Self-Musicalisation - a cultural activity of the Aquarian age

Self-Musicalisation refers to a cultural activity which is slowly developing as we learn to see the world and ourselves in terms of energy and vibration. It is a discipline and art that grows from the spiritual practices of many cultures based in a deep understanding of sound and its creative effects. At the simplest level, self-musicalisation could be described as any habitual practice which brings about or increases the musical functioning of the self. The simple practice of chanting or sounding an OM can be seen as a self-musicalising activity in as far as it sets up a vibration in the person which brings their mind and spirit into a condition of alignment and relative harmony.

According to many traditions the world itself is fundamentally musical. In spite of modern research evidence that every healthy human being is neurologically musical “as an integral part of our human design,”(1) the great reality today is that humanity has gone out of tune with itself and with nature. The natural result is that we are experiencing the consequences of dissonance and disharmony. This way of seeing can be helpful since if something is out of tune then we should be able to re-tune it. Self-musicalisation is a way by which human beings can tune or re-tune themselves to their own higher possibilities.

In the context of talking about Self-musicalisation as an aspect of human cultural activity in the Aquarian age it’s relevant to note that the modern groundwork for this can be found in many fields of endeavour. Seeing the world in musical terms is not only an ancient practice but also a contemporary one found equally in the study of the musical resonance of black holes as in the teachings of the esoteric philosophies such as those of Gurdjieff and Alice Bailey.

In using the term Self-musicalisation I am referring to a very specific practice which has been developed and shared over the past forty years or so within a small but expanding circle of family, friends and co-workers. The essence of this practice is simple: sing the Solfa note ‘Doh!’ and its related scale, and listen inwardly to the sound as you sing. The simplicity makes it singable and teachable to children, and the benefits are pretty much multi-directional and endless. My own practice led me into the field of the Soul realm behind the martial arts. Since the root or foundation note in Solfa is the note “doh”, this aligns quite well with the key idea of martial arts as a “dō” – the Japanese word for the path of enlightenment. So we have martial arts systems such as judo, karatedo, aikido, kendo, taekwondo, etc. To see the solfa note “Doh” as a musicalisation of the Japanese word “Dō” reflects the fact that Solfa-do Self-musicalisation involves the use of Solfa to tune the mind, emotions and body so that they increasingly resonate with the Sound or vibrations of the Soul or higher Self. It is essentially a path that awakens the bodhisattva nature in humanity.

I’d like to refer to some of the underlying ideas from Alice Bailey’s esoteric philosophy that inform the practice of the use of Solfa as a methodology for a culture of the Soul or higher Self.

In Alice Bailey´s book Glamour: A World Problem, the Tibetan teacher refers to “the music of the soul” and “the musical quality of the Hierarchy” (p.259). He says that in fact “sound permeates all forms” and that whether we´re talking about the planet itself, an atom, a person, a group, there is the same underlying reality of musical vibration. He suggests that some day “the planetary Logoi will sing together”.

In Letters on Occult Meditation we meet the idea that (p.54) “Sound, in an occult and deeply metaphysical sense, stands for that which we term ‘the relation between’, and is the creating intermediary…”. This seems to suggest that we can learn to use sound to heal the relationship between any two things or groups of things. The book discusses forms of meditation suitable for different types of people. In relation to people who are developing along the line of the fourth ray we read that suitable meditation takes the form of a “process that leads to the realisation of the notes and tones of the solar system, the note and tone of individuals, and the endeavour to harmonise the egoic note with that of others…”. The practice of Self-musicalisation seems to fit into this type of fourth ray process, and since humanity itself is said to be governed at a soul level by the fourth ray, then the fourth ray method which we call Self-musicalisation is likely to form part of the cultural landscape of humanity as it moves onwards on to the path of soul growth and unfoldment.

