Resonance
Physics and Songs of Creation
The Weird
Raymond Peat, may his memory be eternal, is an interesting man who studied and explored a broad range of topics. I’m listening to him in the background at the turn of 2022 and three things catch my inattentive ears: first, that the earth’s natural frequency of 7.83Hz is influential on humans and being cut off from the earth can have negative effects on the person1; second, that there are creatures which bend and transfer light through their cells; third, human electromagnetic fields and variance particularly around energy fields being projected and interfered.
The Spiritual
I must admit here that my own priest beat me to the punch. I had been mulling over deification and the transmission of Uncreated Light through the concept of sympathetic resonance in a manner that makes the entire human being an active vessel and transmitter in the way that a steel beam can be tapped in rhythm to sing its particular song. Much like the creatures which bend light except with an even more inspiring twist. The lifework of the Saints and their examples give testament to this, and only some of them achieve such a union with God2. When we are newly baptized and Chrismated we receive a candle to indicate that we are newly illumined. The illumination is not merely symbolic but pointing to the reality that we can now see and hear the Light and Song of God. My priest’s take was that of symphony with Christ as the type/model/perfect pitch to which we attune ourselves. Embarrassing for me to sit on an idea for over a year without articulation but boots to the ass come in every shape and size.
In Orthodoxy and Catholicism3 there are regular blessings and consecrations of both spaces and things. This is direct work to change the world in a real way. When we speak of transforming Creation we mean doing so through literal ritual actions and through our every day living. When Theophany comes around we bless the waters, and then we have the priest bless our homes. Why should a priest come around to bless our homes? Aren’t we Christians and living a Christian life? All of us fall short and sin, all of us cause chaotic noise instead of harmony. The spaces we live in are shaped by us and our actions and not in a purely associative manner4. Therefore, we bless the spaces to bring them back into tune that they and we might resonate with the Holy. There is always the temptation to dismiss it as superstition because we live in an age dominated by the rational. I am given over to such thoughts all the time.
The Practical
Yet, when I hear that some items are brought into my household from someone who is killed I shrug. When I learn that person committed suicide and previously acted erratic I think you know, we bless and consecrate things, and I’m pretty sure things can be cursed and warped, too. A practical application of energies5. As mentioned before this is also true in our houses; and it is true in our relationships with one another - spouses, children, in-laws. When I grumble against my wife and wish her ill I am really effecting her and myself on the spiritual and physical levels, minding that the thoughts themselves are embodied in me, and remembering that the actual fields we emit interact with one another. Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives indeed. If I fill my house with anger, disgust, resentment then I expect those things to manifest in my relationships here, and for it to be physically manifest in strange ways, too.
We like to think we can reduce everything down to their core elements and somehow explain all the multifaceted phenomena that arise from the interactions of these simple systems. Ah, there’s no such thing as consciousness, obviously, because we can’t prove it and the same goes for free will. The Orthodox and our tradition, thankfully, are not particularly interested in reductionism and have no problem with simply saying there is more to life than the material but that can leave us wanting because of the dominance of reason over the nous6. One of the reasoned ways we might envision this concept is linear superposition - when waveforms collide they are amplitude additive as they intersect. This has many practical uses such as sound negation where the anti-waveform is emitted to negate the original, to the sounds of a human chorus rising together in volume and commingling in a unique harmonious fashion. We can use this to think about our relationships to one another and to God. If I am acting in accordance to God then I am attuning myself to Him and His will and I begin to resonate with His Life and Light; when I do the opposite I introduce notes that are disruptive not to Him, not to the Source, but to my ears, eyes, and soul. I mutter and curse under my breath about the coffee urn being empty at work WHAT ASSHOLE DID THIS is introducing discordance in my relationship with whoever it was who is clearly not interested in a well-functioning office. I hope he has a bad day. And I curse both of us at the same time.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matthew 5:21-22
The Space Trilogy and Chris Langan
In C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy there are scenes that always struck me as real clunkers. They are the scenes were the characters are chanting/singing together in unison and prophesying or retelling tales. However, I need to give him more credit than I have been. Creation as song and harmony, as the energies rising and falling to give birth and an ongoing never-ceasing sustainment of all that is expressed. I guess he was on the money again.
Chris Langan describes his unifying model of the universe as the Cognitive Theoretical Model of the Universe and without recapping it with my mini-mind’s butchering of the theory it is important to note that he views space-time as manifold, that there must be things which bind meaning - telors, and a linguistic portion of it to complete the whole thing and make it actionable. Spoken/sung7 into being? I assume he would take issue with me misappropriating (and probably misunderstanding) his theory but what good is an idea if you can’t put it through my low IQ shredder mind?
Interesting to think about, and is any of it true? In my own life, yes - which is why I need to be waking up earlier for morning prayer and geez is it even worth it.
Alpha wave measurements of a relaxed person are right around there, weird huh
There are many stories of the Saints, who have worked their entire lives toward God, being radiant. They are so in tune with God that they transmit the very Uncreated Light through their own bodies. Likewise, there are many instances of the Saints befriending animals in nature - bears, wolves, birds, rabbits, and the like - the restoration of harmony with creation.
I’m not RCC but I assume this remains true even as I am troubled by what is being blessed by them
e.g., one always performs the same action in the same place and so we feel compelled to perform that action in that place; however, there are lots of weird things where people who have not previously engaged in some action feel they must do so, or that a space or place is dark or evil. They’re probably right and it’s difficult for me to really grok this sort of thing
Finally, some practical metaphysics after briefly mentioning measured unusual physics; but, surprise!, it’s theology thus neatly avoiding the “Orthobros do too much woo woo theology with not enough application” temptation
I am spiritually blind as the proverbial bat
Not, you know, literally
I don’t know why you decided to post this today, but boy did I need it. Thank you and God Bless.
That is edifying, thanks.