A little on ignorance

Socrates, the protagonist both in narrative and in discourse of Plato’s “Apology” was described by the all knowing Oracle of Delphi as the wisest man. Socrates however, believed that he possessed no wisdom whatsoever and in order to resolve the conflict he pursued relentlessly the wise men of Athens. He badgered and questioned the poets, politicians, powerful and wealthy of Athens. In reflection, he realised that; while these men, along with all of Athens, thought themselves wise and knowledgeable they were, in fact, not. Socrates realized that the Oracle was correct, in that while so-called wise men thought themselves wise and yet were not, he himself knew he was not wise at all, which, paradoxically, made him the wiser one since he was the only person aware of his own ignorance.

Plato was put to death for his questioning of the Athenian preeminent, a true fatality of ignorance. We, on the other hand, face no such consequences for our questioning, aware of our ignorance we must come together to question, challenge and pursue with rigorous fervour its reduction.

Phi, or the golden ratio as it has been termed has the origins of its discovery in the proportions of the human body. The Egyptians centred their system of measurements on the relative proportions of their arms to forearms and forearms to hands, with phi as the common ratio between them. It was from this observation that the pyramids, with all their mind bending symmetry emerged.

The Parthenon took its proportions from Phi, as did Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man”. Phi emerges in the structure of Galaxies and the Helix of DNA. It Evolves in the shape of foliage and in the shocks of markets. Melodies form in its presence and aesthetics conform to its incidence.

Of all the numbers which are used in the reasoned pursuits of man Phi is omnipresent. Ironically; the number so central to the rational appreciation of the world around us, the bodies we live in, the art we admire and the music we love is irrational. Unknowable in its entirety, phi represents the unremitting battle of man, not for wisdom, but for the reduction of ignorance.