It was the goal of many traditional esoteric teachings to lead the mind back toward the sense of Oneness through a succession of proportional relationships.
A proportion is formed from ratios, and a ratio is a comparison of two different sizes, quantities, qualities, or ideas, and is expressed by the formula a:b. A ratio then constitutes a measure of a difference, a difference to which at least one of our sensory faculties can respond. The perceived world is then made up of intricate woven patterns of, as Gregory Bateson says, "differences which make a difference." Not only then is a ratio a:b the fundamental notion for all activities of perception, but it signals one of the most basic processes of intelligence in that it symbolizes a comparison between two things, and is thus the elementary basis for conceptual judgment.
A proportion, however, is more complex, for it is a relationship of equivalence between two ratios, that is to say, one element is to a second element as a third element is to a fourth: a is to b as c is to d, or a:b::c:d. It represents a level of intelligence more subtle and profound than the direct response to a simple difference which is the ratio, and it was known in Greek thought as analogy.
from Lawlor's "Sacred Geometry"
No comments:
Post a Comment