Sound health

Creation myths have often been expressed in metaphors of sound. To the extent that form comes about through sound, then it is appropriate to explore the ways in which sound, especially vocal sound, facilitates the return journey. Whereas the creation may be seen as a cascade of increasingly impure sounds as the material comes to dominate awareness, the return journey then requires a progressive purification of these sounds. This involves the progressive purification of these sounds, going back through each of the energy centres (chakras) with which they are associated, mantrically chanting and purifying them. In the language of Buddhism, it is the process of untying knots in the reverse order to that in which they were tied, undoing the original creation, and is achieved by involving the distractable mind in tasks which free the individual for more profound levels of awareness of emptiness, of clarity and ultimate enlightenment.

Sound health is a concept which is deeply rooted in many languages (eg sound in mind and body, sound ideas). The body is an instrument which needs to be kept in tune. Its different parts constitute a symphony of vibrations (eg rhythms of walking and breathing, heartbeat, pulsation of organs and cells). It is the individual vibratory trueness and the relationship between these vibrations which maintains a healthy state. Sound may be used for healing and for the transformation of consciousness.

Many traditions recognize the vibratory nature of the world, expressing this understanding through their own cultural metaphors, and recognizing that it was necessary to participate consciously in some way in this vibratory ordering of nature. Failure to sustain such vibratory maintenance was even seen as endangering the world.