The Golden Egg

Original photo found here - Geometry: 2022, DS.

If any day is for celebrating eggs, it'd have to be Easter. But, when you think about it, one of the first fundamental shapes we learn to recognize in childhood is that of an egg, and, when we do the math, the shape of an egg - that quintessential oval - is golden! 

Some eggs are shaped more perfectly golden than others, but, it's probably safe to say that Phi - via the golden triangle - comes to us at the beginning of our lives in the most simple and primitive form we can imagine... and we never have to think about it.

It's also a beautiful marriage of symbols... the egg represents life itself... the spiral represents eternity... and Phi? Phi is a measure of perfection.

Have a great holiday!

 Afterword

"The 'goose that lays the golden eggs' is a reference to a tale told in an Aesop fable. Aesop was a slave and a storyteller who lived in ancient Greece. He is famous for creating tales that illustrate timeless truths. These short stories remind us of simple lessons that everyone should know about life. For instance, in the story The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, a farmer comes into possession of a goose that literally lays one golden egg, everyday. Greed overcomes the farmer, and he becomes convinced that if he splits open the goose he will come upon an enormous sum of gold that he may have all at once, rather than waiting to receive a smaller amount of gold everyday in the form of golden eggs. He slaughters the goose and finds nothing inside except the usual entrails common to all geese. The moral of the story is: Those who have plenty want more and so lose all they have."

- An excerpt taken from this Grammarist page regarding a fable allegedly penned by the ancient Greek writer known only as Aesop (620–564 BC) - who may have been the first black author of the western world.  Inset right is a lovely little goose named Lucy who lives at the Secret Gardens of Helgian in Cornwall, England. You can read about her here (but don't be April-fooled; that egg is golden, and we have proof...)

 

...and what a perfect golden egg it is! Lucy must've been so proud.

The photographer should've been proud, too. He or she snapped Lucy at that "golden" moment in time when all elements aligned to produce the figure (below).

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Now, Aesop was a great story-teller, but I think he got one thing wrong. His "farmer" was nothing more than a common thief who, upon spying the golden eggs, stole the goose from an alchemist's laboratory. Then, by using a primitive method of scientific inquiry (still in use the today... see "Animal Testing"), the thief was left with nothing more than one very dead goose (which his wife refused to bake, so, no, not even dinner).

And the moral to this story? I don't know. I'm confused. Ask Lucy.