A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO CONSTRUCTING THE UNIVERSE: THE MATHEMATICAL ARCHETYPES OF NATURE, ART & SCIENCE
Michael S. Schneider
Explores the mathematical principles made visible in flowers, shells, crystals, plants, and the human body, and expressed in the symbolic language of myths and fairytales, in religion, art and architecture.
|
|
| 1 |
"Geometric construction can be used as a form of meditation. Ponder the point as a seed enfolding a sacred mystery."
|
|
| 2 |
"Human nature mirrors outer nature."
|
|
| 3 |
"The manifest cosmos is an approximation of its mathematical ideal."
|
|
| 4 |
"There is no man alone, because every man is a microcosm, and carries the whole world about him." Sir Thomas Browne
|
|
| 5 |
"This knowledge of ourselves as part of a harmonious whole is now dimmed to everyday awareness, but it can be part of a great vision to be reclaimed."
|
|
| 6 |
"We're not separate from the rest of the universe but are literally braided into it; we are a complete whole living in a greater complete whole."
|
|
| 7 |
"God created the universe through the Breath of the Compassionate." Mohammed (ca. 570-632)
|
|
| 8 |
"It is stirring to realize that each of the physical structures of the universe is a repackaging of the others. We hold the proportions of the solar system in our hands, face, and whole body."
|
|
| 9 |
"I am One that transorms into Two…I am Two that transforms into Four…I am Four that transforms into Eight…After this I am One again." Egyptian (Hermopolitan) creation myth
|
|
| 10 |
"Numbers keep recurring not because we make them do so but because they are inherent in the proportions of nature that express the timeless mathematical archetypes."
|
|
| 11 |
"What nature creates has eternity in it." Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991), American author
|
|
| 12 |
"Men must be aware of the wisdom and the strength that is in them if their understanding is to be expanded." Vauvenargues (1715-1747), French soldier, moralist
|
|
| 13 |
"Only by acknowledging both poles in the pair as inseparable can we overcome relative duality and get to their common source in the Monad. In our deepest Self we are beyond all polarity."
|
|
| 14 |
"Each circle you see or create is a profound statement about the transcendental nature of the uni-verse."
|
|
| 15 |
"Oh, grant me my prayer, that I may never lose the touch of the one in the play of the many." Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Indian poet
|
|
| 16 |
"The simple beauty of a crystal is, in part, its strict mathematical order. Through the study of number and shape we begin to apprehend the cosmic order."
|
|
| 17 |
"The archetypal principles of number manifest themselves as forms around us. Circles and spheres, triangles, squares, pentagons, spirals, and the five Platonic volumes represent principles that shape the world."
|
|
| 18 |
"The central secret is to know that the various human passions and feelings and emotions in the human heart are not wrong in themselves; only they have to be carefully controlled and given a higher and higher direction, until they attain the very highest condition of excellence." Vivekananda (1863-1902), Indian spiritual teacher
|
|
| 19 |
"Everything seeks unity. The goal of many religions and mythic ordeals is to return to a lost state of Divine Oneness. But we have no need to return to a state of oneness because unity is axiomatic and we already are integrated in it."
|
|
| 20 |
"Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round." Black Elk (1863-1950), Native American elder
|
|
| 21 |
"'Harmony' (from the Greek 'harmonia', signifying 'fitting together') in music, as elsewhere in the cosmos, comes from the reconciliation of opposites by a third element, bringing them all a new unity."
|
|
| 22 |
"Numbers, as archetypal structural constants of the collective unconscious, possess a dynamic, active aspect which is especially important to keep in mind. It is not what we can do with numbers but what they do to our consciousness that is essential." Marie-Louise vonFranz, Jungian psychologist and writer
|
|
| 23 |
"The harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number, and the heart and soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty." Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1860-1948), Scottish zoologist, classical scholar
|
|
| 24 |
"That's why the world is called a UNIverse (Latin for 'one turn'). No other universes exist except within this One, which Plato refers to as the 'whole of wholes'."
|
|
| 25 |
"To know the order of nature, and regard the universe as orderly is the highest function of the mind." Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), Dutch philosopher
|
|
|
|
Randomize this reference |
New random category
Add a comment
Reference and bibliography |
All quotes, by category
We are gathering together the primary insights of spirituality and bringing them together into one place.
This archive contains 11,754 quotes, taken from 635 references,
organized in terms of 39 primary categories. Quotes are randomized and appear in a different way at every click.
Explore the navigation options to review these insights.
We include
- All major spiritual and religious traditions, from all cultures, and all historical epochs
- Major psychologists, philosophers, writers, scholars and leading religious personalities
- Sources in classical religion as well as voices from new consciousness, esotericism and mysticism
- Choices are guided by the spirit of oneness, love, kindness, inclusion and community
|
|
|
