Near the conclusion of the series of lectures on the subject of capacity, Hazrat Inayat Khan introduced the theme of vibrations, and it seems appropriate to now offer a short series on this important topic.

All existing things we see or hear, which we perceive, vibrate. If it were not for vibration, the precious stones would not show us their color and their brilliance; it is vibration which makes the trees grow, the fruit ripen, and the flowers bloom. Our existence is also according to the law of vibrations, not only the existence of our physical body but also of our thoughts and feelings. If it were not for vibrations, drugs and herbs would not have any effect on us. If any explanation of electricity can be given, it is that its mystery lies only in vibrations. Vibrations are productive and produce electricity; electricity is composed of vibrations. In other words that aspect of vibration which produces form could not do so if it could not first produce light. The Bible hints at this when it says that first there was light and that then the world was produced. Light is the first form, all other forms come afterwards.

Vibrations can be understood both as cause and as effect. Vibration causes movement, rotation, and circulation; but on the other hand it is the rotation of the planets and the circulation of the blood which cause vibration. Thus the cause as well as the effect of all that exists is vibration.

It depends upon the speed of the vibrations as to whether a thing is visible or audible, perceptible or imperceptible. Everything that is visible is audible at the same time, and everything that is audible is visible also. If it does not appear so, this only signifies the limitation or our organs of perception. What our physical eyes cannot see we say is not visible; this means that it is only not visible to us; in itself it is visible. And what we cannot hear we say is not audible, but it is only inaudible to our ears; in itself it is audible.

This means that everything has its sound and its form. Even things which are perceptible by us, though not visible have a form. In the first place they could not be intelligible if they had no form; although they have no physical form, they have form just the same, and it is through that form that we can perceive them. If our physical eyes do not see that form, the eyes of our mind can see it and recognize it. This explains to us why there are things which are felt, and things which are seen or heard. It is only a difference of vibrations, and of the plane on which the vibrations take place. Vibrations cause life to take form; and it is the different degrees of vibrations, which make that form either visible or otherwise perceptible.

What we know about vibration is only what we perceive through man-made instruments; what is moving beyond this we do not recognize as vibration. But as there is no other word, this is the only one we can use for it, for it is the same force which sets everything in motion on the physical plane, and this continues on all other planes of existence, setting them all in motion. It also explains to us that it is vibration, a certain degree of vibration which brings to the earth the things of the inner world, the world that is perceived though not seen; and a change of vibrations takes the things that are seen away into the unseen world.

To be continued…