Should Catholics learn about Sacred Geometry?

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Sacred Geometry seems to have an emphasis more on “Eastern religion/culture” than on “Western religion/culture”.
The Sacred Geometry I’m talking about is the “flower of life”; “the fruit of life”; Pi; Fibonacci’s sequence, Fibonacci’s spiral (Golden Spiral),etc
Here are some videos:
"Spirit Science 6~ The Flower of Life: youtube.com/watch?v=Ss1ajWeY_wc
"Spirit Science 10 ~ Math of God: youtube.com/watch?v=HIXcq_UPFKc
"Spirit Science 17 ~ Universal Geometry: youtube.com/watch?v=KStDRQcV-Nc
[Each video is about 12 minutes]

I find it very interesting. I look at watching these videos on sacred geometry as glorifying God. There are some points in the video that I don’t approve of, like “you are your own god”, but the rest of the time I think of it as glorifying God for making us so beautiful. 😃

Why aren’t we taught this beautiful math in school?!
 
These videos have Masonic and New Age influence. Stay far away from everything they say.
 
CrispSnowflake said:
Sacred Geometry seems to have an emphasis more on “Eastern religion/culture” than on “Western religion/culture”.
The Sacred Geometry I’m talking about is the “flower of life”; “the fruit of life”; Pi; Fibonacci’s sequence, Fibonacci’s spiral (Golden Spiral),etc
Here are some videos:
"Spirit Science 6~ The Flower of Life: youtube.com/watch?v=Ss1ajWeY_wc
"Spirit Science 10 ~ Math of God: youtube.com/watch?v=HIXcq_UPFKc
"Spirit Science 17 ~ Universal Geometry: youtube.com/watch?v=KStDRQcV-Nc
[Each video is about 12 minutes]

I find it very interesting. I look at watching these videos on sacred geometry as glorifying God. There are some points in the video that I don’t approve of, like “you are your own god”, but the rest of the time I think of it as glorifying God for making us so beautiful. 😃

Why aren’t we taught this beautiful math in school?!
Click to expand...

The cathedral of chartras involves sacred geometry. Remember God’s greatest wish for us is to be just like him. So with his grace, we can become in a sense our own God.​

St. Paul saith, “When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away.”6 Now mark what is “that which is perfect,” and “that which is in part.”
“That which is perfect” is a Being, who hath comprehended and included all things in
Himself and His own Substance, and without whom, and beside whom, there is no true
Substance, and in whom all things have their Substance. For He is the Substance of all things,
and is in Himself unchangeable and immoveable, and changeth and moveth all things else.
But “that which is in part,” or the Imperfect, is that which hath its source in, or springeth
from the Perfect; just as a brightness or a visible appearance floweth out from the sun or a
candle, and appeareth to be somewhat, this or that. And it is called a creature; and of all
these “things which are in part,” none is the Perfect. So also the Perfect is none of the things
which are in part. The things which are in part can be apprehended, known, and expressed;
but the Perfect cannot be apprehended, known, or expressed by any creature as creature.
Therefore we do not give a name to the Perfect, for it is none of these. The creature as
creature cannot know nor apprehend it, name nor conceive it.
 
Elizium23 said:
These videos have Masonic and New Age influence. Stay far away from everything they say.
Click to expand...
I’ll be sure to mention that to my math teacher in September 😉

In all seriousness, I do agree with you. After looking at the link for about 20 seconds, I hit the X button immediately.
 
The 17th century philosopher, Baruch de Espinoza, used geometry to explain the true existence of God.

I tried reading it, but couldn’t understand him.

Jim
 
billcu1 said:

The cathedral of chartras involves sacred geometry. Remember God’s greatest wish for us is to be just like him. So with his grace, we can become in a sense our own God.​

St. Paul saith, “When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away.”6 Now mark what is “that which is perfect,” and “that which is in part.”
“That which is perfect” is a Being, who hath comprehended and included all things in
Himself and His own Substance, and without whom, and beside whom, there is no true
Substance, and in whom all things have their Substance. For He is the Substance of all things,
and is in Himself unchangeable and immoveable, and changeth and moveth all things else.
But “that which is in part,” or the Imperfect, is that which hath its source in, or springeth
from the Perfect; just as a brightness or a visible appearance floweth out from the sun or a
candle, and appeareth to be somewhat, this or that. And it is called a creature; and of all
these “things which are in part,” none is the Perfect. So also the Perfect is none of the things
which are in part. The things which are in part can be apprehended, known, and expressed;
but the Perfect cannot be apprehended, known, or expressed by any creature as creature.
Therefore we do not give a name to the Perfect, for it is none of these. The creature as
creature cannot know nor apprehend it, name nor conceive it.
Click to expand...
“Our own God”…um, wow, I don’t think so.

