Transmission of Vibrational Patterns in the Physical World

The transmission from one individual to another, or from an atmosphere created by a number of individuals together upon others entering that environment, is both a matter for vibration and a matter for actual physical carriers of those vibrations. The body exudes these particles as it vibrates to a particular frequency. They strike the subtle body of others and can get incorporated and begin the process of vibration in those others. Unless we examine the mode of transmission of the various vibrations that impact us in the world, we do not actually always recognise the physical component of the vibrational transmission.

Physicists debate whether, for instance, light moves in space through a vacuum or whether there is some form of “matter” (the ancients called it “ether”) which acts as the medium of light transmission. We know that although generally unseen, we have an atmosphere around us consisting of material elements which carry sounds, sights, scents to us. Vital and emotional vibrations are carried within this material world in a physical manner as well.

We recognise a process of this sort with respect to diseases, which we acknowledge are caused by the entry and activation within us of bacteria or viruses, or fungus or mold spores, etc. These ‘particles’ (as the Mother calls the elements we are describing) then set up the vibrational pattern once they have infiltrated the body and gotten beyond its physical and vital defense mechanisms.

We also recognise that sexual vibrations are carried by pheromones, and that the impact of various fragrances or scents is communicated through particulate elements that traverse the air and enter our olfactory organ. Just as pheromones carry sexual excitation energy, so a similar process occurs with other vital forces, such as the force of anger, the force of peace, etc.

Genetic material is communicated from one being to another through the instrumentality of physical particles as well. This is encoded data that instructs the appropriate functionality in the body to create and reproduce a particular pattern in the form of offspring.

Quantum physics now recognises also that energy, such as light energy, acts as either a wave or a particle depending on the state of observation.

We know that the operation of energy on unseen particles of material substance activates or excites those particles and gets them vibrating in a certain intensity. For instance, applying heat energy to water converts it to a gaseous form of matter. Energy is communicated through air, which allows for the atmosphere around us to warm up. This is accomplished through excitation of energy in the material substance of, first the water, then the air.

The Mother writes: “It is the same thing for anger. It is very clear, one receives it suddenly, not even from a person, from the atmosphere — it is there — and then all of a sudden it enters you and usually it gets hold of you from below and then rises up and pushes you, and so off you go. A minute earlier you were not angry, you were quite self-possessed, you had no intention of losing your temper. And this seizes you so strongly that you can’t resist — because you are not sufficiently conscious, you let it enter you, and it makes use of you — you… what you call ‘yourself’, that is to say, your body; for apparently (I say apparently) it is something separate from your neighbour’s body. But that is only an optical illusion, because in fact all the time there are what may be called particles, even physical particles, like a sort of radiation which comes out of the body and gets mixed with others; and because of this, when one is very sensitive, one can feel things at a distance.”

“It is said, for instance, that the blind develop such a sensitivity, so delicate a sense-perception, that when they are nearing an object they feel an impact at a distance. But one can quite easily make the experiment. For example, drawing near to someone without making any noise, then bringing one’s hand quite close — sensitive people feel it at once. You haven’t put your will for them to feel it, you haven’t brought in any psychological element, you have only made a purely physical experiment of approaching noiselessly and without being heard — a sensitive person will feel it at once.”

“That means that the body seems to end there, but it’s simply the way our eyes are made. If we had a little more subtle vision, with a little wider range, well, we would see that there is something which comes out, as something comes out from other bodies — and that all this gets mixed up and interacts.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch. 3 Hidden Forces Around, pp. 65-66