The Cosmic Script: Sacred Geometry and the Science of Arabic Penmanship

There are two beautifully produced volumes in a single slip case. So far I have only looked through them briefly but think this is an extraordinary and important work. It should be of interest to any designer and I am looking forward to studying it slowly and carefully…

I was blown away by how well this booked was published (and its weight ~7kg), best I have ever come across.The book itself feels like a lifetimes work, very detailed. A must for anyone interested in the Arabic language and calligraphy. And for £52 its a bargain.

I recieved this amazing slipcased set of books for as a gift recently. Whilst not something that I would normally have browsed on Amazon I must say that I found it enthralling The historical aspects were well written and the illustrations second to non!If you are at all interested in the craft of calligraphy but find that the normal 'how to books' are rather twee, then this is the book for you.

This book deserves the praise it receives with respect to its calligraphic beauty and geometrical considerations. However it has also a serious flaw: It severely misrepresents the (neo-)Platonic philosophía with its terms kósmos and geometría to which it refers in the title and text in form of its loan words philosophy, cosmos and geometry.The book confuses the original terms with the loan words. Both have nothing at all to do with each other. The originals result from experiencing the BEAUTY of the inner psychic kósmos by self-observation with reawakened extraordinary senses on a step-wise path. This is the essence of the (ancient) philosophía. The loan words, on the other hand, refer to what is perceived of the beauty of the familiar cosmos (world) with the ordinary (earthly) senses employed by philosophy.What may be called sacred is non-oratory geometría, but not oratory geometry. The Cosmic Script raises therefore, like all books on “sacred geometry”, the question, if geometry (e.g. in calligraphy) can reveal the “BEAUTY of the psychic kósmos” that the philosophía and geometría once revealed to its adepts. This revelation – in form of a recollection – is addressed in Plato’s Symposium (204-211c), where Diotima describes the step-wise extrasensory ascent through the psychic kósmos to overcome the “lust for the bodily cosmos (perceived by the earthly senses)” and proceed in steps to the “love of wisdom (sophía)”:By going through these stages (steps), one will ascend from loving particular kinds of beauty to loving BEAUTY itself, from which all beautiful things derive their nature.Plato (Phaidon 64a) points out, how this ascent from the material to the psychic world - from loving particular kinds of beauty to loving BEAUTY itself - is achieved:Those who happen to grasp the philosophía correctly risk being unrecognised by others, because it is nothing but 'practising to die and to be dead'.He refers with these enigmatic words to what he calls in Phaidros (81a) the “pleasurable (phaidros) practice of dying (meléte thanátou)”. It provides the ascent. Without ascending, we are obviously unable to experience (grasp) the BEAUTY itself of the psychic kósmos. The step-wise path to increasingly experience it was taught by the masters of the philosophía. It is characterised by its abundant vocabulary geometría, astronomía, kósmos, etc. It permits the extrasensory experience of the psychic kósmos by self-observation. This is summarized in the theologumena arithmeticae attributed to the Neoplatonist (Pythagorean) Iamblichus (see p. 56 in The Theology of Arithmetic by Robin Butterfield, 1988):Four are the foundations of wisdom – arithmetiké, mousiké, geometría, astronomía – ordered 1 (Monad), 2 (Dyad), 3 (Triad), 4 (Tetrad).Similar words are offered in Timaios (36), where Plato describes the step-wise creation (genesis) of the kósmos grasped during the ascent with the meléte thanátou:Arithmetiké, harmoniké, geometriké were the three means (principles) by which demiurgos (artificer) proportioned the psychic kósmos (world soul).Both quotes clearly show that arithmetiké, mousiké, geometría, astronomía have nothing to do with the loans words. They refer to the perception of the psychic kósmos, but not to the description of the familiar cosmos.The 4 foundations (or 3 means) are revealed by the SOCRATES CODE (For a review see “Man, the measure of all things?” in The Philosopher, V. 102 No. 2). Accepting it, one must conclude that the “Cosmic Script” loses for those, who know the true meaning of the original words, its spiritual credibility. The reason is that the authors do not recognize that sacred geometry, cosmos and philosophy are severe misinterpretations of the profound original metaphors geometría and kósmos (kósmos noétos), of which the (original) philosophía with its unique practice of dying is composed.In summary, already the title of the book is a severe misnomer for those who know the SOCRATES CODE. There is nothing holy about geometry and the cosmos, which cannot reveal the divine BEAUTY to which this books – with its beautiful calligraphy - tries to draw the reader’s attentionFor further clarification of this largely misconceived subject see also my reviews on Amazon.com of:Porphyry's Against the Christians, by PorphyryTheology of Arithmetic, by Robin Butterfield,The Philosophy of Illumination, by Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi and John WalbridgeThe Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam (Emblems of Antiquity), by G. W. BowersockTimaeus and Critias (Penguin Classics), by PlatoPlato Symposium (Hackett Classics), by Plato.

Esta muy bien

If you're seeking knowledge about the science beauty and history of the Arabic script, this is the standard reference. It is lavishly illustrated and explained in two separate volumes. One provides an overview of the history, art and science of the script and the second volume provides and in-depth review of each letter. This set is a gift and treasure of Islamic culture and humanity in general

This book is awesome. Covers everything you want to know about Islamic calligraphy.

Very detailed information about the history of calligraphy. Good quality. I'm going to try to learn to write from it. It's worth it.

If you are at all interested in the history and topic of Calligraphy this is a must!!