“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

— quote widely attributed to Nikola Tesla

Reality presents itself to us as physical and material: our bodies, objects and the ground beneath our feet all seem tangible and solid. But this is reality as it appears within the limited bandwidth of human perception. Through instruments, experimentation and mathematics, science has revealed a very different physical reality at the atomic and subatomic level: what appears solid is actually in constant motion—a dynamic interplay of particles, fields and energy.

And the more we spiritually awaken, the more we begin to perceive through soul consciousness and realise that what we can see and touch is only the surface of something infinitely more vast—a reality extending far beyond our five human senses.

Energy

In modern spirituality, different concepts of energy—including chi, prana and what is often called “Source energy”—are frequently conflated into the idea of a generic universal life force that animates existence, connects everything and, in New Age spirituality, is presented as the primordial energy from which everything is said to originate.

But this definition is a distortion: I strongly reject it because it conflates energy, matter, consciousness and soul, then uses that conflation to underpin the so-called “Law of One” and “Oneness”: the false doctrine that everything is ultimately the same energy, originating from a single universal “Source” or that everything is “One.”

“Oneness” teachings are spiritual propaganda concealing a much darker agenda—but that deserves a debunking episode of its own. 

In a nutshell, my perception is that energy is the conduit through which different forms of consciousness and matter express themselves, interact and affect one another. It is the fundamental medium of exchange and transmission, carrying different frequencies, vibrations and qualities without being the consciousness or matter it carries. 

Therefore, energy may be ubiquitous without being homogeneous because it is a conduit—not the source or substance—of everything it connects. Connection does not mean sameness. Different forms of consciousness and matter may all use, carry and exchange energy without being made of the same energy, sharing the same nature or originating from the same source. A shared medium does not prove a shared identity, nature or origin. Electricity can power a television, a refrigerator and a computer without those devices becoming the same thing—or one entity—just because they share electricity. 

The spiritual deception is taking the ubiquity of energy as proof of the Oneness of everything it connects—turning a shared medium into a false claim of shared identity, nature and origin.

Energy, to me, is therefore not one universal consciousness, but the dynamic omniversal medium through which different forms of existence communicate, influence and experience one another.

And if consciousness expresses itself through energy, learning to perceive energy is another way of perceiving what lies beneath physical appearance.

We begin to look past personality, appearance, words and labels to the energetic signature being transmitted through them. Someone may say all the right things while their energy feels incongruent; a person who appears intimidating may carry an unexpectedly gentle energy; a beautiful place may feel oppressive, while an unremarkable one feels expansive; an object may carry the energetic imprint of its history; and two people behaving similarly on the surface may feel completely different because the intention behind their actions is different.

This is particularly valuable in discernment. Words can be rehearsed, images curated and personalities performed, but tuning into the energy lets you perceive the consciousness, intention and emotional state that is being expressed through it. Someone may appear warm while their energy feels cold, sound sincere while something feels deceptive, or present themselves as vulnerable while we sense manipulation. By learning to perceive this energetic information, we gain a deeper layer of discernment beneath physical presentation—becoming attuned not only to what something appears to be, but to what is expressing itself energetically beneath the surface.

Frequency

Scientifically, frequency is the rate at which something oscillates, measured in cycles per second, or hertz (Hz). Sound and electromagnetic radiation have frequencies; visible light occupies one part of the electromagnetic spectrum, while radio waves, microwaves and X-rays occupy others. 

Spiritually, I understand frequency as the energetic state being expressed—fear, anger, love, joy, peace—and where that state sits within an energetic spectrum. If energy is the conduit through which consciousness expresses itself, frequency describes the energetic state being transmitted through that conduit.

This is where frequency and vibration need separating, despite being used almost interchangeably within spiritual communities:

Frequency = the energetic state—fear, anger, love, joy.
Vibration = how that frequency feels and expresses itself energetically—heavy, sharp, constricted, warm, light, expansive.

Walk into a room after an argument and you may immediately feel a heavy, tense or constricted vibration without knowing what happened. The underlying frequency might be anger, fear or hostility. Walk into another room filled with affection and laughter and the vibration may feel warm, light and expansive, expressing frequencies such as love or joy.

