© The text fragments below are from
‘Whole Elephant Revealed, The Insights into the existence and operation of Universal Laws and the Golden Ratio‘, by Marja de Vries, 2007, Ankh-Hermes, Deventer, p. 226-264

More information about her book can be found at
www.marjadevries.nl

Tekst

We can form a picture of the greater whole thanks to seven universal laws. These laws can be found in various wisdom traditions.

The Law of Unity
The Law of Harmony 
The Law of Vibration
The Law of Polarity
The Law of Rhythm
The Law of Cause and Effect
The Law of Dynamic Balance

The Law of Dynamic Balance

(also known as the Law of Creation) describes the dynamic balance between two seemingly opposing but complementary principles that together form unity. In essence, this is the dynamic balance between the ‘masculine’ aspect (expansion – directed outwards) and the ‘feminine’ aspect (contraction – directed inwards). The dynamics of the ‘masculine’ aspect concerns the dynamics of ‘energy’, which forms a unity with the dynamics of the ‘feminine’ aspect, which essentially concerns ‘form’. This law makes it clear that energy and form form an inseparable dynamic unity.
When we realise that the essence of form is not static but is permanently subject to change, it becomes clear that form cannot be separated from its related energy.

The seven universal laws described in Hermetic philosophy and other wisdom traditions mainly describe the dynamics of the ‘male’ aspect, namely ‘energy’.
Yet the universe also has a wonderful order to it in terms of form, through which everything unfolds in awe-inspiring beauty. Insight into the dynamic side of form, thus the female aspect of this unity, reveals itself in various wisdom traditions as the laws of Sacred Geometry. Sacred Geometry, as the feminine aspect of the universal principles, deals with the language of form and offers us insight into the subtle dance of nature, its creative power and inner workings. The laws of Sacred Geometry underlie the dynamic architecture of the universe and, like the other universal laws, exist throughout eternity, whether we are aware of them or not.

The laws of Sacred Geometry are found in all wisdom traditions, not as a written form, but as the essence of constructions and art forms of all times and cultures. It therefore seems plausible that the understanding of these principles was already known to many different cultures at many different times.
But above all, we can observe the beautiful laws of Sacred Geometry all around us in the form in which energy manifests itself in nature, from the shape of the microscopic to the shapes of galaxies. 

Central to Sacred Geometry is the Law of Harmonic Distribution, which tells us that the entire universe is a harmonious whole of ‘proportions’ and that the unity and harmony in the universe exists because of the unity in proportion within multiplicity. This unique relationship between the part and the Whole is also known as the Golden Ratio.
The Golden Ratio creates harmony based on its unique ability to unite the different parts of the Whole in such a way that each part retains its own identity and yet fits harmoniously into the pattern of the Greater Whole.

The harmonious proportions, which create visible or audible forms and which we experience as beauty or which move us, are also found in our own bodies, so that we seem to participate in the same design and are in principle a harmonious part of this universal pattern.

The whole world of phenomena is subject to the universal principles, therefore both to the universal laws and to the laws of Sacred Geometry.

Fairy bench mushroom

Tail chameleon
(Photo © Igor Siwanowicz)

Tongue of butterfly
(Photo © David Linstead)

Red cabbage

The Law of Vibration

tells us that the natural movement of energy is the path of least resistance, so that maximum result is obtained with minimum effort.
The universal principles of Sacred Geometry tell us that the form of this natural movement of energy is the Golden Mean spiral. The Golden Mean spiral is the path along which creation takes place. The Golden Mean spiral creates a form that can continue to grow without changing, so that at any scale, from very small to very large, the same form is present again and again. Therefore, this form maintains its relationship to itself.

The Law of Dynamic Balance

tells us that the creative process is characterised by a development in a certain direction. This development in a certain direction is only possible because there is a certain imbalance in the dynamic balance between the two opposing forces (male/energy/outward – female/form/insward). If there were no such imbalance, the process of creation would only repeat itself endlessly). This asymmetry in energy results in a harmonious evolutionary development when the imbalance in the dynamic balance tilts towards the side of the female integrating principle.

