“The sound is the source of all manifestation … The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe.”

“For in the beginning of the times so did we all share in the Holy Stream of Sound that gave birth to all creation.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“The Tao is the source of all things … existed before heaven and earth … eternal … pervades everywhere.”

“In the beginning was OM …”

Virtually every civilization in the world has had some type of creation myth that involved sound, usually sound that was equated with consciousness and that this celestial sound was the first creation, so that everything else created came from such ‘otherworldly’ sound in the ether.  A number of spiritual, mystical and religious texts have spoken of this metaphysical equation of sound as an element of their most honored traditions.

Plato wrote that the cosmos was constructed according to musical intervals and proportions.  Pythagoras called it ‘Music of the Spheres’ and believed that it fills our inner ears and we are constantly in contact with it from the moment of our birth.  Another Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, called it ‘Logos’ (divine word or sound).  Some Native American traditions call it ‘Song of the Creator,’ while the Bible calls it ‘The Word’ and ‘Voice of Many Waters’.  Hindus refer to it as ‘Anahad Shabd’ (unlimited tone or unstruck melody) and ‘Akash Bani’ (voice from the heavens), while the Sufis say it is ‘Saute Surmad’ (tone that fills the cosmos).  Lao Tzu described the Tao as ‘unimpeded harmony’ and referred to the ‘Great Tone’ as the source of all things.  Guru Nanak built Sikhism on the foundations of this ‘cosmic tone’.  Some believe the knowledge of this ‘mystery tone’ goes back even farther, beyond the origins of Hinduism, and to the ancient Egyptians of several thousand B.C.  Others believe that Jesus taught it to his inner circle, his disciples, and also that Mohammed was aware of it when he was enlightened in the cave at Gare-Hira.  Several spiritual Masters teach that this sound of God is in everyone and that we explore this inner space through meditation.  A number of ancient Gnostics mystical texts refer to hearing the sound of God while in deep meditation states. Today, these traditions are a part of the Radhasoami Sant Mat movement, as well as several others around the world.  In addition, a number of other cultures, such as the Aborigines, Aztecs, Eskimos, Malayans and Persians all believed that the universe originated in sound.  In fact, the very word universe actually means ‘one song or sound’, uni meaning one and verse meaning song.

The details of these esoteric theories are as follows.  This one sound is divided into unlimited frequencies or tones that generate a geometric wave pattern containing the information of its order and structure in nature.  Sound is in this way a storage and transfer system for information or the intelligence of the universe bio-system.  Much of our life is spent under the influence of disorganized, chaotic, frantic sound.  However, the more time one spends within the influence of highly organized and repeating fractal tone patterns, the more solution orientated is the information attracted and maintained in one’s energy field.  This can help allow stress to be replaced with ease by relaxation, which is why the sacred geometry of sound is a foundation for sound healing.  In addition, symbols are the language of the unconscious and higher conscious mental bodies, and they provide the keys to one’s journey into the sensations of tone.  The physical body, the subtle bodies and their points of confluence, vibrate at different frequencies.  These are modified or literally attuned by the resonation of the inner sound current, sacred algorithms or mantras, which can then harmonize and realign the dense and subtle components of the energetic body.

It has also been said that the vibrations of this sound are too fine to be audible, making it difficult to be aware of these very fine, ethereal vibrations.  However, as this sound is supposedly always resounding in the soul and when one attains a certain level of stillness and concentration, the sound can become audible.  It is supposedly the ringing tone one can hear when all other sounds are silent.  Depending upon the person, a variety of sounds may be heard, similar to the following physical representations; rushing waters, thunder, ringing bells, conch sounds, gong echoes, steam engine, crickets chirping, bees or hummingbirds flying, or even instruments like harps, horns, flutes or lutes being played.  Ascetics blow a horn, a shell or a flute to awaken this inner tone in them.  The bells and gongs in churches and temples are meant to suggest this same inner sound and thus lead one to take up the clarion call towards the inner life.

In the even deeper esoteric world of mystics, there is a spiritual practice (meditation) called Surat Shabd(a) Yoga, (yoga of the celestial sound current), which is followed by a number of ancient spiritual traditions.  Surat means “soul,” shabd means “word” and yoga means “union.”  Word means the “Sound Current,” the “Audible Life Stream” or the “Essence of the Absolute Supreme Being.”  That is, the dynamic force of creative energy that was sent out, as sound vibration, from the Supreme Being/Force into the abyss of space at the dawn of the universe’s manifestation, and that is being sent forth, through the ages, framing all things that constitute and inhabit the universe.  It is also implied that through this practice of meditation, one can learn to access the workings of this inner sound and actually travel spiritually into other levels or dimensions within the inner cosmos.  If one follows the theory on down to biological human beings, it says this inner sound is the spiritual energy that actually drives our consciousness and provides the energy to hold our genetic structure in balance.  And that this energy is supplied through an umbilical cord arrangement, and this ringing or buzzing sound we all can actually hear is the current flow in that power line.  And thus, that one’s hair swirl is physical evidence of its path, as it enters at that point in a vortex pattern.

In addition to these mystical theories and practices, today there is a popular, still developing theory among physicists called String Theory, which attempts to provide a complete, unified and consistent description of the fundamental structure of our universe.  Very basically, it explains the smallest possible component of reality as a vibrating string, or a bundle of them intertwined, and that how matter is created depends on the way these strings vibrate.  And of course when something vibrates, it creates a tone or harmonic of tones.  String theory tries to bridge and tie together the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics into the currently accepted “Big Bang” theory of the universe’s creation.  And as previously mentioned, universe meaning one song, is creation then merely a song being sung or played?  A cosmic symphony of sorts?  And each one of us exists as a unique harmonic signature within this overall celestial symphony?

And finally, we must mention the medical condition of tinnitus, which may or may not relate to these postulates.  Webster’s dictionary defines tinnitus as, “any ringing or buzzing in the ear not resulting from an external stimulus.”  The medical community reports that at least 20%, if not more, of the people in the USA suffer from it on a regular basis.  Things mentioned that bring it on are allergies, head injuries, loud noises, medications, infections, tumors and diseases.  Several treatments are offered to treat symptoms, but they truly do not even know what causes it.  And even though it is recognized as a medical condition, it is one that doesn’t seem to do much harm, other than being a nuisance for those affected.  In fact, most patients report that their doctors usually tell them to just learn to deal with it, since there is no long-lasting cure except ways to temporarily relieve the annoyance.  And polls reveal that 60-90% of the time these treatments don’t work.  So learning to live with it is basically the solution most people accept, because it’s also noted that at one time or another almost everyone gets it to some degree.

Do the metaphysical premises presented here before us truly point to an inner sonic key that is unique to each and every one of us?  One that can define where our future divine heritage really does take us?  Possibly the final answer is revealed whenever we take up the clarion call of the spiritual explorer that resides deep inside each of us.