“Spirit Science”…mentioned in the second video (I didn’t watch more than a few seconds of both one and two)…what does THAT say to YOUR “spirit”?

The double helix is found everywhere in creation, from the subatomic to the macrocosmic, it obviously has some meaning. It is, perhaps, a “signature”. How can we, the mouse on the space station, discern the plans for that space station? And, are we supposed to? Despite a prodigious education, you should have seen the mess I made out of Infinity Calculus as an undergraduate. It was SO bad that my Ph.D. Professor gave me a “D” (the only such grade I ever received in my academic career) ONLY because I actually came up with ANSWERS, but they were ALL WRONG. LOL. Yes there are mathematical geniuses and quantum physicists with that gift who have been trying to make sense of all of this and I think, basically, what they have done is prove THERE IS AN INTELLIGENT FIRST CAUSE, but they can’t (and won’t) be able to define it, to limit it, to EXPLAIN “IT” because this is the Lord God, Almighty, Adonai, the Source, the Father of us all and the one whom Jesus showed us, in his Personhood.
 
There is no such thing as sacred geometry for Catholics. It is an Eastern idea and connected with the New Age “you are god” belief, which is wrong.

However, if one understands basic design, not just architectural, there are shapes that inspire reverence in people. I love Gothic architecture in Churches. But the Church does not mandate one look, however, it does recognize there are ugly Churches out there, built starting after the craziness began in the late 1960s.

Peace,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
There is no such thing as sacred geometry for Catholics. It is an Eastern idea and connected with the New Age “you are god” belief, which is wrong.

However, if one understands basic design, not just architectural, there are shapes that inspire reverence in people. I love Gothic architecture in Churches. But the Church does not mandate one look, however, it does recognize there are ugly Churches out there, built starting after the craziness began in the late 1960s.

Peace,
Ed
Click to expand...
The ugly architecture actually began around the 1940s. It was a predecessor of the cultural craziness of the late 1960s more than a consequence of it.

But anyway I agree with your main point. There is certainly something very Catholic in seeing something holy in order and beauty, but I would stay away from this New Ageish “sacred geometry” stuff. There is so much profound spirituality in orthodox Catholicism, why look outside of it for answers?
 
Cool looking geometry, sure. Geometry that inspires awe, sure. Sacred geometry? Spirit science? Some “Flower of life” is the pattern of all creation? Doesn’t sound legit.

I’ll be the first to admit that math is cool, but this whole “pure spirit goes out as far as it can, which makes a circle, then…” description of drawing a shape is… ridiculous. Really, really, just totally silly. Why would “pure spirit,” whatever he means by that “go out as far as it can without moving” and get a finite circle, then even if it did, why would it then do it again? What forces this pure spirit to then do it again at the intersection points? The guy in the video says it’s because spirit is flawless and moves flawlessly, but a) what does that mean, and b) by what standard is such movement less flawed than any other movement?

All he’s doing is taking instructions for drawing a pattern and wrapping spirit language around it to make it sound meaningful. I found it both insulting to math and theology. I made it through 3 minutes of the first video in 10 second segments (interspersed with the involuntary bouts silent screaming caused by a mathematician’s exposure to fake-mathy nonsense), and the impression I got is that you can talk about anything in that language to make it sound new-agey.

“Pure spirit is isolated. Then pure spirit gets hungry, and so goes out as far as he can to make a circle, which explains why so many foods are circular and contains the basic knowledge motivating pizza, pies, and round cakes. But then spirit, being flawless and therefore only satisfied with the perfect food, makes many smaller circles on the big circle, which are the source of pepperoni, and then he makes even small spheroids for sausage, and then little sets of concentric circles for black olive slices. Note that the anchovy is not a geometrically pleasing shape, which is why fish on pizza is so terrible.”

