Full Description
Is there a harmony between heaven and earth?
Are we connected with the planets?
Since the dawn of time, mystics have talked of a heavenly
music, audible only on a subtle level. Until recently, the theme of The Music
of the Spheres was taken seriously in many cultures and religions around the
world, and even in music theory. And yet now it has become mute. Or perhaps we
have become deaf.
Can we learn how to hear this heavenly music again?
This book begins by looking at the Music of the Spheres
throughout history, and how paradigm shifts in consciousness, from mysticism to
materialism, have reduced the Music of the Spheres to a fanciful myth. But we
will not allow this sound to become a myth so easily. We will instead fine-tune
our listening, exploring physical sound, soul sound and the highly subtle
spirit-sound. A deeper understanding of the quality of number will then prepare
us to internalise and spiritualise the musical intervals found in Pythagoras'
and Kepler's Music of the Spheres. Finally, a future initiation path of
Listening is suggested and described.
Through personal anecdotes, listening exercises and
philosophical inquiry, based mainly on Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy, Paul
Lawrence explores this subtle sound in an exciting and masterly way. Your
appreciation for music and its significance for human and world development
will not be the same after reading this inspiring book.
Contents
Introduction 9
Part One: A History of the Music of the Spheres 11
Origins and
Birth 12
Prehistory and
Ancient History 15
Pythagoras, The
Bridge 21
Plato 24
The Music of
the Spheres Becomes Mainstream 27
Aristotle
versus Plato 30
The Renaissance 32
In search of a
Cosmic Tone: Johannes Kepler 38
Losing the
Thread 42
A New Language 45
Spiritual
Deafness 49
Part Two:The
Music of the Spheres in Nature and the Human Being 53
Metaphysics
meets Physics 54
My Story 58
The Resounding
"Bass Note" of Creation 61
The Harmonic
Series 63
Notes as a
Microcosm of "Creative Ideas" 66
"Seeing"
Harmony in Nature 69
The Human Being 75
Part
Three:Learning to Listen 81
Learning to
Listen: Introduction 82
The Ear 86
Physical, Soul
and Spirit Sound 89
Redefining
Music: A New Way Of Listening 95
Sounds of
Silence 103
Silence and the
Wall of Ego 106
Listening to
Mother Earth 111
Guidelines for
Higher Listening: Lessons from Mother
Earth 114
Listening to
Father Sky 118
Awakening to
Intuition 124
Perception of
Etheric Currents 129
Approaching
Grace 133
Part Four: The
Music of the Spheres as Cosmology -
Tone-Numbers
1-7 137
Our Method of
Study 138
A Word on
Number 140
One 144
Two 147
Entering the
Octave Portal: An Exercise 151
Three 154
Four 158
Five 164
Six 170
Seven 174
A Noisy
Interlude 178
Part Five: From
Cosmology to Initiation - Tone-Numbers 8-14 181
A Few Words... 182
Prime
Initiation (The Eighth Harmonic) 188
Second
Initiation (The Ninth Harmonic) 190
Third
Initiation (The Tenth Harmonic) 193
Fourth
Initiation (The Eleventh Harmonic) 196
Fifth
Initiation (The Twelfth Harmonic) 200
Sixth
Initiation (The Thirteenth Harmonic) 205
Seventh
Initiation (The Fourteenth Harmonic) 210
The Initiation
Scale 216
Epilogue 217
Appendix 220
Acknowledgements 222
About the
Author 223
Acclaim for The
Music of the Spheres 224
