Harmony of the Spheres

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As harmony of the spheres or music of the spheres, the awakened "inner ear" experiences the actual spiritual world, the so-called Devachan. In his search for this world harmony, Johannes Kepler discovered at the beginning of the 17th century the three Kepler's Laws, now named after him, which describe the fundamental principles of motion of the planetary system and which he explained in detail in his work Harmonices mundi libri V ("Five Books on the Harmonics of the World") published in 1619.

Harmony of the Spheres and Devachan

„Apart from what can be perceived through "spiritual seeing" in this "spirit land", there is something else here which is to be regarded as an experience of "spiritual hearing". As soon as the "clairvoyant" ascends from the soul-land into the spirit-land, the perceived archetypes also become sounding. This "sounding" is a purely spiritual process. It must be imagined without all thought of a physical sound. The observer feels as if he were in a sea of tones. And in these tones, in this spiritual sounding, the entities of the spiritual world express themselves. In their sounding together, their harmonies, rhythms and melodies, the primal laws of their existence, their mutual relationships and affinities are expressed. What the mind perceives in the physical world as a law, as an idea, presents itself to the "spiritual ear" as a spiritual-musical. (The Pythagoreans therefore called this perception of the spiritual world "music of the spheres". To the owner of the "spiritual ear" this "music of the spheres" is not merely something pictorial, allegorical, but a spiritual reality well known to him). If one wants to get a concept of this "spiritual music", one only has to eliminate all ideas of sensual music as it is perceived by the "material ear". We are dealing here with "spiritual perception", i.e. with such a perception that must remain mute for the "sensual ear". In the following descriptions of the "spirit land", the references to this "spiritual music" will be omitted for the sake of simplicity. One only has to imagine that everything that is described as an "image", as a "luminous thing", is at the same time a sounding thing. To every colour, to every perception of light corresponds a spiritual tone, and to every interaction of colours corresponds a harmony, a melody and so on. It must be borne in mind that even where sound prevails, the perception of the "spiritual eye" does not cease. It is just that the sound is added to the luminescence. Where "primal images" are spoken of in the following, the "primal tones" must also be considered. Other perceptions are also added, which can be similarly described as "spiritual tasting" and so on. But we shall not go into these processes here, as it is a question of awakening an idea of the 'spirit land' by means of a few modes of perception picked out from the whole.“ (Lit.:GA 9, p. 124)

Unlike the sensually audible sounds, the sphere sounds do not live in the air as a carrier medium, but in the much finer Akasha material, in which "thought can express itself directly" (Lit.:GA 53, p. 230) and which is also the carrier of the world memory.

„By certain other methods, of which we shall speak later, man can attain to the point where, through his own inner power, space will not only be illuminated by light, flooded with the light of wisdom, but that space will, as it were, begin to resound. In the old Pythagorean philosophy, as you know, it was spoken of the music of the spheres. By "sphere" is meant the space of the world, the space in which the stars float. This is not an imagined, spun-out image, not a poetic comparison, but it is a reality. When man has practised sufficiently according to the indications of the secret teacher, then he learns to see inwardly not only an illuminated, transilluminated space, which is the expression of wisdom, but he also learns to hear the music of the spheres which floods the space of the world. And when the space begins to resound, then man is said to be in the heavenly world, in the Devachan. It is true that space resounds, but it is not a physical sound, but these are spiritual sounds which do not live in the air, but in a much higher, finer substance, in the Akashic substance. Continually space is filled with such music, and there are certain fundamental tones in this music of the spheres.“ (Lit.:GA 101, p. 150)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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