Reflecting on the growth – explosion, really – of information available to us online compared to what we had access to just a few decades ago, I recalled that in the early 1970s when I was an undergraduate electrical engineering student at UC Davis, California, I used the card catalog in a long row of tidy wooden cabinets at the Shields Library – a building which covers an entire block of the campus – to look up everything I could find (at that time) on the Golden Ratio, Golden Number, Golden Section, Divine Proportion, Phi (ø) or Tau (τ) Proportion, Sacred Cut, Extreme and Mean Ratio, etc. and other synonyms for the ubiquitous (1 + √5)/2 ≈ 1.6180339887… value. This fascination was my response to a gift of two books – both with references to the golden ratio – from my mother who indirectly introduced me to this enthralling subject which later was popularized with the term “sacred geometry”:
- Secrets of the Great Pyramid by Peter Tompkins
- This Living Earth by David Cavagnaro
I found a few dozen books that led to other books and on and on into the mystical realms of the intersections of mathematics, ornamentation, art, music, architecture, history, and above all – mind. … But after checking out those books, I felt I had somewhat exhausted the more obvious references to this topic in this library. … Not anymore!
Fast forward a half-century; now googling Sacred Geometry, as of today (21 April 2022) we get a staggering 45 million results for this niche topic (including my evergreen minimalist GeometryCode Introduction to the subject now way past overdue for a revisit and update) and 481 million for the Golden Ratio!
The same curiosity still remains in my mind: What can be counted on that does NOT change? The laws of mathematics in general and geometry, in particular, seem relatively stable, fortunately, at least within the context of the Cartesian space-time paradigm. When I was in high school, I read Education and Ecstasy by George Leonard and I realized that to really dive deep and learn immersively, one needed to be motivated, inspired or at least have their curiosity seriously piqued or their assumptions about life challenged. Exploring some of the ideas that these readings opened up for me was enough!
Now there are a multitude of online offerings that can motivate young and old alike to explore esoteric topics like interconnectedness (e.g. quantum entanglement), geometric symbolism and synchronicities, and so much more. Another vital element that has a multiplying effect is FUN!
Here are a few quickly-found resources for educators and explorers in this realm (including teachers, home-schoolers) and philosophers of all stripes:
- A simple but engaging animation showing basic 2D geometries morphing from one to another:
Shapes – Learn 2D Geometric Shapes – The Kids’ Picture Show (Fun & Educational Learning Video) - 10 Geometric Art Explorations (Study measurement, area, fractions, and more!) … The graphic of color-filled intersections of simple 2D shapes on this page was adapted from the image below the “6. Frac-Geo-Bot” section on this page.
- … for about 23 million more links, try googling “geometric art science toys videos”
- or try these categories on the GeometryCode website: coloring books for adults, sacred geometry art, sacred geometry books, sacred geometry coloring books, sacred geometry toys … just for starters
Enjoy! :-)
