Joseph Farrell: THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES: EM, SOUND, MUSIC, AND GENETIC EXPRESSION

[Franny]

Well! I found this a fascinating blog post on sound and how it relates to, and affects, the human being. Do take the time to read the paper mentioned if you can.

THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES: EM, SOUND, MUSIC, AND GENETIC EXPRESSION

APRIL 27, 2020

In my book on mind manipulation technologies and techniques, Microcosm and Medium (Lulu), I spent much of the first chapter trying to illustrate how the arts, and in particular, music, through an ancient doctrine called Affektenlehre (doctrine of the affects) played a major role in the cosmology and thinking of most composers up to the beginning of the classical and romantic eras, when there was a fundamental philosophical shift.

Certain types of harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic procedures, and musical structure itself, contributed to a manipulation or evocation of specific universal human passions proper to the human nature. I also reviewed the mind manipulation research that took place in the Soviet bloc that was specifically tied to the arts and music. And, in addition to all of this, most of us have probably heard of those articles about plants growing better if exposed to certain type of music, or infants that have higher IQs when exposed to music, and so on.

That book sparked a somewhat lively discussion on this website in our members' vidchats, over whether or not this might have an effect on biological systems directly. On such occasions, I've told about my experiences growing up playing the pipe organs of various churches in and around Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Most of the instruments I practiced on were fairly substantial and large instruments, in "wet" acoustical chambers with lots of reverberation. Organs like this are unique, in that the soundbox of the instrument is the building itself, and not a box or sound chamber like on a piano or a guitar or violin. You're sitting inside the instrument, not outside of it, and the result is a very unique musico-physiological experience. One feels the vibrations of the music in a very unique and immediate way. That experience and those discussion led to speculations that perhaps there was a direct influence of music on genetic or epigenetic expression.

And in my own experience, I credit having attempted to play the organ - no one ever really masters the instrument, it masters them - with my drive to connect dots and patterns across several different contexts, after all, that's what contrapuntal music and in particular, organ music are all about. It does something to the mind that is quite marvellous, and I know there are organists out there who know exactly what I'm talking about.

Well, lo and behold, one of our alert readers and regular article contributors, S.D., spotted this amazing article and passed it on to me, and when I saw the subject and read the article, it vaulted right to the top of my "finals" folder this week:

Life Rhythm as a Symphony of Oscillatory Patterns: Electromagnetic Energy and Sound Vibration Modulates Gene Expression for Biological Signaling and Healing

There are a number of quite astonishing statements in this paper that more or less confirm the idea that somehow, music modulates genetic expression and "rewires" the neural pathways of the brain; picking out just a few of these, and retaining their order in the paper, just consider the following:

All life exists within a sea of vibration, and rhythm is fundamental to all of life. Diurnal, seasonal, lunar, and solar cycles, and the resonant electromagnetic field (EMF) oscillations of our planet make up the symphony of rhythms in which life on Earth exists.

That statement alone is as succinct a modern statement of the ancient idea of the music of the spheres as I think can be made; it echoes the late Leonard Bernstein's phrase about music and the "poetry of earth" made during his 1973 Harvard Norton Poetry lectures. But the authors of the paper - David Muesham PhD and Carlo Ventura, MD., PhD - go on to include some rather astonishing research and details:

Rhythm is the fundamental characteristic of music. In frequencies, timbres, and the passage of beats through time to form rhythms, music is an apt metaphor for this carrier of life-information. And the notion that music can touch the core of our being and is as old as human consciousness. Plato grappled with the powers of music in The Republic, stating that the various Greek modes convey specific qualities: “Then beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity—I mean the true simplicity of a rightly and nobly ordered mind and character.”10 And though Shakespeare has been famously quoted as referring to music as the “food of love,” he went much further, writing that music has the power to create: “Orpheus with his lute made trees, And the mountain tops that freeze, Bow themselves, when he did sing,” and the power to destroy life: “In sweet music is such art, Killing care and grief of heart, Fall asleep, or hearing, die.”11

