Lent 2020 - Day 21
Religions have their symbols. A cross, a star and crescent, a hexagram, the yin-yang circle, the wheel of Dharma. Clear communication of one's beliefs, a battle flag, a sign denoting holy places.
Building your own religion? What would your symbol be? It would need to be symbolic... Many years ago - I can't remember whether it was our religion teacher, Fr. Gilligan, or ks. Andrzej, the charismatic priest briefly attached to the Polish parish in Ealing to preach to the youth - who explained the Star of David. He said that the two triangles represented God and Man. God is represented by the triangle pointing down; "reaching down to man", Man by the triangle pointing up, "reaching up to God". As a teenager, that appealed to me. However, the symbol does not date back to Biblical times. Sometimes symbolism is read into symbols that the designer never consciously intended...
What would I want to symbolise in my personal belief system? Well, a few things. The infinitely long journey from Zero to One, the ultimate fulfilment of the Universe, universal awareness and Good. The notion of a Life in Balance, the notion of Perspective.
This is a first attempt to create such a symbol; it is the infinity sign balanced on a Golden Triangle, one where the ratio of the base to the sides is 1: 1.618, the Golden Ratio.
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| A windmill? How sustainable! |
I'm not happy with how it looks, visually - it conjures up a pair of eyes and long nose - a baboon, or a fly and its proboscis. Conceptually, it's simple to draw and carries much meaning. Mankind reaching up to infinity, balanced at a focal point; the perspective of looking up to the heavens.
UPDATE FROM 2021: Conceptually, I have settled on an upward spiral, coming back to where you were a while back, but at a higher level, rising upward and outward to Infinity.
What do you think, dear reader?
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This time last year:
New views
This time two years ago:
Humanity in a Creative Universe: a summary
This time seven years ago:
Always let your conscience be your guide
This time eight years ago:
Lenten recipe with prawns
This time 11 years ago:
Polish economy - recession thwarted
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2 comments:
It reminds me of a radio wave.
Light and sound and everything whizzing through the sky and the earth.
If I were in the #buildyourownreligion business I would be using a palm tree.
Their patterns and evolution are complex.
And there's almost nothing to beat the Happy Human.
@ Adelaide Dupont
I like the palm tree... (sadly it also happened to be the symbol of Hitler's Afrika Korps in WW2, albeit with a swastika underneath - a bad connotation). Patterns in nature often demonstrate the Fibonacci progression (1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89 etc), a progression which tends ever-more towards the Golden Number of 1.618.
Happy Human - with a life in balance.
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