CHAPTER 5 Astronomical and Cosmological Symbolism in Islamic Patterns: The Objectivity of Sacred Geometry Cone As the subject of today's discussion is design oF ‘geometrical principles within Islamic art and architecture, I would like to begin by reminding you, if T may, because I came to Islam through Plato, that Plato provided a very interesting rid of positions that can be taken t0 approach any subject, ways of knowing, one might call them. The fist is the orthodox position leis represented in most of us by the authority of our religion. But then there is something in al of us that Fels the need for extcism and skepticism; these are of course what modem science depends on, Now these two attitudes, the authoritative and the skeptiel, on their own set up & poet which is almost imposible #9 resolve, as Pato els us many times, unless third “mean” positon is found That third postion he posts is contemplative and “mystica,” @ word that has in this instance nothing to do with mystification. The mystical I suggests the bass of all Scientific validation. Why would a scientist go into bis laboratory to discover something ihe knew it already? He goes there For what he doesn't Know. Thats & very simple defnition of the acknowledgment of the mystical position. Science arose to solve mystery. This third viewpoint is one that is inclusive and says both the other postiens can be tre and, of course, this isthe paradox and isthe very {quality over which the computer fuses out. The computer can't deal with ambiguity. I! can only say yes or no very fast i therelore diadic and useless ‘when confronted wit “maybe.” What stems ffom ths i that we ean then talk about intelligence in different ways. The intelligence ofthe mind or the cerebral intelligence, we have no reason {o consider infeior or superior tothe intelligence of futh unless taken alone. But ‘here is also another level with which all contemplatives are aequsinied, and thats the ineligence of the heat. Ic is this intelligence whieh, I believe, operates in the master ceftsmar, which i one reason why he or she isnot necessarily very verbal ‘orinclined to werd explanations, and therefore the reson why there is traditionally ‘no “at history” in Islam as a separate theoretic study and why we have s0 few documents left demonstrating the intellectual reasons for the structure and ‘measuring of Islamic design principles ‘The juss Ibn Arabi he contemplative thinker didnt say Sufi beeause some people ere might nat accep the rerm=—as been & gret inspiration to me. I came to him through Nader Aidalan’s book, which was also my introduction to Islam, Ibn Arabi suggested that cosmology had to be equally an interior tuth and an exterior wuth, Coincidentally there is « modem school of philosophy which has {210Wn up within the last couple of years, that aims Bishop Berkeley's position thatthe universe doesn’ exist unless we ate thereto observe it, Kon Arabi was no fool. To that he most likely Would have said. they are reciprocal. We have to ‘observe the universe 10 ontain its existence; atthe same time, oar existence is ‘completely dependent on the universe. Yet both are dependent on the Creator. In« Asctive Hated on lie Peis his cosmogony tbo Arabi atibutes symbolically the differentiation whieh isthe ‘oot of the existent order tothe disequilibrium that les between the angle of spin ff the earth 10 the sun and the angle of spin of the whole solar system, AS a Philosophical proposition this isnot unlike that suggested by Albert Einstein, who Said that if pure space and time had no rupture there would be no material ‘existence. Einstein talked about existence in terms of "knots ted in space and ‘According to Ibn Arabi the disequilibrium tat gives rise fo the existent cosmos ‘can be considered to arse inthe dection of spring equinox inthe constellation we ‘ll Aves, Fist of all, he said, there is a sphere of potentility, the spherelimit ofall space. That does rat conflict even with madera cosmological theory. ‘A finite amount of energy matter is as tue for & traditional perspective as itis fer a modern one, We right say thatthe universe i Finite; so dhereby is the sphere of activity. Differentiation takes place as expansion, Thus disequilibrium arises as a consequence, according to Ton Arabi, and is expressed within our solar system, as this Ts our Thetint sphere ctextnce, _perCepible universe. The frst creative evidence is the shythm of expansion and contraction. When day and night expand as far as