The Golden Mean ratio, whereby the dynamic balance tilts towards the side of the female integrating aspect, is the optimal ratio for growth.

The feminine aspect within the Law of Dynamic Balance is not only integrating, contracting, going inward, the opposite of the masculine aspect of expanding and going outward. But at the same time it is also the connection, merging and integration of these two seemingly opposites, so that together they form a whole. The feminine principle that forms the relationship between two opposing principles, the relationship between the part and the Whole, between unity and diversity.

It is this connecting, integrating aspect of the feminine energy that connects us as individuals with ourselves and with each other, but also connects us with life as a Whole, with Nature, with our Earth and with everything in the Universe. This great connecting aspect, is in many traditions and cultures symbolically represented as Mother Earth, Pacha Mama, Goddess Shakti, Goddess Sekhmet, Shekina.

Understanding of the Law of Dynamic Balance is found in many traditions in the language of form. The language of form, which is characterised by the feminine movement inwards, directed towards the centre, is the language of images and symbols. This language works on a deeper level than the language of words. Consciously or unconsciously we can therefore experience the language of images and symbols as a gateway to the non-physical world and can bring us into contact with information from our subconscious, our inner ‘knowing’.

According to many wisdom traditions, our soul has the unerring ability to recognise our own essence in harmony with the Golden Mean. For example, the Neo-Platonist Plotinus (204-270 AD) writes in his work ‘Enneads’:

“…it is something that is perceived with the first glance, something that the soul recognises as coming from ancient knowledge, welcomes it and comes into harmony with it. …Our interpretation is, that the soul…when it sees something akin to itself, is seized by an instantaneous rapture, …and reopens to a sense of its own essence and of all that is akin to it.”

– ‘The Essential Mystics. The Soul’s Journey into Truth’, by Andrew Harvey

In other words,

“for our soul, the Golden Ratio is
a reminder of unity and we experience that as the recognition of beauty.”

Because the harmonic proportions of Sacred Geometry underlie all forms in nature and are thus present everywhere in nature, our soul can also be touched by beauty in nature and observing nature can also be a key to our own inner self. In a similar way, we can be touched by the same harmonic relationships that are present in music, art or architecture.

Because the unique properties of the Golden Ratio create not only unity in the relationship between different parts, but also unity in the relationships between the parts and the Whole, these relationships can touch our unconscious longing for wholeness. For example, when we behold the beauty of nature, enter a temple or cathedral built according to Sacred Geometry, it can evoke in us a feeling of holiness or of coming home.

In this way, designs that reflect universal order and harmony can help us to get in touch with our own essence, which is why Sacred Geometry is considered to be the bridge between the worlds of spirit and matter, between heaven and earth.

Hurricane.
Photo © Mike Trenchard/NASA

Arctic Storm on Saturn.
Photo NASA’s Cassini

The Golden Ratio creates ‘unity in relationships’. Because of this unity in proportions within the universe, all parts have an equal relationship to each other and, moreover, the relationship between all parts with the original Whole is preserved. This allows for a harmonious resonance between all that exists in the universe.
The dynamic language of form is not about absolute sizes or numbers, but about forms in relation to each other.

Pythagoras and Plato regarded Sacred Geometry not as mere mathematics, but as a deep insight into an order underlying nature that has an inherent consciousness.

The Golden Ratio thus literally and symbolically connects each new generation to the previous one, maintaining a continuity in proportions, so that the Whole is in fact always present somewhere in the part. It thus possesses the unique capacity to create a harmony that unites the different parts of the Whole in such a way that each part retains its own identity and yet fits harmoniously into the pattern of the Greater Whole. It thus connects all living beings, including us humans, to everything else, and also reminds us of our own relationship to the Whole.

Another special feature of the Golden Mean is that it has neither a beginning nor an end.
The spiral expands outwards, ever more into the infinitely great. And inwardly, the spiral motion becomes smaller and smaller until it reaches infinity, without ever becoming zero. Thus we can consider the Golden Mean spiral as a connection between the finite and the infinite, as a direct connection between the physical world and the infinite Source from which everything originates.

(Photo © Matt Spinner)