Kepler and How Nature Proves the Golden Proportion

Have you ever caught a snowflake and examined it?the fact that when dividing a line with one section
You will notice that it is perfectly shaped in symmetrysmaller and one section larger, there is a relationship of
with six corners on each one. How can this be, youthe complete line and this was called the Divine
ask yourself. Aren't snowflakes just frozen moistureProportion.
that enters our atmosphere? Welcome to the world of"For the theater of the world is so ordered that there
Golden Proportion.exist in it suitable signs by which human minds,
Johannes Kepler, a mathematician at a school in Graz,likenesses of God, are not only invited to study the
Austria, was not one to shrug off the unknown,divine works, from which they may evaluate the
especially when it came to solving a constant. He wasfounder's goodness, but are also assisted in inquiring
next astounded by a group of seeds that lie within amore deeply." Kepler (Optics, pg.15)
pomegranate. They didn't roll around but were in anIn the early 1600s, Kepler entered into the realm of
irregular arrangement that allowed them to expandspace and the planets that surrounded earth. He
inside of the fruit.realized through Divine Proportion that the speed of
Intrigued by the symmetry of one and the loss ofthe planets decreased with the increasing distance
symmetry of another but feeling a connection of somefrom the Sun and had to produce an immaterial
type, Kepler began to notice the flowers. Earlier,species of universal gravitation in all planetary motion.
Leonardo da Vinci had observed a displacement ofDiscovering the harmonic relationships within our world
leaves around a stem but also in some sort of patternand striving to understand the Divine Proportion in all
that was called philotaxis. In roses, a congruentaspects of life, urged Kepler to expand to the cosmos
360-degree angle that separates the petals from oneas an enrichment of all that could be realized. Not only
another proportionately had become known as thecould there be a Divine Proportion to earthly things but
Divine Proportion.also the universe as a whole. If Kepler had lived long
Everything that Kepler came upon in nature seemed toenough, he might even have found his answer to
possess a type of symmetric balance yet no equal toman's own divine potential.
itself. It was then that Kepler became fascinated with