A Thought on Music Music and Arts
By nature true artists are those who seek to cross borders and transcend limits, either to reach spiritual heights never reached before in devotion to their god, or to investigate new areas of profundity which none have trodden before. In front of the gate of one of Holland’s leading museums of modern art is written that the duty of a true artist is “to reveal mystic Truth.”
Music is regarded as the finest of all arts because it relates to cosmic harmony through the most refined of our senses: the hearing faculty. Good music therefore touches the finest snares of our soul, and makes our soul co-vibrate with the message which the performer or composer wants to transmit. It can, for example, arouse our highest feelings of devotion and lift us, if we really listen, above the consciousness of everyday life. Music and other arts are taught at music and art schools. Universities can however teach higher ways of listening, and investigate the subtle beneficial powers of sound, melody, rhythm and harmony, and the formative powers of vibration created by the mind. As part of “sound-psychology” the subtle influence of sounds on our moods and feelings can be studied; as part of “sound-physics” the influence of sounds on sensitive materials such as fluids, gases and crystal formation can be studied. “Sound-biology” would study influence of sounds on plants for example. In the field of “sound-healing” we could, with today’s refined sound detecting and producing instruments, produce personalized sounds which in some cases may act more accurately and efficiently than chemical or naturopathic medicine, especially in the field of psychology. Also the power of repetition, and the permanency and progressiveness of repeated positive influences on health should be studied in much detail.
(Taken from: Culture Transcending Education from a Theosophical Viewpoint)
