When an artist places the last brush stroke on his masterpiece, the final touch will always be his signature. In a similar way, when God created the Universe He added His signature in the form of a number: 1.6180339887498948482… We have known about this number at least since the time of Pythagoras, and possibly even before then. Sometimes it is referred to by the Greek letter Phi, defined as 1 plus the square root of 5 divided by 2. Sometimes it’s called the Golden Ratio.
In Greek architecture the Parthenon and other Greek buildings used Phi. The dimensions of a number of some of the pyramids are close enough to Phi to indicate that it was used by the ancient Egyptians. It has been used in art works, music, even Fibonacci numbers. Most amazing, however, is the way Phi appears in nature.
For example, if you look at the pattern of seeds in a sunflower head you’ll see a design of criss-crossing spirals that are based on Phi. You’ll see it in the spiral pattern on pine cones, leaves, cactus plants, pineapples and others. The 16th century philosopher, Heinrich Agrippa, drew a man over a pentagram inside a circle demonstrating that the proportions of the human body correspond to Phi.
Adolf Zeising found Phi expressed in the arrangement of branches along the stems of plants and of veins in leaves. He extended his research to the skeletons of animals and the branchings of their veins and nerves, and to the proportions of chemical compounds and to the geometry of crystals.
In 2003, two researchers analyzed psychometric data and theoretical considerations and concluded that Phi underlies the clock cycle of brain waves. In 2008 this was empirically confirmed by a group of neurobiologists.
In outer space, the orbital periods, mean distances, and orbital velocities of the planets in the solar system are all related to Phi. You can see Phi in the spiral pattern of galaxies, including our own.
The Bible teaches us that we live in a fallen world where creation “groans and labors with birth pangs together until now”. (Romans 8:22) And yet even through the distortion caused by sin’s curse we can see evidence that our world is God’s work.
Educated fools preach that we inhabit a universe of nothing but chaos and randomness. They see no design because that would imply a Designer. Our world, they loudly insist, is nothing but a collection of cooling gases. Its creatures exist at the meaningless pleasure of time and chance. And He who sits in the heavens laughs as he lovingly places His signature on atoms and galaxies, pine cones and people, in His unique way, 1.6180339887498948482…
“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.”
Psalm 19:1
