The geometric designs which appear in the stained glass windows of so many churches, on the painted frescoes of so many tombs, and in the architectural plans of so many temples are sacred symbols useful for this purpose. They have not been selected by chance but by illumined men, for their number is very small compared with the hundreds of possible groupings and arrangements also available. The measurements of the different parts of each geometric symbol follow certain proportions which are not fixed by personal whim but by cosmic order. This is why Pythagoras declared that number is the basis of the universe. The same proportions of 1-4-7-13 exist in the distances of the sun to its planets and asteroids, in their movements. They were used in Stonehenge, in the Greek temple, and in the Gizeh Pyramid. Each symbol corresponds to some cosmic fact; it is not arbitrary or imaginary or accidental. Its value for meditation practice does not end with promoting concentration but extends beyond that. Its power to affect man derives also from its connection with the divine World-Idea, whose perfection and beauty it reflects.
-- Notebooks Category 4: Elementary Meditation > Chapter 5 : Visualizations, Symbols > # 52
