The Mystical Aspects of Sound

Tuesday August 18, 2026

“Some day music will be the means of expressing universal religion...”

– Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Mysticism of Sound and Music

Welcome Everybody!

What we are about to consider next is neither modern science nor traditional religion. It is not generated through the empiricism of experimentation, nor experienced through the rapture of divine revelation. However, it leans heavily on both, while also moving beyond the limitations of either.

Traditionally known as mysticism, numerology, or today sometimes referred to as pseudo-science, it is a purely rational consideration of reality. It assumes the possibility that Reasoning through a Rational Mind can lead to the truth about how things work; built on a foundation of “a priori” knowledge accessible to human beings through Reason, Logic, and Deduction. It is how Pythagoras would have recognized and considered the connections between music and reality.

“…it is a chance to consider the connection between music and reality.”

Considering the numerological mysticism related to music is not about denying modern science or refuting traditional religious understanding or belief; it is a chance to consider the connection between music and reality from a more Pythagorean perspective. An opportunity to consider the nature of Reality through the eyes of the ancient Greek philosophers.

So, have fun!

Book IV, The Cosmic Symphony, connects our previous considerations of Greek metaphysics, modern science, and traditional religion to a revolutionary quantum theory called String Theory. If you have read the previous three books, you will recognize that book four continues to further explain the metaphysics underlying a mathematical reality known as dualism.

Metaphysics and mysticism transcend both science and religion without denying the truth of either. They also reflect the possibility of a third “rational” or “metaphysical” factor that transforms our perception of Reality from an Aristotelian-Cartesian perspective of duality, to a more Hegelian perspective based on trinities; leading to a Unity of Spirit that duality prevents us from directly experiencing in the empirical world.

“Hegel’s universe is ultimately not an empirical universe.”

In Hegelian terms, Reality is the unfolding of Divine Consciousness attempting to move from a condition of separateness to a condition of Perfect Unity. Hegel represents a modern philosophical solution to the problem of duality; and also the problem of quantum mechanics. Hegel’s philosophy of “absolute idealism” allows for and explains the kind of paradoxes found in quantum mechanics and string theory; because like modern quantum theory Hegel’s universe is ultimately not an empirical universe. The universe is a complete rational abstraction that we perceive as “real” but is in fact not physically tangible in any way.

“…both represent a completely rational attempt to explain everything…”

In this sense, Hegel’s consideration of Absolute Truth and Pythagoras’ original consideration of the Music of the Spheres both represent a completely rational attempt to explain everything about reality in one single complete theory; a theory of everything. Hegel considers how consciousness evolves into Absolute Truth through a natural process of “becoming,” Pythagoras considers how the divine ratios of sound revealed the secrets of the universe. Both theories are completely based on pure rational abstraction.

Both Hegel and Pythagoras proposed metaphysical theories about reality designed to discover the fundamental Absolute Truth about how everything works. Hegel focused on rational trinities; Pythagoras focused on mathematical ratios.

“Pythagoras by plucking a stretched piece of cord using ratios, mathematically deduced the harmonic structure of music. Pythagoras this way based and related his discovery to exact ratios of whole numbers and concluded that music just like numbers was the ordering principle of the world. The metaphysics of music that came into being as a result of the above discovery made by Pythagoras was explained by Aristotle in the following manner ‘the elements of numbers to be the elements of all things, and the whole heaven to be a musical scale and a number.’

In other words, it was believed that the harmony present in the universe was a result of the rotations of the heavenly spheres where each sphere produced sounds at various levels and that man’s production of music also added to the harmony of the universe. Thus the notion music of the spheres defined music ‘as a discovery rather than a creation because it relied on preexisting principles of order in nature for its operation.’

This was a crucial component in creating music at that time as it was believed that any deviance from the set mathematical notions or structure of music would lead to disharmony in the spirit and the universe since everything was believed to be interconnected. This way as Cicero claims music of the spheres became ‘a form of communion with divine truth.’”

– Syeda Shireen, Music of the Spheres and Metaphysics of Music: An Analysis

Unlike the rigid empiricism of science or the theological dogma of religion, metaphysics perceives reality through the prism of relationships and patterns, particularly mathematical relationships and patterns. It utilizes the natural connections of Reality to explain the nature of Reality. Although Aristotle, Descartes, Hegel, and Einstein may have argued over the exact cause of Reality, or exactly how we experience it, they would all agree on one thing: there was Reason behind it all.

“…we have a rational mind that can recognize and interpret this rational reality.”

The universe was reasonable, it made rational and mathematical sense. In addition, this reason and rationality is revealed to us through nature. We can recognize, understand, and find meaning in our experience because the universe is constructed on reasonable rational principles. More importantly for us, we have a rational mind that can recognize and interpret this rational reality. This understanding is the foundation of Western science, religion, and mysticism.

This metaphysical consideration of Pythagoras’ original concept related to the Music of the Spheres reflects an esoteric argument for mathematical mysticism, or musical numerology. Pythagoras’ perception of reality was based on the mathematical metaphysical patterns that he recognized through vibrations and their inherent ratios, or harmonics. Pythagoras’ theory is not the only possible interpretation of mathematical metaphysics related to music, but it does represents the fundamental argument related to the mathematical patterns and connections associated with the musical explanation for Reality that eventually leads to string theory.

“Music directly manifests those rational patterns.”

The essential argument is that Reality reveals itself through rational patterns. Music directly manifests those rational patterns. Therefore, music represents the mechanism, blueprint, and even the embodiment and physical manifestation of Reality. Everything in the universe is a vibration, simply an overtone from the cosmic symphony eternally generated by the Music of the Spheres.

Next week we will consider the amazing metaphysics of octaves…

Check out Book II Part-2 “Religion”

Learn More!

Excerpt from this week’s podcast: “Untangling the 10 Commandments: Part-2 – The Essence of the Contract”

Excerpt from this week’s Reality by a Thread: “War: Part-2 – Insights of Sun Tzu”

“Tactical disposition is basically about attitude. Sun Tzu’s disposition is to begin by being undefeated; thus allowing one to wait for the right moment to defeat their enemy. Being incapable of defeat is a ‘defensive disposition,’ however to defeat someone else requires a more ‘offensive disposition.’ The goal of victory requires an offensive disposition.”

– Frank Elkins (Reality by a Thread – August 20, 2026)

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