The Great Principle of Vibration

Piers Clement

"Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates."

Vibration exists at every level from the microscopic to the macroscopic, and at every level harmony is sought and conflict is resolved. Music is for us the purest expression of this vibration, and most music, from the formal to the spontaneous and improvised, tells a tale of the discovery of harmony and the resolution of discord. Two instruments playing a note of the same frequency or whose frequencies have a simple mathematical relationship produce a harmony; a discord occurs when the frequencies, although close together, do not have this relationship. So is it with colours, which "clash" if their vibrations are close together but are not the same, and personalities, in that two people with obvious differences will often find it easier to live in harmony than two who seem similar but yet have important differences in the finer detail.

In the human body, cells or organs may vibrate in disharmony within themselves or be in harmony with themselves but discordant with the rest of the system: if the system is to survive, we must excise the discordant cells or seek to resolve the discord at a higher level. Conventional medicine attacks discord with discord, whereas holistic medicine seeks the harmony of the total body.

Love between human beings can be a sublime expression of two systems vibrating in harmony; yet if this harmony produces discord within the wider environment, the relationship must be excised or the discord must be resolved at a higher level. Old-fashioned morality attacked the offending relationship with rules and sanctions, the new morality seeks a reconciliation.

A group or nation working in harmony can achieve great things; yet if their harmony is in conflict with the harmony of another group or with the basic harmony of the universe, the group must be excised or the discord must be resolved at a higher level. The traditional methods of solving these conflicts involved more conflict, destruction and the loss of life and property; when the technology has advanced to a point where such conflicts may possibly lead to the destruction of the entire species, new holistic methods are needed for solving conflicts between groups.

By living in harmony within ourselves, and by attempting to communicate these harmonious vibrations to others near and far, we are helping to bring about a world which, based on these holistic principles, can live in harmony with itself and so reflect the basic harmony of the Universe.

Note from Piers: As a lover of the "formal" types of music, the ultimate expression of this harmony is for me achieved by a large number of voices singing together. Music for the stage and church abounds in examples of this; in the concert hall i think particularly of the finales of Beethoven's 9th and Mahler's 2nd Symphony, and Mahler's 8th Symphony in its entirety.

PIERS
Clement

Version 1: 29 July 1997

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