they can until they are equally long they produce the principle of the ‘equinoxes af the spring and at the autumn, When the days and nights are a short as they canbe i relation teach other, we see the principle of contraction, the contraction of daylight atthe winter solstice and the contraction of night atthe summer solstice. That is the shortest day in winter and shortest night in rom these four poles in the limit sphere as lirection, that is Aves inthe spring, Cancer in the ‘summer, Libra in the autumn, and Capricorn in the ection taken rom the center Winter, of our universal space, indicates Ibo Arabi, athe lint spre to pot wwe next can appreciate the motion of the Divine e"the cheumfrencethareoy Intellect which sets up the conditions forthe ewwation bing other posse ‘ints te pry ‘of the manifest word. aoa We moderns tend to believe, because we are brought up under a particular perspective, that ‘cosmology is something out in space, but for she contemplative, cosmogony, or the Dim of the cosmos, as wel as cosmology, is something within us. Whether we tak about our power of reason oF cur sense of realization or of perception, we confirm ‘within ourselves thar what we are touching or believe we are touching corresponkls to an image of that thing within ws. Whether we lak about our power of reason or ‘our sense of realization or of perception, we confirm within ourselves that what we are touching or believe we are touching corresponds to an image of that thing Within us don't want to get into philosophical hir-splining. What I'm saying is thatthe traditional perspective held by Ton Arabi is ofan ine cosmos that has to correspond to an outer cosmos, The former—the cosmos within—is a psycho- spiritual cosmos—as is ultimately the cosmos without ‘To return 10 the expansion, this gives rise to a polar reaction, which is contraction. This is the cross of the year or the sostices and equinoxes. Aries isAronia! Symbol ie anc Pars ° | } ae 1 = / ‘ne pterestion rom the peso clad ‘The st oxpansive apart prsitont ‘Aseamtbe sping equitor polo maximum) whalers of universe roe bings set he ‘expansion tne dyson nigh fgever” restive contraction o ve the fst ‘iponion the poston nh a pho ‘tcl Cenc ad Cpr jgncous, or fire, which is hot and dry; i is balanced by Libra which is of the ‘quality of air that is hot and humid. The conteactive reaction to this polar ‘expansion gives rise to the contraction ofthe night at midsummer symbolized by ‘Cancer and the contraction of the day symbolized in midwinte by Capricorn. This is a cosmology based on the qualities of experience and the directional fact of the heavens as well as on the essence of human life-that is, the contraction and ‘expansion that constitute the life shythm of human breathing, In Ibn Arabi's cosmogony the threfold ation of the Divine Intellect creates the farther eight directions making up the twelve constellations in the limit sphere ‘There isan interesting parallel to this in the Platonic succession represented by Potinus, who talked about the act of the Divine Intellect in thre simultaneous sspects ce phases, For Ibn Arabi the Divine Intellect proceeds away from is origin toa point where it reaches its absolute limit, fixes on the principle of maximum expansion, and then returns to its origin. Plotinus would have called this the Principle of proceeding, maintaining, and retuming, the function of the spirit that is ‘Simultaneously coming into being, preserving being, and reaming from being. Itis ‘quite an awe-inspiring concept. From each ofthe fist four poles of the year and their directions, we see how the three fire signs are set up ftom Aries to Lz0 10 ‘Tre twnay starsat Ars. Te intadon the fry tomay rm Ae ft int phar at tao.» Architect Raz onan Tore, Sagittarius, and the other Air, Water and Earth triads accordingly. When this in ten explains the symbolism of the zodiac, we can see why in contemporary astrology (which is almost a travesty (of spiritual astrology) the cardinal sign is so called as itis the invating sign, proceeding triangular it reaches Leo, which is the fied sign of the fie signs, it then proceeds to Sagittarius. We can take this as “medieval symbolism” and dismiss it, or we can consider what Tbn Arabi is saying: that all human experience, bar ultimate union, is symbolic snd that al hei offering is an allegory or a “key” story, yet ‘responsible “ikely” sory. | ind i interesting because Ton Arabi was called Tn Flatun, son of Plato, and Plato aso sai that