Sacred geometry attributes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and geometric proportions. It is associated with the belief that a god is the world’s surveyor.
As a worldview and cosmology
The belief that a god created the universe according to a geometric plane has ancient origins. Plutarch attributed the belief to Plato, writing that “Plato says that the god is continually geometrizing” In modern times, the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss adapted this quote by saying “God arithmetise”.
According to Stephen Skinner, the study of sacred geometry has its roots in the study of nature and mathematical principles at work. Many forms observed in nature may be related to geometry; for example, the chambered nautile grows at a constant rate and its shell thus forms a logarithmic spiral to adapt to this growth without changing shape. In addition, bees build hexagonal cells to contain their honey. These and other correspondences are sometimes interpreted in terms of sacred geometry and seen as further proof of the natural meaning of geometric shapes.
Geometric ratios and geometric figures were often used in designs of ancient Egyptian, ancient Indian, Greek and Roman architecture. Indian and Himalayan spiritual communities have often built temples and fortifications on mandala and yantra design plans.
Many principles of sacred geometry of the human body and ancient architecture have been collected in Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man. This last drawing was itself based on the much older writings of the Roman architect Vitruvian.
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