The Primal Act: the Division of Unity
pp. 18-19
The Primal Act: the Division of Unity. These two pages show how the drawings unfold in the Circle and Square. Both constructions start with the invisible point of no dimension. The line of radius creates two dimensions, and the circle drawn from the radius creates the three dimensions of a plane.
In the top drawing, a third circle drawn gives a triangle, the number signifying many or all ( the One being Unity the source of all things, and two representing duality - the other: the dynamic).
Also, in the construction of two circles, there lies a pointed oval shape known as the Vesica Pisces. If a line drawn across the shorter length is one unit, the longer vertical line is √3. A further analogy can be found in the fact that a circle is able to be divided exactly by its own radius 6 times - it generates itself entirely from its own source.
In the lower drawing, a further circle is needed. A vertical line made through the middle circle creates the basis of four. Four is symbolically connected to earth: four square, and the physical act of orientation.
Both the constructions of three and four can be developed into more complex ‘flowers’, and many other shapes and significant connections can be found within these two archetypal figures.
Relationships between the Changing and the Unchanging
pp. 20-21
These two pages are essentially about relationships. Relationships between the changing and the unchanging, between the rational and the irrational, and in the forms of expansion and diminution.
In the Circle and Square as seen on previous pages, each form carries the seeds of the opposite dimension which lies dormant within itself - ready to unfold. In the circle, if the diameter is 1 unit, the circumference is Pi, an irrational number 3.1459…... In the square, while the sides of the square are 1 unit, the diagonal is an irrational number √2 = 1.41421……The practice of Sacred Geometry shows the unfolding of a sequence of events, each from the preceding one, so that the dynamics of evolution can be clearly perceived.
Further down the page is shown examples of how the unfolding and infolding of the circle and square takes place through the process of alternation. Thus in the square, working from the bottom from the side to the diagonal, which then becomes itself the side to the next square, and so on; so the sequence is 1: √2::2√: 2::√4… and so on. In each set of the circles, the diameter is halved at each step, and the sum of the circumferences of the smaller circles equal that of the whole.
P. 21
One - Unity - is absolute: complete within itself. So in order to bring anything into existence, it must create dynamic. As One is all inclusive, there cannot be two Ones; so Two must be developed from within One. As seen on the lower part of this page, the circle ( arising from the invisible point) has now a second circle : it is the same but different, the structural integrity is maintained through the radius joining the two centres. This is a paradox ( which becomes more important later on in the book). The One creates the Other which is also the One; it is born of itself and like itself but different; and the unfolding continues through the newly revealed next significant points: the crossing points of the circles top and bottom. And the drawing continues in this way - as seen on p.18. The next stage of growth develops from within the previous mark. The movement from inner to outer, from implicit to explicit parallels that of cause and effect in the universal law.
Squaring. “The square is the result of a crossing’” Robert Lawlor writes in his book: Sacred Geometry: philosophy and practice.) ‘By definition the square is four equal straight lines joined at right angles. But a more important definition is that the square is the fact that any number multiplied by itself is a square. When we cross vertical and horizontal line of equal lengths, this generates a square surface. Another dimension come into being: a physical tangible reality.
Everything in the created universe is made from the interaction of opposites: dark and light creates the 24 hour day, warp and weft make a cloth, male and female give birth to a child. But both these apparent opposites are seeded in the One.
Brahman is real, the universe is unreal, Brahman is the universe. It is a paradox.
In Hindu philosophy Brahman represents the highest universal principal, the ultimate reality. (I was confused here between Brahman, the Universal Reality, and Brahma the creator god).
Pattern: the universal language
pp.22-23
P.22. Pattern: the universal language. These two pages show developments of patterns generated by the circle and the square. Each shape within its own particular structure has an unlimited capacity to generate a variety of forms. It becomes obvious that, within a very simple structure and using significant divisions of the underlying matrix, unlimited possibilities can be discovered. This page illustrates patterns arising from a circle.
P.23. Here the square is divided into an underlying four by four division, yet it has the capacity to yield an infinite variations of patterns. This is one of the great hidden secrets of the natural law, that extreme simplicity can unfold into great complexity and diversity.