Vibration in the eastern philosophy
The idea of a supreme vibration as a foundation of the universe is common to many traditions of spirituality. The Gospel of John says “At the beginning there was the Word”, referring to the sonorous vibration of the creative Logos.
The idea of primordial vibration is very clearly expressed in the eastern tradition, mainly in the Kashmir Shaiva tradition called SPANDA. The word SPANDA means movement, vibration. This School says that nothing can exist without movement. Life – in its largest sense – cannot exist without movement. By comparison with the Supreme Reality, the great philosopher Abhinavagupta calls SPANDA a ‘pulsation, a rising of the spiritual happiness into the essential nature of the Divine, which include all the successive steps that follow’. But how can we talk about the movement of the Absolute?; since movement the way we know it takes place in space and time, being a measure of the modification of the position in space in relationship to time. The Absolute transcends space and time. This is why SPANDA is defined as the dynamics of consciousness, being not a physical movement, not a psychological activity (like pleasure) and not even a movement of PRANA (energy) (such as hunger and thirst), but being the subtle vibration which is the source and foundation of all these. SPANDA is the pulsation of the Ecstasy of the Divine Consciousness. It is the dynamics of the spirit and is expressing absolute freedom. In the human being, this energy SPANDA SHAKTI is the unifying happiness of the effortless awareness of Self, being of the same nature as the substratum of the Universe. Referring to this vibration, SHIVA SUTRA says “The Self (ATMA) is the one who is dancing [vibrating in harmony].”
The eastern philosophies, expressed in numberless legends and myths, talk about SHIVA as the Cosmic Dancer – SHIVA NATARAJA, who in the rhythm of His dance is creating and destroying the entire universe. The dance of SHIVA is an admirable metaphor of existence as it is understood by modern science: a continuous movement on an infinite spectrum of frequencies.
In conclusion, we can look upon the entire creation as being an aggregate of vibratory phenomena, each having its own frequency. If we think that sounds are also frequencies, and that any vibration produces a sound, we can say that the entire creation is a grandiose symphony (the music of the spheres).
In this world of vibrations, RESONANCE is therefore the paramount phenomenon who links two or more vibratory compatible processes.
Resonance in physics
In acoustics, resonance happens when an elastic body starts to vibrate due to a sonorous signal (sound) that is produced close to that body. In electromagnetism, we call resonance the superimposing of two frequencies of identical characteristics (same wavelength). When the two identical frequencies superimpose, the resulting wave is amplified. This amplification can reach very high values, called points of resonance. Therefore, resonance has as main effect the amplifying of the intensity or amplitude of a sound or radiation.
We saw that a wave is always born by something that moves. Light waves, radio waves, ocean waves, gravitational waves, sonorous waves, mental waves, or any other kind of waves, they all exist and manifest because somewhere, something is moving. Nothing can move in one place without inducing sooner or later another movement in another place of the Universe. A wave makes those things that are in its way move in a way similar to the initial movement who generated the wave.
Interference
If two waves ‘push’ an object in the same direction, the object will move faster in that direction. If two waves push an object in opposite directions, the object will move slower. If the direction of the two waves make an angle, the object will change direction, etc. In fact, in these cases the waves do not actually affect each other, they just interfere with each other. The phenomenon of interference is happening continuously in the world of waves.
Consonance and dissonance
Let’s say there are two independent sources of waves. In this case there are four possibilities:
1. If the waves have equal frequencies and same period, they amplify each other (RESONANCE or CONSONANCE).
2. If the waves have equal frequencies and opposite period, they work against each other (DISSONANCE, DISCORD).
3. If the frequencies are close, but not equal, they produce the phenomenon of BEATING. The beating is a result of a periodical interference, in other words, sometimes the waves amplify each other, sometimes they work against each other. The resulting wave is a modulated wave, whose frequency will be the difference between the two initial frequencies.
4. If the frequencies are very different, they do not influence each other at all.
Oscillators and resonant systems
Any object that moves periodically can be considered an oscillator. Oscillators modify their environment (for example air, water, gravitational field, etc.) by creating waves.
Let’s say we have two violins tuned up identically. We put the two violins on the table, and on one of them we produce a sound by vibrating one chord. We will notice that on the other violin (which we did not touch) the corresponding chord (which therefore is tuned to the same frequency) will also start to vibrate, producing a sound similar to the sound produced by the first violin. This is a phenomenon of resonance. The two violins make up a resonant system.
The cosmic law of resonance
These phenomena of resonance can be very well ascribed to our inner world of thoughts, feelings and emotions as well as to our way to associate with other people and with our surroundings.
Thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc., attract, evoke and amplify each other through resonance. Those thoughts/feelings who do not have equal frequencies do not influence each other. And those thoughts/feelings who have opposite frequencies tend to cancel each other.
Examples of resonance
1. An outburst of growing anger between two people is a manifestation of the phenomenon of resonance. The person who gets angry creates waves of anger who spread into his surroundings. In this way, his anger will be easily transmitted to the other person. If this other person accepts these frequencies in his aura, he will get angry too, producing waves of the same frequency, who will influence the first person through resonance, amplifying his anger. In this way, as long as they are together, their anger will grow continuously.
2. Two people who agree on a subject are attracted to each other, because they resonate.
3. A very important aspect of resonance is the group resonance. In this case, if a group of people are synchronized and think or feel the same thoughts/feelings, the power of those thoughts/feelings is greatly amplified. This phenomenon is very obvious in healing circles, where a group of people are synchronized and send energy (which is amplified through resonance) to one person who needs help. In this way, the participants do not need to be very powerful or skilled, because their efforts, however clumsy, will add and will amplify through resonance, creating a noticeable effect which otherwise may not have been obtained by a single individual.
Conclusion
Resonance is a link. The way to create this link is codified in the various techniques or ‘modus operandi’ of the various spiritual paths. Who understands deeply the law of Resonance has found the core of all ways to approach all the dimensions of the Universe.