At one time, people believed the universe was composed of the elements of air, water, fire, earth and ether (space).  Eventually, this notion was discarded as researchers discovered the chemical elements.  These smallest particles of these elements were called atoms.  Atoms were thought to be solid particles, until further research determined that atoms were composed of even smaller components, which became known as electrons, protons and neutrons.  These new “smallest components” were dubbed as subatomic particles.  So, they were still thought to be particles of solid material.

In the last century, research new research has come forth and we are now discovering that sub-atomic particles aren’t composed of anything solid after all.  The new science of quantum physics is suggesting that these particles are actually vibrations, tiny multi-dimensional ripples vibrating on something called the space-time continuum.

This is a very interesting hypothesis; especially since it is coming from physics, which is the science devoted to the study of matter and all things physical.  Physics has long denied or ignored the existence of the spiritual.  In fact, one term used to describe the spiritual is metaphysical (a word which simply means “beyond the physical”).

So it is very odd that physics (the study of the physical world) and metaphysics (the study of the spiritual world) are both starting to describe the nature of the universe in which we live in similar terms.  I’m speaking of the fact that the various spiritual traditions found in different cultures all tend to express the idea that the Creator sang or spoke the universe into existence.  Words and music are simply vibrations or ripples that are sent forth on the air.

Other spiritual traditions are even more explicit in this description.  They express the idea that God’s breath or Spirit moved across the surface of something called the void (or the Great Deep) and thus all things were created.  What they are telling us is that all visible creation is like the pattern of ripples found on the surface of a lake when the wind moves across it.  In other words, God’s voice, breath, or spirit is moving across the surface of this great body of something called the void and all we observe is the result of the ripples created by this movement. 

So, both the physical sciences and the spiritual traditions are telling us the same thing. The universe is composed of vibrations (tiny ripples or subatomic particles) appearing on the surface of some invisible fabric or surface known to science as the space-time continuum and to metaphysical traditions as the void or great deep.

If this seems mind-boggling, don’t worry.  It’s mind-boggling to everyone, including the scientists who are working with these ideas.  The important point in all of this is that everything we see is composed of energy.  It only appears to be solid because of the interaction of various energy forces.

This understanding is essential to what we are about to learn.  You see, if everything is composed of energy, then it only makes sense that everything we see would exhibit some of the fundamental characteristics of energy.  So, what we are going to do is to explore some basic energy patterns and demonstrate how these patterns can be observed in our body and in the world around us. 

These patterns aren’t that complicated.  In fact, on the surface they appear to be overly simplistic.  However, upon deeper examination and contemplation these patterns become more and more profound because one starts to see them everywhere.  What makes this material so difficult to comprehend and accept is its simplicity.  Most people think the truth is extremely difficult and complex.  I find that whenever I discover a new truth it is always profoundly beautiful in its simplicity.

So, if you’ve never been exposed to this before, get ready for a life-altering paradigm change, because once you start seeing these patterns, you’ll start seeing them everywhere.

Energy travels in waves.  Each wave of energy composes one cycle (or circle) of energy flow.  This is easy to see in nature.  The earth is vibrating (rotating) and one turn of the earth in a circle constitutes a cycle we call a day.  The earth is also vibrating (revolving) around the sun.  Each time the earth completes one circle around the sun, another cycle we call a year has occurred.

The moon also creates lunar cycles.  The movement of the moon around the earth creates a tidal cycle.  The moon also goes through a cycle of phases (new, waxing, full, and waning) which gave rise to a cycle we call a month.  (Moon and month come from the same root words, even though we no longer use the moon to calculate months.)

The relationship between the wave the the circle is represented below.




As shown above, energy travels in waves.  Each wave follows a cyclic or circular pattern.  Thus, the path of the wave from the first arrow to the second arrow follows one full circle (or cycle) of energy.  When it reaches the second arrow, the energy has returned to the starting point, and thus comes back to the beginning.  It has traveled “full circle.”

These cycles are eternal.  They are unified.  The circle is one.  So, at the most fundamental level, the universe is composed of the same stuff (energy) and is therefore completely whole and undivided.  However, we experience two distinct phases in all of these cycles which creates an illusion of duality in everything.

