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.
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"Cognizance of harmony in nature and mathematics attunes us to harmony at our own core."
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"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
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"Whence shall he have grief, how shall he be deluded who sees everywhere the Oneness?" Isha Upanishad
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"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
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"The one Godhead, secret in all beings, all-pervading, the inner Self of all, presiding over all action, witness, conscious knower and absolute….the One in control over the many,… fashions one seed in many ways." Swetaswatara Upanishad
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"The orderly process of geometric construction shows us the steps nature metaphorically uses to clothe the archetypal patterns. The geometer gradually learns to see the world of common experience as governed by laws of nature that can be understood as expressions of mathematical archetypes."
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"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."
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"A circle [is] the traditional symbol of heaven, wholeness, and unity."
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"Intuition is the clear conception of the whole at once." Johann Lavater (1741-1801), Swiss poet, mystic and philosopher
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"Nature itself rests on an internal foundation of archetypal principles symbolized by numbers, shapes, and their arithmetic and geometric relationships."
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"There is no man alone, because every man is a microcosm, and carries the whole world about him." Sir Thomas Browne
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"In what way can a mathematical ratio permeate our souls? Through beauty. A deep part of ourselves recognizes in flowers and dancers the beauty of the mathematical infinite and sees in it the endlessness of our own depths. Natural beauty resonates with the archetypal nature within us."
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"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."
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"Number should not be understood solely as a construction of consciousness, but also as an archetype and thus as a constituent of nature both within and without." Marie Louise vonFranz
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"Studying, contemplating, and living in agreement with universal principles is a social responsibility and can be a spiritual path. It is becoming clear that when we cooperate with nature's ways we succeed; when we resist, we struggle. Implications for our environmental crises are obvious."
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"In nature the One circle gives rise to the Many, in the shapes and orbits of the planets, in the roundness of berries, nests, eyeballs, and the cycles of time."
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"Scientists confirm with formulas what ancient seers knew through revelation: that the world's patterns and cycles are harmonious when seen as mathematical relationships…Where we see 'things', nouns and discrete objects, the ancient mathematical philosophers saw PROCESSES, verbs, transforming patterns meshed harmoniously."
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"What nature creates has eternity in it." Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991), American author
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"The perfection of mathematical beauty is such that whatsoever is most beautiful and regular is also found to be most useful and excellent." Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
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"The eye is the first circle, the horizon which it forms is the second: and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end." Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American essayist and poet
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"Sacred space is within us…Wherever we go we bring the sacred within us to the sacred around us."
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"Traditionally, the center is the most honorable place, known to the Greeks as 'the keep of Zeus.' Protector of hearths and boundaries (centers and circumferences) and the source of moral order, Zeus dispensed judgment from the center."
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"Our deepest awareness, the power that motivates all awareness, which we can call the 'Power to Be Conscious,' of which we are not ordinarily cognizant, recognizes its own transcendental nature in the geometry of the circle. For this reason the circle has been a universal symbol of an ideal perfection and divine state that always exists around and within us whether we acknowledge it or not."
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"The world is single and it came into being from the center outwards." Joannes Stobaeus (5th century), Greek anthologist
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"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
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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.
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We include
- All major spiritual and religious traditions, from all cultures, and all historical epochs
- Major psychologists, philosophers, writers, scholars and leading religious personalities
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