This touched a nerve, as you might have noticed.
 
I am wondering if the comparison with astronomy and astrology will help enlighten this conversation. One is a scientific study of the universe in relation to the earth, the other is the belief that the stars and planets control who we are and our behavior. One is praise for God’s creation. The second can lead into idolatry. Geometry is the study of lines, angles, shapes, etc. The “sacred” geometry in the videos is similar to geomancy where lines and angles are used in divination. The first is the study of creation and praise for the order of God’s universe. The second is idolatry.
 
bcuster said:
I am wondering if the comparison with astronomy and astrology will help enlighten this conversation. One is a scientific study of the universe in relation to the earth, the other is the belief that the stars and planets control who we are and our behavior. One is praise for God’s creation. The second can lead into idolatry. Geometry is the study of lines, angles, shapes, etc. The “sacred” geometry in the videos is similar to geomancy where lines and angles are used in divination. The first is the study of creation and praise for the order of God’s universe. The second is idolatry.
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The stars and planets an astrologer will tell you do not control things. Rather show tendencies.
 
edwest2 said:
There is no such thing as sacred geometry for Catholics. It is an Eastern idea and connected with the New Age “you are god” belief, which is wrong.

However, if one understands basic design, not just architectural, there are shapes that inspire reverence in people. I love Gothic architecture in Churches. But the Church does not mandate one look, however, it does recognize there are ugly Churches out there, built starting after the craziness began in the late 1960s.

Peace,
Ed
Click to expand...
There is western sacred geometry. Pythagoras for one. I’m somewhat familiar with new age concepts and individuals. I was never struck by the belief that they teach “you are god”. Sounds like the church on the outside looking in. Like so many outside the church try to say what the church believes like “Marian Worship”. The church did support the belief once though that cats were of the devil.
 
billcu1 said:
There is western sacred geometry. Pythagoras for one. I’m somewhat familiar with new age concepts and individuals. I was never struck by the belief that they teach “you are god”. Sounds like the church on the outside looking in. Like so many outside the church try to say what the church believes like “Marian Worship”. The church did support the belief once though that cats were of the devil.
Click to expand...
I haven’t watched the YouTube videos but apparently the line “you are your own god” is a quote from one of them.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
I haven’t watched the YouTube videos but apparently the line “you are your own god” is a quote from one of them.
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I never watched the video but God’s biggest wish for us is to become just like him. That’s always been. It’s not really new but perhaps people are rediscovering it.
 
billcu1 said:
I never watched the video but God’s biggest wish for us is to become just like him. That’s always been. It’s not really new but perhaps people are rediscovering it.
Click to expand...
In a sense yes, but in a sense very very much no. Recall St. Michael is so named because of scornfully asking Lucifer “who is like God?” as he threw him out.

We are to strive to become like God in many ways (in goodness and in aligning our wills to His), but we are never to strive to become “our own gods.” God will always be above us and our God, nothing else is possible - we cannot become our own source of being or our own ultimate end.
 
billcu1 said:
There is western sacred geometry. Pythagoras for one. I’m somewhat familiar with new age concepts and individuals. I was never struck by the belief that they teach “you are god”. Sounds like the church on the outside looking in. Like so many outside the church try to say what the church believes like “Marian Worship”. The church did support the belief once though that cats were of the devil.
Click to expand...
Can you provide a reference from a credible Catholic source regarding your last sentence?

Best,
Ed
 
bcuster said:
I am wondering if the comparison with astronomy and astrology will help enlighten this conversation. One is a scientific study of the universe in relation to the earth, the other is the belief that the stars and planets control who we are and our behavior. One is praise for God’s creation. The second can lead into idolatry. Geometry is the study of lines, angles, shapes, etc. The “sacred” geometry in the videos is similar to geomancy where lines and angles are used in divination. The first is the study of creation and praise for the order of God’s universe. The second is idolatry.
Click to expand...
I feel terrible now. I just learned about witchcraft, like palm reading etc! :eek:
I really need to stay far away from “New Age” /Eastern religion videos and focus on some Catholic videos. Thank you for your clarification between geometry and geomancy!
 
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