Spirals 2

Not more spirals, surely.

According to John Michell, there are certain recurring patterns in nature, which manifest basic designs that encode the secret of creation.   The spiral, he says, is not only one of the universal types, it combines 'both linear and centralizing tendencies ... travelling infinitely towards and away from a never attained, never evaded centre' (Michell, 1979: 35). 

First Junji Ito, now this.

Michell is trying to reassure those who see faces and figures, in natural objects, of their sanity, as well as their spectrality (is there such a word -- who cares?) I guess.  The reassurance I need is a pattern to help me stop dreaming these patterns.

If it doesn't sell first time around, I might just have to keep this book.  I might just offer it as a swap to my neighbour ... for that silver snail (see previous entry), with its linear and centralising swirl.

John Michell, Faces and Figures in Nature, 1979, New York: Dutton. 1st edition.