This distinction also helps conceptualise densities and dimensions, which are often used as synonyms in spiritual language but are not necessarily the same thing. From a spiritual perspective, dimensions can be physical or non-physical planes of reality, while densities describe different frequency levels that can exist within them. Multiple densities may therefore exist within the same dimension.

This offers a framework for understanding how interdimensional beings could share the same apparent space without being physically visible or audible to us. If they exist within a different density or dimension, their frequency may fall outside the bandwidth our physical senses are equipped to decode. The room may appear empty to our eyes and ears while containing activity at frequencies we cannot ordinarily perceive.

The radio analogy makes this easier to conceptualise. Multiple stations can transmit through the same room simultaneously, yet we hear only the frequency our receiver is tuned to. Similarly, our physical senses may function as receivers tuned primarily to the frequency range of physical reality. Through resonance, our ability to perceive or interact with other frequencies could potentially change—not because something has suddenly entered the space, but because we have become capable of perceiving what was already there.

In this framework, unseen does not necessarily mean absent; it may just mean outside the frequency range we are currently capable of perceiving.

Vibration

As we have just seen, frequency and vibration are closely related but not interchangeable. Scientifically, everything at a microscopic and macroscopic level is in constant motion, oscillation, or wave-based movement—from electromagnetic fields to atoms. Vibration is the oscillating movement itself—a guitar string after being plucked, vocal cords producing sound or atoms within a material undergoing vibrational motion—while frequency measures the rate of that vibration.

Spiritually, vibration relates closely to resonance—what our energy responds to and becomes a vibrational match with. This is where the concept enters manifestation teachings through what are variously described as the Law of Attraction, Law of Mirroring or Law of Resonance. The premise is that we attract what we are energetically aligned with, not what we consciously want. We may desire love, abundance or opportunity while unconsciously vibrating in  frequencies of fear, scarcity or unworthiness; within this framework, our dominant vibrational state influences what we resonate with and experience.

David R. Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness is often referenced within spiritual communities as a way of mapping these energetic states, placing shame, guilt and fear towards the lower end of his scale and love, joy and peace towards the higher. This corresponds with what we mean when we describe a person, place or situation as “high vibe” or “low vibe”: different energetic states express different vibrational qualities, some more constricting and others more expansive.

This is why “raising your vibration” has become so central to manifestation teachings: change your energetic state and you change what you are a vibrational match for. It is presented both as spiritual development and, through manifestation teachings, as a way of attracting different relationships, opportunities and experiences and ultimately improving the quality of our external reality.

Vibration also intersects with the expansion of consciousness. When we remain chronically in low vibrational frequencies of fear, shame, trauma or survival, our awareness can contract around threat and self-protection. As those states resolve, that constriction can loosen, allowing more of our consciousness to emerge and express itself.

But this is also where the emphasis on “raising your vibration” can become distorted. Lower vibrational emotions are not spiritual failures because they feel heavier or more constricting. They carry information and need to be experienced and moved through. Trying to remain constantly “high vibe” by suppressing uncomfortable emotions is not raising our vibration; it is spiritual bypassing that leaves the underlying energy—and the inner work it may be revealing—unresolved.

I cheated, there is a fourth word, resonance, as aforementioned, resonance is ultimately what determines how energies respond to and interact with one another. Scientifically, resonance occurs when a system responds strongly to a frequency that matches or closely corresponds to its own natural frequency. 

Spiritually, I understand the principle similarly: we are more receptive to energies that resonate with our own energetic state. This can help explain why certain people, places, ideas or experiences immediately feel familiar or compelling, while others barely register or feel incompatible. Resonance also influences what we are an energetic match for—and therefore what we call into our reality. What we hold within us affects not only what we notice and respond to, but what we attract, connect with and experience.

Resonance can also be one way we recognise truth for ourselves. Something can land with an immediate sense of recognition that goes deeper than intellectual agreement—a feeling of I know this, even when we cannot yet explain why. Equally, something can sound convincing on paper yet produce an unmistakable internal no. This is why developing sensitivity to our own resonance can become an important part of discernment, while recognising that resonance is not infallible: conditioning, desire, fear and attachment can all influence what feels true.

It brings the whole picture together: energy is the conduit, frequency is the energetic state, vibration is how that state expresses itself, and resonance is what responds to it. The deeper we become acquainted with our own energetic signature, the better able we are to distinguish what genuinely resonates with us from what merely attracts or triggers us.