Spheriphor = Tetrahelix + Triskele + Trimurti + Jewel in the Lotus

I created the geometry for the Spheriphor digital art work as an investigation into spherical spirals, but this figure has also led me down deep into multiple levels of insight meditation. If you have been following my blog, you may know that I believe that the root essence of existence is the spiral. I talked about this with my Maori artist collaborator Kura Puke (for I. She also believes spirals to be at the heart of all things.
 

Just recently, during a Vipassana meditation session, I had an insight that emerged from contemplation of the tetrahelix (spiral based on the tetrahedron). I visualized the tetrahelix emerging from a set of 3 vectors that propagate through space. These 3 vectors are the primary (active) system of all phenomena. There is a set of 3 complementary vectors that are secondary (reactive), and together with the primary set of 3 vectors, the tetrahedron (minimum system of Universe) is formed (as per Bucky's Synergetics).
 

Then, I arrived at an internal visualization of the relationships between the 3 primary vectors. This visualization involved a spiraling propagation through space based on 3 parameters: length, angle and twist. I could see that these 3 parameters were the true 3 dimensions of Universe (as opposed to width, height and depth). I made a mental note to create an mathematical computer generated visualization based on this concept.
 

Then all of a sudden the visualization shifted to the Hindu Trimurti. My mental energy shifted from left hemisphere to right hemisphere; the wonders of the corpus callosum.
 

From Wikipedia:

The Trimurti (English: 'three forms') is a concept in Hinduism in which the cosmic functions of  creation  ,  maintenance  , and  transformation  are personified by the forms of Brahmāthe maintainer or preserver Vishnu the creator and Śhiva the destroyer or transformer. These three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity", often addressed as "Brahma-Vishnu-Maheshwara."

Next came the realization of the equivalence of Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist trinities:

1. Vishnu = Sunyata
2. Brahma = Amitabha
3. Shiva = Chenrezig

 

The visualization then shifted again. This time the triad transformed into the Mani; the most beneficial mantra, "Om Mani Padme Hum". I saw the following: 

1. the clear light of creation (Om) radiating from within 
2. the jewel maintaining (Mani) all phenomena
3. sitting on a lotus transforming (Padme) all dualistic views
4. within my human heart (Hum) the most fortunate of all incarnations

In this meditation I attained the most in-depth understanding of the Mani that I have ever realized.

The visualization which emerged from my contemplation of the tetrahelix now circled back to my 4 colored, Triskele version of the Spheriphor. The Spheriphor contains both the 3-way symmetry of the Trimurti and the 4-colored aspects of the Mani. The Spheriphor is truly an all-encompassing spherical-metaphor that represents the complete Hindu-Buddhist psycho-cosmology. 

 
Spheriphor by Tom Greenbaum

 

You can view my Spheriphor study at http://karmatetra.com/ISDE5/spheriphor_study03.htm

Also on the Spheriphor Study 03 page are alternative views of the figure based on a spherical octahedron. The 3 views are based on vertex, face-centered and edge centered perspectives:

• http://karmatetra.com/ISDE5/Images/Spheri-Spiral_50.jpg  My 4 colored Triskele (Celtic triple spiral) version. Do you think that the Celtic mystics were actually peering into the vertex of a spherical octahedron wrapped in spirals like I was?  Also, Hans-Peter Welke fell in love with this image and asked me for permission to use it for the cover of his brochure on the "Corporate Identity Development Process"  See the attachment for the brochure. Hans-Peter credits me for the image on the last page.
• http://karmatetra.com/ISDE5/Images/Spheri-Spiral_52.jpg
• http://karmatetra.com/ISDE5/Images/Spheri-Spiral_49.jpg

 

I would love to make this figure out of glass. I have thought of possible ways to make it out of glass, but it would be a major challenge.

Wish-Fulfilling Karmic Tetrahedron Jewel

According to Wikipedia:

Cintamani is a wish-fulfilling jewel within both Hindu and Buddhist traditions, equivalent to the philosopher's stone in Western alchemy. In Buddhism it is held by the bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara and Ksitigarbha. It is also seen carried upon the back of the Lung ta (wind horse) which is depicted on Tibetan prayer flags. By reciting the Dharani of Cintamani, Buddhist tradition maintains that one attains the Wisdom of Buddha, able to understand the truth of the Buddha, and turn afflictions into Bodhi.

I have personally experienced the miracle of the wish-fulfilling gem on several occasions. I attribute these miracles as a result of my devotion to Avalokitesvara and many hours of meditation and the recitation of the mani.

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons ManiStone.jpg

The curious thing is that this wish fulfillment is never premeditated. These are spontaneous wishes that emerge from a source that is not from my linear and reasoned thinking mind. It is the junction of premonition and desire. It feels like a desire that arises spontaneously and in the same moment, the premonition that it will soon be fulfilled also occurs. The results come very soon after this desire/premonition. Sometimes within minutes, never more than a day later. 

QUESTION: If you KNOW that some result will occur before it physically manifests, and at the same time that you KNOW this, you experience a desirous thought for this manifestation - did the desire cause the result, or did the knowledge (precognition) of the result cause the desire? 

A close Buddhist friend of mine used to say that I "manifested" stuff. This is not a good description because it says that this is something that I cause. It doesn't feel like I cause it. Again, from Wikipedia the definition of causality:

Causality is the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first.

However, if the cause and the effect happen simultaneously, then causality is in some way negated. In my personal experience, the effect does not happen simultaneously, but the realization that the effect WILL happen occurs simultaneously. This then is a matter of precognition and precognition is of course counter to the existing laws of science ...

Perhaps precognition is explained by R. Buckminster Fuller's concept of the Action-Reaction-Resultant Tetrahedron. From Bucky Fuller's Synergetics:

511.10   The open-ended tripartite spiral can be considered as one energy event consisting of an action, reaction, and resultant.Two such tripartite-vectored "spirals," one negative and one positive, combine to form the tetrahedron. See the diagram.

Using the concept of the Action-Reaction-Resultant Tetrahedron, then the positive spiral is the NORMAL time-space desire-driven KARMIC linear event. The negative spiral is the ANTI-NORMAL time-space precognitive INSTANT-KARMIC receptive event. 

Diagram 511.10
Copyright © 1997 Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller

This wish-fulfilling karmic tetrahedron jewel manifests across time-space. It is self-fulfilling because it is comprised of the perfect union of male and female energies. The positive male open-ended tripartite spiral perfectly mates with the negative female open-ended tripartite spiral. Desire and creation manifest as a single closed system.

This model of the It defies causality and the linear model of time. It is a real life demonstration that time does NOT exist in the linear manner that we experience in mundane reality.