical structures.
“Vibration underpins all matter in the universe. No matter can exist without vibration.”
Dr. Hans Jenny
It seems common, among people studying sound in its essence, openly stating and claiming that there is an obvious relation with sound and how the universe was created. Many believe the significance of cymatics in a religious sense, “People say that the soul, on hearing the song of creation, entered the body, but in reality, the soul itself was the song.” It has quite a religious significance in many religions around the world. During my experiences with Ayahuasca, there was a particular one where I could experience the visual effect that the music being played had in my visions. Every chord, every sound, every melody would be guiding and sculpting that display of colors and geometric patterns as if it was a living being.
Many have claimed Cymatics has healing properties and can be used for aligning one’s internal energy. Cymatics, played through music and musical instruments has a strange phenomenon that occurs. Some claim that Melodies or Music, played and produced at certain frequencies, can have a significant effect on the well-being and health of an individual, and alter an individual’s emotions.
Other Studies on the effect of Sound on Matter
Masaru Emoto’s Water Crystals
Masaru Emoto was a Japanese businessman, author and pseudo-scientist who claimed that human consciousness could affect the molecular structure of water. His early work revolved around pseudo-scientific hypotheses that water could react to positive thoughts and words and that polluted water could be cleaned through prayer and positive visualization
His water crystal experiments consisted of exposing water in glasses to various words, pictures, or music, then freezing it and examining the ice crystals' aesthetic properties with microscopic photography. He claimed that water exposed to positive speech and thoughts created visually "pleasing" ice crystals, and that negative intentions yielded "ugly" ice formations.
Even though Emoto’s work didn’t satisfy some scientists, it is highly acclaimed throughout the world, and it is one more way of showing how sound and matter and intrinsically connected.
Universality of the Vortex-Sphere Archetype
This principle shows how form is originated through a spiral-sphere motion dynamic. It shows the universal forces involved in ‘constructing’ and ‘deconstructing’ matter. This spiral-sphere principle is basically a dynamic complementarity whose inseparable symbiosis makes the entirety of natural forms be born, disappear, and then be reborn.
The diverse rhythms unfolding to create form are, in fact, instances of the same standing wave sourced by a universal vibration.
Gabriel Kelemen made a series of drawings based on this relation between vibrational sound patterns and natural structures.
The principle follows the indissoluble relation between sphere-vortex as a generating morphodynamic principle, starting from macrocosmic size down to microcosmic, passing through mesocosmos (Human Perceptible level of the cosmos). At terrestrial biosphere scale, one can notice the metamorphoses of the sphere-vortex conjunction, from the mineral world through the vegetal-animal-human one
General concept by Gabriel Kelemen:
The visualization of sound is one of the ancestral human dreams. Surprising the image of the aural ephemeral has been interesting scientific environments to this day. Almost everything in the universe is in a vibration state. Clarifying the hierarchy, the origin and co-substantiality of form with the natural language algorithm, grafted on phenomenal synergies, inextricably situates form as a result of stationary wave interference in conjunction with symbolic language-induced inferences.
Thus, the universe is reduced to expressing order through sphere, genuine brick of the open, immeasurable, infinite, construct, which inhabits the geometry of spheres with morphodynamic, disk or spiral adjacencies. This geometric minimalism allows the existence, at the tiny thinness of the biosphere surface, of the entire morphological diversity, subject to a permanent construction and deconstruction.
The influence of acoustic wave fields on liquids reveals surprising morphodynamic frames in response to fluid which is crossed by the train of sound waves which induce and maintain stationary waves, imperceptibly shaping the carefully selected liquid.
The metamorphoses of liquid matter, traversed by vibrant energy, reveals in the form of dynamic patterns, symmetry generated by interferential overlays of venters and nodes of standing waves, stabilized periodically in the fluid mass. Thus, at the confluence of sound-container - liquid interactions, as the resultant sound is visualized.
In conclusion, this two-part series reveals that sound is far more than a sensory phenomenon — it is a fundamental force that influences the rhythm of life itself. By exploring its origins, behavior, and underlying principles, we gain a deeper appreciation for how sound shapes the world around us and within us. From the vibrations that govern nature to the technologies that connect humanity, sound exists at the intersection of science, emotion, communication, and experience. Ultimately, understanding sound in its fullest sense allows us to recognize its profound role not only in what we hear, but in how we perceive, interact with, and understand the universe.
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