Suggested in parallels of external and internal experience, the seen and the unseen, the desire to articulate is ignited in the microcosm of the mind, and moves through inner-outer space (akasha), into all-pervading universal sound (nada). Sound beyond-hearing (anahata) and heard sound (ahata) vibrate within the human mind, awakened by the sense perceptions -- hearing, vision, touch -- balancing inner and outer relationships at various levels of sentience. Innate connections emerge: the unvoiced to the voiced; the biological evolution of sound into speech; the human urge to express to communicate, to give speech structure, as language; and shape, as writing.

As the perfect form of writing, calligraphy may be seen to emanate from the seed-syllable (the bijakshara); through sound (nada) made visible; speech made immutable in writing through the letters (aksharas); finding aesthetic expression.

We are also aware that systems of writing did, and do, often differ vastly across time and cultures. yet, in the fundamental principles of the origin, the how and why of the configuration of letterforms, their intrinsic attributes, and in perceptions of their necessity and purpose, there appear uncanny cross-cultural likenesses. Practically all cultures, particularly those of ancient origin, have held the act of writing in great, and justifiable, reverene.

The value placed in the written record of a letter, a syllable, a word, a concept, is not limited to the writing alone; it also includes the form that the recording takes in expressing the impulse within -- of sound, idea or inspiration. This is where calligraphy establishes its identity, as the perfect or ideal form for communicating a sound or a concept. In the care and concern with which it is written, the sign becomes symbol, the unmanifest is made manifest. And the form transcends the act of writing to become an act of spiritual dedication: Calligraphy.