The Seed of Life

"满" I was surfing the net for an image I can use for a tattoo whose symbolism would closely link to the word when I stumbled upon this image (cos I really didn't want to resort to tattooing the Chinese character per se; which would then be toooo obvious and uncool, and not sexy at all).

The Flower of Life (FoL).

Perhaps new to Singaporean Math enthusiasts, this image is not to human history for people around the world have regarded the FoL for its Perfect Form, Proportion, and Harmony. Exactly the symbolisms I need to symbolize JM!

It is over 6000 years old!!! Holy Moly~

The more I found, the more I am convinced that this is divine intervention to help to decide on my tattoo image.

Let's start with the significances behind its perfection. It is said that the within the FoL can be derived :

The Fruit of Life / Metatron Cube.

A geometrical figure of 13 circles. In connecting the centre of each circle to all others' centres with lines, we have a total of 87 lines forming an image of the Metatron Cube.

(The Metatron Cube)

Within this, you may locate all the 2D and flattened depictions of all five Platonic Solids.

(Tetrahedron, Octahedron, Hexahedron or Cube, Dodecahedron, Icosahedron)

Greek Philosopher Plato (hence the name of the solids) postulated that these geometric forms are templates from which all life springs. This was why the Fruit of Life was regarded as the blueprint of the universe since it contains the basis for the design of every atom, molecular structure, life form, and everything in existence. He theorized that the Classical elements of Water, Air, Earth and Fire (from which patterns of nature was observable) were constructed from these solids. His intuitive justifications for their associations follows as :

Air = Octahedron - its miniscule components are so smooth that they can hardly be felt

Fire= Tetrahedron - Heat feels sharp and stabbing

Water = Icosahedron - It easily flows out of one's hand when picked up

Earth = Cube - Un-spherical and clumsy qualities resembles dirt and soil

His disciple, Aristotle added a fifth element,

Ether (aether in Latin) = Dodecahedron - the element that formed the heavens; what the Gods breathe

With improvements in Molecular Sciences, we now know these are not true. But the aesthetic beauty and perfect symmetry of the Platonic solids remain mythified through the Metatron Cube and continues to lend beautiful significance to the Flower of Life.

The FoL is also of perculiar significance to works of Leonardo daVinci. Da Vinci used the FoL design to create other geometric figures such as the Sphere, the Golden Phi, as well as the Torus shape.

Mysticism of the da Vinci effect thickens as I carried on with research; I found religious significance of FoL to Christianity as well as what seemed like divine intervention for deciding on the ultimate image of my future tattoo...

Which is the SEED OF LIFE.

It will rest on my back someday.

A direct variation or a component of the FoL, this image in Christianity, symbolizes the 7 days that God created life; best described in the Biblical Book of Genesis.

The first step in forming the Seed of Life is to draw the circle as a 2D model. Some believe this step was the creation of the Octahedron by a God or divine creator. The next was for the Creator to spin the shape on its axis. In this way, a sphere is formed. The Creator's consciousness is said to exist within the sphere and the only thing that physically exists is the membrane of the sphere itself.

The first day is symbolized by the Vesica Piscis

Christians believe this symbol represents the second stage in the creation of the Seed of Life, through the creation of a sphere joined with the initial. It is said that the Creator's consciousness first began inside the first sphere and later to the surface of that sphere to create the second. Much reference was from the Old Testament, Genesis 1:2 where it was said that "the spirit of the Creator floaded upon the face of the waters." Through creating the second sphere, God is said to have created light, as per Genesis 1:3 "Let there be light". From then, the Vesica Piscis has always carried with it the symbolism of fushion of polarities and opposites.

Christian image of the Fish

Turn it around and the middle enclosed space forms an image of the Fish, which is the Christian symbol for the Son, Jesus Christ.

Add a circle and you get the Second day, Tripod of Life.

The 3 rings when together are inseparable, but remove any one ring and the other two fall apart. Due to this unique property, they have been used in many fields as a symbol of strength in unity.

In Biology, this tripod represents the three organs necessary for sustenance; Heart, Lungs and Brain or the Mind, Body and Spirit

Biologists have even succeeded in constructing Borromean rings from DNA

In Christianity, the Tripod of Life symbolizes the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

A circle was created with every subsequent day, until all the 7 spheres construct the Seed of Life on the sixth day of Creation. The seventh day was known as Sabbath, or the day of rest.

Genesis 1 1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the Earth after his kind: and it was so. 25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 2:1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

The Golden Spiral

It may perhaps be intriguing to know that the Golden Spiral; a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is related to Phi; "φ" or the Golden Ratio, may be geometrically obtained from the FoL as well. It's ring expansion is similar and often thought to be identical to the Fibonacci sequence; a series of numbers whose successive numbers relate to each other by the ratio 0.618 or 1.618. This ratio is called the Golden Ratio or Phi and underlines one methodology of analyzing the mathematical relationships between waves. The difference is that the Fibonacci spiral is a whole number interpretation of the arithmetically impossible Golden spiral, which has no beginning or end. The Fibonacci spiral has a defined beginning.

Phi is a constant value no arithmetical solution; the decimals just keep on going into infinity without ever repeating themselves. The unique thing about this number is that it can be found incorporated in all known organic structures. From the bone structure of human beings to the seed pattern of a sunflower to the spiral of a sea shell, the phi proportion is there, underlying all biological structures, seeming to be a geometrical blueprint for life itself.

This Golden Spiral is geometrically considered to be the most even, and hence pleasing form to the human eye. Did I mention that our Home Galaxy, the Milky Way is structured apparently similar to the spiral?

All these can be derived from the Flower of Life, it is indeed uncanny. All I need to know now, is the cost of getting this on my back...