The Golden Ratio

by Macy Johnson

“In the beginning

God created the heavens and the earth.”

(Genesis 1:1 NIV)

 

Have you ever heard of the Golden Ratio? My husband, Jeff, introduced me to it while reading the Epoch Times newspaper one afternoon.

 

The Golden Ratio is represented by the Greek letter phi and is approximately equal to 1.618. This mathematical proportion is found in nature, art, and architecture. April Holloway writes in the Epoch Times (“The Golden Ratio – a Sacred Number That Links the Past to the Present”) this ratio is used by architects and artists to “achieve a perfect aesthetic composition.”

 

Some people claim the Golden Ratio suggests the presence of a universal order. For me it is one more proof of the exquisite mind of our Creator God. The mean’s spiral shape looks like growth patterns observed in nature, such as the center of a flower. Its proportions are also reflected in human bodies. It is evidence there is perfection underlying the world.

 

Early Egyptians believed the golden/divine ratio was sacred. They used it when they constructed temples for the living and crypts for the dead. The Greek mathematician, Euclid, used it in his calculations three centuries before Christ was born.

 

The Golden Ratio occurs naturally in branches along the stems of plants and the veins in leaves. We find it also in skeletons of mammals and in branches of their veins and nerves. German psychologist Adolf Zeising (1810-1876) identified it as a “universal law.”

 

As my Lord reveals Himself to me in silent, spiritual awareness, He also shows me His beauty and power in the creation all around me. I hear Him in the wind in the trees. He speaks to me everywhere. This is my heavenly Father’s world!  

 

I will look for my Creator’s beauty in the order around me, everywhere. I hope you will, too!