Phi and the Convergance of Experience

So to the left I've posted a small graph that plots the "Golden Ratio," aka phi, aka the Fibonacci Sequence of numbers. These numbers are usually written in the sequence that follows:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, and so on. The idea is, to get the next number in the sequence you add the previous two numbers. Repeat until the cows come home.

If you divided each set of numbers as they appeared and plotted the results on a graph, it would look like this picture here to the left. As you can see, the plot is forever closing in on (but never reaching) the value of ~1.6180339888... . For instance: 2/1=2.0; 3/2=1.5; 5/3=1.67; 8/5=1.6; 13/8=1.625; 21/13=1.615; etc.

[The point -- this ratio (~1.61:1) is found "throughout all of nature" -- in seashells, in spiral nebulaes, on the atomic level, in the human heartbeat, in musical tones, etc. If all or any of this is new to you, check out this webpage for a much better description of all of this stuff.]

To continue, the ratio always converges toward 1.6180339888, but never actually reaches it. Now, it isn't difficult to look online and find different examples of phi manifesting itself throughout the cosmos (in an measured, empircal sense). What I want to illustrate in this post is how this "converange principle" -- constantly getting closer to a goal, even if it is never reached -- often manifests itself in our quests of self-exploration as well.

Take this blog, for instance. This is my third post. Compared to many blogs already out there (with hundreds or even thousands of posts to their name), this page is in its utter infancy. It is insignificant. It is next to nothing. It is like a child, wandering into a movie. In terms of the Fibonacci Sequence, it is much like a very early ratio in the sequence -- say 3/2, for instance. "1.5" is absolutely nowhere close to 1.6180339888, when you get down to a very small level. Indeed, you almost couldn't be further away (or more naive or more innocent or more inexperienced).

Yet, at the same time, this blog is further along than it is ever been. While I may never actually reach that idealized goal of the "perfect blog" (whatever that is), I am certainly one post closer. And while "3/2" may be utterly insignificant in relation to the infinite number of following ratios, it is nonetheless closer to 1.6180339888 than is 2/1, or 1/1 (the first two ratios of the above sequence). And in that respect, it possesses an inherent worth of "being on its way."

If I may finally utilize the above graph I posted -- the idea is that each point (A, B, C, D, E, etc) is that much closer to 1.6180339888. The implication, perhaps, is this -- the direction in which we're headed (or our "goal") may indeed be something we never actually reach -- but it is something we always get closer to. And with each post, I imagine that I will gain an increasingly better idea of what it is I'm writing this blog for, forever narrowing in on that non-existant goal.

And then it happens. As we may never reach the "destination" in our many journeys, if we are lucky we will be overcome with flashes of the revelation that our goal is to be found right now, at this very moment. To say "we may never get there" is (to me) the same as saying "we are there all the time." All that is left is our realization of such.

And to me, this is one way I would describe gnosis (knowledge), in the Gnostic sense. The deepest, inner-most, absolute form of knowledge that resonates from our experience itself. Whether we're putting the toilet seat down, picking up the keys we just dropped, hanging up a poster, or running like hell from a rabid lion -- it is each and everyone of these experiences equally where we are to find that which we seek.

In the Gospel of Thomas, a Gnostic-flavored text discovered only in 1945, we have only a bunch of "Jesus sayings," one of which is:

"Split a piece of wood; I am there.
Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."

Tim over at Pop Occulture, in his post "Everyday Gnosis" provides as succinctly awesome an interpretation as you will find of that saying:

This saying teaches us not that Christ is hiding under a rock or inside a log (although maybe he is). And it doesn’t simply say that the divine is omnipresent. It says that the divine is to be found in actual experience - in the processes of living. You have to split the wood. You have to lift the stone.

[Note: When he says "Christ" being under a rock or inside some wood, do not think of the actual historical guy named Jesus hiding in the woods. Look at this saying (and all of his sayings) as spoken from the Christ-hood within him (or similarly Buddha-consciousness)... that which is too within you, and within the printer, the paper, the coffee bean, Jupiter, tick's armpits, and all things. The undying, full-light of consciousness that shines within all. In Christian mythology, Jesus was the man who fully identified with this Light/consciousness, as we all would like to. If you don't want to use Jesus, fine -- pick another Hero figure. But don't mistake, limit, or simplify the "Christ" for merely the historical man "Jesus." The very same Light is waiting within YOU as well.]

So finally, the main point is that the thing which we all seek is here, right here and right now, all around us. It is up to us to realize it. (Another Gospel of Thomas saying: "The Kingdom of Heaven is all around you, but men do not see it.") Open your inner-eye, and you will find what you seek.

A long post? Yeah. A bit rambly and disjointed? Sure. But its one post closer. And indeed, through this post, as "awkward" as it may be, the state of constant arrival is that much more within full realization.