The Divine Proportion: Language Of God?

This has to be one of the most underrated 'miracles' ever presented to us as a base from which to formulate a better understanding of existence. Infrequently discussed, mentioned or otherwise applied to any number of discussions, this deserves its place as a hot topic.

What is Phi?

Phi ( Ø ), is simply an irrational number like pi (p), but one with many unusual mathematical properties. Phi to the first 15 places is 1.618033988749895. What makes it more unusual is that it can be derived in many ways and shows up in relationships throughout the universe.

I'm beginning to feel a couple things:

A. The Principle of the Divine Proportion, accompanied by Quantum Mechanics and Theoretical Mathematics, is the root language set to finding/understanding a supreme being.

B. The Principle of the Divine Proportion proves, unequivocally, that we were indeed engineered, as was the universe proper.

C. The Principle of the Divine Proportion disproves the Chaos Theory with its universal Common Thread.

D. All of the above.

Answer: D

My Opinion: The fact that there is a ubiquitous common denominator on a molecular level throughout, implies, to me anyway, at least those 3 choices i listed above. How is it possible that everything, with any type of geometric structure (carbon-based), has to adhere to this Physical 'Rule', so to say? Who is the Author of said rule and how is it perpetuated and unaffected by Evolution (a theory i have a hard time swallowing)....all on a UNIVERSAL SCALE! This is no control experiment where you encounter unbalanced probabilities. Simple IRRATIONAL MATH!

The elements of nature -- clouds, plants, geographical features, animals, stars, galaxies, etc., do have pleasing proportions and the proportional relationships are based on what mathematicians call “irrational” mathematics.

There is a “divine proportion” that occurs frequently and abundantly in nature. It is generally referred to as the “golden ratio.” When a line is divided by the golden ratio (Phi -- the “irrational” number 1.6180339887...), the resulting proportions are visually pleasing. The Pythagoreans (circa 500 BC) believed this to be divinely inspired.

The history of the golden ratio goes back at least to 500 BC. [If you create a sequence of numbers (starting with 0, 1) by adding the last two numbers in the sequence together you will have what is called the Fibonacci sequence -- 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and so forth. As you divide each resulting number into the previous number, the result resolves into the golden ratio.]

But, as recently as 1854, Adolf Zeising discovered that the branches along stems of plants and the veins in leaves were expressions of the golden ratio -- so are the dimensions of the human body, other skeletal forms, sunflower florets, seashells such as the Nautilus (a Fibbonacci spiral). and countless other occurences in nature ranging from the logarithmic spirals of hurricanes and galaxies (completely unrelated phenonoma) to the flight pattern of a falcon diving on its prey.

The golden ratio is seen in musical compositions from Bartok' to Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. Stradivari used the golden ratio for the placement of the f-holes in his famous violins. On the piano, there are 13 musical notes separating each octave of 8 notes (the golden ratio). The keys of a piano also consist of the golden ratio -- a scale of 13 keys, 8 white, 5 black split into groups of 3 and 2.

Contemporaneously, the ubiquitious golden ratio is used in abundance -- at least in its approximate form. If you use "a" and "b" lengths , to create a rectangle, you will have what is referred to as the "golden oblong" -- considered to be the perfect rectangle. Visa and Mastercard aspect ratios are close approximations, as are the aspect ratios of some popular video screens… including cinematic aspect ratios (1920 x 1200 and 720 x 480).

Certain solar system orbital periods are related to phi

Certain planets of our solar system seem to exhibit a relationship to phi, as shown by the following table of the time it takes to orbit around the Sun:

Solar system
Mercury Venus Earth Jupiter Saturn
Power of Phi -3 -1 0 5 7
Decimal Result 0.24 0.62 1.0 11.1 29.0
Actual Period 0.24 0.62 1.0 11.9 29.5

Venus and the Earth are linked in an unusual relationship involving phi. Start by letting Mercury represent the basic unit of orbital distance and period in the solar system:

Planet (1)

Distance from the sun in km (000) (2)

Distance where Mercury equals 1 (3)

Period where Mercury equals 1 (4)

(1) (2) (3) (4)
Mercury 57,910 1.0000 1.0000
Venus 108,200 1.8684 2.5490
Earth 149,600 2.5833 4.1521

Curiously enough we find:

Ö Period of Venus * Phi = Distance of the Earth

Ö 2.5490 * 1.6180339 = 1.5966 * 1.6180339 = 2.5833

Relative planetary distances average to Phi

The average of the mean orbital distances of each successive planet in relation to the one before it approximates phi:

Planet (1)

Mean distance in million kilometers per NASA (2)

Relative mean distance where Mercury=1 (3)

Mercury (1)
57.91 (2)
1.00000 (3)

Venus
108.21
1.86859

Earth
149.60
1.38250

Mars
227.92
1.52353

Ceres
413.79
1.81552

Jupiter
778.57
1.88154

Saturn
1,433.53
1.84123

Uranus
2,872.46
2.00377

Neptune
4,495.06
1.56488

Pluto
5,869.66
1.30580

Total

16.18736

Average

1.61874

Phi

1.61803

Degree of variance
(0.00043)

Note: We sometimes forget about the asteroids when thinking of the planets in our solar system. Ceres, the largest asteroid, is nearly spherical, comprises over one-third the total mass of all the asteroids and is thus the best of these minor planets to represent the asteroid belt. (Insight on mean orbital distances contributed by Bartau.)

The DNA spiral is a Golden Section

The DNA molecule, the program for all life, is based on the golden section. It measures 34 angstroms long by 21 angstroms wide for each full cycle of its double helix spiral. 34 and 21, of course, are numbers in the Fibonacci series and their ratio, 1.6190476 closely approximates phi, 1.6180339.

Pretty cool...any thoughts or am i crazy?!

[edit on 11-12-2007 by blueyedevil666]

Interesting thread - if several inches above my head.

I have only this to add - the most beautiful vegetable I have ever seen, when I buy them I find it so hard to actually eat them because they are soooo perfect.




I think it helps illustrate your points.

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


Oh wow...never knew such a thing existed

Nice thread.

Some speculation, round off's etc, but for the most part it was nice.

I'd say it's a way to communicate with ourselves and the world around us more efficiently. Who is this God fellow everyone keeps trying to make contact with?

reply to post by LastOutfiniteVoiceEternal


well when I say God...i mean understanding the source of all...the common thread of energy, if you will, that binds all...whether this energy source has a name/consciousness, i dont know per se.

But this is a clear indication to me that someone or something made a measurement and that same constant governs the laws of nature to some degree.

Originally posted by blueyedevil666
But this is a clear indication to me that someone or something made a measurement and that same constant governs the laws of nature to some degree.

Maybe it's you and everything around you that did it. The constant is an eternal perfection or the eternal perfection. The way things are, the only way things can be, and the way things will remain... perpetual change of a static perfection.