The
Pythagoreans averred that mathematics demonstrated the exact method by
which the good established and maintained its universe. Number therefore
preceded harmony, since it was the immutable law that governs all
harmonic proportions. Summarizing the relationship between the human body and the theory of architecture, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (80–15 BC) wrote in his "De Architectura:"
"Since nature has designed the human
body so that its members are duly proportioned to the frame as a whole,
it appears that the ancients had good reason for their rule, that
in perfect building the different members must be in exact symmetrical
relations to the whole general scheme. Hence, while transmitting to
us the proper arrangements for buildings of all kinds, they were
particularly careful to do so in the case of temples of the gods,
buildings in which merits and faults usually last forever.
Therefore, if it is agreed that number was found out from the human
fingers, and that there is a symmetrical correspondent between the
members separately and the entire form of the body, in accordance with a
certain part selected as standard, we can have nothing but respect
for those who, in constructing temples of the immortal gods, have so
arranged the members of the works that both the separate parts and the whole design may harmonize in their proportions and symmetry."
Harmony is a state
recognized by great philosophers as the immediate prerequisite of beauty. A
compound is termed beautiful only when its parts are in harmonious
combination. The world is called beautiful and its Creator is designated the Good
because good perforce must act in conformity with its own nature; and good
acting according to its own nature is harmony, because the good which it
accomplishes is harmonious with the good which it is.
Beauty, therefore, is
harmony manifesting its own intrinsic nature in the world of form. The universe
is made up of successive gradations of good, these gradations ascending from
matter (which is the least degree of good) to spirit (which is the greatest
degree of good). In man, his superior nature is the summum bonum. It
therefore follows that his highest nature most readily cognizes good because
the good external to him in the world is in harmonic ratio with the good
present in his soul.
What man terms evil is therefore, in common with
matter, merely the least degree of its own opposite. The least degree of good
presupposes likewise the least degree of harmony and beauty. Thus deformity
(evil) is really the least harmonious combination of elements naturally
harmonic as individual units. Deformity is unnatural, for, the sum of all
things being the Good, it is natural that all things should partake of
the Good and be arranged in combinations that are harmonious. Harmony is
the manifesting expression of the Will of the eternal Good.
Quoted from:
Manly P. Hall (1928) - Secret Teachings of All Ages.
Samuel Colman (1912): Nature's Harmonic Unity - A Treatise on Its Relation to Proportional Form.