It may be further illustrated with an AEolian harp where a number of strings tuned in unison, and giving forth a key-note, will successively give forth the octave, the third fifth, etc., according as the air gives a forcible or weak impulse to the strings. The number seven as a unit of measure, and as the universal factor in all common multiples in nature and in life, is everywhere apparent. The functions of respiration and circulation in man show very clearly this same principle, having the octave as a basis. In round numbers, in a perfectly healthy individual, respiration is related to circulation as one to four.
If the respiration is eighteen per minute, the pulse-wave will be seventy-two per minute. The impulse derived from the auricular contraction is related to that derived from the ventricles as an octave. If a single impulse of the heart be divided into our parts, one-half of said impulse, that is two parts, are assigned to the ventricular contraction and the first sound, one part to the second sound, and one to an interval of rest. The direct wave arising from the ventricular contraction is followed by another of just one-half its force, though of uniform recurrence. Now illustrate this diagramatically, and it will be seen that the second wave is related to the first as an octave.
The lunar month of twenty-eight days or four weeks of seven days is well known as the basis of the menstrual function. The quickening of the foetus occurs in eighteen weeks, the period of viability consists of thirty times seven days. The monuments of antiquity, the symbolism of ancient mythologies and religions, including the Christian, are all based on this septenary division of time. The evidence is overwhelming that this factor is basic and universal in nature and in man, and it would not be profitable to elaborate it here, as any one can examine the evidence for himself. I hasten, therefore, to the special illustrations as furnishing the basis of sight and hearing, and finally of all sensation, thought and consciousness.
The phenomena of light and color, and of sound, occurring in space through the agency of the universal ether, may be apprehended as definite vibrations. Short vibratory undulations produce light and color, while long ones produce sound. Thus, upon the length, amplitude and intensity of the vibratory wave depend the quality of color and sound. Mixed, pure, concordant and dissonant tones depend on the combination of waves, according to the septenary basis, and the same way be said of the laws of harmony in color.
Now the apprehension of all these varying phenomena and their transmission to human consciousness imply the same ethereal vibrating medium within the body as without, and instruments capable of cognizing, repeating, or duplicating each specific vibration. The soul of man has been aptly compared to a “harp of a thousand strings,” and this is far more fact than fancy. In order to cognize the phenomena of nature in those two realms of sight and hearing, the ethereal basis and organic development must be an epitome of the whole.
Whatsoever nature is in magnitude, in substance, form, or energy, that, potentially at least, man is in magnitude, in substance, form or energy, that, potentially at least, man is in miniature. The eye is essentially a space-organ, and the ear a time-organ. Time is the phenomenal aspect of duration. Infinity, itself forever concealed, yet manifests as rest and motion, or space and time. The phenomena of space and time, all that the eye can see of space and color and all that the ear can sense of sound and harmony through the organs of sense, are made apprehensible as changes in our states of consciousness.
What space is to the phenomena of visible nature, the all-pervading and all-containing, that consciousness is to the sense-motor and intellectual life of man. The consciousness of the individual is one; his organs, senses, feeling, and mental states are many. The consciousness of man, therefore, corresponds to abstract space, the noumenon of all phenomena.
As space in the outer world is the all-containing, so consciousness in man is the all-container. As cosmic intelligence in the outer world manifests as law, determining order and harmony, even so the intelligence or mind of man relates him to the outer world, and presents it to his consciousness in miniature. We thus see how man in every part of his being is involved with and evolved form universal nature, so that when fully evolved he will be its perfect epitome.
If, now, we realize how large a part of man’s conscious life is apprehended through the phenomena and organs of space and time, and if we find, as representing these, in, light and color, and in sound, the rhythm of al vibrations and the harmony of all combinations determined by the octave or septenary basis; and, furthermore, the interval between the highest audible sound and the lowest vibration as visible color already defined by science, approximately, at least, as thirty-four octaves, thus taking the whole range of etheric waves from the lowest note of the grand organ to the violet ray of the solar spectrum, we are forced to one of two conclusions, either the analogy breaks, and the basis of harmony fails, or we are forced to the conclusion that the septenary division as the basis of harmony in light and sound so completely demonstrated in the functions of sight and hearing, is basic in the whole organism of man, and thus affords the key to psychology.
A still further conclusion remain to be drawn. The basic or permanent factor in the life of man is consciousness. All mental states, like all perceptions, sensations, and emotions, occur as changes in our states of consciousness. Helmholzt has shown that the difference between consonant and dissonant intervals is not merely arbitrary, but is the result of the nature of the intervals is not merely arbitrary, but is the result of the nature of the intervals themselves.
The effect of discordant intervals or tones is expectancy, discomfort, unrest, while the effect of concordant intervals is just the opposite, thus showing the intimate relation existing between the conscious life of man and universal nature. Aside from all changes occurring in our states of consciousness, consciousness itself may exist on different planes. That is, while still subject to constant change in momentary experience of phenomena, it may change its entire relation as to planes in space.
The reason why comparatively little progress has been made in psychology, is because the true relation of thought or mind to consciousness has been overlooked. This true relation is best discerned from the basis of synthesis evolved to a complete system of philosophy. Such a philosophy is concealed in the Rig Veda and furnishes the key to the Upanishads. It is, therefore, among the oldest of literatures. Pythagoras and Plato derived for this source their entire philosophy, while Descarte, Leibnitz, Spinoza, and Schopenhauer, each gained lasting fame from a few of its fragments.
The consciousness of man displays itself on seven planes, each plane divided into seven sub-planes; and all these planes and sub-planes are derived from and correspond with like planes in universal and eternal nature. It is true that it would be difficult to demonstrate this in the present stage of man’s evolution, and that it would require a good sized volume to outline and illustrate it. But it may be easily grasped as a philosophical concept, and we shall then find that al that we know of sound and color justifies this concept, and that if the law of analogy holds, the law that underlies sensation and perception here is common to the whole range of man’s sensation and intellectual life.
The idea regarding the physical universe is of one substratum, universal and eternal, differentiating into seven planes; and each plane is to be regarded as related to the next by definite wave-lengths or rates of vibration of the one universal substance. This inherent and definite relation enables substance from one plane to be converted into that of another by a change of vibration, and as a tone in music may sweep throughout the entire range of the octave and pass on to the next, so any substance in nature may be transferred from plane to plane by a change of vibration of its atoms or molecules. This is what actually occurs, when water is converted into stamp, and is the principle by which the “radiant matter” of Crookes and the “inter-etheric force” of Keeley are derived.
Now, if man be regarded as an epitome of nature, and as Dryden expressed it, “The diapason closing full in man,” then every principle in nature, either potentially or actually, must be represented in him. It is the diversity and complexity of man’s nature that bewilder, and in the absence of any key to its comprehension confusion alone reigns. Consciousness is the basis of man’s sensuous and intellectual life.
All avenues of feeling, sensation,a nd perception lead to and merge in consciousness; and all mental changes and intellectual operations occur as changes in our states of consciousness. If there are really seven planes in the differentiation of matter in nature, then corresponding therewith there are seven planes of consciousness in man. It may be impossible to demonstrate this empirically at present, but it may be justified by analogy and sound philosophy.
