So, what’s in a logo, anyway? What is the point? Is it just a snappy way to sell some shoddy shoes? Is it just a quick pictographic message to peddle an overpriced paper cup of burnt coffee? What if I told you it could be more? A lot more. I wonder if you’d believe me if I told you that the Innate Foundations logo tells the story of your salvation. And I wonder if you can see that, as we are each a microcosm of the whole, this logo illuminates the meaning of life and the path toward the liberation and elevation of all of mankind. Might I be overselling it? Maybe. But I don’t think so. Is this, perhaps, just blind idealism? I don’t think it is that, either. I think a more important question is one that gets at a principle, at a foundation. I think a more important question is, “Is it Truth?”.
When I began designing the logo a few years ago, I was just looking for a visually pleasing way to marry an “N” and an “8” as a playful way of abbreviating the word “Innate”. I hit upon the central structure fairly quickly, and knew I would develop the rest around that. Over the same period of time, I was learning a lot about left and right brain imbalances that are pervasive throughout the global population. I was learning about natural law and its relationship to various current and past religious traditions. I was learning about our ancient and ubiquitous use of symbols to speak powerfully and directly to the unconscious mind. And I was learning about meditation, and chakras, and the interplay between the reptilian brain, the mammalian brain, and the cerebral cortex. All of these bits of learning contributed to the logo’s finished design in some way.
The Pieces
I knew I wanted some color. I chose to color in the sides of the “N” as a nod to humanity’s deeply rooted fascination with the heavens, the crescent shapes familiar to us all in the cycles of the moon, and in other partially eclipsed planetary bodies. On the right we have blue to represent what are known in some schools of thought as the sacred feminine properties. These properties largely correspond to functions of the right cerebral hemisphere. They include creativity, intuition, imagination, and artistic and musical expression. They are associated with our emotional states, our compassion, our empathy, our moral compass. Blue is a calming color that invites acquiescence, submission, unquestioning reception, and passivity. You may have noticed that it is heavily featured on most news program sets, and that it is the color chosen to represent one of our two opposing political parties.
On the left side we have the counterpart to the blue right brain. Red is used to represent the sacred masculine properties, largely associated with more left brain function. These are things like logical, linear thought, reason, concentration, and focus. These are largely, and unwisely, viewed as the foundation of our intellectual achievements as human beings. In the modern world they are given the lion’s share of attention by most institutions. Red is associated with intellectual pursuits, aggression, and dominance. It is used when the desire is to get people fired up about something, to get them to join in with the pack, as it were. Red is often the featured color in relation to competitions and sporting events, and is the color chosen to represent the other of our two opposing political parties.
You will note that the crescents in the logo are not symmetrical. They are imbalanced. Where there is thicker red on one side, there is thinner blue on the other, and vice versa. This is in recognition of the left/right brain imbalance that nearly all of us exhibit to some extent. We are all probably naturally predisposed to lean one way or the other, that is, more toward the qualities associated with the right brain or the left brain, as briefly described above. Our life experiences will tend to shift us one way or another, as will our societal institutions, and our relationships with them. These institutions include, but are not necessarily limited to, media, government, military, education, healthcare, economics/banking, and religion. We are constantly bombarded with the message that these sets of properties, as represented by blue and red, are in opposition to one another. Where there is opposition, there is a winner and a loser, a greater and a lesser.
What we need in our brains, as in all aspects of life, is balance. The middle of the visible light spectrum, and the color of balance and equilibrium in nature, is green. Green is also the color of the central chakra discussed in the spiritual Indian texts, the Vedas. This chakra is known as the Anahata, or heart, chakra, and it directs love and healing. So the front aspect of the “8” in the logo represents a balanced unification of the cerebral hemispheres. Its form is also reminiscent of the structure of DNA, that wondrous molecule that binds and relates all sentient life on Earth, gives it its stupefying complexity and variety, and offers the potential for infinite growth and change.
The Problem
When we become imbalanced toward the right brain, we tend to be ruled by our emotions. We become submissive and, to a greater or lesser extent, tolerant of domination by others. When imbalanced toward the left brain, we are less apt to allow our emotions to inform our actions. We digress from our imagination and intuition and tend toward dominating others. In either case, we do ourselves and our world a disservice. Because in either case, we are squandering the unimaginable potential inherent in a balanced, unified cerebral cortex. Instead of allowing for the best of our reason and intellect to be coupled with the best of our creativity, imagination, intuition, and conscience, the imbalanced brain defaults to the more primitive structures of the reptilian and mammalian brains within us.
