Chapter 4: Tetrad - Mother Substance Summary and Analysis

In Search of the Depth

Three points define a flat form. To define depth, there must be another point. The archetype of fourness is called the tetrad which is an expression of volume. The tetrad can have a varying number of sides. The tetrahedron is a volume of four identical triangular sides. The hexahedron is the most common structure of volume and has six sides. Like the other forms, variations of the tetrad occur naturally as well as by human design. The tetrahedral is seen in the six-legged insect. The lotus position in yoga is another example. There are four ways to view a three-dimensional object: as points, lines, areas and volume. Their basic structure can also be described as corners, edges, faces and center.

Physicist Joseph Antoine Plateau dipped a wire-framed tetrahedral...