We could describe Solfa Self-Musicalisation as an aspect of Soul culture wherein the singer is consciously using a seven-note system to make the personality a tuned instrument for the expression of the vibrations of the Soul Self. My father used to say that solfa is for soul. Soul culture and its many forms of expression are beginning to emerge with renewed vigour in our times and it is this culture that will characterise a humanity magnetised towards conscious soul living. The cultural practice of Solfa-based Self-Musicalisation is informed by several recognitions, amongst which we can highlight the following.

Firstly, that each of us is a composite of many vibrating energy patterns all operating together to interact and harmonise as the basis of our daily sense of I or self. 

Secondly, this composite of vibrations usually gives us a fairly consistent personality note, easily recognisable by others. Health can be seen as the degree of harmony of the vibration patterns of the various aspects of selfhood and the degree of alignment of these with each other, with other people, and with the higher note of the Soul. This higher note expresses the Soul vibration and carries the qualities and capacities of our higher nature. 

Third, the axiom “As above, so below” is a statement that the lower world of self is intended to be based on the realities of the higher world. In musical philosophy, this means that the lower doh is an emerging reflection of the higher Doh. Learning how to re-tune ourselves to the higher Doh is both teachable and necessary.

Fourth, there has always been recognition that our Sun is the practical source of light and life-giving energy to all life on our planet. The vibrations of our Sun energise every living thing in our solar system. Musically, the Sun is the keynote of life for humanity and all life on our planet. From the angle of Soul culture, Solfa and its keynote, which we sing as “Doh”, is really about cultivating the note of the subtler energies of the sun within humanity.

There are many other aspects to all of this which we cannot cover today, but I’d like to briefly touch on a few implications for Triangles before I close.

Firstly, a culture of Aquarian Self-musicalisation means a culture of group Self-tuning, whereby individual Triangles workers, individual units of Triangles, and the Triangles as a whole become increasingly more potent in exemplifying the note of Soul-energised living and right relations.

Secondly, there is a suggestion by Foster Bailey in a 1995 issue of The Beacon magazine that the Great Invocation “must inevitably be the great spiritual keynote…”. This idea impulses us to strive towards a solfa singing that is invocative of light, love, and right human relations. Choosing to develop along this line makes it inevitable that the Triangles will stand as a network of human beings who together musically radiate solar quality within the world of humanity, “turning the darkness into day”.

Thirdly, a talk by Christine Morgan for the Aries full moon festival in 2018 referred to the existence of a kind of inaudible spiritual sound associated with the heart, which relates to the power of the divine will to cause matter to spin into vortices of motion. Since Triangles seeks to support the aligning and interplay of humanity, Hierarchy and Shamballa, it can become increasingly important that we tune ourselves to collectively listen for the Shamballa tones that strengthen our capacity for goodwill and our power to lovingly express the will to good. Self-Musicalisation may well be a Shamballa-inspired activity of Soul by which humanity can be rightly powered into its next evolutionary phase.

So, a culture of Self-Musicalisation may indeed become an aspect of the Soul culture of humanity in the Aquarian Age; but realistically this is a possibility that depends ultimately on human choice, and therefore, on the choice of people seriously committed to grounding the culture of the Soul.

I’d like to close with a quote from the book The Externalisation of the Hierarchy (p.533-534). In referring to Those who work with the Will of God in Shamballa, we are told: “To Them, as They hold the Will of God in solution, it is one clear note; as They see that Will of God in motion, it is three abiding chords, carrying outwards into all the worlds the Purpose of the ONE Who for aeons will abide; as They impel that Will to demonstrate, it is seven vibratory tones, drawing out into the reflected worlds the structure of the Plan. And thus the note, the chords and tone produce the Plan, reveal the Purpose and indicate God’s Will”.

Thank you once again for your generous willingness to share in these ideas.

© Clarence Harvey, Solfa-Do Academy

References

1. Welch, G.F. (2001). The Misunderstanding of Music. London: Institute of Education

2. Bailey, Alice A. The Externalisation of the Hierarchy; Glamour: A World Problem; Letters on Occult Meditation; *The Rays and the Initiations, p.206-207