Each wave, vibration or cycle has two easily recognized parts which appear to be opposites.  Hence, there is summer and winter, day and night, the full moon and the new moon, the high tide and the low tide.  In reality, these are not different things, they are simply the front and back of the same whole.  They are two expressions of the same wholeness.

In Oriental philosophy, these apparently opposing forces were dubbed yin and yang.  The Oriental symbol of the yin and yang energies (shown below) is a circular pattern which expresses the unified, waveform nature of all creation.  Energy is continually flowing through two phases, an expanding or yin phase, and a contracting or yang phase, to arrive back at the beginning and start again.   Yin and yang are not separate things, they are the front and back of the same unbroken, continuous whole.




Yin and yang are the expanding phase and the contracting phase in each waveform we observe.  The expanding or yin phase is characterized by the force of attraction.  Attraction pulls energy towards it.  As energy accumulates, there is expansion. 

As the expansion reaches fullness, there is a shift in the energy.  Expansion gives way to contraction.  In contraction, a repelling energy is at work.  Energy is repelled or pushed away, which causes a shrinking or contraction to occur.

This is shown in the following illustration




The arrows outside the "yin" circle represent the energy being attracted or pulled inward.  As energy is drawn in, there is expansion, which is represented by the arrows inside the "yin" circle.  As expansion leads to fullness, the energy shifts.  The yang energy is the force of expulsion or repulsion.  As something contracts, represented by the arrows inside the "yang" circle, it expels or pushes energy away from it.  This leads to an emptying out, represented by the arrows outside the "yang" circle.  The emptying out causes another energy shift and the cycle begins again.

This can be most easily seen in our own body.  As the heart attracts (or draws in) blood, it swells or expands.  As the heart reaches fullness, it contracts and repels (or pushes way) the blood.  Each cycle of expansion and contraction of the heart creates a vibration we call the heartbeat. 

The same thing happens in our lungs.  As the lungs draw in (attract) air, they expand.  As the lungs push out (repel) air, they contract.  Each cycle of expansion and contraction creates one breath in the circle of our lives.

These forces are constantly moving throughout our body.  Our nerves build up electrical charges and then discharge or fire electrical pulses.  Our muscles expand or relax, and then contract to create force so we can move and perform tasks.  Our stomach and intestines expand and contract to churn and digest food and move it forward through the intestinal tract.  Even our lives are expanding and contracting as we rest at night to build up our strength, then expend energy during the day.

These forces are also visible in nature.  During the year, as light expands, darkness contracts (the days get longer and the nights get shorter) which brings the heat and activity of summer.  Then, there is a shift.  The light contracts and the darkness expands (the days get shorter and the nights get longer) which brings about the cold and dormancy of life in the winter.  Following the same pattern, we watch the tides rise and fall, the ocean waves rise and fall, the moon cycles through its phases as it waxes and wanes, life spring forth in the spring and fall back in the fall and so on.

We also see these forces present in our own duality as male and female.  The feminine is the yin force of attraction.  The male the yang force of pursuit.  When they mate, the male energy expels or pushes away the seed which the woman receives, and the yin or feminine principle swells with new life.  When fullness is reached, the new life is expelled from her womb in the process of birth.

Over and over again, in all that we see and experience, we behold this apparent duality in all things.  Yin, yang; male, female; front, back; top, bottom; over, under; above, beneath; male, female; hot, cold; dry, damp and so forth.  Yet, beneath these dual forces lies a third force, one which encompasses both ends of the duality, uniting them as one, seeing them as they really arečthe two halves of the same thing, inseparable, indivisible, and eternally one.

This third force is illustrated below.




You can observe this third force at work each time you breathe.  You can sense it with every beat of your heart.  Think about it.  Do you just inhale and exhale?  Does your heart beat constantly?  Pause and notice.  You inhale, you exhale and then there is a pause, a moment of rest.  Your heart expands, then contracts, then pauses before expanding again. 

To better understand this concept watch the ocean waves sometime.  Each wave builds, crests and collapses on the shore, but there is always a pause, a moment of stillness or rest before the next wave.  If you look only at the surface, all you will see are the waves rising and falling—the constant expression of duality, yin and yang, forces seeming to be forever in opposition to each other.  But, in the pause you can see what is beneath this, the great, quiet stillness of the ocean depths that underlies the turbulent surface. 

