Rhythm is in everything. It’s a vibration, an aspect of the ever-vibrating LifeParticles—the elementary particles of energy, matter, and consciousness—that compose everything. In its most basic sense, rhythm is an alternation of something—a beat, a phrase, an image—with nothing, or the absence of that something, in a pattern. It’s an in and out, an up and down, a vibration with a varying frequency and amplitude.
Rhythm is most notably
expressed in sound. The steady beat of a drum or the tinkling of bells, even the thumping of the latest rap song has the power to move your body and affect your mind. As aspects of the building blocks of life, sound and rhythm have the ability to change your mood and change your thoughts.
One traditional creation story in the ancient Asian text, the
Budoji, says that the world was brought into being using eight tones. In the Judeo-Christian creation story, God spoke the world into being.
I call this fundamental sound and rhythm of the creation of the cosmos
yullyeo. In Korean,
yul and
yeo are terms used to describe certain types of melodic lines. Yullyeo is the source of universal harmony. It’s the natural rhythm that underlies everything.
Therefore, yullyeo exists as an aspect of each of us, although we don’t always express it. Yullyeo is the vibration of our essential energy, our soul, our divinity. It’s the vibration of the purest LifeParticles, the ones that carry the consciousness of the Source of life, a Source I call the LifeParticle Sun.
Have you been expressing yullyeo in your life? When you move, think, and speak with yullyeo, it means you are “in the flow” or “in tune” with your true self.
Yullyeo is not something you can learn because it’s beyond thought. You feel yullyeo and experience yullyeo. No one can show you how; it comes from inside you. But I can point you in the right direction.
To experience yullyeo, make
vibration. Tap your body, move it around, or engage in
ecstatic dance. Or use your voice to
sing, chant, or hum. Whatever method you use to make vibration, the important thing is to suspend your judgment while you are doing it. Do it somewhere where there is no one around. Close your eyes. Listen to the sound of your voice and feel the movement of your body. Let the vibrations put you into a meditative state.
At first, you are making vibration self-consciously, forcefully, even awkwardly. But once you get into it, you will move and/or sing to your own feeling without conscious direction. Yullyeo comes from the parts of you that you’re normally unconscious of. Your conscious vibration allows you to access those parts. Then you begin to vibrate unconsciously, and you can experience your true nature.
Even though it’s difficult to maintain this state of being in the midst of the demands of living, if you keep meditating in this way, you’ll be able to access it more readily and easily. Slowly you’ll begin to live in the flow.
By feeling and expressing yullyeo, you are communicating compassion, understanding, and your soul’s dream through your eyes, voice, and movement. You are not only creating the best internal conditions for your life, but you are sharing the purest energy with other people.
When you are making yullyeo in your life, rather than only being affected by the vibrations around you, your life becomes your own masterful work of art.