is essentially a controlled, closed system whose elements are the
point, the straight line, the circle and the ellipse. This system dom-
inates the contemporary worldview and mindset and is incompati-
ble with Nature.
In more traditional communities, the hard, straight lines of
structures were often softened with decorative embellishments,
such as are still found on the eaves or rooflines in some Alpine
villages. In the last century, ornamentation has been stripped
away in architectural design and we are left with buildings that
present a naked angularity and sterile uniformity (of agricultural
monoculture).
Until modern times the Chinese rejected the Euclidean model.
Their building designs were informed by geomantic principles that
recognized the straight line as the path of the dragon, the personi-
fication of destructive energy. This energy could be tamed by mak-
ing it flow into curves and spirals. The Chinese understood in those
days that straight lines fostered disruptive behaviour. Perhaps it is
time to consider what a deadening effect the boxes we inhabit may
have on our thoughts and emotions; of how our dependence on the
straight line may cause us to behave.
Nature's system is non-Euclidean, open and dynamic; its ele-
ments are open spirals forms, shell, egg and vortical forms. This
facilitates a fluid and adaptable environment, one in which forms
are able to evolve into more complex and creative arrangements.
Other creatures, whose sensitivity is nourished by the subtle ener-
gies of open forms, make use of roundness and curves in their
nests, burrows, and shells. In order to arrest the downward spiral
of our culture, we must take note of systems that encourage cre-
ative change (see Fig. 5.1, p. 78). Schauberger wished that we could
remember that we were created as part of the organic processes of
Nature, rather than the mechanical processes that we have
adopted.Sacred geometry
Viktor Schauberger saw patterns and rhythms as the heartbeat of
the Universe, and was fascinated by the traditional use of the lan-
guage of number and form to codify how they are repeated and
in what form. It is hard for us, schooled in a rationalist worldview
which separates form from the natural order to see that they are
HIDDEN NATURE