A Sonic Universe - Sound Design as Key to Understanding Physical Reality | #2: Life as a Sine Wave

Sound is one of those phenomena that works great as an analogy for life itself, despite standing on somewhat spooky, almost magical grounds - physically speaking.

Before we get to that though, maybe it'd be good to recap... What exactly is sound?

As the common explanation goes, sound is basically a perceived oscillation, a wave that travels physical distance through a medium (most commonly air in the human realm). That wave eventually reaches us and starts "massaging" our auditory apparatus - the ear and the inner ear with its connected sensory organs - translating the air-vibrations into electrical impulses which are then forwarded and decoded within our brain as noise or "audio".

Pretty far-out - even for an official explanation! It may not be all there is to say about how sound works, but for now we can get with that.

So how can this image help us understand life?

If we look at the requirements for an audible wave more deeply we can extrapolate hypotheses that have been uttered for thousands of years by sages and saints who may not have had the technical insight we do today on the mechanism of audible sound: Namely that anything we experience as REAL is characterized by its energetic contrast to other experiences we already had.

Just like the simple sine wave that requires an oscillation of ups and downs to be audible; life itself - our experiences, our human story, our hopes, dreams and the situations we find ourselves in - are marked by highs and lows. No matter how much we would like to always be happy, there is something to be said about the necessity for tough times in our lives so that the good times stand out as good and can be recognized as such.

There is no audible wave without oscillation, it needs to oscillate back and forth for there to be any sound, music or concert at all. Likewise, someone who is stoned all the time will build great tolerance in his body, making the "high" seem less and less high with every consecutive experience, provided there hasn't been enough balancing "downtime" in between.

So what good is this observation? Doesn't it suck to know that all good things will eventually come to an end?

Well, it might initially, but then we are forgetting two things: First that there is really nothing we can do to avoid lows in our life, especially from a preventative standpoint.

And second: That it also goes the other way! No matter how bad your situation is, how bleak things may look or how deeply hurt you have been - if you trust that life oscillates and must osciallte like an audible soundwave for there to be any experience at all, there are better times ahead. By definition.

Our experience of the moment changes all the time but somehow we experience "good times" as fleeting and tough times as burdensome and lengthy. Maybe we can take solace in the fact that for there to be any life experience worth making there will better days ahead even if the lows seem insurmountable and disheartening while we find ourselves in them.

Maybe this is why so many people love to listen to music, both to celebrate their highs and to dwell in their lows - because music and its inherent ups and downs remind us ona subconscious level that for any experience that can be felt there need to be oscillations between the states we always want and the states we always dread.

So if you find yourself in a tough spot right now remember this: No matter how your hurt ego may portray it, the wave will oscillate back! And the lower its amplitude reached, the higher the inevitable peak that is to follow.

Tell me honestly: Don't you feel better already? <3

- A Sonic Universe | Foreword -
- #1: Everything as Vibration on One Spectrum -