Civilization One: The World is Not as You Thought it Was (25 page)

The only reasonable explanation we could come up with was that the note was produced naturally by means of some sort of instinctive harmony between the Australian Aborigines and the revolving planet. Native Australians have a deep spiritual relationship with their environment and their mind-set is completely different to that of the westernized world. This is a race that was cut off from the rest of world more than 40,000 years ago and which has found it hard to come to terms with the materialism of the Europeans that arrived on their remote shores a mere 200 years ago. The Australian government has now realized that it cannot, and maybe should not, necessarily assimilate indigenous Australians into modern lifestyles and so has returned land to the tribes so that they can live in their traditional manner if they so desire.

If we are right in thinking that Aboriginal Australians instinctively understand that the Earth resonates to a note of 366 Th, it follows that there must be some kind of physical reality to the Megalithic geometric divisions of the planet. This indicated that the utterly brilliant system of the Earth breaking down into 366 degrees, 60 minutes and 6 seconds of arc – each a whisker over 366 Megalithic Yards – was much more ‘authentic’ than we ever imagined. To test this ‘intuition’ theory we began to cast around the world, trying to find recordings of indigenous music that have not been affected by the specific requirements of Western music or what is now known as concert tuning.

We were trying to find out if there was a common usage of musical pieces set in the key that we called ‘Megalithic C’, otherwise known as C sharp in the concert scale. In addition, we were looking for specific rhythm patterns that also fell within expected Megalithic parameters. In particular, we were seeking a rhythm of 91.5 beats per modern minute, because 91.5 beats in a modern minute means that every beat is exactly 1 Megalithic Second apart.

From the rainforest of the Andes, the windswept mountains of Tibet, and the frozen wastes of Siberia to the rolling plains of North America, we recognized traces of ethnic music that corresponded with the ‘beat of the Earth’ almost everywhere we looked. We found it in traditional Indian music, and among the indigenous peoples of Africa. It seemed that wherever a culture was spontaneously creating music, freed from the constraints of the recording studio and standard concert tuning, Megalithic notes and rhythms were once common (see Appendix 4).

We began to accept that Megalithic tunings and rhythms were probably part of the ‘heartbeat’ of the planet and that human beings are somehow locked into an instinctive knowledge of the fact. Certainly, we could not find Megalithic notes or rhythms in the animal world, only in music created by our own species. As a passing thought it struck us that it might not be entirely coincidental that a normal human heart beats precisely in a range from once per Sumerian second to once per Megalithic Second (a pulse rate of 60 to 91.5 beats per minute).

In its preference for pigeonholing every subject, modern sciences such as medicine and psychology seem to sometimes underestimate the linkage between our species and the Earth. We less live on the planet than we
are
the planet. Just because we have an intellect that gives us a sense of the individual should not hide the fact that we are made of Earth dust and assembled according to the dynamic qualities that govern our world. With this thought in mind we decided to look at other human senses – especially sight. The light we see is not dissimilar to sound in that it consists of extremely fast oscillations of an electromagnetic field in a particular range of frequencies that can be detected by the human eye. Different colour sensations are produced by light vibrating at different frequencies, ranging from about 4 x 10
¹⁴
vibrations per second for red light to about 7.5 x 10
¹⁴
for violet light. The visible spectrum of light is usually defined by its wavelength, ranging from the smallest visible wavelength for violet, at about forty-millionths of a centimetre to seventy-five millionths of a centimetre for red.

We would upset most scientists if we were to suggest that sound has anything to do with electromagnetic radiation, although some ‘maverick’ academics have made claims that there is a definite relationship. One of these is Dr Jacques Benveniste, former Director at the Institute National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale in France. He is quite convinced that audible sounds have a tangible relationship with biological processes, the molecules of which vibrate at a fantastic rate. Unfortunately, Jacques Benveniste is presently ‘out in the cold’ academically speaking, so his discoveries carry little weight in orthodox circles.

Generally speaking, stars and other objects in space are the source of electromagnetic radiation which, travelling across space at the speed of light, constantly bombard our planet. Much of the electromagnetic radiation falling upon us could be harmful to life and some of it, such as ultraviolet light, is filtered out by our friendly atmosphere.

We use non-visible electromagnetic radiation all the time. Devices such as microwaves and cellular phones, electric fires, radar, radio and television signals, all employ electromagnetic radiation and could not function without it. It is within a narrow section of this very broad spectrum that we find visible light. We are able to ‘see’ things in the real world because our eyes have become adapted to accepting a very small section of the electromagnetic spectrum and translating it, via our brain, into the sensation we call sight. Where a particular colour is reflected from an object, for example green from most foliage, it passes into our eyes, where the specific frequency and wavelength are recognized and translated, with the aid of memory, into what we ‘know’ as green.

Unlike electromagnetic radiation, sound cannot exist in the vacuum of space because it is simply a disturbance in the medium in which it travels. Since it relies on the atmosphere, or some other medium, sound has a very much lower speed than light. But because the electromagnetic spectrum has frequency and wavelength, as does sound, we use the same unit, the hertz, to measure both sound and light.

Then we discovered, more or less by accident, that the frequency of the basic Megalithic note of 366 Th (560 Hz) has an unusual property. If we double this frequency exactly 40 times, we arrive at 6.15726511 x 10
¹⁴
Hz, which just happens to bring us to the visible spectrum and to that part of it that we see as the colour blue. Even though, from the standpoint of physics, there is no apparent connection between a sound of 560 Hz and an electromagnetic frequency of 6.15726511 x 10
¹⁴
Hz, there has to be a ‘sympathetic resonance’ between the two. This fact may, in some so far unknown way, be understood by the Aborigine playing his didgeridoo under the bright blue skies of Australia.

The visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum more or less neatly coincides, in fact, 40 octaves up, with one full octave or scale on a musical instrument. It is possible to see the note F as the start of the colour sequence of visible light at the lower end of the infrared band; the sequence continues through all the notes, to E, which is resonant with ultraviolet. Traditionally there are seven colours to light; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. In reality, there are as many colours as one wishes to name, as each colour changes imperceptibly into the next throughout the visible spectrum. The relationship between any given musical note and its corresponding resonant colour is described in detail in Appendix 4.

It appears quite remarkable that human beings can see almost exactly one ‘octave’ of colour. Perhaps, to creatures that see in frequencies below or above our capabilities, the colours repeat, as do musical notes. After all, the last colour in the visible spectrum, violet, is well on the way to becoming red, the starting point of visible light for us.

There is no doubt that the note we call Megalithic C (just above C sharp in the international musical scale) has a sympathetic frequency resonance with the colour we know as blue. Before any physicists reading these words begin to jump up and down with rage at the liberties we appear to be taking here, let us state again that we are not suggesting a ‘direct’ relationship between sound and light, rather the possibility of a subtle harmony when viewed from a human perspective.

Nobody fully understands the way the human brain deals with information relating to sound or light once the necessary signals have been created by the auditory and optic nerves. It seems very probable that both types of signal are processed, deep within the brain in more or less the same way. We know this must be the case because of a mysterious and sometimes debilitating medical condition known as synesthesia. This is an involuntary process in which one sensory experience is accompanied by another. It takes many forms, but probably the most common is that in which the sufferer genuinely ‘sees’ a colour upon hearing a particular sound. This condition is well documented and has been studied extensively. The best explanation for its cause is some sort of involuntary crossover within the complex circuitry of the brain, though the latter is an unbelievably complex organ and the process involved is not understood in detail. It was thinking about this bizarre condition that made us consider a real link between the frequency of sound and that of light. It has been a long journey from the simple, single-celled creatures that started life on Earth to the complex structure that is a human being today, and on that long road of evolution we have gradually accumulated the senses we now enjoy. Light sensitivity may have been one of the first of the senses to develop and, ultimately, it did so within a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum. If, as many believe, sensitivity to sound came later, it would surely not be too peculiar for a developing nervous system to concentrate on sounds that had frequencies with a sympathetic resonance to the light frequencies it had already learned to interpret. This might go some way to explaining the occurrence of synesthesia.

If both of these frequency ranges of sound and light should also be inextricably tied to the natural matrix of cycles present in our little world, we surely could not be too surprised. After all, we are part of it.

Interpreting the information in this manner shows that Megalithic C is related, in terms of resonance, with the colour blue. It is interesting to note that the majority of the colour blue visible on our planet is represented by our vast oceans. Many people assume that the seas of the world are blue simply as a result of reflection from the sky which, in a cloudless condition is also blue. This is not the case. The sky is blue because of particles in the atmosphere which react in a rather strange way and which, through a process known as Rayleigh Scattering, give a cloudless sky its colour. But even if the water in our oceans did not reflect the colour of the sky, it would still be blue. We think of water as being colourless, but in reality, it is not. In a laboratory in Kamioka, Japan, there is an indoor pool of absolutely pure water which stands under a silver roof. The water in the pool is a deep and luxuriant shade of blue.

Water is the absolute basis of all life on Earth and, as far as is known, life cannot exist in an environment in which no water is present. Being composed of two hydrogen atoms to one oxygen atom (H2O), water remains one of the most mysterious and intriguing molecules known.

We suspect, but at the moment cannot prove, that the sympathetic frequency relationship between the fundamental Megalithic C and that of the colour blue may in some way be related to our utter dependence on water and the way we have evolved to take account of that reliance.

All of the above leads us to suspect that there is probably far more to the linear length we call the Megalithic Yard than at first seemed to be the case. So neatly does this unit fit into the matrix of the turning Earth, and into patterns we have evolved to utilize and appreciate it, its importance may prove to be pivotal to our very survival.

It is almost certain that the Megalithic Yard is a physical manifestation of patterns that are inextricably linked to our life on this planet. Despite this fact, its length cannot be ascertained instinctively but has to be produced through a mechanical means (i.e. a pendulum). That any supposedly primitive culture was able to draw it forth from the complex interactions of nature in the way that the Megalithic people did is little short of staggering.

After we had finished writing this book we decided that it would be fascinating to lay out the detailed rules of Megalithic music that we had just reconstructed. We then asked a young London-based band called De Lorean to respond to a brief to create modern music that carefully followed the ancient principles of sound that are associated with the Megalithic Yard.

Jim Evans, Adam Falkus, Paul Newton and Will Skidmore, who are all highly talented musicians, took the brief and went very quiet for many weeks. Then they came back with their first track ‘Heliotropic’. It was electrifying!

Over the following months they went on to write and perform many other pieces that interpreted the Megalithic rules in a variety of ways, creating music that seemed to us to synchronize with the soul. As we listened we felt in tune with the power of the turning Earth.

Those readers who would like to hear samples of De Lorean’s music, or buy the full CD entitled
Civilization One – The Album
should visit our website at
www.civilizationone.com
.

We found that the Megalithic numbers produced circles that combined the mathematical ratios known pi and phi. Both are irrational numbers yet they produced results that are so close to being perfect to be negligible. In our investigation we found that an American PhD student had discovered the existence of phi in Thom’s data back in the early 1970s – a fact confirmed by the great man himself when he described the finding as ‘magical’.