This third force is the energy of the great deep, the void out of which everything arises. This third force is the force of equilibrium or balance.  In it, we find the stillness that is beyond the duality we observe on the surface of creation.  It is “place” where the apparent conflict is reconciled and the unity in the opposites is observed.  In the point of rest between the vibrations that make up our universe is where we experience the Divine.    It is the power of rest, which is also the power of peace.

Thump, thump, pause; thump, thump, pause; inhale, exhale, pause; inhale, exhale, pause; forever cycling through three distinct phases—three distinct manifestations of one whole, present in everything we observe—a trinity of forces quietly testifying of the one voice, one breath and one song that is creating them.

The pattern of energy and energetics doesn’t stop with duality and trinity.  It continues onward in a numeric unfolding of creative patterns. 

If we turn our awareness is our own breath, we can observe a fourth "element" in the cycle of creation.  This fourth aspect of energy is opposite the point of rest or equilibrium and happens at the peak of inhalation.  Here, we have a brief, fleeting point at which expansion shifts to contraction.  This is the fourth aspect of energy—change.

Change is the opposite of rest and occurs whenever expansion shifts to contraction.  It is always a momentary point of imbalance, a sudden shift or transition.  It is the bottom of the roller coaster ride as the cars moving downward, gathering increasing speed in the process, hit the bottom and are forced to move upward, discharging the built up kinetic energy as they move up the next incline.  As this energy is exhausted or spent at the top of the roller coaster ride you will notice there is a brief pause or slowing before the next downward cycle begins.

The pattern of four is the underlying basis for the traditional four elements, air, water, fire and earth.  So, we are back to seeing the world as the ancients saw it.  In fact, they probably never meant that the world was literally composed of air, water, fire and earth.  It is likely that those who originated these teachings understood that these four substances were metaphors or symbols of the basic energetic forces in the universe.

So, let's examine the metaphors of the four elements and decipher the energies that are behind them.

Water represents the feminine, yin or expanding energy.  It’s opposite force, fire, represents the yang or contracting energy.  Water nourishes things and makes them grow or swell.  Fire breaks things apart and releases their stored energy.  This represents one pattern of apparently opposing forces which are really just two aspects of the same eternal cycle of life, but there is another in this model—air and earth.

Earth represents the point of balance, rest or equilibrium. Earth is another "mother" or feminine "yin" energy.  It is grounding and draws things to it through the force of gravity.  Air, on the other hand, represents the point of imbalance—the winds of change.  It is the "sky father"  energy of Native American philosophy and is another representation of the masculine "yang" energy.

These two patterns of opposites form a grid system as shown in the illustration below.  This grid system is an aspect of the Native American medicine wheel as illustrated below.





Our world has traditionally defined things primarily through the pattern of fours.  Thus, we speak of the four winds and four corners of the world.  This is because walking on the face of the earth we have the four cardinal directions—north, south, east and west.  These can also be expressed as front, back, left and right, which comprise our primary system of orientation. Thus, the four element pattern that helps us orient ourselves in the world.

This pattern of four is also clearly visible in the cycles of nature around us.  We observe the four seasons (winter, spring, fall and summer).  The opposing forces of summer and winter are juxtaposed by two transitional periods, spring and fall.  Summer is the yang or fire time when everything is pushed outward, drawn toward the sky.  Winter is the yin or water time when all live retreats inward, drawn back into the earth.  Spring is the season of change, renewal, rebirth. It is the time of air (March winds).  Fall is the time of equilibrium, the gathering of the harvest and the celebration of the abundance of the universe. It is the time of the earth.

We observe these same four forces in the cycle of the day.  Between the darkness of night and the light of the day are two periods of transition, morning and evening.  Again, day is the yang or fire force and night is the yin or water time.  We expend our energy (discharge it) during the day and renew our energy (recharge it) at night. Morning correlates with spring (air) and is the time of change.  (I personally get my best ideas in the morning.)  Evening equates to the autumn, the season of earth—a time for rest and reflection. 