his ‘cosmology, the Fimacus, was only a likely story. (Likely doesnot mean probably here, bu the esult ofthis world being a “likeness” tothe perfect mode inthe absolute domain.) Maybe all cosmologies can only be “ely” stores? The fact that astrology has go into such a wobbly state in modern times because it ends to reinforce the individual and accidental should not blind us ‘to the fact that i did and does have for certain people witha certain perspective very profound psychological and spiritual meaning. The two polaitis, solstices and equinoxes, and the major rads of air, earth, water, and fire setup a twelvefold [geometry which coresponds, according to thn Arabi, fo a symbolic understanding ‘of how the cosmos presents isl tothe human perception through the actions of ‘sun and moon. The sun moves through the sky and competes its eycle in twelve ‘months. There are twelve months because th relationship between the sun and the ‘moon marks out the sky in twelve intervals. Bach new moon marks the next ‘monthly interval ‘One influential writer on Islam today is a Swiss gentleman by the name of Frithjof Scuon. Among his writings he has pointed out chat the very worst thing fone can accuse a modern Wester human being of today is being naive, but that says Seuon from a waditional perspective is eur natural condition. | rater like that. ‘We stand inthe center of our own cosmos; there is nowhere else we can stand and ‘experince things except from where we ae. Is this naive? We can make the effort, to place our viewpoint elsewhere, but that is both dificult andlor dangerous a tis an abstraction and fundamentally unue. Weare where we are. In the Holy Quran there is @ passage that says something like “We shall show ‘hem our signs on the horizons and within themselves, until it be clear to them that He isthe Truth.” This is precisely what Ibn Arabi talks about when he say that cosmology is an exterior perception and an interior psychological and spiritual reality, both reflecting the nitive truth. There is & geocentric view and an anthropoceniric view, yet one reality. We all know, because we are all very wise ‘modems, that the sun isin the middle and everything is going round it, but I challenge anybody inthis reom fo say that he has proved this by his or her own ‘observation. Lis, in fact, an act of faith in moder instruments. Has anybody ever really looked a the sun and had the experience of its being stil and he or she going sround i? Does not the sun rise and set each day? Ton Arabi says we do not need 10 have an etherfar cancellation of one ofthese rw facts, The human-centered view and the sola-centered view are both true. Ths is the paradoxical mode. But the ‘zeacentic view confizmns that we are atthe center of our own experience. We are ‘ot on the sunAs nomial Symon in ances 3 ‘One of the important things I learned when I was frst introduced to Islamic thinking by S. H. Nast was that “conclusive” does not necessarily mean “exclusive.” That is something we peshaps still have to lesen in the West, where the conviction remains that because one thing is true, another view of the same facts has got to be false, There are cases where psychologically something is “false and mechanically it s “tre” and visa versa. A series of objects go around the sun, and something called gravity holds them all together, But that is oot what wwe experience, and it s not what any human being bas ever observed. Empirical means, “af the senses, as observed by and verified by the senses.” This heiocentricty cannot be observed and vertied by the unaided senses. However, ‘ot to over labor the point, we have Titus Burckhardt taking an interpretive view of the tradition: “Mankind isthe privileged bearer of the intellect and therefore may know essentially all that is. The traditional perspective places man at the ‘center of the visible World, which corresponds 10 immediate sensory experience.” tis a huge act of common sense. If we observe the planets inthe sky from where wwe are, whether we have a telescope or not, we see that they make very weind backward movements and loops-—that isthe very reason why they are called “planets,” a word said to be derived from the Greek word for “wanderer.” There has been a fot of discussion as to how much ancient civilizations knew about these strange eccentricities. As far as Plato was concerned, these points of light in the sky Were “the gods” and the gods, cerainly for him, did not behave irrationally They ate there