Music has been shown to modulate several cardiac and neurological functions and to trigger measurable stress-reducing pathways,12 to modulate blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, EEG measurements, body temperature and galvanic skin response; alter immune and endocrine function; and ameliorate pain, anxiety, nausea, fatigue, and depression.13 Significant correspondence has been found between specific musical tones played to the skin through speakers and traditional Chinese descriptions musical tones associated with the acupuncture meridians.14 The notion that one “hears” sounds not only through the ears but rather through the whole body is echoed in the words of the Sufi musician, healer and mystic, Hazrat Inayat Khan:

A person does not hear sound only through the ears; he hears sound through every pore of his body. It permeates the entire being, and according to its particular influence either slows or quickens the rhythm of the blood circulation; it either wakens or soothes the nervous system. It arouses a person to greater passions or it calms him by bringing him peace. According to the sound and its influence a certain effect is produced. Sound becomes visible in the form of radiance. This shows that the same energy which goes into the form of sound before being visible is absorbed by the physical body. In that way the physical body recuperates and becomes charged with new magnetism.15

Here, Khan reinforces the notion of a deep relationship between music and neurobiology, indicating that further understanding of how music can modify nervous system activity could have implications for developing mind-body-spirit therapies that are effective not only as adjuncts, but as central treatment modalities in rehabilitation and therapy.16

There are other gems in the article, in addition to a mountain of details (which I hope the readers of this blog will read in the whole article). Here are just a few of those gems:

Also, a remarkable study recently found that the human body is able to distinguish at the molecular level between two different internal states: eudaimonic well-being, derived from “striving toward meaning and a noble purpose beyond simple self-gratification,” as compared to hedonic well-being, that which is derived from “positive affective experience.”231 Although hedonic and eudaimonic well-being produced similar subjective feelings of happiness, they were found to engage distinct gene regulatory programs.

Or this:

In order to encourage a medical tradition that incorporates understanding of the patient's mental, emotional, and interpersonal life, sensitivity and compassion are needed on the part of the healer. Such a medicine crosses the boundary of Science and Art, as the doctor's own sensitivity, clear understanding, and capacity for pathos would play an important role. And just as music can have the capacity to touch our deepest sentiments, and evoke feelings across the entire spectrum of human emotion, as scientists begin to understand the language of health, emotions, and heart rate variability,6 and begin to decode the language of cellular vibrations and biofield information, it may be possible to develop new forms of healing. As healers have used music for therapeutic purposes for centuries, might cell-music or EMF “biomusic” be further developed as a kind of medicine?

In a way, if one did not know otherwise, one might think one is reading a treatise about the Affektenlehre by Mattheson, or Werkmeister, or for that matter, passages of Albert Schweitzer (a physician and organist! [pupil of Widor]) in his biography of J.S. Bach, and his extended treatment of the musico-rhetorical practices Bach used - constantly - in his music and particularly his organ music. What the good authors of the article are suggesting is that there are actual quantifiable neurophysiological and genetic expressions that result from immersion in certain types of vibratory fields, whether electromagnetic, acoustic, or both. And most musicians playing in ensembles or solo, will be familiar in a very intuitive way that this is their experience.

This considerations lead to a final thought, namely, that perhaps it's time that these types of researchers and researches go back and look twice that the old exponents of the Affektenlehre, the Werckmeisters, the Matthesons, and so on, because if these authors are correct - and I definitely think they are - the old doctrine is being revived in a major way, and given some new scientific legs to stand on.

See you on the flip side...



I imagine J. P. Farrell would approve. Had to add this link to a rather famous piece of music I became fascinated with while in high school. I would put on headphones to listen over and over and never told anyone but a boyfriend at the time...and we're still friends

J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ho9rZjlsyYY

[The Moss Trooper]

It's funny......, I only came across this last night. It kinda fights here.

The sound from this 62" Earth Gong is something else. I had no idea that a gong could produce these sorts of sounds, it's a 'close your eyes, journey & heal' type thing.

Enjoy!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5L8hct4XFdE

[Ernie Nemeth]

On another thread I was trying to evoke a picture of an alternate modality to the current theory of germs and invasive molecules.

