The Music of the Spheres

The Music of the Spheres

Frater X

From the Rosicrucian Forum, February 1951, page 88.

The allusive phrase, “the music of the

spheres,” has intrigued generation

after generation. In this response

from the Rosicrucian Forum, the meaning of

the phrase is considered in Pythagorean and

Rosicrucian terms.

Much in past centuries has been written

in the poetical and mystical sense with respect

to the phrase “the music of the spheres.” From

the scientific point of view it has been scoffed

at. However, the very phrase had its origin

in scientific speculation by one whom many

historians regard as the “father of science.”

The phrase is attributed to Pythagoras and is

related to his discovery that intervals of the

scale had a simple numerical relationship.

In the realm of philosophy, Pythagoras,

born on the little island of Samos in the

Aegean in the sixth century BCE, is an

enigmatic figure. His contemporaries were

divided in their opinion of him. However, all

were influenced by his thought. Some were

profuse in their panegyrics of his sagacity.

Others, either being sincere in their diverse

conceptions, or seeking to belittle him, were

unnecessarily bitter in their criticisms. Even

today there is a difference of evaluation of

him to be noted. Some modern historians,

though not acrimonious in their accounts,

will, with reluctance, admit his contributions

to both science and philosophy. Others

conversely herald him as a genius, as one

laying down the foundations of science, as

well as influencing all European ethics not

directly inherited from the East.

Any intelligent student of the life and

work of Pythagoras, at least that account

which descends to us today, will proclaim him a most illumined individual. He

combined within one person the attributes

of a mystic, philosopher, and scientist.

Rosicrucians are particularly proud to affirm

that he was initiated in the mystery schools

of Egypt from whence the Rosicrucian

Order sprang. As an initiate and master,

Pythagoras continued the doctrines which he

had learned in Egypt in the great initiatory

school which he established at Crotona. The

Rosicrucian teachings today are rooted in

doctrines which he expounded, even though

they have been elaborated upon by the great

minds of the Order since that time.

His mystical doctrines concerning the

nature of the soul and its relation to the

body are an integral part of the mystical

and occult teachings generally expounded

today. His ethics, his rules of behavior,

particularly for the attainment of spiritual

consciousness, are often taught by teachers

of esotericism without a full recognition

of their origin. What may be said to be his

scientific conceptions and discoveries became

the basis for most of his ethical, mystical, and

philosophical teachings.

Universe Is Vibratory in Nature

Pythagoras is credited with discovering

the mathematical relationship between the

various notes in the musical scale. He is said

to have measured the lengths of a vibrating

string and found that the rate doubled for

each octave. It may be that this phenomenon

was disclosed to him by the learned

Memphite priests of Egypt where he had

sojourned and where he was initiated into the

mysteries. Nevertheless, this knowledge greatly

impressed him. He conceived that “things are

numbers”—in other words, that each reality,

each particular which we discern is vibratory

in nature and has its special number or rate of

vibrations.

Consequently, if one knows the vibratory

rate of the essence or energy of a particular,

one will then be

able to control

its form of expression—

just as

modern physics

is endeavoring to

do now. Further,

each reality or

thing would have

a mathematical

relationship or

place in the great

universal scale.

Just as there is

a harmony between

notes in

a musical scale,

Pythagoras contended that all have their

numerical or harmonious relationship in the

Cosmos. Here, then, was the first postulation

of a universe having an orderly arrangement

which made possible an inquiry from an

empirical or scientific point of view.

Pythagoras had introduced a theory which

in part, insofar as the phenomenon of sound is

concerned, was demonstrable. It was a logical

premise, therefore, to advance from that

into the realm of other natural phenomena

He advocated the idea that if high and low

pitches can be brought together in a perfect

attunement, it was natural to suppose that all

objects can be similarly treated. The theory of

opposites or contraries, such as hot and cold,

hard and soft, as the primary cause of change

in the forms of things, was an idea prevalent

in Pythagoras’s time. To him harmony meant

a balance or blending of these contraries. For

a stable reality or universe there would have

to be a blending of opposites in proportions

which could be numerically expressed.