to communicate with us. They communicate with usin geometry, and that isthe geometry they commonicate with us. They communicate with us in ‘geometry, and that i the geometry they suround us with. Ths is the geometry of the cosmos—in time. What Plato suid in the Tinaeus is this: “to describe the pattern of movements (the “choreography”) of these gods, their justapositons, and the backereling and advances oftheir orbits on dhemselves is to ell which of the {gs come into line with one another at their conjunctions and which of them are {in opposition and in which order and at which times they ae infront of others. Sometimes they are screened from our view only to reappear again, thereby bringing porents of things 10 come to those who cannot reason. To tll allthis Without lusing] models would be labor spent in vin’ ‘xt ine mutpetory power oft tar ses ot rom he pl epee ponton of potln cf ete, ‘expand and eae he iArchie Base on ame Thories ‘rest itr ain anon which scone to Ine ploo of Sami, expands" ed taes om Seon, ‘eth agus omar. ‘he polar par onthe otras aio four {erdonles ofthe unreal ate (tao Cancer ‘apie epresning tne ostinato tarsi, Frome ntatng postion Capcom scone tothe teary Tours wih tn (es he pnatie ‘expan to Vigo, tenn tan ‘coma the pt fem 12 ‘eon n Caprio.Astronomical Symbotion in ame Pers s Te tation in ight anges Hot ry coy a (cole Huis Ho anid ‘equi of 86 — unis ‘manor. ‘Expansion colt [the avs otcos®| orconracton cals Water gre Aes eo Eth a Or Het ow Hot cow bry Cots Hume ie Foto.* Ate Bae on lac Theis 1am ost surprised that Patonc scholars ave not cat onto what Pato is actualy Saying here. Pat's Aca os unikely to have puis at work or ah asrboomy witout mode, What T would Keto propose o you hat Iolani art preserved these models, an stl preserves tem Te Uitatons ae ‘ihn ourselves if we ct ee what lai at rant as preserved. Tht hy Islamic art as vette for the revelation tat is Tslam Is governed by Soc Stingon rae. However i canes prenil and universal ths and these we completly sani in fora fac that ca be denonstated in many ferent ‘ays within he vial eornenton ut he goety tts end sd within is preserved fom an eater ne Bese ii ie “omc fete.” None of Arnot’ ilastations seem to hive come down ts nd none of P's ether bat, ashe ays himself, how would Pao have taught these things without isons? Let uno ook tthe bjcive its of ou vse universe Ite were ble take atime expose over thc oa ent yar, we sould tin mage ofthe ine tac ofthe plane sea te bekgrouad of te Consens. The only oration cry charting tes things and publichng them every year isthe Rado Sener abnervaory fo Switzerland some people's minds tat senowgh to write ut fe ETB < plese don jump to uncnsideredconclsions asthe ae facts are empirically scientific. You would see that the first ime in this paticula year Mercry actually ‘goes forward and then backwards again is in the Constellation of Taurus, The next time that Mercury Stops goes backward, and then goes forward again {nthe same year isin the constellation of Vigo. The {hid ime that Mercury, the gia of comauniation in ancient Greece, wil do tis “choreography” is in Capeicom. So every year Mercury makes a teefold loop series or tiangelar pater aroond us on earth and th nearest pint ofeach lop othe earth cn be desribed by another tangle, The precession means that its slowly going to move Tight around the system until it has made twenty-two sich loops before returning 4 the same Position in the Zoic. People have often sid to me, how do you knw tha this kind! of information was known by Muslim astronomers or designers, andthe answer may be tat we hve evidence of it already beng recorded in book form in 635 AD. Ching, nd no dovbt in Islamic manuseripts yet to be published. There isa remarkable consistency inthe gemety the planets form found ts on eat, Inthe same ay that we have iokerted the sytem ofthe twelvefold division ofthe heavens fom ancient Babylon. This sot surprising as it is based on a demarcation made by the Sunrise each nar month, In Iman Thn Arabi's emanational theory, through the principle of correspondences, cach af the various planetary skis “housed” he archetype of a Gitferent prophet Satu was the "house" of Abram, opts Was the “hous” of Moses, Mars was the “house” of Aon, the sun the “house” of Enoch, Vens Yas the “house” of Joseph, Mercury was the “house” of Jesus, and the moon as the tnouse” of Adam. It follows, in this theory, thatthe “heavenly spheres” ot enveloping sper of planetary movement