But I think this thread much better frames the question as what keeps us healthy. This is because I believe being healthy is the larger part of the defense against illness. To frame the question as a negative already assumes illness is an unavoidable condition that must be aggressively dealt with.

But if life is a process, a rhythm, a cycle, then health can be regulated, augmented, and maintained by the use of sound therapy and other modulation technologies.

Great find.
thanks

[Sarah Rainsong]

Reminds me of the time I listened to someone who was studying healing sound therapy (don't remember who, it was several years ago in a talk sponsored by my mediation group). She talked about the importance of vocalizing chants for the purpose of healing, particularly ohm, that the SOUNDS reverberated through the body and helped to instigate change, IIRC. It was a very interesting presentation and made me really think a bit more on the importance of sounds.

The Moss Trooper, your video reminds me a bit of singing bowls, but much more complex.

[edina]

I’ve mentioned before that I grew up on the Cayce Readings. My mother is very psychic and was beginning to experience many things she didn’t understand. Her dead grandmother appeared to her and guided her to a place and a book that eventually led to the Association for Research & Enlightenment (ARE) which is an organization that researches and applies the information coming out of the Cayce readings.

This was a huge turning point in my mother’s life. It helped her immensely!

When she discovered this information, I was around 8 to 9 years old. For a while she was very active in the ARE. As she learned more, she naturally shared what she learned with me.

For myself, it was great. I had this innate knowing, but didn’t have a language in which to speak about what I knew from within. The Cayce material gave me a language to help me express this inner knowing.

The key take away for me from the ARE experience was that it was important to take this information, understanding and knowledge to the application level. To live knowledge into wisdom.

For several days now I’ve been thinking about and have considered sharing a quote from the Cayce readings in the Quote thread.

“Thoughts are things.”

What this means to me is that there is a substance to our thoughts. It took the level of application of spiritual principles for me not only to my actions, how I act, but to my thinking. I hold myself accountable to higher principles, even in my thinking.

Over the years in considering this idea, I’ve considered the vibrational, frequency and energetic weight, or substance, of our thoughts. Our thoughts carry weight. They affect us, and others. They affect the water of our bodies, and vibrational quality of our cells.

The trillions of cells in our body hear every thought we think and they take our thoughts, literally.

This ups the challenge level of self-mastery significantly.

In this way, I’m always learning, always growing and I am never bored.

In the late 90’s I discovered the work of Doc Childre and the Heart Math Institute (HMI). It’s fascinating work, and a big quick take-away for me is the power of the vibrational frequency of “appreciation” in establishing coherence between heart intelligence and brain intelligence. The point relevant to this thread is frequency research. Anyone who is experiencing heart problems may find this information helpful. (Science of the Heart.)

Being my mother’s daughter, I’ve experienced my fair share of unusual experiences across my 60 years of life. Around the age of 10, I had an experience that’s hard to describe and has threads to earlier and later experiences. One of the outcomes of this experience is that I became acutely aware of how science would one day prove the existence of the soul. I remember telling almost anyone who would listen to me about this around that time frame of my life. (I’ve always been considered an “odd” one.)

While listening to the Gong music shared by Moss Trooper, I looked over at the YT side bar and was drawn to this video.

And in this thread, the mention of revisiting earlier science. On a forum that has in it’s banner,

… where science and spirituality meet.

…

This is one of the ways in which we operate at the soul/spiritual level … to our personalities, it is called synchronicity. (Harmony and balance within all the aspects of our being.)

We've Found The Magic Frequency (This Will Revolutionize Our Future)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mBL9pS6GMdA

I remember Star/Shadowself/Brook talking about the 11th Harmonic. This video helped me understand that concept better.

*********

As to the paper “Life Rhythm as a Symphony of Oscillatory Patterns: Electromagnetic Energy and Sound Vibration Modulates Gene Expression for Biological Signaling and Healing” something Rudolph Steiner talked about comes to mind. (As does the math/algorhythms embedded within Atticus' (aka Stephen's) writing.

“Rhythm restores power.”

He knew…

(I’ve downloaded the paper for further study, lots of interesting footnote papers too, thank you Franny for sharing.)