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Art and Order


"God geometrizes" says the adage from "The Old Commentary," -- an esoteric work by Helena Blavatsky. This short phrase speaks to the power of art to convey order. Not just any order, but a kind of proportion that lends grace and strength to a construction, or an idea. What's more, our senses are particularly benefitted by certain kinds of proportions contained in nature, in the dimensions of the human body, and in mathematical calculations of certain kinds. These are known, alternately as the "Finbonacci Series" - a mathematical relationship in which the next number is always the sum of the prior two numbers, i.e.: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on. Now, imagine that each number is a unit of measurement, like a step, leading from smaller to larger scale lines. If you map them out, you get something like this:

What is amazing about the Fibonacci series is that the relationship between one number and the next always divides out to about .61 (except for 1 and 2), or 1.61, depending on which figure is on top. This is known as the "Golden Mean," or the "Golden Ratio," and artists have known about it for ages. That's why Da Vinci did this illustration that has been one of the most widely used images in the history of Western culture, showing how the human body carries this divine proportion:

The relationship of the knuckle to the finger? 1.61. The relationship of the head to the upper torso? 1.61. The relationship of the forearm to the whole arm? 1.61. The relationship of the leg to the whole body height? 1.61. You get the picture. Throughout the various lengths of our form, despite the differences in our skin color, eye color, girth, freckles and every other endless variation, there is this constant proportionate structure built in.

What's more, this mathematical relationship rules the branching structure in plants: that is, there is a certain distance along a stem before another new growth will bud out. That's why plants don't have leaves right on top of each other - there is a mathematical order to their growth.

If you are going through a period of CHAOS in your life, and you seem to be noticing everything that is "WRONG" about your situation, you can use a ruler, or a compass, or both, to create ORDER. Without hurry or concern about perfection, you can add up some fibonacci numbers, illustrate your own spiral, or create a circle by tracing a ring around a plate or jar, and coloring the interior, every so slowly and thoroughly. The amazing field of sacred geometry spells out myriad forms that are created via specific mathematical and geometric relationships, and these all have an ordering effect on the senses, and thus the psyche.

Sacred geometry governs relationships between sacred sites, between stars, and in the shape of a hurricane. All these forms in nature, expressed through the same mathematical relationship. Does this inspire any sense of wonder, or awe, that this kind of elegance exists all around us?


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