housed archetypal principles iat none oftheir modes can be characterize as prophets of pus and thereby relate to the "puldes” of humanityAeron Symbol a lane Pars ss Iman Tho Arabs insight i taken from the nitive point of view where inner and cuter meet Hence from this viewpoint of the Unity of existence the heavenly lights become guides as to inner realities. So the heavens decorated with lights are Hore we epreset hy er eyo conietons teen sup Satia and ‘nae times ing iy ‘ryote outermost ble plnts Str ood tpt ose ogee ib ‘Sitar n 1627 ‘sn 06 ey rear 2 Septtarus Anemorgon or rire pone str mase ‘rte euler angi. The pat of Stun pled n {ine o We ib postions of ‘onncon ovr sit yet fl mato eine pnt ‘wonders for humanity to penetrate through contemplation, Through the principle (of correspondence we Find a new significance inthe meeting of planes as they symbolize the meeting of Prophets. If we take one such cycle of conjunctions or meetings of, s8, Jupiter and Satur we see how their sinty-year eyele works over time. Jupiter and Satur met in 1901; they met again in 1921, and again in 1941, and back tothe starting ara in 1961, AL-Findi regarded this sinty-year cycle as one of, the most fundamental eyees in Islamic astronomy. If we trace directly the way Saturn moves through these conjunctions and “time” relationships, we see that it forms a nne-pointed str. In my book, which some of you will know, I huve pat forward a thesis regarding one way Islamic patterns are constructed, and that is by taking the half-way’ point of the line of a polygon, and putting in an over and an under erossing point, a diad, om this ‘midpoint, If we now take a specific pattem and set this up, we have three twelve side figures meet on an equilateral triangle so that they touch exaetly in thice places a nine-sded figure which is lating inthe center ofthat equilateral triangle Whether we regard this as being unconscious—the result of the inner contemplative practices of craftsmen-—or whether they were displaying facts ofthe6 Archer Bar om kane Thewies, stimenlonal pec ie Starnes of pace One ich etl the reatoneip ‘setofduodscagone (19) ‘ered on ie pois of main ‘outta range & BC. They ‘ich contact nat on at age DEF the tows of ‘our on he resi spaces GH la overed Ioxogons of aden A |. tnesepotgons hove to some ‘ye ena universe as conscious deliberation isnot so important as the fact ofthe analogical ‘correspondence. What we have between the twelves and the nine-sided figure isa hexagon which is turned inside out to complete the fiting family of the thee figures. 1 suggest, and that is all I can responsibly do, thatthe nine refers 0 the time cyclic relationship between Saturn and Jupiter, and the twelve to the zodiacal background “totality.” Its a possible symthesis; whatever else, it displays the ‘symmetrical archetypes that correspond | get very excited when [look at an Islamic pattem. I find nothing less profound than Bach’s Art of the Fugue in it. The mathematics of beauty has teached precisely the same degree of profundity. It can elevate the soul because itis a ecognition of inner facts ofthe created onder. What is interesting about this actual pattem in Persia is thatthe master mosaic artist has placed a “perfect” pentagon inside every five-pointed sta, which Ihave been told represents the human being. whether there are thre “stm” o five, the hear isthe same. That isthe ingenuity of the artist, speaking an intensely felt language through the objectivity of {geometric symmetty. 11 is no wonder that for Islam Art and Science were never Separated; itis even more a paradox that there was never an art history for Islamic ar, only an art practice. Maybe their wisdom lay onthe one and in "he eye down ‘onto the hea,” as August Rodin described the artist's mode, of onthe other hand in the patterns of symmetry which are themselves as timeless as the atomic ‘molecules which have maintained their form fom the heginning-—thank God. ‘To conclude I would propose that Islamic patter and its co-necessary neighbor and consort Islimi (arabesque) are together a route to the Unity of existence and both represent « path of understanding that leads from complexity and multiplicity through the mystery of symmetry back to unity. It is celebration ofthe created ‘order yet leads the mind back—through Beauty tothe one beside which there is no other. Notes 1. Geo Vaso, la's Unies Onfon an Sete, 1978) p30 2 Tine Buti Mystical Auroloy According Ibn Aah as alent Rat (Shou Eg 197