Journeys
Ten passages through the ideas, one figure at a time
Each journey follows one idea across many figures: how the Flower of Life holds the Platonic solids, how one number runs from the pentagram to the sunflower, how a flat being could learn to see a cube, and how we can learn to see four dimensions the same way.
In SacredForm they are narrated and animated. Here you can read them through, with a still of every step.
GenesisFrom one circle to the solids · 10 stepsFollow the compass from a single circle to the Flower of Life, then watch the Platonic solids rise out of Metatron’s Cube.
The Golden Threadφ from stars to sunflowers · 9 stepsOne number, φ ≈ 1.618, links the pentagram, the spiral, the sunflower and the most beautiful solids, and runs on into four dimensions.
Into the Fourth DimensionSquare → cube → tesseract → beyond · 10 stepsLearn to see four dimensions the way a flatlander would learn to see three: through shadows, slices and rotation.
The Plane RisesEvery flat figure is a view of a solid · 11 stepsTilt your head off the page. Each sacred figure turns out to be a slice or a shadow of a shape in space, and it grows out of the plane before your eyes.- FlatlandSeeing the fourth dimension in slices · 9 stepsA flat being sees a passing sphere as a circle that grows and shrinks. We can watch 4D shapes pass through our space the same way.
The Breathing SolidFuller’s vector equilibrium · 6 stepsTwelve spheres around one, and the twisting motion that turns one Platonic solid into the next.
Sound Made VisibleCymatics and the music of shapes · 7 stepsFrom Chladni’s sand patterns to the chords hidden inside solids: vibration draws geometry, and geometry sings.
The Archimedean FamilyCut the corners of a cube until it becomes an octahedron · 12 stepsTruncation as a story: slice the corners off a Platonic solid, deeper and deeper, and the thirteen solids of Archimedes appear one after another, until the solid has turned into its dual.
Kepler’s StarsFaces that meet again beyond the solid · 7 stepsExtend the faces of a solid past its edges until they meet once more. Out of the dodecahedron and the icosahedron come four regular stars, found by Kepler and Poinsot two centuries apart.
The Builders’ MeasuresRope, compass and the path · 9 stepsThe proportions that surveyors, masons and pavement-layers could make with a knotted rope and a compass: the right angle, the golden cut, the octagon, and a path to walk.