“It is less about music being scientific and more about the universe being musical.” – Stephon Alexander1
I like this quote. What Stephon Alexander had to say about universe being musical has a ring of truth to it. As Maria Popova went on to say, Alexander’s statement reminds the reader “… that stars, galaxies, and planets arose from sound waves in the plasma of the infant universe as spacetime vibrated like an instrument to produce the waves that leavened these essential cosmic structures.”2
When I consider the words of Alexander and Popova, I was reminded of the Genesis account of creation: “God said, ‘Let there be….’” and it was so. The Gospel of John begins with, “In the beginning was the Word…. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1 and 3 NIV) God spoke, and the sound of his Word reverberated through the emptiness. Sound waves reached beyond the extent of the void and the end of time, vibrating, pulsating, harmonizing, converting their energies into substance, just as God designed: “Let there be….”
My curiosity got the best of me. “What other creation stories or myths from around the world attribute the tangible universe in which we find ourselves to some phenomenon as routine as sound waves?” I wondered. I searched the internet for creation stories or myths; and, there are a number of them originating from various cultures, each story unique to the culture from which it sprung. Creation has been attributed to all manner of gods, mythical creatures, mystical beings. One article summarized 25 creation stories from different cultures around the world.3 Now, I will be the first to admit that my research is not exhaustive, nor is it definitive. However, thus far, I have found that only the Genesis account attributes creation to something akin to sound waves. But I digress; that’s another subject for later discussion.
As I have written before, our creative resolve stems from our likeness to God, who is creative. In my post, speaking specifically about poetry, I wrote, “A poem’s natural rhythm synchronizes with the imperceptible tempos of the body….” Imperceptible tempos, those subconscious rhythms that many of us, if not most, do not perceive. A fabric of waves that are carefully woven together by an unknown or unseen entity, giving the universe its structure and meaning. Barely known pulses that are typically hidden from us by the stresses of our day-to-day lives but are the connection to our origin, God. Tap in to this imperceptible fabric and watch your creative spirit soar.
1. Maria Popova. “The Jazz of Physics: Cosmologist and Saxophonist Stephon Alexander on Decoding the Song of the Universe.” Accessed April 6, 2019. https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/03/25/the-jazz-of-physics-stephon-alexander/?mc_cid=855d203b71&mc_eid=cdc929b456
2. Popova, “The Jazz of Physics.”
3. List25. “25 Creation Stories From Around the World.” Accessed on April 7, 2019. https://list25.com/25-creation-stories-from-around-the-world/