Left brain dominance favors default to the reptilian brain, and tends to produce a mentality of survival by domination. Right brain dominance favors default to the mammalian brain, and tends to produce a mentality of survival by submission. Both of these scenarios are unhealthy for ourselves and the world at large. Either imbalance leaves us vulnerable to manipulation and control by others, and diminishes our capacity for clear, rational, compassionate thought. Neither imbalance allows for the miraculous and beautiful expression that naturally flow from a healthy, unified mind.
The Big Picture
When healing and love bind, balance, and unify the mind, right thought (left brain) is informed by right care (right brain) to produce right action in the world. This is unity consciousness. This is the term that describes one who, as they think, and as they feel, so they do. They no longer stand in opposition to themselves. They no longer stand in duality. When this becomes our state, we glow like a beacon unto others. It starts small and individual, as with the yellow inner concentric circle in the logo. It then expands to those around us, as with the outer concentric circle. Again, each of us is a microcosm of the whole. The yellow circles are an expression of this, and an expression of our infinite light and potential. They are also reminiscent of the halos often seen in biblical depictions, a reminder of the divinity within us all.
Stepping back and taking a look at the whole, you may notice that by developing unity consciousness, thus producing right action, we have created a very open and enthusiastic figure, seemingly ready to embrace the world. He is running out to meet us! He is leading with his right brain – his imagination, his intuition, his creativity, his care. And he is reaching with his left brain – his intellect, his logic, his reason, his thought. In so doing, he has activated his Third Eye, or Ajna, chakra (or pineal gland) for awareness, and his Crown, or Sahasrara, chakra for spirituality. These chakras are deep blue and violet, and are represented by the figure’s head, doubling as a stylized vertical eye, as the third eye is often depicted in ancient traditions. This head/third eye is also the “A” in “FOUNDATIONS”. This is fitting as “A” is equivalent to 1 in numerological teachings, and 1 is representative of unity consciousness.
There are a few little dorky numerology things here and there, but I don’t really know much about that subject, and they aren’t crucial to the big story this logo is telling. If you are into numerology, symbolism, or patterns, and you are really bored, you can look for the other messages within the logo. I’d love to hear what you find, or what you know, or what you may teach me, if you are so inclined.
The Possibilities
Lastly we have the Innate Foundations abbreviation, I.F. Sometimes tremendous things come in small packages. Such is the case with the word “IF”. IF is the doorway to our infinite potential. IF allows us to step out of our current moment and imagine alternative possibilities. IF provides an arena wherein we can allow the focused, linear, rational thought of the left brain to mingle with the expansive, artistic, unrestricted imagination of the right brain. It allows us to explore not only new possibilities, but all of the physical, ethical, and spiritual ramifications of those options before we ever take right action in the Now to create those potential realities. This allows for correction before we err. It allows our mind an opportunity to align energetically with the circumstances we desire.
One characteristic of our neurology, that I will discuss further in other contexts in other posts, is that it doesn’t really differentiate between actual or imagined events of the current, past, or future. This is very much a double-edged sword. On one hand we can become ensnared in destructive emotional loops rooted in past traumas or fear of future events. On the other hand, we can use the power of IF to construct a future we desire. As we refine it, and express gratitude for it, we begin to resonate with it. And as we do, and as we work to couple our intellect with our care to take right action in the Now, we draw that future toward us.
I recognize how woo woo a lot of that sounds. I have spent most of my life either ignorant of, or dismissive of, those notions. But we don’t always drift toward spirituality later in life because of our fear of death. Sometimes it is life experience that draws us there. Sometimes it is repeated exposure to unfathomable synchronicities. Sometimes it is familiarity with firm and verifiable scientific evidence from a wide range of sources that all corroborate a reality that is infinitely more complex, intertwined, and bizarre than our 5 senses allow us to perceive. For me it has been all three. Foundationally, modern Physics supports that, in all of known creation, there is not but energy, vibrating at various frequencies. It supports, as well, that consciousness is a hard phenomenon, and that its focus on said energy creates the reality we observe.
So what’s in a logo? Perhaps the answer lies in the intent of the individual creating it, either consciously or unconsciously. I did not set out to tell the story that my logo tells me when I see it. It evolved gradually. Its emergent properties developed as I learned and changed over several years through life’s challenges and exposure to new information. It will probably continue to evolve for me. And your unconscious mind will craft its own interpretation, and draw from it the lessons that are right for you, right Now. Consciously, my desire is to help people physically, mentally, and spiritually by expressing my understandings of the world we share. I do this through touch, verbal and non-verbal communication, and thought. Unconsciously, I have created a logo that, to me, lays a foundation upon which we can build a brighter, freer, and more wondrous world for ourselves, our children, and our communities.