Soul Perspectives On ...

Law of Harmony

Laws are the dictates of nature. When adhered to, they produce harmony. Human laws ideally ought to reflect laws of nature. When they don’t, then disharmony is created.

When we think of harmony we typically think of music, as this is a clearly seen, or heard, expression of harmony. When sounds are harmonious they are pleasing to us. When notes are combined in different ways they can produce chords, which are used to produce pieces of music we can enjoy together. What is interesting about this example is that for a chord to be produced from a combination of notes, each note must contribute to that formation. Otherwise, discord results from the disharmony.

When a note ‘disregards’ the whole of which it is a part and does its own thing, discord results. When an individual disregards others and is focused just on doing his or her own thing, disharmony is often created. Just as the note finds its true value in relation to what it contributes, so too humans find their personal value and deeper satisfaction in their contribution to others.

This contribution does not imply conformity, however. When we conform we lose our individuality and our personal uniqueness and value. It is this unique value which is our most precious contribution to others.

Harmony implies that a living thing, including you and me, must contribute in a way that augments (we often say, empowers) others if harmony is to be created. What empowers are those universal qualities we have within ourselves that others need to have supported or awakened within themselves.

When the question of harmony is considered there are always two realities - individuals and a collection of individuals, be they notes, people, animals, etc. A collection of individual humans can be called a community. There are many words in different languages that relate to this fundamental reality of human nature - words like community, commune, communication, communion, common, the commons, commonwealth, and commonweal.

The principle law governing community is the Law of Harmony. A community is a natural reality, and the Law of Harmony is a natural universal law. One of the greatest difficulties we have on the planet is existence of communities in conflict. We have a real need to attempt to create more harmonious communities. Our ability to express ourselves adequately and fulfill our purpose for being depends upon it.

Community is an externalization of the reality we call soul. Literally, a community is a group of individuals living in unity. Most people do not think of unity when they think of community, seeing it more as a collection of individuals who happen to be together. When a community does not live in unity, the soul of the community is denied, and therefore unconditional love, which is the essence of soul, is thwarted. This deprivation of connection and acceptance, easily leads to fear, mistrust, isolation, and in many cases also to racism, hatred and war.

Unity is not uniformity. It therefore does not require conformity. Unity is a state of consciousness and therefore respects diversity of form and expression. It suggests unanimity, which means to be of one spirit or one soul. It is an inner identification with the other as oneself. We could say that it is the soul within recognizing itself in the other. For at a soul level we are one.

Harmony produces harmonics. These are resonances in other octaves. What this means psychologically and spiritually is that when harmony is present those experiencing it open themselves automatically to other dimensions of reality and other levels of their own being. Harmony awakens potentials and expands consciousness, bringing into expression through individuals such qualities as respect, acceptance, tolerance, understanding, empathy, compassion and unanimity.

Harmony awakens the soul and soul creates a community of people who live together creatively and purposefully through which the very best in human nature can unfold.

Exercises: 1. How do you promote unity in your relationships? 2. When do you conform in a way that inhibits you from expressing your uniqueness in support of others? 3. How and when do you create disharmony or discord? 4. How would describe your valued contribution to your community?

***The above newsletter is one of over 50 archived at The Soul Journey web site. Explore the 50 Soul Perspectives on many topics.