If we want to understand the mystery behind reality, we have to take a look at its patterns. The language of nature gives us a rash of information on how the whole universe moves and grows. The same pattern can be noticed in blooming plants, evolving populations, crowd behavior, artistic and architectural expressions, and even in the movement of whole galaxies. Referring to the pattern that is all around us, Leonardo da Vinci spoke: “Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”
The human mind has a natural sense for artistic harmony, always feeling drawn to a very special kind of proportion. If we have to choose the most harmonic of the rectangles below, we intuitively choose the one based on the golden ratio Phi Φ, a mathematic term for two quantities, of which the ratio of the small part (a) to the large part (b) is the same ratio as the large part (b) to the whole (a+b). However, Phi is an infinite number, beginning with 1,618033…, which means that all visual images can only approach the golden ratio, but never fully reach it.
The golden ratio rectangle is the visual version of a
specific numeric pattern. This pattern has been known for thousands of years,
first mentioned as mātrāmeru in the Sanskrit treatise Chandahshastra by the
indian mathematician Pingala around 400 b.c. Even though it has also been known
in ancient Greece, the pattern is named after the italien mathematician
Leonardo da Pisa, better known as Fibonacci. The Fibonacci sequence describes
an infinite series of numbers, in which the sum of two consecutive numbers
results in the proximately next number. Demonstrated and easier understood: 0,
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… The connection between the golden
ratio and the Fibonacci sequence becomes clear when we continue to construct
the golden ratio rectangle, or the Fibonacci squares, into a possible infinity.
But again, since Phi is an infinite number, the Fibonacci numbers can only
approach but never reach it.
While the Fibonacci sequence and the Fibonacci squares seem
to be abstract geometry, the next step will make us comprehend the link to
nature and mother earth. The so called Golden Spiral, also known as the
Fibonacci Spiral, is the consequent result of the previously created basic
pattern. The Golden Spiral is the model for a huge amount of natural designs
and developments that exist in our dimension. While the typical Fibonacci
Spiral expands its widths in 90 degree sections, another spiral we often find in
nature expands its widths in 180 degree sections. Both spirals are golden.
We can see Fibonacci in many plants on our Earth. By following the Golden Spiral, leaves are provided an optimal light saturation and blossoms a promising seed dispersal, as imposingly seen in the Sun Flower. The same double spiral can be seen in the petals of the lotus flower, which is the best example of the nearly perfect Fibonacci creation. We also see the golden 180°spiral in animals, for example in snail and nautilus shells or in the curling of animal tails. Fibonacci does not only appear as the spiral in animals, but also in connection to reproductive dynamics, for example in bees and rabbits, where every generation increases its population by 1,6.
When it comes to humans, our whole body shows golden proportions, from our face, to our limbs and hands and even where we probably don’t expect it – our DNA molecules. DNA molecules spin according to the rules of the Golden Spiral, for a cycle of the double helix measures exactly 34 angstroms in length and 21 angstroms in width. Fibonacci is not only around us, but also inside of us.
Truth is that no visual construct that can be perceived with our senses could fully reach the exact golden ratio proportion, because we create our reality based on boundaries and not on infinite ideas. Yet, the approach to rediscover our own perfect harmony is a part of all of us, when we strive for enlightenment and peace.
Reblogged: The Lucid Movement
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