To Pythagoras, number was “the key to

the universe.” If we learn the number and

proportion of all reality, we know the secret of

the universe.

Centuries later, another Rosicrucian,

known as John Dalton, who was also eminent

in science, introduced a similar idea of fixed

proportions of the elements in chemistry.

Pythagoras applied his concept to the

relative distances of the sun, moon, and

stars. He believed that there was a harmony

of relationship between them that could be

expressed numerically. It was a theory that

was also expounded in much more recent

times, but somewhat differently. Pythagoras

taught that if the sun, moon, and stars really

have vibratory rates corresponding to specific

octaves in the universal scale, then each must

give off vibrations, just as the strings of the

lyre give off sounds. In other words, if planets

are vibratory, they must propagate waves

which can be discerned, just as when one

plucks the strings of a musical instrument.

At this junction of his philosophy,

Pythagoras was misunderstood by many, or

at least misinterpreted. He did not mean that

this music of the spheres, this harmony of the

planetary bodies in motion, can be audible

in the physical sense, just as we hear the voice

of another. To his credit, we may say that he

meant that if we do not hear this music of the

spheres, it is because we are not attuned to

their vibratory rate—this “hearing” was not

to be conceived in the physical or objective

sense. He stated in effect that the human soul

must be brought into attunement with the

higher universal harmony of the cosmic forces

before one could hear them. The word, hear,

must be understood to mean discernment

other than auditory perception.

All Is in Continuous Motion

He taught his disciples of Crotona

that the greatest happiness is to be found

in placing ourselves in harmony—that is,

in proper relation to the universal motion

of all things. Alcmaeon of Crotona, one of

the Pythagoreans, relates, “All divine things,

the moon, the sun, the stars, and the whole

heavens are in continuous motion.” That in

itself was a statement which opened the door

to a scientific investigation of the unity of

all reality. Pythagoras proposed a common

property or quality of all things.

To Pythagoras, our thoughts also

must be in harmony with natural forces

and cosmic principles. Our thoughts can

advance or retrogress in the great scale of

which everything is a part. Socrates, in the

Phaedo, probably referring to Pythagoras’s

ideas, alludes to the harmony of the levels

of thought when he says, “Philosophy is the

highest music.”

Health, too, was regarded as the proper

tuning of the body. It was affirmed that

there must be a consonant of the opposites

in the body—that is, such must be of right

proportions if health is to be preserved.

Disease was held to be “a disproportionate

expansion of one or more of the contraries.”

Rosicrucians should compare these

statements with what we refer to as the

harmonium of the body in our therapeutic

or healing techniques. Though modern-day

Rosicrucians go far beyond Pythagoras in the

study of the human body and its functions,

nevertheless, his idea of harmony of

proportion remains with Rosicrucians a basic

conception. He said that disease is tyranny.

We interpret that to mean that it is a condition

which is tyrannical in its domination of all

of the body’s functions. Health, he said, was

“the reign of equal laws.” We construe this to

mean that health is a concord or agreement

of the natural functions of the body.

Mystically, this music of the spheres is

the result of a personal attunement with the

Cosmic. It is a degree of Cosmic Consciousness.

The sensations one has of such harmony

when in perfect attunement, are not always

perceived as an auditory sensation—as

something actually heard. They do not

always assume the form of exquisite music

or a magnificent concord of sound seemingly

coming out of the infinite. Such an experience

may instead be tactile, as an ecstasy of feeling

or a profound peace.

Most certainly, a ringing of the ears,

which is distracting and which may occur

without any attunement of the consciousness

with the infinite, is not to be confused with

the mystical harmony to which Pythagoras

refers by his term music of the spheres.

Further, such harmony, when experienced,

no matter how realized, whether sound

or feeling, is almost always accompanied

by great inspiration in the form of mental

illumination. The experience should never be

construed as a strange sound, having its locus

within the ears. Such would most certainly be

taking the Pythagorean principle in a wholly

literal sense.