Shana & Friend

There is a Pattern

by Shana Ogren Lourey

There is a pattern.  Is that supposed to comfort us?

"God is a geometer and employs geometry in all his works."
Plato

Pythagoras

This year astronomers discovered the existence of 715 more planets.  Wow!  What do you make of that discovery?  Does it make you feel smaller?  Does being small make you feel good?

Greek philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras, introduced the concept that there is a “music of the spheres.”  He believed that our planets and stars are moving together to create a kind of mathematical masterpiece; a symphony of the cosmos. 

An astronomer from the 1600’s named Johannes Kepler followed up on this idea by using mathematical equations to calculate the fact that the earth and other planets orbit around the sun in an oval pattern.  He used ratios to track and prove regularity in the construction of our universe.  The conclusion is that a harmony is formed, but this music is a mathematical and religious idea, not necessarily a perceptible one.

We are clearly a part of a larger something, apparently even a harmonious something.  Is that reassuring?  It seems as though it can be.  Why else do we form our schools and families, religions and government?  There should be relief at the knowledge that we are each a piece of a puzzle.  And if we are parts of this large puzzle, then there must be an answer as we put the puzzle together.   

I don’t what to make of these patterns and symmetry.  They scare me in their ever expanding existence.  If I was God, and created all this, I would probably forget about a few galaxies I established along the way.  Who knows if God even remembers me at this point?  As is clear, my god is not perfect.  Like its image, my god is faulty and makes mistakes.  My god is, in some ways, only human.