Geometry and the Sacred by Robert Lawlor

The word sacred is most often used for spiritual and religious acts, rituals, obligations or oblation. The root of this word; sacr however has a more fundamental definition as found in the word sacrum. This term refers to the form/function of the 5 bonded vertebrae at the base of the human spine. These immovable vertebrae are essential for our upright posture and bipedal mobility. These 5 vertebrae are not only fused together but also permanently fixed to the pelvic bone. The sacrum thus exemplifies the definition of sacred; as that which is permanent, fixed, unchanging, and enduring. Thus this aspect of the sacred stands in direct opposition to all that is mutable, variable and temporary.

 Sacred Geometry is a very ancient initiatic discipline for exploring and applying in art, music, architecture and philosophy the Permanent Principles, which arise in the most basic forms and symmetries such as circles, squares, triangles and pentagons.

It is important to recall here the viewpoint of Gnostic cosmology, which states that, “ the entirety of creation is forged in the fiery cosmic web of geometric celestial alignments resonating orbital fields and planetary cyclic and formative ratios.”

The beauty of the human form, as well as the molecular architecture of every bodily cell are derived from the same permanent relationships found in the structural components of geometrically perfect squares, cubes, circles and spheres, triangles and tetragrams and also especially precise “golden” measures of pentagonal shapes and volumes.

The leaves of trees branching in growth patterns throughout the plant world again follow this same invisible geometric field activity. However, it is not only the physical realm, which embeds these metaphysical formative forces. One finds also the origins of the key characteristics of intelligent life such as; rational, reasoning, meaning, rapport, irrational, logical and mediation, all have originally been derived from geometric and numeric formulae and relationships. This lineage of geometric and mathematical terms associated with the attribute of consciousness evokes the Gnostic concept that at the foundation of the material creation is not blind energy and substance but rather a single geometric thought form floating through the immeasurable mind of an Ineffable Being.