The Untold Truth Of Sacred Geometry

Everyone knows Plato. He was one of the most influential thinkers in human history, and he taught the world all about the dangers of chaining people up in a cave and making them watch shadows. Not surprisingly, ol' Plato's brilliant mind got delighted whenever someone mentioned mathematics, particularly geometry. In fact, Dartmouth reported that over his academy was written "Let no one destitute of geometry enter my doors." So if you math haters out there ever want to shake hands with Plato, study up.

Anyhow, Plato theorized that the sensory world as we knew it was merely a flawed impression of divine reality. According to PBS, Plato tinkered with the ancient idea that the universe was constructed of five geometric shapes, each one symbolic of an element: earth, air, fire, water, and aether. Plato didn't create these shapes, but people have come to call them the Platonic Solids, probably because Plato was such a cool guy. These solids look like a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons dice, and include familiar shapes like the cube (earth) alongside weirdo shapes like the icosahedron (water).

Long story short, Plato found geometry crying in the corner, gave it the big, fatherly hug it deserved, and then set it free into the world. While the "solids" theory doesn't hold up today, Plato's scientific approach — namely, breaking down the universe's massiveness into smaller, identifiable parts — was way ahead of his time. Meanwhile, Plato got sacred geometry off to a running start.