Eventually this sequence of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 and so on became known as the Fibonacci sequence. If you are given any three consecutive numbers in this sequence, you can recognize the pattern: you simply add two consecutive numbers to get the next number. See how it works? This is a very special sequence. It’s crucial in life. Why is ii important? This is perhaps my interpretation of why, but I’ll do my best tc show you. This is a hibiscus flower with five petals [Fig. 8-3]. Th( stamen inside has five terminating buds, and the directior of those two geometric forms are reversed to each other one set pointing up and one pointing down. When mosi people look at this flower, they don’t think, “Let’s see, it has five petals.” They simply look at it, notice it’s beautiful smell it and experience it from their right brain. They’re not thinking about the geometry or mathematics going or in the other side of the brain.
Life’s Solution to the Infinite Golden Mean (Phi) Spiral Remember that I said how the Golden Mean spiral has no beginning and no end, and that life has a hard time witr that? It can cope with no end, but it has a difficult time grokking something that has no beginning. I have a really hard time doing it, and I think we all wrestle with that situation. What nature did was create the Fibonacci sequence to get around the problem. It’s like God said, “Okay, go out there and create with the Golden Mean spiral,” and we said, “We don’t know how.” So we made up something that is not the Golden Mean spiral, but it rapidly comes so close that you can hardly tell the difference [Fig. 8-4]. For example, the phi ratio associated with the Golden Mean is approximated by 1.6180339. Look what happens when you divide each number in the Fibonacci sequence into the next higher number. Here’s the sequence in the left column: 1, 2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89. In the second column I’ve shifted the sequence by one so we can divide the number in the first column by the number in the second column (see column 3). Notice what happens when you divide a column-two num209