One of the best explanations I ever encountered for this pattern was in the book Sons of God by Christine Mercie.  In it, the author spoke of watching the sunset and wishing that she could fly in a plane at exactly the speed of the rotation of the earth and watch the sun setting for 24 hours.  She realized that although we experience day and night, sunrise and sunset as cycles over time, that in reality they are eternal.  It is always day somewhere and night somewhere.

The most beautiful observation she made was that the sunrise and sunset are forever circling our planet like the dance of two eternal lovers.  In the sunrise and the sunset, day and night meet and embrace forever, in the never ending union of the opposites—the ecstasy of love.  Since reading her description I see the burning passion of Divine love expressed in every sunrise and every sunset.

A more complete explanation of these energy patterns will have to follow in additional articles in this series, but it is important for you to know that the pattern does not stop at four.  The four becomes the five, the five becomes the six, and so forth as we observe more and more parts to the eternal circle of the energetic universe.

For example, think of the musical scale.  As you go up the musical scale (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti) on the eighth note you are back to the beginning (do).  You have just completed one cycle and have arrived back at the beginning. This is also an expression of the eternal circle or cycle of life, only here we have seven divisions.

However, consider that the second do is not the same as the first do, because it is vibrating at exactly double the speed (or cycles per second) of the first do.  So, the cycles don’t really travel in circles, they travel in spirals.  These spirals follow a specific mathematical pattern known as the Fibonacci sequence.  In fact, it is this mathematical pattern which forms the musical scale in the first place. 

These mathematical ratios of the Fibonacci sequence are found throughout all living things.  The spiral design of a sea shell follows this mathematical pattern.  Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous drawing of the man (often used as a symbol in holistic healing, was drawn to demonstrate these mathematical patterns in the human body. Here again, we see testimony to the energetic unity of the universe. 

Finally, although there are seven major notes on each rotation of the piano keyboard, there are also five half-tones (sharps and flats), making a total of 12 fundamental divisions in each turn of the sacred spiral or wheel of life.  All the music that has ever been written is composed using these twelve notes, repeated over and over again in various sequences, and moving up and down the sacred spiral. 

But it isn’t just music that forms this pattern.  Look at color.  Three primary colors create three secondary colors (for a total of six).  When combined again they form the twelve basic colors of the color wheel.  The seven major colors (which are present on the rainbow) are complimented by five secondary colors (the half-tones).  Every color we observe is simply a mixture of these basic colors.

This pattern is even present in the periodic table of elements.  It is called the periodic table because the pattern of the elements follows a sacred spiral in the pattern of the Fibonacci sequence.  Each column on the table is the same “note” or “color” expressing itself at a higher or lower frequency.  So, again, all the “elements” we observe in chemistry and the world we live in are composed of twelve basic vibrational states which move up and down this sacred spiral or wheel of life.

Ultimately, quantum physics is suggesting that the universe is composed of twelve vibrations.  I’ve read that these vibrations follow the mathematics which create the musical scale, and that this mathematic sequence is also the basis of the sacred spiral.  All of this testifies that there is a unity to the universe.  A Divine pattern of oneness permeates everything we observe.

These twelve basic forces (the twelve basic colors or notes which compose the universe) are represented by the Tree of Life model that Roylon Mortensen discovered and shared with me.  As one begins to understand these energy patterns of the Tree of Life, which I have introduced here, one will begin to see these patterns manifested everywhere.  They are present both in science and in philosophy, in physics and metaphysics.  They are as artistic as they are mathematical.  They are holographically present in everything we can observe.

With this insight, it is not hard to picture that there is a celestial song of creation vibrating from the Creator and forming all that we see.  The universe is a symphony of form and color revealing over and over again the pattern of notes that created it.  When one sees this pattern in action one begins to see and experience the unity, harmony, and wholeness that is present in all creation.  One begins to sense the quiet breath, the soft voice and the loving song emanating from the Creator and moving through the whole of creation.

I know all of this can sound pretty mystical and airy-fairy, but it's really not.  It is deep, profound, even sacred and awe-inspiring, but it is also absolutely grounded, practical and useful, as I shall attempt to demonstrate in other articles.

Once you open your mind to these principles, you will have started on a journey that will forever change the way you think.  Are you ready to discover again the path of the Tree of Life?