Category Archives: Proportion

Golden ratio

Proportion, Various, , , , ,

Golden-ratio2

“Nothing in excess” (μηδέν άγαν: mēdén ágan) was one of the famous phrases carved into the temple of Apollo at Delphi. These phrases were attributed to the Seven Sages of Greece. In our own times full of extremism and polarisation words like these seem more actual than ever.

Ancient Greek thought has always been a source of inspiration for me. Aristotle built a whole ethical theory around the principle of the golden mean, the desirable middle between two extremes. Interestingly enough, a doctrine of the mean or Middle Way can be found in many wisdom traditions around the world. To name only one, it was also central to the ethical theories of Confucius.

The golden mean has therefore become one of the three treasures of the gamma way. It is the “rational” treasure.

The first meaning of the word “rational” is: based on or in accordance with reason or logic. The ancient Greeks played an essential role in the development of logical thinking.

Rational thinking should be applied whenever it is appropriate, but the rational treasure of the gamma way does not only refer to what is reasonable or logical, it is also related to the mathematical concept of ratio. This second meaning of “rational” is: based on proportion.

The golden mean therefore not only indicates what is logical or reasonable, but also what is proportional. In this appearance the rational treasure can also be expressed as the golden ratio.

The golden ratio is an important concept in geometry, photography and art. It is not only a concept of the human mind. The golden ratio can also be discovered in many forms of creation in nature.

While the golden mean may seem to be a rather conservative and static concept, the golden ratio can more easily be associated with (efficient and natural) growth.

The presence of the golden ratio and so-called Fibonacci numbers in sunflowers is a well-known phenomenon. Apart from their beauty and constant movement towards the sun, the golden ratio is an important reason why sunflowers are to the gamma way what lotus flowers are to Buddhism.

The beauty and symbolism of the gamma sunflower is that the seeds all have different black-and-white patterns. These patterns represent our present conditions. From these seeds we need to grow and flourish as human beings, proportional to our natural potentials. And in our lives, just like sunflowers, we always create multiple seeds and conditions for the future.

The gamma way represents a cycle from seed to seeds.

The gamma way always stays within the basic realms of religions. It can be a stepping stone to and from other traditions.

There is nothing on this way that withholds anyone from going beyond the gamma and to flourish as a lotus flower or something else equally beautiful that will contribute to the wonderful diversity of life in her or his own unique way.

Sacred reading glasses

Compassion, Gratitude, Proportion, Religion, , , ,

gamma glasses

How to read sacred texts? Whether you believe in them or not, reading sacred scriptures requires some skill. Not an expert myself, last week two writers on religious thought made it clear to me that the need for this skill may be higher than ever before. It made me think that imaginary “gamma glasses” may be a useful companion to these scriptures, especially for beginners.

“Vacuous literalism” (Maajid Nawas)

Concerned with the rise of extremism, I read “Islam and the future of tolerance” a dialogue between Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz. Nawaz, former Islamist radical and now advocate for a moderate Islam, stresses in this book that in order to interpret any text one must have a methodology.

According to him the rise of the internet has facilitated “populist” interpretations of Islamic texts. He calls this “vacuous literalism”, a method that accepts a holy text word for word, without bothering at all about contradictions within the text.

Unparalleled literalness (Karen Armstrong)

A few days later I heard Karen Armstrong saying something similar in Salt Lake City at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in a video stream of a session with the ominous title “Killl them (Qu’ran), Do Not Spare Them (Torah), and Cast Them Into Everlasting Fire (New Testament)”.

Representing the Christian tradition Armstrong said that “we are reading our scriptures these days with a literalness that has no parallel in the history of religion.”

She went on to talk about Augustine of Hippo (354-430) who was convinced that all scripture should teach only charity. “If a scriptural text seemed to preach hatred, you had to find an allegorical interpretation and make it speak of charity”.

She reminded that Origen (184-254), one of the first Christian exegetes, had already concluded that you cannot take Bible texts literally, because they are so contradictory. Origen introduced “a method whereby you interpreted scripture in four different ways, starting with the plain text, then moving on to the allegorical text, the moral text and finally the mystical text”.

Is true reading even possible?

Maajid Nawas refers in his dialogue to the essay “Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas” of Quentin Skinner. In this essay Skinner addresses “the danger in assuming that there is ever a true reading of texts and asks the question: does any piece of writing speak for itself? Or do we impose certain values and judgements on that text when interpreting it?”

Personally I think this is inevitable. We always bring our own sensitivities into the texts we read, whether we are conscious of this or not. Our own experiences are also necessary, because they enable us to relate or identify ourselves with a text.

“Gamma glasses”

It is often said that reading, especially reading of literature, increases our empathic capacities. We can ask ourselves how many people are still influenced by this positive effect. Probably a lot of inexperienced readers nowadays turn directly to holy scriptures.

Therefore imaginary “gamma glasses” could be a great companion. How does this work?

Imagine that you put these “gamma glasses” on and start to read the scriptures from a perspective of gratitude and with only one objective in mind: to become more compassionate. Then consider carefully how to apply what you have learned in just proportion.

These “gamma glasses” will, as glasses always do, at least correct some shortsightedness.

If you do this consciously, there is another advantage: as long as you are aware that you are wearing imaginary glasses, you also know that you are not necessarily reading the truth.

“Gamma glasses” are a bit like coloured glasses that make you read with a rosy view.

They may not help to find the “truth” in sacred scriptures, but they certainly can show you their true colours.